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TABLE    TALK 


OF 


JOHN    SELDEN 


REYNOLDS 


Bonbon 

HENRY    FROWDE 

OXFORD  UNIVERSITY  PRESS  WAREHOUSE 
AMEN  CORNER,  E.G. 


(JUw 

ii3  FOURTH  AVENUE 


THE 


TABLE    TALK 


OF 


JOHN    SELDEN 


EDITED 

WITH  AN  INTRODUCTION  AND  NOTES 

BY 

SAMUEL    HARVEY    REYNOLDS,    M.A. 

LATE   FELLOW  AND   TUTOR   OF   BRASENOSE   COLLEGE 


AT    THE     CLARENDON    PRESS 

1892 


PRINTED    AT    THE    CLARENDON    PRESS 

BY  HORACE   HART,   PRINTER  TO  THE  UNIVERSITY 


CONTENTS 


INTRODUCTION 

List  of  editions  referred  to  in  the  notes 

Introductory  letter  or  dedication  by  Richard  Milward 

I.  Abbeys.    Priories          .... 

II.  Thirty-nine  Articles      .... 

III.  Baptism 

IV.  Bastard 

V.     Bible,  Scripture 

VI.  Bishops  before  the  Parliament      . 

VII.  Bishops  in  the  Parliament     . 

VIII.  Bishops  out  of  the  Parliament 

IX.  Books.    Authors    .        .        .        .        . 

X.     Canon  Law 

XI.    Ceremony 

XII.    Chancellor 

XIII.  Changing  Sides      ..... 

XIV.  Christians 

XV.     Christmas 

XVI.     Church 

XVII.     Church  of  Rome 

XVIII.    Churches 

XIX.    City 

XX.     Clergy 

XXI.    High  Commission 

XXII.  House  of  Commons       . 

XXIII.  Competency 

XXIV.  Confession 

XXV.    Great  Conjunction 

XXVI.  Conscience      . 

XXVII.    Consecrated  places 

XXVIII.    Contracts 

XXIX.    Convocation 

XXX.  Council    .                                 ... 


PACK 

ix 

xxvi 
i 
3 
5 
7 
8 

9 
13 
16 

23 
29 


32 
33 
35 
37 
38 
40 

4* 

42 

43 
45 
46 

47 
48 
ib. 
49 
5i 
52 
53 
ib. 


