SELDEN. 



den was one of the eight members of the houfe of commons 

 who were thrown into the pnfon of the Tower, on a charge 

 of fedition. Their application to be releafed on bail was 

 only aflented to by the judges, on condition of giving feciirity 

 for future good behaviour, which they rt-fufed to do, as re- 

 pugnant to the dignity of parliament, and the rights of 

 Englirtimen. Being brouj^ht up by virtue of the habeas 

 corpus aft to Weitminller-hali, the like condition was again 

 propofed, and again rejeftcd, and both parties feemed to 

 perfiil in their determination : of courfe the term of impri- 

 fonment was indefinitely protrafted. Its rigour was, how- 

 ever, foftened, and fhortly after became very lenient. Sel- 

 den beuig removed, firft to the Marlhalfea prifon, and then 

 to the Gatehoufe, was at length fuffered to go at large on 

 bail, as were the others likewife, till the beginning of 1634, 

 when bail was no longer required, and they were fully libe- 

 rated. Their firmnefs was much applauded by the parlia- 

 ment party, and Selden was dillinguiflied among them as 

 being their fpokefman, when the point was argued before 

 the judges. During the imprifonment of Selden, his mind 

 was not inaftive ; his ftudies were turned to Jewilh hiltory 

 and antiquities, and the lirll fruits of them were fhewn in a 

 work entitled " De luccclTionibus in bona defunfti ad leges 

 Ebrxorum," which was publiihed in 163 I, and reprinted in 

 1636, with the addition of a treatife " De fucceilione in 

 Pontificatum Ebrasorum." Selden had long employed his 

 great talents in a work which was intended to aflert and 

 jullify the maritime prerogatives of this country, in oppo- 

 fition to the principles advanced by Grotius in his work en- 

 titled " Mare Liberum." Selden's treatife was, after it had 

 long lain on the Ihelf in MS., read and approved by king 

 James : and the fubjeft, in 1635, having become very inte- 

 retting in confequence of fome difputes with the Dutch, his 

 majelty commanded its publication. It was therefore fitted 

 by him for the prefs, and appeared in that year under the 

 title of " Mare Claufum feu Dominio Maris." In this per- 

 formance, the author firtt attempts to prove, by reafonine and 

 example, that the fea is cap-ible of dominion : and then to 

 eftablifli hillorically the Britiih right over the circumjacent, 

 or, as they have been denominated by others, the narrow 

 feas. (See Campbell's Lives of the Admirals, vols. i. ii.) 

 This author, fpeaking of Mr. Selden and his Mare Claufum, 

 fays in which, " he has effedlually demonllrated, from tiie 

 principles of the law of nature and nations, that a dominion 

 over the fea may be acquired, and from the moll authentic 

 hiftories, that fuch a dominion has been claimed and enjoyed 

 by feveral nations, atid fubmitted to by others for their com- 

 mon benefit : that this was, in faft, the cafe of the inhabit- 

 ants of this idand, who, at all times, and under every kind 

 of government, had claimed, exercifed, and condantly en- 

 joyed fuch a dominion, which had been confeffed by their 

 neighbours frequently, and in the moft folemn manner. All 

 which, with learning, induftry, and judgment fuperior to 

 praife, this great man hath fully and unqueilionably made 

 out to the fatisfadion of foreigners, as it is the defign of 

 this work to imprefs the fame fentiment on the minds of all 

 fcnCble Britons, viz. "that they have an hereditary, uninter- 

 rupted right to the fovereignty of their feas, conveyed to 

 them from their earlieft anceftors, in truft for their latell 

 pofterity." 



Selden's work was, in truth, acceptable to all parties, and 

 the king in council ordered copies of it to be kept in the 

 council cheft, the court of exchequer, and the court of ad- 

 miralty, as faithful and (trong evidence to the dominion of 

 the Britifh feas. Several following years of Selden's life 

 feem to have been chiefly occupied in Hebrew itudies, of 

 vjhjchoneof the principal produds appeared in 1640, under 



the title " De Jure Naturali et Gentium juxta difciphnam 

 Ebraeorum :" Lib. feptem. This work is a copious digell 

 of Jewilh laws and inflitutions, as well from the rabbinical 

 writers, as from the writings of the Old Teltament, which 

 is generally efteemed a valuable repertory of all the matter 

 afforded by hiltory or tradition relative to the fubjeft. 



