again; then he would not let them marry unless they paid him for leave to do so; and if any person wanted to go out of the country, they were obliged to buy his permission. In short, no one was free to do any thing till the consent of the king was obtained by a handsome present.
28. At length, his tyranny was carried to such a height that the chief nobles resolved to make him act more justly, or dethrone him; so they wrote down, on parchment, all the things they wished to have done, or altered, and agreed with each other that, if he refused to sign it, they would go to war with him, and they took care to have all their vassals armed, and in readiness.
29. John was very much frightened when he found the barons were in earnest, and agreed to meet them at a place called Runnymede, between Staines and Windsor, where, after a great deal of disputing, he was obliged to sign his name to what they had written, which thus became the law of the land. An ancient copy of this parchment is now in the British Museum.
30. It is called Magna Charta, which is the Latin name for 'the Great Charter;' and it was framed with a view to take from the king the power of doing unjust things, and to make him govern according to the laws, and not to be able
