The man who led the barons in their struggle with the King was Stephen Langton, the new Archbishop of Canterbury. At a private meeting of the barons, at St. Paul's, Langton produced the charter which had been issued by Henry I. at his coronation, and this the barons agreed to make the basis of their demands from John. The King refused all demands, and tried to break up the baronial party. But they were too much in earnest to allow themselves to be broken up by intrigues, and soon both sides began to prepare for war. The barons met in Yorkshire, forming themselves into an army which they called the army of God and Holy Church. They marched to London. John was deserted by almost everyone, and was obliged to give way.

op-pos-i-tion
ba-ron-i-al

1 Bouvines, near Lille.

ty-ran-ny
in-trigues

in-just-ice
pass-ion

2 Intrigues, secret artifices.

12. THE GREAT CHARTER.

1. A meeting was arranged between John and the barons. An island in the Thames, between Staines and Windsor, was the place chosen. The King encamped on one side of the river, and the barons on the meadows of Runnymede on the other. At this spot, ever to be remembered in English history, 1215 was signed Magna Charta, or the Great Charter. It was a treaty of peace between John and his people. 2. It is quite true that the Great Charter is the basis of English liberty; but it would be a mistake

to suppose that there was much in it that was new. The charter issued by Henry I. was the basis of the new charter. But the new charter differed from the old ones, because certain means were invented by which the King was bound to carry out what he promised in the new charter. Twenty-five barons were chosen to see that the King kept his promises. John seemed in a very good temper when he signed the Great Charter. He knew it was no good to try and resist, and the barons were quite surprised when the matter was settled in one day. But immediately John had left the barons, he burst into a wild fit of rage, and resolved to do all he could to escape from keeping his promises.

3. The chief things settled by the Great Charter were these:-No man was to be imprisoned except by the judgment of his peers1 and the law of the land. Justice was not to be sold, denied, or delayed to any man. No man was to be so heavily fined that he should forfeit the means of actual livelihood. Judges of assize2 were to hold their circuits four times a-year. No new scutage or aid (this was money paid by vassals to the King) should be levied without the consent of the Common Council of the realm. The last was a very important point. In this Great Charter it must be noticed that justice and freedom were not gained by the barons and kept to themselves alone; there were special means provided for protecting the poor. The issue of the Great Charter marks the change from traditional laws that is, laws kept only in men's memories-to written laws, and it was one of the greatest events in English history.

JOHN AT RUNNYMEDE.

1. There stands at Runnymede a king, while summer clothes the plains,

The blood of high Plantagenet is coursing through his veins;

But yet a sceptred hand he lifts to shade his haggard3 brow,

As if constrained to do a deed his pride would disallow.4

2. He pauses still.-His faint eye rests upon those barons bold,

Whose hands are grappling to their swords with fierce and sudden hold.

That pause is broke;-he bows him down before those steel-girt men,

And glorious Magna Charta glows beneath his trembling pen.

3. His false lip to a smile is wreathed, as their exulting shout,

From 'neath the green, embowering trees, upon the gale swells out;

Yet lingers long his cowering glance on Thames' translucent tide,

As if some deep and bitter thought he from the throng would hide.

4. I know what sounds are in his ear, when wrathful tempests roll,

When God doth bid His lightnings search, His thunders try the soul:

Above the blast young Arthur's shriek doth make the murderer quake,

As if again his guiltless blood from Rouen's prison spake.

THE SIGNING OF MAGNA CHARTA.

5. But though no red volcano burst to whelm the men of crime,

No vengeful earthquake fiercely yawn to gorges them ere their time,

Though earth for her most guilty sons the festive board doth set,

The wine-cup and the opiate draught,-yet say, can Heaven forget?