This year, 1640, th_' lon^ parliament met, and Selden wa« 

 chofen one of the reprt-fentatives for the univerfity of Ox- 

 ford. His name appears in feveral committees appointed 

 for the correfting of tlie abufes, and retraining the oppref- 

 fions of the reign, which parliament was, at this period, re- 

 folved to puriue. One of its ftrong meafures, viz., the im- 

 peachment of lord Strafford, he did not concur in, notcon- 

 fidering that this meafure was warranted by the law of the 

 land. Nor did he feem willing to proceed further in the re- 

 formation of religion, than to check the ufurpations of ec- 

 clefiaftical power, to which he was a moft decided enemy ; 

 and he had no with whatever to abrogate the epifcopal form 

 of church government, which he preferred to the prefby- 

 terian. So well aifected was he, upon the whole, to the 

 exiiling conftitution in church and ftate, that after the king 

 had withdrawn to York, there was a defign of appointing 

 him keeper of the great feal. When the differences between 

 the king and parliament were maiiifellly tending to an open 

 rupture, Selden oppofed the attempts of both parties to 

 gam poflelTion of the power of the fword, hoping that the 

 ftrong arm of the law might prove fufficient to fettle the 

 conteft, and when his efforts had proved fruitlefs, he with- 

 drew, as much as he was able, from public bufinels. He re- 

 mained, however, in parliament, and was one of the fynod 

 which met at Weftininiter for the eftablifliment of church 

 government. In 1643 he was appointed by the houfe of 

 commons keeper of the records in the Tower, and in the 

 next year he fubicribed the Solemn League and Covenant. 

 It is mentioned to his honour, that he conftantly employed 

 his influence, in thefe contentious times, for the fervice and 

 proteftion of learning and learned men ; and the univerfity 

 of Oxford, oil different occafions, expreffed its gratitude 

 for the good offices which he performed for it in times of its 

 diftrefs. He likewife befriended the fifter univerfity, in 

 which he was regarded with fo much veneration, that he 

 was elefted to the mafterfhip of Trinity-hall, though he 

 thought It right to decline the office. His learned la- 

 bours were ilill unintermitted, and new works were occa- 

 fionally iffuing from his pen. Of thefe, the moil confidera- 

 able were, " Eutychii jEgyptii Origines Ecclefii fux," 

 tranflated from the Arabic ; " De Anno Civili Veteris Ec- 

 clefix ;" " Uxor Ebraica," which contained an account of 

 all the Jcwifh rites and inllitutions relative to marriage ; an 

 edition of tiie ancient work entitled " Fleta ;" " De Syne- 

 driis Veterum Ebrsorum," being a copious account of the 

 juridical courts of the Jews. His concluding work was 

 " Vindicix de Scriptione Maris Claufi," the objeft of 

 which was to controvert a malignant infinuation of a Dutch 

 author, that he had compofed his Mare Claufum in order to 

 pleafe king Charles, and obtain his liberation from imprifon- 

 ment. Selden died in November 1654, having completed 

 his feventieth ye.ir. He was interred with great folemnity 

 in the Temple church, and on thisoccafion the learned Ufher 

 pronounced a funeral difcourfe. Seldi-n was always in 

 affluent circumilances, and had intended, at his death, to 

 bequeath his valuable library and mufeum to the univerfity 

 of Oxford, but owing to fome offence given to him, he 

 left it to his executors, who, however, reftored them 

 to their firll deftination, and they now make part of 

 the Bodleian library. After his death, his amanuenfis 

 printed a coUeftion of Selden's fayings, entitled " Table 



Talk,'- 



