Thus the liberties which the barons wrung from King John at Runnymede were virtually exemptions from the power of government.

The modern English weights were adjusted by the 27th chapter of Magna Charta, or the great charter forced, by the barons, from King John at Runnymede, in Surrey.

It is recorded that Peter de Brus, one of the barons who helped to coerce John into signing the Great Charter at Runnymede, made a curious stipulation when he granted some lands at Leconfield to Henry Percy, his sister's husband.

The fact that Shakespeare could write a play about King John, and say nothing about Runnymede and Magna Charta, shows that that incident in constitutional history had not yet passed into popular legend.

The high debate was over, and Lord Runnymede issued from the House, proud in his melancholy, like a garrison withdrawing from a fortress with colours flying and all the honours of war.

For he loved horses, and the Runnymede stables maintained the blood of King Charles's importations from Arabian chivalry.

Two of his ancestors had died by public violence (one killed in battle, fighting for the Yorkists, who Lord Runnymede inclined to think represented the Legitimist side; the other executed under Elizabeth, apparently by mistake), and regretting there were not more, he had searched the records of the Civil Wars and the 'Forty-five in vain.

But never had a Runnymede failed in Parliament, or the Council of the King, as he preferred to call it; and their name had frequently appeared among the holders of subordinate but dignified offices, such as the Mastership of the Buckhounds, to which special knowledge gave an honourable claim.

Trained from his first pony in political tradition, and encouraged by every gamekeeper to follow the footsteps of his ancestors, Lord Runnymede had inevitably taken "Noblesse oblige" as his private motto.

He ought to have ear-marked his contribution for the Runnymede aisle.

Lord Runnymede himself had never thought of election, even before the House of Lords received him.

He saw his own Stennynge advertised for plots, and its relics catalogued for a museum, while factories spouted smoke from its lawns and shrubberies, and if a Runnymede survived, he lived in a rough-cast villa, like an eagle in a cage at the Zoo.

So the barons raised an army, took London, and at Runnymede, June 15, 1215, compelled John to sign the famous Magna Charta, giving his subjects many additional rights to the use of the climate, and so forth, which they had not known before.

This document was called Magna Charta, or the "Great Charter," signed at Runnymede, June 15, 1215, by John, king of England.

An island in the Thames between Staines and Windsor had been chosen as the place of conference: the King encamped on one bank, while the baronscovered the marshy flat, still known by the name of Runnymede, on the other.

G.W.R. Runnymede takes a prominent place among the many historical spots which crowd the banks of the Thames.

INCONSIDERATE FLAPPER WAYLAYS KING JOHN ON HIS RETURN FROM SIGNING MAGNA CARTA AT RUNNYMEDE.

The contest of English ideals against Norman ideas was one of the principal causes of Magna Charta itself (it is significant that the Great Charter was never published in French); the barons were required to support the king in war, but complained against being led out of the kingdom; and King John's insistence upon this led to the assembly at Runnymede.

He admired Gray, as every man with a sense for epithet must; he studied Junius, whose style, so Sir William Fraser believes, he surpassed in his 'Runnymede' letters.

Sir William Fraser kindly explains the etymology of this strange word 'Runnymede,' as he also does that of 'Parliament,' which he says is 'Parliamo mente' (Let us speak our minds).

COOPER'S HILL, a hill of slight elevation near Runnymede, with a Government civil engineering college, originally for the training for the service in India, now for education in other departments of the Government service, forestry especially.

EGHAM (10), a small town in Surrey, on the Thames, 20 m. W. of London; has in its vicinity Runnymede, where King John signed Magna Charta in 1215.

HUBERT DE BURGH, Earl of Kent, chief justiciary of England under King John and Henry III.; had charge of Prince Arthur, but refused to put him to death; was present at Runnymede at the signing of Magna Charta; d. 1234.

MAGNA CHARTA, "the great charter," extorted from King John by the barons of England at Runnymede on June 5, 1215, that guaranteed certain rights and privileges to the subjects of the realm, which were pronounced inviolable, and that established the supremacy of the law over the will of the monarch.

STAINES (5), a pretty little town of Middlesex, on the Thames (spanned here by a fine granite bridge), 6 m. SE. of Windsor; St. Mary's church has a tower designed by Inigo Jones; has breweries, mustard-mills, and other factories; in the neighbourhood are RUNNYMEDE and COOPER'S HILL (q. v.).