vi  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

XXXI.    Creed 53 

XXXII.    Damnation 54 

XXXIII.  Self-denial 55 

XXXIV.  Devils ib. 

XXXV.    Duel 58 

XXXVI.    Epitaph 60 

XXXVII.     Equity ib. 

XXXVIII.     Evil  speaking 62 

XXXIX.    Excommunication 64 

XL.    Fasting  Days 68 

XLI.     Fathers  and  Sons 69 

XLII.     Faith  and  Works ib. 

XLIII.     Fines 70 

XLIV.     Free-will 71 

XLV.    Friends ib. 

XLVI.     Friars ib. 

XLVII.    Genealogy  of  Christ 72 

XLVIII.    Gentlemen ib. 

XLIX.     Gold 73 

L.     Hall 74 

LI.    Hell                                          75 

LII.    Holy-days 77 

LIII.    Humility 78 

LIV.     Idolatry ib. 

LV.    Jews 79 

LVI.     Invincible  Ignorance ib. 

LVII.     Images 80 

LVIII.     Imperial  Constitutions 81 

LIX.     Imprisonment 82 

LX.     Incendiaries 83 

LXI.  Independency ib. 

LXII.    Things  Indifferent 85 

LXIII.    Public  Interest ib. 

LXIV.     Human  Invention ib. 

LXV.     God's  Judgments 86 

LXVI.    Judge 87 

LXVII.    Juggling 88 

LXVIII.    Jurisdiction ib. 

LXIX.    Jus  Divinum ib. 

LXX.    King .        .        .  89 

LXXI.    King  of  England 91 

LXXII.    The  King 94 

LXXIII.    Knight's  Service 97 

LXXIV.     Land ib. 

LXXV.    Language 98 


CONTENTS.  vii 

PAGE 

LXXVI.    Law 99 

LXXVII.    Law  of  Nature 101 

LXXVIII.    Learning 102 

LXXIX.    Lecturers        .                103 

LXXX.    Libels T05 

LXXXI.    Liturgy ib. 

LXXXII.    Lords  before  the  Parliament ib. 

LXXXI  1 1.     Lords  in  the  Parliament 107 

LXXXIV.     Marriage 109 

LXXXV.  Marriage  of  Cousin-Germans         ....  ib. 

LXXXVI.    Measure  of  Things no 

LXXXVII.    Difference  of  Men in 

LXXXVIII.     Minister  Divine 112 

LXXXIX.    Money 118 

XC.    Moral  Honesty 119 

XCI.  Mortgage         ........  120 

XCII.     Number ib. 

XCIII.    Oaths 121 

XCIV.    Oracles 123 

XCV.     Opinion 124 

XCVI.    Parity 125 

XCVII.    Parliament 126 

XCVIII.     Parson 129 

XCIX.    Patience 130 

C.     Peace ib. 

CI.     Penance 131 

CII.    People ib. 

CIII.     Philosophy 132 

CIV.    Pleasure  . ib. 

CV.    Poetry 134 

CVI.     Pope 136 

CVII.     Popery 139 

CVIII.    Power.    State 140 

CIX.     Prayer 143 

CX.     Preaching 144 

CXI.     Predestination 149 

CXII.     Preferment 151 

CXIII.     Prsemunire 153 

CXIV.    Prerogative 154 

CXV.     Presbytery ib. 

CXVI.    Priests  of  Rome 157 

CXVII.    Prophecies 159 

CXVIII.    Proverbs ib. 

CXIX.    Question 160 

CXX.  Reason  ib. 


viii  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

CXXI.    Religion .  161 

CXXII.     Non-Residency 167 

CXXIII.     Retaliation 168 

CXXIV.     Reverence ib. 

CXXV.    Sabbath 169 

CXXVI.    Sacrament 170 

CXXVII.    Salvation ib. 

CXXVIII.    Ship-Money 171 

CXXIX.    Simony ib. 

CXXX.    State 172 

CXXXI.     Subsidies 173 

CXXXII.     Superstition ib. 

CXXXIII.     Synod  Assembly 174 

CXXXIV.    Thanksgiving 177 

CXXXV.     Tithes ib. 

CXXXVI.    Trade       ....                                         .  181 

CXXXVII.     Tradition 182 

CXXXVIII.     Transubstantiation ib. 

CXXXIX.     Traitor 183 

CXL.    Trial ib. 

CXLI.     Trinity 185 

CXLII.     Truth 186 

CXLIII.     University 187 

CXLIV.     Vows 188 

CXLV.     Usury ib. 

CXLVI.     Pious  Uses 189 

CXLVII.     War 190 

CXLVIII.    Wife 194 

CXLIX.    Wisdom ib. 

CL.    Witches 195 

CLI.    Wit ib. 

CLII.    Women 196 

CLIII.     Year 197 

CLIV.    Zealots 199 

EXCURSUS  A.    Excommunication 201 

„          B.     Incendiaries 202 

„          C.     The  King's  Chapel  Establishment      .        .        .  205 

„          D.    The  Prior  of  St.  John 206 

„          E.     Questions  sent  to  the  Assembly ....  208 

„          F.     Changes  in  present  Text 209 

„         G.     Testimonies  and  Criticisms  about  Selden  .        .  211 

INDEX 213 


INTRODUCTION 


IT  is  now  more  than  thirty  years  since  the  late 
Mark  Pattison  suggested  to  me  to  prepare  an  edition  of 
Selden's  Table  Talk,  and  gave  me  some  valuable  hints  as 
to  the  way  in  which  a  work  of  the  kind  ought  to  be  done. 
Pattison  was  an  enthusiast  for  Selden ;  he  considered 
him  a  typical  Englishman,  at  once  a  representative  of  the 
best  points  in  the  distinctively  English  character,  and 
wholly  free  from  its  common  prejudices  and  shortcomings. 
Selden  had  certainly  what  have  been  termed  the  three  main 
interests  of  Englishmen,  politics,  business  and  religion. 
His  Table  Talk  gives  us  specimens  of  his  remarks  on  all 
three,  but  on  matters  of  business  not  so  many  as  on  the 
other  two.  That  the  conversations  which  it  reports  were 
held  between  1634  and  1654,  the  year  in  which  Selden  died, 
may  be  assumed  with  certainty.  The  reporter,  Milward, 
says  in  his  introductory  letter  that  he  had  had  the  oppor 
tunity  to  hear  Selden  discourse  twenty  years  together,  and 
he  thus  fixes  the  range  of  time  which  his  notes  cover. 
Now  the  letters  referred  to  in  Tythes,  sec.  6,  bear  date 
in  the  Autumn  of  1653,  so  that  the  conversation  about 
them  must  have  come  very  shortly  before  Selden's  death. 
The  chief  part  of  the  discourse  is  about  contemporary 
events,  and  Selden's  remarks  upon  these  throw  an 


x  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

interesting  light  on  the  history  of  his  opinions  and  on  his 
attitude  to  the  parties  of  his  day. 

The  early  history  of  the  book  must  be  left  incomplete 
on  many  points.  It  seems  clear,  as  Mr.  Singer  has  pointed 
out,  that  the  MS.  of  it  was  put  together  within  a  few  years 
of  Selden's  death.  He  finds  proof  of  this  in  Milward's 
introductory  letter  where  he  speaks  of  '  Mr.  Justice 
Hale,  one  of  the  Judges  of  the  Common  Pleas/  Hale, 
afterwards  Sir  Matthew  Hale,  ceased  to  be  a  judge  of  the 
Common  Pleas  in  1658  on  Cromwell's  death.  It  is  clear 
too  from  this  introductory  letter,  that  when  the  MS.  was 
ready  it  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  Selden's  Executors, 
probably  in  the  hands  of  Hale,  whose  name  stands  first  in 
the  list.  But  what  became  of  it  afterwards  I  do  not  know. 
It  is  not  to  be  found  among  Sir  Matthew  Hale's  papers  in 
the  Lincoln's  Inn  Library.  The  collection  includes  several 
of  Selden's  own  papers,  some  of  them  unpublished  as 
yet,  but  no  part  of  the  Table  Talk.  I  have  to  thank  the 
Librarian  for  his  courtesy  in  placing  within  my  reach  very 
full  means  of  information  on  this  point.  Now  the  earliest 
printed  edition  did  not  come  out  until  1689,  more  than 
thirty  years  after  the  MS.  had  been  prepared.  Of  the 
history  of  the  book  in  the  meanwhile  we  know  little  or 
nothing.  In  some  form  or  other  it  must  have  been  acces 
sible,  for  it  is  certain  that  there  were  copies  made  from  it 
or  from  some  second-hand  rendering  of  it.  But  the  long 
time  which  was  suffered  to  pass  before  it  was  sent  to 
press,  suggests  that  there  were  parts  of  it  which  its 
trustees  did  not  approve,  and  there  are  some  at  which 
they  may  have  taken  very  reasonable  offence.  Religious 
questions  are  handled  with  a  freedom  of  expression  not  at 
all  to  Hale's  mind :  the  political  sentiments  are  not  those 
of  Hale  himself,  and  the  book  is  disgraced  by  the  insertion 
of  several  indecent  references  and  expressions,  which  add 
nothing  to  the  force  of  the  passages  in  which  they  occur, 


INTRODUCTION.  xi 

and  which  Selden  himself  could  hardly  have  wished 
should  go  down  to  posterity  as  specimens  of  his  every 
day  talk. 

