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sound. He is said seldom or never to have appeared at the bar; but "he sometimes gave chamber-counsel, and was reckoned good at conveyancing." From the first, however, he appears to have had a peculiar fondness for antiquarian pursuits; to his indulgence of which, most of the celebrity still attached to his name is to be ascribed. The first work which engaged his pen was connected with these studies. In 1607 he finished his "Analecton Anglo-Britannicon, libri duo;” (a chronological digest of records relating to the history of England before the Norman invasion;) and this he dedicated to Sir Robert Cotton. The musical tendencies of the father do not appear to have been at all transmitted to the son. If the first might be called "the minstrel," the second was eminently “the lawyer;" and the success with which his studies were promoted, proves that what by some might have been regarded as dry subjects, were to him pleasurable ones. And why not ? To the rightly-disciplined mind, truth is invaluable; and when loved as it should be, the collection of facts which lead to it, and make it apparent, cannot be otherwise than pleasant. He who cracks the nut, obtains the kernel, dry as the uncracked nut might be; and thus is it with him who investigates facts. He obtains principles; and the elimination of principles from facts is not only the attainment of knowledge, but the cultivation of wisdom.

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Selden had now only begun his career. In 1610 he published two works on the antiquities of the English law, and in the same year his treatise on "The Duel." In 1613 he furnished notes to a large portion of Drayton's Poem, the ، Poly-Olbion,” and the next year his celebrated work, full of profound research, on "Titles of Honour." In 1616 he edited two ancient law tracts, one of them, Sir John Fortescue "De Laudibus Legum Angliæ;" and, after one or two smaller, his history of the idol-deities of the Old Testament, "De Diis Syris." In 1618 he published his learned "History of Tythes," proving that among Christians they were by human law, and not of divine right. This work drew upon him the displeasure of James I., and greatly enraged the leaders of the Clergy. He was cited before the High Commission Court, and had to sign a paper expressing his regret for publishing

a work affecting the jus divinum view of the subject. The work was suppressed, and he was forbidden to reply to any attacks on it. "If you answer Dr. Montague," said James, "I will throw you into prison."

The nation was now in a very unquiet state. James was resolved to avail himself of the want of regularity at former times, and to make the Parliament entirely dependent on the royal will. The Parliament, on the other hand, relying on the undeniable facts and laws of the past, was not only becoming more acquainted with its rights, but more determined to assert and maintain them. The issue is well known. The successor of James appeared to be resolved to rule over England as an absolute Sovereign, and to compel the people to submit to a really Romanized Church. After keen debating, both parties drew the sword, and threw away the scabbard. With the Monarch, as Charles wished him to be, and the Church, as he and Laud endeavoured to make it, the nation at large had no sympathy. He was defeated; and became not less the victim of the ambition of others, than he was the martyr to his own usurpation of absolutely sovereign power, his unbending obstinacy, and his detected want of sincerity and good faith.

As a constitutional lawyer, Selden could not avoid supporting the Parliament in its opposition to James. In 1621 the Commons entered a protest in their journals, which the King tore out with his own hands. It began, as it is remarkable all similar documents by Englishmen have begun, not by referring to the cloudy, unsubstantial basis of metaphysical philosophy, but by asserting the rights secured to them by law. The declaration was, "That the liberties, franchises, privileges, and jurisdictions of Parliament, are the ancient and undoubted birthright and inheritance of the subjects of England." It has been supposed that the protest was drawn up by Selden himself. He had been previously counselled by the House, to which, being introduced, he spoke fully and freely on the subject, and expressed his opinion on the too visible Romanizing tendencies of the Church. The protest was occasioned by a letter from James, in which he had said, thus avowing his designs, "We cannot with patience endure our subjects

to use such anti-monarchical words to us concerning their liberties, except they subjoined that they were granted to them by grace and favour of our predecessors." The King dissolved the Parliament; and Selden, for having advised the protestation, was committed to prison, where, however, he continued little more than a month. He then retired to his usual studies, soon after publishing his "Mare Clausum;" but, when Parliament was again summoned, and met, (February, 1624,) he sat as one of the representatives for Lancaster: in the first Parliament of Charles, also, he sat for Great Bedwin. In 1626 he was chosen one of the managers of the impeachment of the Duke of Buckingham.

