116. The reader who wishes to inform himself of the
circumstances of this famous event may peruse an admirable
narrative in Dr. Robertson's History of Charles V. vol. ii.
p. 283; or consult the Annali d'Italia of the learned
Muratori, tom. xiv. p. 230-244, octavo edition. If he is
desirous of examining the originals, he may have recourse to
the eighteenth book of the great, but unfinished, history of
Guicciardini. But the account which most truly deserves the
name of authentic and original is a little book, entitled
'Il Sacco di Roma', composed, within less than a month after
the assault of the city, by the brother of the historian
Guicciardinis who appears to have been an able magistrate
and a dispassionate writer.