After  the  Restoration,  and  during  the  whole  reigns  of 
Charles  II  and  James  II,  not  even  the  remainder  of  the 
Table  Talk  could  have  been  received  with  much  approval. 
The  course  of  opinion  and  of  events  was  setting  another 
way;  and  Selden's  outspoken  words,  his  attack  on  the 
divine  right  equally  of  kings  and  of  bishops,  his  reduc 
tion  of  the  Monarchy  to  a  limited  constitutional  form, 
his  love  of  liberty,  his  insistence  on  obedience  to  law  as 
part  of  a  contract  by  which  kings  and  subjects  were  alike 
bound — all  this  would  have  been  very  unlike  the  theory 
that  found  favour  under  the  Stuarts.  When  the  book  at 
length  appeared,  in  1689,  it  was  in  a  form  which  leaves 
much  to  be  desired,  replete  as  it  is  with  blunders  and 
in  more  than  one  place  making  downright  nonsense  of 
the  passage.  The  present  edition  does  something  to 
bring  the  text  back  to  what  it  must  originally  have  been, 
and  it  certainly  clears  away  some  gross  faults  of  which 
neither  Selden  nor  his  reporter  can  have  been  the  origin 
ating  cause.  The  Harleian  MS.,  No.  1315,  in  the  British 
Museum  Library,  has  been  taken  as  the  basis  of  the  text. 
The  Library  has  three  MSS.  of  the  Table  Talk.  To  the 
earliest  of  these,  the  Harleian,  No.  690,  the  date  assigned 
by  Mr.  Warner,  the  Assistant  Keeper  of  MSS.,  is  circa 
1670.  Next  in  order  of  time  and  a  little  later  comes 
the  Sloane  MS.,  No.  2513,  and  latest  of  the  three  is  the 
Harleian,  No.  1315,  for  which  the  posterior  limit  of  date 
can  (for  reasons  which  I  shall  presently  explain)  be  fixed 
with  certainty  as  1689.  Mr.  Warner's  authority  as  a 
palaeographist  is  so  high  that  his  opinion  may  be  taken 
as  conclusive.  It  is  certain,  however,  that  no  one  of  these 
MSS.  can  have  been  the  original  copy  of  the  Table  Talk. 
The  Harleian  690,  the  earliest  of  the  three,  leaves  blank 


xii  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

spaces  for  all  the  Greek  words  under  the  heading 
'  Descent  into  Hell/  and  besides  numerous  other  faults, 
blunders  badly  with  the  French.  The  Sloane  MS.  is 
even  more  out  of  the  question.  Besides  its  later  date, 
it  abounds  throughout  with  blunders,  grammatical  and 
others,  of  the  most  obvious  kind.  Some  of  these  have 
been  corrected  by  a  later  hand,  but  the  paper  on  which 
the  MS.  is  written  is  so  very  like  blotting-paper  that 
almost  every  correction  or  change  involves  a  deletion  of 
the  original  text.  The  Harleian  1315  is  of  much  better 
stamp  than  the  Sloane.  It  accords  very  nearly  with  the 
MS.  690,  and  it  has  a  special  authority  of  its  own  by 
reason  of  an  inscription  on  the  back  side  of  the  title, 
which,  as  Harley's  Librarian  says,  was  written  in  it  by 
Harley  himself.  The  inscription  runs  thus — '  This  book 
was  given  in  168  (the  final  figure  is  unfortunately  want 
ing)  by  Charles  erle  of  Dorset  and  Middlesex  to  a  book 
seller  in  Fleet  Street,  in  order  to  have  it  printed :  but  the 
bookseller  delaying  to  have  it  done,  Mr.  Thomas  Rymer 
sold  a  copy  he  procured  to  Mr.  Churchill,  who  printed 
it  as  it  came  out  in  169  .  .  .'  This  inscription  is  dated 
February  17,  1697.  It  thus  fixes  the  date  of  the  MS.  as 
not  later  than  1689,  and  gives  it  an  authority  of  its  own, 
since  it  stands  as  proof  that,  but  for  the  printer's  delay, 
it  would  have  been  the  basis  of  the  earliest  printed  edition. 
The  inscription  is  incorrect  on  one  point,  since  it  implies 
that  the  edition  of  169  .  .  .  (presumably  the  edition  printed 
in  1696,  by  Jacob  Tonson  and  Awnsham  and  John  Church- 
hill)  was  the  first  that  had  appeared.  This,  as  we  have 
seen,  is  not  so.  The  first  printed  edition  came  out  in 
1689. 

For  bringing  back  the  text  to  some  nearer  approach  to 
its  original  and  correct  form,  the  choice  lay  between  the 
Harleian  MSS.  690  and  1315.  Both  contain  excellent 
readings,  and  the  two  together,  with  occasional  help  from 


INTRODUCTION.  xiii 

the  Sloane  MS.  and  from  the  early  printed  editions,  supply 
material  for  a  fairly  satisfactory  revision.  But  where  no 
notice  appears  to  the  contrary,  the  text  now  printed  is  that 
of  the  Harleian  MS.  1315.  In  all  three  MSS.  several 
passages  which  have  been  detached  from  the  body  of  the 
book  are  misplaced,  or  are  added  in  an  Appendix  at  the 
end.  These,  in  the  present  edition,  have  been  put  back 
to  the  places  to  which  they  properly  belong,  and  as  they 
appear  in  the  edition  of  1689.  This,  and  an  occasional 
change  of  the  spelling  where  it  was  obsolete  or  obviously 
incorrect,  are  the  only  changes  which  have  been  made 
without  notice.  Those  who  set  a  value  on  the  vagaries  of 
a  half-lettered  scribe,  will  find  them  in  abundance  and  of 
all  sorts  in  the  Sloane  MS.  2513. 

With  all  helps,  but  in  the  absence  of  any  conclusive 
authority,  the  settlement  of  the  text  has  been  a  matter  of 
difficulty  and  doubt.  In  deciding  between  different  read 
ings,  or  in  conjectural  emendations,  I  have  taken  as  my 
guide  Selden's  own  rule.  '  A  man/  he  says,  '  must  in  this 
case  venture  his  discretion,  and  do  his  best  to  satisfy  him 
self  and  others  in  those  places  where  he  doubts/  It  is 
safe  to  assume  that  Selden  did  not  talk  nonsense,  and  that 
he  was  not  ignorant  of  matters  with  which  his  published 
works  prove  him  to  have  been  perfectly  conversant.  For 
example,  when  he  is  made  to  say  that  a  suffragan  was  no 
bishop,  we  may  conclude  with  certainty  that  he  did  not  say 
this,  although  the  MSS.  and  the  early  printed  editions 
agree  in  putting  it  into  his  mouth.  When  he  is  made  to 
speak  of  Sir  Richard  Weston  as  the  Prior  of  St.  John's, 
and  of  Valentine's  novels  as  laying  down  the  limits  of 
episcopal  jurisdiction,  I  have  borne  in  mind  Porson's 
remark  that  no  editor  in  his  senses  adopts  a  reading 
which  he  knows  to  be  wrong,  and  I  have  changed  the  text 
accordingly.  But  in  every  instance  the  reader  has  notice 
of  the  change. 


xiv  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

Milward,  in  his  introductory  letter,  requests  the  reader 
to  distinguish  times,  and  in  his  fancy  to  carry  along  with 
him  the  when  and  the  why  many  of  these  things  were 
spoken.  The  alphabetical  arrangement  of  the  matter  of 
the  book  gives  us  no  help  here.  There  is  no  attempt  at  a 
chronological  order.  Times  are  confused  throughout,  and 
we  pass  from  subject  to  subject  with  no  notice  of  either 
when  or  why  except  such  as  we  can  gather  from  the  con 
tents  of  each  paragraph.  I  have  done  what  I  could,  in  an 
imperfect  tentative  way,  to  supply  the  want.  Out  of  the 
great  stream  of  events  and  writings  and  speeches  which 
formed,  so  to  say,  the  environment  of  Selden's  life,  I  have 
picked  out,  here  and  there,  what  seemed  likely  to  have 
suggested  some  of  his  remarks.  In  some  instances  the 
reference  has  been  clear  and  certain ;  in  some  his  pub 
lished  writings  have  given  the  clue,  and  have  served  to 
supplement  the  imperfect  information  in  the  Table  Talk  as 
well  as  to  correct  mistakes  which  must  have  been  due  to 
his  reporter  not  to  himself.  Of  his  very  numerous  works, 
his  History  of  Tithes  is  the  only  one  to  which  he  makes 
direct  reference  in  the  Table  Talk.  (See  Tithes,  sec.  6.) 

Selden  was  born  in  1584.  In  1600  he  entered  at  Hart 
Hall,  Oxford.  In  1602  he  was  a  law-student  at  Clifford's 
Inn,  and  thence  migrated  to  the  Inner  Temple  in  1604. 
He  soon  became  known  as  a  man  of  vast  and  exact  learn 
ing.  So  great  was  his  fame  as  a  constitutional  lawyer, 
that  before  he  became  a  member  of  Parliament  he  was 
often  called  in  to  advise  the  House  on  questions  of  prero 
gative,  and  he  is  credited  with  having  had  a  principal  part 
in  framing  the  Protestation  of  1621 — a  service  for  which 
he  paid  the  penalty  of  five  weeks'  imprisonment  by  order 
of  the  Council.  He  was  thus  already  a  marked  man 
when,  in  1624,  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  House,  a 
position  which  he  held  in  several  Parliaments,  viz.  in  1626, 
1628,  and  in  the  second  Parliament  of  1640.  It  was  not 


INTRODUCTION.  xv 

long  before  he  again  became  a  prominent  champion  of 
the  Parliamentary  cause  and  an  opponent  of  the  high 
handed  acts  of  injustice  done  by  the  King  or  in  the 
King's  name.  His  knowledge  of  past  history  and  of 
precedents  made  him  a  valuable  ally,  and  when  the 
Petition  of  Right  was  drawn  up,  Selden  was  one  of  those 
who  had  been  appointed  to  give  help  in  preparing  it. 
This,  and  his  general  outspokenness  in  his  place  in  the 
House,  marked  him  out,  a  second  time,  as  a  proper  object 
for  royal  vengeance.  In  the  spring  of  1629  he  was  one 
of  what  he  terms  the  '  Parliament  men  imprisoned  tertio 
Caroli,'  by  a  stretch  of  the  prerogative,  aided  and  ren 
dered  effective  by  the  subservient  temper  of  the  judges 
before  whom  the  prisoners  were  brought.  Denzil  Hollis, 
Eliot,  and  Valentine  were  among  his  fellow  prisoners — an 
illustrious  company,  in  which  Selden  may  not  have  been 
unwilling  to  find  himself  included.  The  charge  against 
them  had  to  do  with  their  conduct  and  language  in  Par 
liament — matters  about  which  no  challenge  could  legally 
be  made  by  any  outside  authority.  The  judges  would 
have  bailed  the  prisoners  if  they  would  have  given 
security  for  their  future  good  behaviour,  but  this  at 
Selden's  instance  they  most  properly  refused  to  do.  It 
would  have  been  a  surrender  of  their  privilege  for  the 
past,  and  a  check  on  their  future  liberty  of  deed  or  word. 
They  were  accordingly  committed  to  the  Tower,  and 
though  in  Selden's  case  the  confinement  did  not  last 
long,  and  his  treatment  was  not  harsh,  yet  the  restraint 
was  an  outrage  which  he  did  rightly  to  resent,  and  which 
in  his  case  and  in  that  of  his  fellow  sufferers  was  of  grave 
and  lasting  injury  to  the  cause  which  it  was  intended  to 
serve.  In  politics,  as  in  religion,  it  is  useless  to  play  at 
persecution.  Charles  by  his  half  measures  succeeded 
only  in  making  enemies  of  those  whom  he  had  hoped 
to  terrify  into  submission.  Selden  was  not  the  most 


xvi  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

formidable  or  the  most  bitter,  but  neither  then  nor  in  the 
future  was  he  an  adversary  whom  it  was  at  all  safe  to 
provoke. 

But  just  as  Selden  started  as  a  Parliamentary  champion 
on  strictly  constitutional  grounds,  so  it  was  not  long 
before  the  proceedings  of  the  second  Parliament  of  1640 
forced  him  into  more  or  less  of  an  antagonism  to  his  old 
allies.  We  have  several  traces  in  the  Table  Talk  of  his 
growing  coolness  towards  the  advanced  section  of  the 
Parliamentary  party.  Not,  indeed,  that  his  breach  with 
his  old  friends  had  gone  so  far  as  to  drive  him  into  the 
opposite  camp,  expectant  as  it  was  and  ready  to  welcome 
him  if  he  had  come  over  to  it.  He  still  held  that  the 
original  contract  between  king  and  people  had  been 
broken,  and  that  the  subjects  had  thus  been  released 
from  their  promise  of  obedience.  The  quarrel,  he  saw 
clearly,  had  gone  so  far  that  it  must  be  settled  by  an 
appeal  to  arms.  It  was  a  contest  now,  in  which  the 
original  issues  had  become  obscured,  'a  scuffle/  as  he 
terms  it,  between  two  sets  of  opponents  with  neither  of 
whom  could  he  identify  himself.  They  must  fight  it  out 
between  themselves,  and  leave  decent  quiet  people  to 
their  own  business  or  to  their  books. 

The  outbreak  of  the  civil  war  accordingly  found  him 
lukewarm,  if  not  indifferent.  He  could  look  with  no  satis 
faction  to  the  victory  of  either  side,  to  the  king's  high 
handed  disregard  of  law,  or  to  the  puritans'  zeal  not 
according  to  knowledge,  and  for  objects  many  of  which 
he  disapproved.  With  the  authors  of  the  revolution  of 
1689  he  would  have  been  more  entirely  in  agreement. 
The  declared  policy  of  the  new  rule  was  just  what  he 
had  himself  stood  up  for  in  evil  days  when  power  was 
triumphant  over  right.  The  year  for  the  publication  of 
the  Table  Talk  was  thus  well  chosen.  When  the  illegal 
rule  of  James  II  had  been  ended,  and  when  the  Bill  of 


INTRODUCTION.  xvii 

Rights  had  settled  the  government  of  England  after  the 
type  which  Selden  approved,  then  and  not  till  then  was 
his  Table  Talk  given  to  the  world.  The  day  had  at  length 
come  in  which  Selden's  own  principles  were  in  the  as 
cendant,  it  was  the  triumph  of  the  only  cause  for  which 
he  had  ever  cared  personally  to  contend. 

After  the  beginning  of  the  civil  war,  there  is  not  much 
in  Selden's  public  career  that  calls  for  notice  here.  The 
references  in  the  Table  Talk  to  the  public  events  of  the 
time  are  few  and  indistinct.  We  have  no  word  about 
Charles'  trial  and  execution,  or  about  Cromwell's  rise 
and  administration.  It  is  hardly  possible  that  these 
should  not  have  been  frequent  matters  of  table  talk,  but 
we  have  no  record  of  them  in  Milward's  report.  Has 
Milward  avoided  keeping  a  record  of  them,  or  has  the 
Table  Talk,  prior  to  publication,  been  curtailed  and 
bowdlerised  in  a  political  sense  ?  Or  has  Selden  kept 
carefully  to  his  rule  that  wise  men  say  nothing  in 
dangerous  times  (Wisdom,  3),  and  that  the  wisest  way 
for  men  in  these  times  is  to  say  nothing  (Peace,  i)?  If 
he  did  say  anything,  we  have  certainly  no  record  of  it. 
The  chief  subject  to  which  he  again  and  again  refers 
is  of  a  very  different  class.  In  1643  he  was  appointed 
one  of  the  learned  pious  members  of  the  Westminster 
Assembly  of  Divines,  and  the  Table  Talk  abounds  with 
proofs  of  the  kind  of  interest  which  he  long  continued 
to  feel  in  his  new  work.  The  Assembly  was  formed  of 
all  parties  in  the  Church  and  out  of  it.  The  prelatical 
party  were  included  in  it,  but  they  studiously  did  not 
attend.  The  rest  were  Presbyterians  with  a  moderate 
infusion  of  Independents  and  Erastians.  Selden,  it  is 
certain,  had  no  great  love  for  bishops  and  clergy,  but 
he  did  not  regard  them  with  the  contemptuous  dislike 
which  he  felt  for  the  main  body  of  their  non-conformist 
opponents.  The  lofty  claims  and  the  ignorance  and 

b 


xviii  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

intolerance  of  the  Presbyterian  section;  the  ranting  of 
the  more  ignorant  Roundhead  under  the  influence  of 
what  he  termed  the  Spirit,  were  even  less  to  his  mind 
than  the  prelatical  party  had  been. 

In  the  Westminster  Assembly  of  Divines  it  was  with 
the  Presbyterians  that  he  came  chiefly  into  conflict. 
They  formed  a  clear  majority,  and  as  far  as  votes  went, 
contrived  to  carry  things  pretty  well  in  their  own  way. 
This,  however,  was  the  limit  of  their  success.  The 
House  of  Commons  refused  to  ratify  their  claims  to  a 
free  spiritual  jurisdiction,  or  to  acknowledge  the  divine 
right  by  which  they  claimed  to  hold  their  ministry.  In 
debate  they  were  no  less  unfortunate.  Selden,  by  the 
evidence  of  friends  and  of  enemies,  was  one  of  the  chief 
thorns  in  their  side.  It  was  his  way  to  lead  them  on  to 
argue,  to  amuse  himself  with  their  mistakes  and  con 
tradictions,  and  to  bring  to  bear  his  formidable  battery 
of  learning  against  their  favourite  doctrinal  strongholds. 
His  services  in  this  sort  were,  as  we  might  suppose, 
very  variously  regarded.  His  friend  and  fellow  divine, 
Mr.  Whitelock,  a  sound  Erastian  like  himself,  writes — 

'  Divers  members  of  both  houses,  whereof  I  was  one, 
were  members  of  the  Assembly  of  Divines,  and  had 
the  same  liberty  with  the  Divines  to  sit  and  debate  and 
give  their  votes  ....  In  which  debates  Mr.  Selden  spake 
admirably,  and  confuted  divers  of  them  in  their  own 
learning. 

1  And  sometimes  when  they  had  cited  a  text  of  Scripture 
to  prove  their  assertion,  he  would  tell  them,  Perhaps  in 
your  little  pocket  Bibles  with  gilt  leaves  (which  they  would 
often  pull  out  and  read)  the  Translation  may  be  thus,  but 
the  Greek  or  the  Hebrew  signifies  thus  and  thus ;  and 
so  would  totally  silence  them/  (Memorials,  p.  71.) 

Anthony  a  Wood,  in  his  Athenae,  quotes  Aubrey  to  the 
same  effect :  — 


INTRODUCTION.  xix 

'  He  was  one  of  the  Assembly  of  Divines  in  those  days, 
and  was  like  a  thorn  in  their  sides,  for  he  was  able  to 
run  them  all  down  with  his  Greeke  and  antiquities/ 

Fuller,  in  his  Church  History,  speaks  less  approvingly 
of  the  work,  but  bears  testimony  to  the  skill  with  which 
it  was  done.  '  The  Assembly/  he  says,  '  met  with  many 
difficulties,  some  complaining  of  Mr.  Selden,  that  ad 
vantaged  by  his  skill  in  antiquity,  common  law  and  the 
oriental  tongues,  he  employed  them  rather  to  pose  than 
profit,  perplex  than  inform  the  members  thereof  in  the 
fourteen  queries  he  propounded.  Whose  intent  was  to 
humble  the  jure  divinoship  of  Presbytery  .  .  .  This  great 
scholar,  not  overloving  of  any  (and  least  of  all  these) 
clergymen,  delighted  himself  in  raising  of  scruples  for 
the  vexing  of  others ;  and  some  stick  not  to  say  that 
those  who  will  not  feed  on  the  flesh  of  God's  word,  cast 
most  bones  to  others  to  break  their  teeth  therewith/ 
(Church  History,  Bk.  XL  sec.  ix.  §  54.) 

But  when  we  pass  from  friends  and  neutrals  to  Selden's 
opponents  in  the  Assembly,  we  find  more  ample  proof 
than  ever  of  his  prominence  and  of  the  vigour  of  his 
destructive  work.  Poor  Robert  Baillie,  a  worthy  Scotch 
Presbyterian,  who  had  come  up  from  Glasgow  to  join 
the  Assembly  of  Divines,  bringing  with  him  the  pure 
light  of  the  Gospel  as  it  was  understood  in  those  parts, 
found  Selden  terribly  in  his  way  in  the  Assembly  and 
afterwards  in  Parliament.  Baillie  speaks  sadly  of  '  Selden 
and  others  who  will  have  no  discipline  at  all  in  any 
Church  jure  divino,  but  settled  only  upon  the  free  will 
and  pleasure  of  the  Parliament/  (Letters  and  Journals, 
ii.  31.) 

He  rises  presently  to  a  more  vigorous  form  of  de 
nunciation,  after  proof  given  of  the  effectiveness  of 
Selden's  antagonism. 

'  The  Erastian  party  in  the  Parliament  is  stronger  than  the 

b  2 


xx  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

Independent,  and  is  like  to  work  us  much  woe.  Selden  is 
their  head.  If  L'Empereur  would  beat  down  that  man's 
arrogance  as  he  very  well  can  ....  if  he  would  confound 
him  with  Hebrew  testimonies,  it  would  lay  Selden's  vanity, 
who  is  very  insolent  for  his  oriental  literature/  (Vol.  ii. 
p.  107.)  Whether  this  call  on  L'Empereur  to  the  rescue 
was  heard,  I  do  not  know.  I  have  found  no  trace  that 
it  was  in  any  part  of  Selden's  writings.  In  Book  I.  of  his 
De  Synedriis  Veterum  Ebrseorum,  Selden  quotes  L'Em- 
pereur  and  praises  him  as  '  doctissimus  vir/  On  one 
point  he  disagrees  with  him,  but  on  a  wholly  different 
matter  from  those  about  which  Baillie  was  in  need  of  help. 
(See  Works,  i.  874.)  The  De  Synedriis  was  published  in 
1650,  two  years  after  L'Empereur's  death. 

In  dealing  with  the  successive  religious  questions  of  his 
day,  Selden's  language  is  substantially  the  same.  The 
Table  Talk,  it  will  be  seen,  relates  to  two  wholly  distinct 
periods, — to  that  of  the  attempted  High  Church  movement 
under  Laud's  impulse  and  guidance,  and  to  the  counter 
movement  when  the  Presbyterians  were  in  power.  The 
former  of  these  was  recognised  by  the  leaders  of  the 
Oxford  movement  of  1833  as  in  the  main  identical  with 
their  own,  since  Laud's  claims  for  the  Church  served  to 
bring  into  prominence  just  those  principles  and  beliefs 
which  they  themselves  advocated,  and  which  the  Reforma 
tion  had  tended  to  obscure.  Laud's  failure  is  explained  in 
the  Table  Talk.  The  promoters  of  the  movement  were  in 
too  great  a  hurry.  They  forced  things  on  too  suddenly, 
and  in  such  a  way  as  to  give  offence  to  those  whom  it 
would  have  been  easy  to  conciliate  by  more  gradual  and 
more  gentle  methods.  With  the  aims  and  purposes  of  the 
movement  Selden  had  no  sympathy,  nor  had  he  any  with 
those  of  its  more  violent  and  fanatical  opponents.  He 
is  thus  in  almost  equal  antagonism  to  each  of  the  two 
parties  which  became  dominant  by  turns.  If  he  sometimes 


INTRODUCTION.  xxi 

defends  the  bishops,  it  is  not  because  he  has  any  love  for 
them,  but  because  there  must  be  some  form  of  Church 
government,  and  there  was  no  body  more  to  his  mind  that 
could  be  put  into  the  bishops'  place.  On  their  claim  to 
rule  jure  divino,  he  speaks  with  great  scorn,  but  he  is  no 
less  scornful  to  those  who  think  them  so  anti-Christian 
that  they  must  be  put  away.  In  such  matters  as  these, 
'  all  is  as  the  State  likes/  From  first  to  last  Selden  shows 
himself  firm  and  consistent  as  an  Erastian. 

His  own  personal  religion  has  been  a  matter  of  some 
controversy.  '  Gentlemen/  he  remarks,  '  have  ever  been 
more  temperate  in  their  religion  than  the  common  people, 
as  having  more  reason;  the  others  running  in  a  hurry.' 
Selden  himself  was  no  exception  to  the  rule.  Temperate 
he  certainly  was  ;  indifferent  or  lukewarm  he  would  have 
been  termed  by  the  more  zealous.  Baxter,  indeed,  reports, 
on  the  authority  of  Sir  M.  Hale,  that  Selden  was  'a  re 
solved  serious  Christian,  an  adversary  to  Hobbes,'  and 
that  the  opposition  between  them  was  sometimes  so  sharp 
that  Selden  either  departed  from  Hobbes  or  drove  him  out 
of  the  room.  But  these  alleged  contests  do  not  prove 
much.  Both  parties  to  them  were  men  of  strong  opinions 
and  of  somewhat  overbearing  tempers.  If  they  quarrelled 
occasionally,  as  they  very  probably  did,  it  is  much  more 
likely  that  their  quarrels  were  about  politics  than  about  re 
ligion.  Religion,  they  both  held,  was  a  matter  to  be  settled 
by  the  State,  and  as  the  State  settled  it,  so  it  was  to  be.  In 
politics  they  were  less  at  one.  Selden,  as  the  upholder  of 
a  constitutional  monarchy  based  on  an  assumed  contract 
which  both  parties  were  alike  bound  to  observe,  could  never 
have  been  brought  to  agree  with  Hobbes,  the  champion 
of  a  monarchy  in  which  no  misconduct  on  the  monarch's 
part  could  give  the  subjects  any  right  to  resist.  For  proof, 
then,  of  Selden's  religious  faith  we  must  look  elsewhere. 
We  shall  not  find  it  in  Clarendon,  who  with  all  his  praise 


