SELDEN, JOHN. 



SELDEN, JOHN. 



raent of Egypt, Sejanus obtained the sole command of the Praetorian 

 troops. These troops, which had previously been quartered in different 

 parta of the city, he collected into one camp, and used every effort to 

 gain over to his interests. He also secured the support of the leading 

 members of the senate; and as his influence increased, so did his 

 ambition, and he resolved to secure, if possible, the imperial power. 

 Drusus, the son of Tiberius, and the children of Germanicus, stood 

 however in his way. He first determined to remove Drusus, against 

 whom he had a personal hatred on account of a blow which he had 

 received from him ; and in order to accomplish his purpose, he seduced 

 Livia, the wife of Drusus, and then holding out to her the prospect of 

 marriage and his own accession to the Imperial power, he induced her 

 to consent to the murder of her husband, who was shortly afterwards 

 removed by poison. (Tacit, 'Ann.,' iv. 3, 8; Dion Cass., Ivii. 22; 

 Suet., 'Tib.,' 62.) 



Sejanus was anxious to marry the widow of Drusus, but he was 

 strongly dissuaded from it by Tiberius. He now began to fear lest 

 Tiberius should suspect his designs, and accordingly he persuaded the 

 emperor, who was fond of ease, to retire from the city, and to leave 

 the management of public affairs in his hands. Tiberius first with- 

 drew to Campania, and afterwards to the island of Caprese. Sejanus, 

 now released from any restraint, acted in the most arbitrary and 

 oppressive manner. He procured the death of Agrippina, the widow 

 of Germanicus, and also of her two sons Nero and Drusus, and 

 nothing now seemed to stand in the way of his wishes, when the 

 suspicions of Tiberius became at length aroused, and he resolved upon 

 the death of his favourite. Tiberius was obliged however to proceed 

 with caution. At a meeting of the senate, which Sejanus was induced to 

 attend, he was arrested by Nervius Sertorius Marco, to whom Tiberiua 

 had intrusted the tribunicial power, and was the same day condemned 

 to death. His body was exposed to the fury of the people, and his 

 children and many of his relations and friends were also put to death. 

 (Dion Cass., Iviii. 6-19 ; Tacit., ' Ann.,' v. 6, &c. ; Suet., ' Tib.,' 65.) 



SELDEN, JOHN, was born December 16, 1584, at Salvington, 

 rear Worthing, in Sussex. His mother, Margaret, was the daughter 

 of a knightly family of the name of Baker, iu Kent, whom her hus- 

 band, John Selden, known by the name of the ' Minstrel,' obtained 

 in marriage by means of some proficiency he had in music. Their 

 son began his education at the free grammar-school at Chichester, 

 and at the age of fourteen entered at Hart or Hert Hall, in Oxford, 

 a foundation since merged in the present Magdalen Hall in that 

 University. When aboxit nineteen he was admitted a member of 

 Clifford's Inn, and in 1604 removed to the Inner Temple. 

 . By nature unfit, or by accident unable, to apply himself to the 

 more active business of his profession, Selden devoted this time of 

 his life to the study of history and antiquities, both civil and legal, 

 to the acquirement of languages, and the study of logic and of moral 

 philosophy, with an application which was eventually rewarded by 

 the honour of being considered one of the most learned writers of his 

 age. At twenty-two years of age he wrote his first published 

 treatise, the 'Analecton Anglo-Britannicon,' a work which surprised 

 his friends, and gave him an immediate reputation. This was fol- 

 lowed by other works, and in 1614 appeared his treatise upon ' Titles 

 of Honour,' a book then and ever since regarded as one of authority. 

 In 1618 he was summoned before the High Commission Court for 

 publishing the ' History of Tithes," wherein he allows the legal but 

 denies the divine right of the clergy to the receiving of tithes. In 

 the early ages of Christianity, tithes were, in imitation of the Jewish 

 law, a source of church revenue, and were originally paid to the 

 bishop, and not for the maintenance of a resident clergy ; and it was 

 not till later, when the people began to question this right, that 

 Charlemagne first gave a legal confirmation to these ecclesiastical 

 claims. By denying then the divine right, the reason for the legal 

 injunction is abandoned, and the payment of tithes becomes a mere 

 tax. Selden apologised in words which did not express a recantation 

 of opinions, but regret for having disturbed the church and offended 

 the court. He was considered the instigator of the remonstrance on 

 the subsequent protestation of the House of Commons, which that 

 House made in 1621, wherein under Selden's advice, though not 

 then himself a member, it asserted its right to offer advice to the 

 crown, and claimed the liberty of the subject. The king, in con- 

 sequence of whose speech at the opening of the parliament these 

 memorable declarations were made, erased them from the journals of 

 the House with liis own hand, and dissolved the parliament. Selden 

 was committed to prison, from which, through the interest of the 

 bishop of Winchester, he was released in five weeks. 



He first appeared in the House of Commons as member for 

 Lancaster, for which place he was returned in the parliament which 

 assembled in 1623, the last parliament of James I. ; and in 1625, on 

 the accession of Charles, in the ' parliamentum vanum,' which 

 assembled at Oxford, ho eat for Great Bedwin. In the former of 

 these years he gave a strong instance of independence or self-will, for 

 which there seems no reason, for on being chosen reader of Lyon's 

 Inn, ho refused to perform the office. The register of the Inner 

 Temple contains an order passed in consequence by that society, that 

 there should be a 'ne recipiatur' entered upon his name; that he be 

 fined, and for ever disabled to be called to the bench. This order 

 was repealed in 1624. 



Charles soon summoned a second parliament on the speedy dissolu- 

 tion of the first, arid Selden was again returned for Bedwin. The 

 impeachment of the Duke of Buckingham was at once determined on 

 by the new parliament, and Selden was one of the members appointed 

 to prepare the articles, and was named a manager of the prosecution. 

 From this it appears that he had zealously joined the party in oppo- 

 sition to the court, yet, though thus implicated, he escaped the fate of 

 Digges and Elliot, who were employed in the same capacity, and were 

 thrown into prison accordingly. Another dissolution in 1626 stopped 

 the proceedings against the duke, but a forced loan which Charles was 

 driven to have recourse to in the assumed exercise of his prerogative, 

 called Selden, though not in the habit of appearing at the bar, to 

 defend in the Court of King's Bench Sir Edward Hampden, who had 

 by warrant of the council been imprisoned with four others for 

 refusing to pay his portion of the loan. They were brought up by 

 writ of Habeas Corpus, but Selden and his fellow-counsel were unsuc- 

 cessful in their endeavours to obtain the discharge of the prisoners, 

 who were all remanded on the judgment of Hyde. In Charles's third 

 parliament, which met in 1628, Selden was returned member for 

 Ludgershall; and on the proceedings against the Duke of Bucking- 

 ham being renewed, he demanded that judgment should be given 

 against the duke upon the impeachment of the former parliament. 

 He took an active part in the discussions which now occupied the 

 House of Commons on the levying of tonnage and poundage, and in 

 the drawing up of the Petition of Rights, to which Charles gave his 

 consent in 1628. Court influence still protected Buckingham, and 

 the conflict between the king and his Commons might have begun 

 earlier if immediately after the prorogation the duke had not fallen by 

 the hand of Felton. 



During this recess Selden devoted himself to literary pursuits. At 

 the request of Sir Jlobert Colton, he transcribed the Greek inscriptions 

 in the collection of ancient marbles which the Earl of Arundel had 

 received from the East, and they were published by the name of 

 'Marmora Arundeliana.' 



Parliament re-assembled in January 1629, and Selden appeared still 

 more to have inclined to the discontented party. During the con- 

 tinuance of the late prorogation the goods of several merchants had 

 been seized by the crown to satisfy the duty, among which were those 

 of one Holies, a member of the House. The Speaker, on an early day 

 after the meeting of parliament, being desired to put the question that 

 the seizure of these goods was a breach of privilege, declared " he 

 durst not, for that the king had commanded to the contrary." Selden 

 instantly rose, and in strong words expostulated with tho Speaker, 

 whom he considered bound to obey the commands of the Commons. 

 The House adjourned in a state of great excitement, and on its meet- 

 ing again, and the Speaker still refusing, two members held him in 

 his chair ; Hobart locked the door of the House ; and Elliot and 

 Stroud moved the question. The Speaker again declining to obey, a 

 short remonstrance against the levying of tonnage and poundage was 

 immediately framed ; at Selden's desire it was read by the clerk, and 

 passed by acclamation rather than by vote. The king, exasperated 

 with his faithful Commons, the following day dissolved the parlia- 

 ment, and Selden, with some others concerned in the late proceedings, 

 which were deemed seditious, was committed to the Tower. After 

 remaining there eight months, and for some time denied the use of 

 books, or allowed to write, he was brought up by Habeas Corpus to 

 the King's Bench, and on refusing to give security for his good beha- 

 viour, though his discharge was offered him on that condition, his 

 confinement was continued in the King's Bench prison, though with 

 less rigour. This appears from the fact that he was appointed by the 

 students of the inns of court to prepare a masque, which they were 

 anxious to represent before the royal family, to show their disappro- 

 bation of Prynne's ' Histrio-mastix.' In 1634 he consented to give 

 bail, and he was suffered to go at large. 



A petition to the king, to whom it appears that Selden was less 

 obnoxious than the others of his own party, either through admiration 

 of his learning, or from conviction that his natural love of ease and 

 retirement, which Clarendon speaks of, would make him less likely to 

 proceed to violent measures, obtained for him, through the interest of 

 Laud, his entire liberation. Soon after ho appears to have approached 

 the court party, and to have gained even the personal favour of Charles, 

 to whom he dedicated the well-known treatise, ' Mare Clausum.' 



In the great case of ship-money we find no mention of Selden ; and 

 as his knowledge and learning would have made him a valuable counsel 

 in Hampden's behalf, it is probable that he either declined to defend, 

 or that Hampden's party thought it not prudent to request his aid oil 

 account of his recent approaches to the court party. From this time 

 his behaviour may bo thought somewhat inconsistent, unless we 

 consider his conduct in the Long Parliament, which assembled in 

 1640, and to which he was unanimously returned a member by the 

 University of Oxford, rather as that of a retained advocate. He sat 

 on the committees of the lower house, which undertook the proceed- 

 ings against Strafford, though he was not one of the managers before 

 the House of Lords, and his name also was enrolled as " one of the 

 enemies of justice," a title given to those who favoured the earl. 

 Though the friend of Laud, by whom he was desired to write many of 

 his works, he was nominated by the House to frame the articles of 

 impeachment iigainst the archbishop. He made no opposition to the 





