It is unnecessary to treat in detail of the copies of the charter not authenticated by John’s Great Seal, though some of these are of great value as secondary authorities. The four most important are (_a_) a copy appearing in the Register of Gloucester Abbey, (_b_) the Harleian MSS., British Museum No. 746 (which also contains the names of the twenty-five Executors in a hand probably of the reign of Edward I.), (_c_) in the Red Book of the Exchequer. There is also (_d_) an early French version, printed in D’Achery, _Spicilegium_, Vol. XII. p. 573, together with the writ of 27th September addressed to the Sheriff of Hampshire. See Blackstone, _Great Charter_, p. xviii., and Thomson, _Magna Charta_, pp. 428-430. ----- II. _Comparison of the Originals._ Prior to the publication of Sir William Blackstone’s great work, extraordinary confusion seems to have prevailed concerning the various Charters of Liberties. Not only was John’s Magna Carta confused with the various re-issues by Henry; but these latter were known only from an official copy of the Charter of 1225 contained in the confirming statute of the twenty-eighth year of the reign of Edward I., known as an “Inspeximus,” because of the opening word of the King’s declaration that he had seen the document of which he gave a copy. Neither Madox[296] nor Brady[297] was aware of the existence of any one of the four originals; and no mention is made of them in the first edition of Rymer’s _Foedera_, which appeared in 1704. Mr. Tyrrell indeed seems to have known of the second original copy in the British Museum and also of the Salisbury version.[298] Mr. Care[299] showed no clear knowledge of the various manuscripts, though he mentioned the existence of several. Even Sir William Blackstone in 1759 collated only the two Cottonian copies, since he failed to find that of Salisbury, and was unaware of the existence of the Lincoln manuscript.[300] ----- Footnote 296: Thomas Madox, _Firma Burgi_ (1726). On p. 45, Madox refers only to the _Inspeximus_ of Edward I. Footnote 297: Robert Brady, _Complete History of England_, p. 126 of Appendix to Vol. I. (1685), takes his text of the Charter from Matthew Paris, “compared with the manuscript found in Bennet College Library.” Footnote 298: James Tyrrell, _History of England_ (1697-1704). In p. 9 of Appendix to Vol. II. p. 821, Tyrrell prints a text of John’s Charter founded on that of M. Paris, collated with those two originals. Footnote 299: Henry Care, _English Liberties in the Freeborn subjects’ inheritance; containing Magna Charta_, etc. (1719), p. 5. The first edition, with a somewhat different title, is dated 1691. Footnote 300: