Page:A History and Defence of Magna Charta.djvu/58

12 ſhould inſult his camp, which they might eaſily have done without oppoſition, he betook himſelf to fraud and diſſembling, pretending peace, when he had immortal war in his heart, reſolving hereafter to oppreſs the barons ſingly, whom he could not all at once. He therefore ſends to them the earl of Pembroke and other perſons of credit with this meſſage, “That for the benefit of peace, and for the advancement and honour of his realm, he would willingly grant them the laws and liberties which they deſired,” leaving to the barons to appoint a convenient time and place for the performance. They very gladly ſet the King a day, to meet June 15, at Running-mead, betwixt Stanes and Windſor, an antient for the meeting of parliaments.

King and the lords accordingly met, and their parties ſitting aſunder, and keeping to their own ſide, treated of the peace and the liberties a good while. There were preſent, as it were of the King’s party, the archbiſhop, and about thirty principal perſons more, whom Matthew Paris names; but, ſays he, they that were on the barons’ ſide were paſt reckoning, ſeeing the whole nobility of England gathered together in a body ſeemed not to fall under number. At length, after they had