There seems some Error or Omission of the Transcriber here; but the Allusion is probably to St. Matt. iv. 9. A learned Friend has ingeniously suggested to the Editor, that “nought-having” may mean disregarding, _pro nihilo habentes_, not fearing, abhorring, or thinking any Harm of him that openly crieth, “all these Things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me;” i. e. not fearing the Demon of Simony. “Avaunce” is perhaps substituted for _adoraveris_, in order to render the Passage more applicable to Clerical Simony, or Purchase of Preferment. Ibid. line 6. Þei make reseruaciouns. The Exactions of the Court of _Rome_ had been made the Subject of Legislation in _England_, from the 35 of _Edw._ I., in which Year (A.D. 1306-7) Petitions were presented to the King from the Nobility and Commonalty of the Realm against the intolerable Exactions of the Pope[43]; (_Super variis novis et intollerabilibus gravaminibus, oppressionibus, injuriis, et extorsionibus ... auctoritate et mandato Domini Papæ_;) and these Petitions were the Occasion of a Statute[44], passed at a Parliament held at _Carlisle_ in that Year, whereby the Papal Taxation of Abbeys and Religious Houses was restrained, and in certain Cases prohibited. In the Year 1350-1, however, (25 _Edw._ III.) only Six Years before the Date of the Tract before us, the Statute _against Papal Provisions of Benefices_ was passed[45], in which the Pope’s Power of presenting to Benefices in _England_, in Violation of the Rights of the natural Patrons, was restrained, and the Provisors attached. The Word _Reservation_ seems to be used in the Text to denote the _Provisions_ prohibited by these Acts of Parliament;—it is thus defined by _Du Cange_[46]: “_Rescriptum seu mandatum summi Pontificis, quo certorum beneficiorum, cum vacaverint, collationem sibi reservat faciendam cui voluerit, aliis legitimis collatoribus exclusis._” This is exactly what the Statutes referred to term _Provision_. The Word _Reservation_, however, is used by our modern Law-Authorities[47] in a more general Sense, to denote a Rent or Profit reserved by the Owner of an Estate or Tenement for his own Use: and in this Sense the First Fruits or Annates, Tenths, and Pensions, claimed by the Court of _Rome_ are rightly termed _Reservations_, and in their Origin are clearly Simoniacal: such Pensions, First Fruits, and Tenths being in fact the Price paid to the Court of _Rome_ for Collation, as appears from the Statute 13 _Ric._ II.[48] _Stat._ 2, c. 2, (A.D. 1389-90,) where after reciting the Statutes 25 _Edw._ III. and 35 _Edw._ I. the Act goes on to complain: _Et ja monstre soit a n̄r. sʳ. le Roi &c._ “And now it is shewed to our Lord the King, in this present Parliament holden at _Westminster_, at the Utas of the Purification of our Lady, ... by the grievous Complaints of all the Commons of his Realm, that the Grievances and Mischiefs aforesaid do daily abound, to the great Damage and Destruction of all