SELDEN, Joirx, an illustrious English scholar and lawyer, was b. Dee. 10, 1584, near Worthing, in Sussex; studied at hart Hall Oxford, for three years, and then removed, first to elifTord's inn. London, and afterward to the inner temple, for the pursuit of law., It wus here that his great learning began to attract attention. and won for him the friend ship of Camden, Usher, sir Robert Cotton. and sir Henry Spelman. Selden wrote his first treatise which related to tl:c civil government of Britain previous to the Norman conquest. and was entitled Amdecton Anglo-Britannicon, in 1606, when only 22 years of age, though it was not published till nine years later. In 1610 appeared his Jani Anglorum Facies Altera (English translation, 1083), giving an account of the common and statute law of T'Sroslish Isrittany to the death of Henry II.; and in 1014 was published his falles of Honour, a work mil] regarded as of high authority on the subject of which it treats. Three years later appealed an erudite, but, judging from what Le Clerc says, not a very critical or well-digested, work on the Syrian gods, especially in their cornice thm with the Old Testament, entitled De his &vas, Syntagmata Duo. Next year, how ever, he excited great indignation among the clergy by his Treatise of 'I then, in as hich he endeavored to prove that tithes ate not due by divine right under Christianity, but solely because the law has imposed them. Seidel, was assailed with diatribes, animad versions, additional animadversions, historical vindications of the jvs ditinvin of tithes, etc.; but it does not appear that the arguments were very convincing to Selden. In 1621 lie suffered a brief imprisonment for advising the parliament to repudiate king James's doctrine that their privileges were originally royal grants; in 1623 he was elected member for Lancaster, and front this period till his death he took is considerable part m public affairs. yet not such as to materially interfere with the continuance of scholarly pursuits. Selden's political position is somewhat difficult to define. 7 here is no doubt that he was sincerely attached to the cause of the parliament, an as sincerely opposed to the views of the court party and the king. But he was ilLove all things to constitu tional lawyer, and derived his ideas of the rights of the subject front the history of the nation, and not from religious fanaticism or metaphysical considerations. Still, he loved his ease," according to Clarendon (who has painted Selden's portrait in his usual fine style), and so let things be done without protest, of which he did not approve. Per sonally, he was rather a favorite with king Churl( s, on account of his learning and mod eration. In 1630 he was committed to the tower for his activity in cpposing the policy of the court, and remained a prisoner for four years. when he was released through the favor of archbishop Laud and the lord treasurer; in 1640 he was chosen member for the university of Oxford; and now, when the struggle between the king and the nation began to grow dead-earnest, he was occasionally suspected of not being zealous enough by such as were themselves perhaps over-zealous. He threw the weight of his learning
and argument into the scale against the bishops (toward whom, like Milton and °thin. lay-champions of freedom, Le felt a peculiarly strang antipathy), when the question came up as to their tenure of seats in parliament; lie w as one of these who drew up the articles of impeachment against Laud ; lie sat as a lay-member in the assembly of divines at Westminster, 1643, and perplexed his clerical colleagues sadly. In 1644 he was sleeted one of the twelve commissioners of the admiralty; in 1646 the sum of £5,000 was voted to him by parliament, in consideration of his lervices and sufferings; in 1647 lie was appointed one of the university "visitors," and always used his influence to moder ate the tyranny of his fanatical colleagues. After the execution of Charles (of which it is certain be strongly disapproved, as both unlawful and inexpedient), he took little share in public matters, and when requested by Ci omwell to answer the Edon Easilik.e, he refused! His death occurred Nov. 30, I654, in the house of Elizabeth, dowager countess of Rent, with whom Le had Icing lived in such intimacy that people said they were married. The principal writings of Selden, besides those already mentioned, are: Marraora Arundelliana (1629); De Successionibus in Bona Drfuneti secunduin Leges llebre m (1634); De Sueeessione in Pontificatum llebraorum. Libel Duo (Loyd., 1638); De Jure Naturuli et Gentium junta Disciplinam Debrceorvin (1640); a wolfs more learned than critical (like most of Selden's biblical productions, who thought far too much of the opinions of the Rabbins); and Eixor Hebraiea ; _Mare Clayman (1635), a reply to Grotius's Mare Libervin (treatises which originated in a dispute between the English and Dutch concerning the herring-fishery upon the British coast, to which the Dutch laid claim); De Anno Ural et Calendario Judaico (1646); De Synedriis et Preefeeturis lielfraoruin (16Z0 et seq.); besides a great variety of posthumous works, of which the most famous, and also the most valuable. is his Table-talk (recorded and published by his amanuensis, Richard ?ilward, in 1689), of which Coleridge says (with considerable exaggeration, however): "There is more weighty bullion sense in this book than I can find in the same number of pages of any uninspired writer." Selden was highly esteemed by all his great contemporaries, both royalist and parliamentarian, on account of his integrity, candor, and vast erudition; hut his moral courage or enthusiasm was not remarkable (except when tilting at the bishops—then, like Erasmus on the monks, he was quite heroic); and, on the whole, as compared with Milton, be occupies the level which Eras ITHIS did in relation to Luther. Selden's works were collected and published at London In three folio volumes (1726).