During the next two or three years, Selden appears in all the leading Parliamentary transactions. Some gentlemen having been imprisoned by the King's order for refusing to contribute to the compulsory loan which the King sought to levy, and so to render Parliamentary taxation needless, and one of them, Sir Edward Hampden, being brought before the Judges by writ of habeas corpus, we find Selden pleading his cause. In the Parliamentary recess of 1627, he devoted much attention to the inscriptions on the Arundel Marbles,* publishing his work on the subject the following year. He was likewise engaged in the Parliament which met in 1628, in supporting the celebrated "Petition of Right." To this petition the King reluctantly assented, but, when Parliament was dismissed, violated some of its most important provisions. Even the most moderate and constitutional friends of their country now began to be aroused. Parliament met in January, 1629; and in the course of its debates Selden said, (and such language from such a man, who was not to be moved from constitutional law by either King or Parliament, ought to have been an efficient warning,) "I believe it is high time to right ourselves; and until we vindicate ourselves, it will be in vain for us to sit here." Soon after this, a remonstrance to the King being moved, Sir John Finch, the Speaker, said, that the King had commanded him not to put the question. Selden earnestly reasoned with him, but without effect. Eight days after, Parliament was dissolved.

* We will take an early opportunity of giving an account of these.

The King was now determined to employ the Star Chamber to break down the opposition. Warrants were therefore issued against several of the members, Selden being among them. He was soon after committed to prison, and remained thirty months either in close confinement, or under arrest. For some time the imprisonment was severe; as he could scarcely obtain leave to procure a few books from friendly booksellers; but towards the latter end of his time, he was allowed to be nearly a prisoner at large. In 1631 he was released on bail, and in 1634 was exonerated even from this.

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For several years after this, he appears to have been chiefly occupied in his usual studies, and wrote several learned works. In 1636, when he received the highest compliment that could be paid to his work on the right of England to the dominion of the circumjacent seas, "His Majesty in Council" ordered that a copy should be kept in the Council-chest, a second in the Court of Exchequer, and a third in the Court of Admiralty, as faithful and strong evidence to the dominion of the British seas. For the next four years little is on record concerning him, though his employment may be inferred from the fact of his publishing, towards the conclusion of the term, his work, "De Jure Naturale et Gentium juxta Disciplinam Ebræorum" (Concerning the Law of Nature and Nations according to Jewish law). In 1640 a more active portion of his life is opened.

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(To be concluded in our next.)

SCRIPTURAL CONVERSATIONS:

BETWEEN GEORGE AND HIS MINISTER.

George. I AM desirous, Sir, of being assisted to investigate, with the serious attention which I see more and more clearly their importance demands, some of the remainder of those truly wonderful works of our Lord, to which our conversations have been latterly devoted.

Minister. And I shall be as glad to render the assistance, as you can be to receive it. Such investigations are not less profitable to myself, than you say they are to you. You, my young friend, are but just commencing the momentous course

of life; and happy is it for you that you desire to cleanse your way by taking heed thereto according to the word of God. For this purpose you seek to make yourself, as fully as possible, acquainted with the sacred writings which are able to make you wise unto salvation. I am more thankful than I can express, that I, too, at an early period, was led to regard this invaluable boon, in some measure at least, in its proper light, and that for many years, while I have read many books, almost as various as numerous, I have been preserved from the neglect of God's good word. I have read it repeatedly. And I now find it more precious than ever. But in my younger days, I had not the helps of which you may now avail yourself. There were not so many works professing to guide the youthful reader to a right understanding of the sacred volume. Biblical criticism itself was not brought down, as latterly it has been, to a more popular and accessible level. I had to make my own way, where now the path is well marked out; and very thankful am I that I now find myself, for the most part, in the very position to which those paths, had they been opened before me, would have conducted me. You will allow me, affectionately, to remind you of your greater advantages, and to exhort you to use them both industriously and rightly. Take the advice of one who may call himself, comparatively, an old man; who feels that life is declining; who sees the grave, in the visible prospect; and love your Bible. It may be a difficult book for the thoughtless and presumptuous. The unlearned and unstable, the untaught and the unsteady, may wrest the Scriptures, where they should be instructed by them. But to the humble-minded, to the truly pious, to those who are willing to take pains that they may know, and who wish to know that they may experience and practise, the Bible will not present itself as a dark enigma, of the true interpretation of which they must always stand in doubt. The good Shepherd speaks there; and they who desire to hear his voice, that they may follow him, shall not remain ignorant of his will. But on which of our Lord's miracles shall our attention be now fixed?

George. I have latterly been looking at the remarkable

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