xxii  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

of  Selden's  learning,  humanity,  courtesy,  affability,  and 
delight  in  doing  good,  is  silent  on  the  point  of  his  religion. 
Nor  will  Usher  help  us  with  his  very  laudatory  funeral 
sermon,  in  which  he  finds  every  excellence  in  Selden,  but 
says  nothing  of  his  piety,  because,  as  his  hearers  thought, 
he  could  find  nothing  which  he  could  say  with  truth.  The 
discussions  about  religion  in  the  Table  Talk  are  not,  in 
deed,  in  the  language  of  a  theoretical  sceptic.  They  show, 
beyond  doubt,  that  Selden  constantly  professed  a  belief  in 
revealed  religion.  But  they  are  not  at  all  what  we  should 
expect  from  a  resolved  serious  Christian.  They  are  rather 
in  the  language  of  one  who  takes  religion  under  his  wing, 
and  finds  it — like  the  virtue  of  humility— very  good  doc 
trine  for  other  people.  Their  author  will  show  respect  to 
the  established  religion  of  his  country,  but  he  has  no  great 
care  what  form  it  takes,  except  as  far  as  it  is  a  powerful 
political  engine  which  must  not  be  suffered  to  fall  into 
hands  which  will  turn  it  to  a  mischievous  use.  D'Ewes, 
who  knew  Selden  personally,  took  such  offence  at  his 
seeming  want  of  religion  that  he  did  not  seek  to  be 
intimate  with  him. 

His  death-bed  scene — he  died  in  November  1654 — has, 
as  we  might  expect,  been  very  variously  reported.  Lord 
Berkeley *  tells  us  of  the  pious  friends  whom  he  summoned 
to  be  with  him  at  the  last,  and  of  his  own  expressed  trust 
in  the  promises  of  Holy  Scripture  as  his  best  and  only 
comfort  at  so  anxious  a  time.  On  the  other  hand, 
Aubrey's  account,  as  quoted  in  Wood's  Athenae,  is  that — 
'When  he  was  neer  death,  the  minister  (Mr.  Johnson) 
was  coming  to  him  to  assoile  him ;  Mr.  Hobbes  happened 
then  to  be  there :  sayd  he,  "  What,  will  you  that  have 
wrote  like  a  man,  now  dye  like  a  woman?"  So  the 
minister  was  not  let  in.'  But  death-bed  stories  are  pro- 

1  See  Historical  Applications,  &c.,  written  by  a  Person  of  Honour,  p.  32,  and 
Josiah  Woodward's  Fair  Warnings  to  a  Careless  World,  p.  129 


INTRODUCTION.  xxiii 

verbially  '  common  form.'  They  tell  us  more  often  what 
the  narrator  wishes  to  believe,  than  what  he  has  any 
good  authority  for.  We  find  accordingly  that  Selden's 
editor  and  biographer,  Archdeacon  Wilkins,  accepts  and 
records  Lord  Berkeley's  story,  and  says  nothing  what 
ever  about  Aubrey's.  (Works,  vol.  i,  Vita  Authoris, 
p.  xlv.) 

Selden's  vast  and  varied  learning  was  recognised  in 
his  own  day  by  the  general  testimony  of  scholars  in 
England  and  on  the  Continent,  and  the  fame  of  it  still 
survives.  But  this  is  all  that  can  be  said.  As  a  writer, 
he  has  never  been  popular,  and  is  never  likely  to  be.  His 
reputation,  like  that  of  Johnson,  depends  more  upon  what 
has  been  written  about  him  or  has  fallen  from  him  in  con 
versation,  than  upon  any  writings  of  his  own.  This  is 
due,  in  Selden's  case,  about  equally  to  the  matter  and 
to  the  manner  of  his  works.  The  subjects  which  he 
treats  relate,  some  of  them  to  the  questions  of  his  own 
day,  others  to  points  of  real  permanent  interest,  but  only 
to  the  antiquarian  reader,  nor  had  he  the  art  of  popular 
ising  what  he  wrote.  Much  of  what  he  has  written  is  in 
Latin,  and  his  Latin  style,  correct  as  it  is,  is  strangely 
rough  and  inelegant.  Not  seldom  it  presents  an  involved 
series  of  parentheses  within  parentheses,  until  at  length 
the  grammatical  structure  with  which  we  start  is  put  out  of 
sight  and  lost.  When  this  difficulty  has  been  overcome,  and 
when  the  reader  has  at  last  succeeded  in  evolving  order 
out  of  the  confused  and  disorderly  mass,  the  result  often 
is  that  he  finds  after  all  that  he  has  gained  nothing  for 
his  pains.  Selden's  digressions  are  so  frequent  and  so 
perplexing  as  often  to  make  it  really  doubtful  what  his 
drift  can  possibly  have  been  in  his  Latin  or  in  his  English 
works.  He  draws  at  random  on  his  vast  stores,  until  the 
thread  of  his  argument  is  lost  by  his  many  and  prolonged 
and  wholly  irrelevant  discursions,  each  of  which  gives 


xxiv  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

rise  to  fresh  discursions,  one  subject  calling  up  another, 
under  no  guide  but  the  chance  association  of  ideas  in  the 
very  learned  author's  mind.  His  enormous  erudition  thus 
frequently  proves  to  be  a  weight  too  heavy  for  him, 
an  encumbrance  rather  than  a  help  to  clear  methodical 
arrangement. 

This  fault  does  not  attach  to  the  Table  Talk.  Selden, 
under  the  stimulus  of  society,  was  a  different  man  from 
what  he  was  when  he  took  pen  in  hand  and  set  himself 
down  to  write  out  an  exhaustive  account  of  some  subject 
which  he  had  made  his  special  study,  and  to  treat  inci 
dentally  every  other  subject  that  suggested  itself  by  the 
way.  In  writing,  a  man  may  go  on  unchecked  to  his  own 
satisfaction  and  to  the  impatience  of  his  readers.  In  the 
to-and-fro  toss  of  conversation  he  is  under  more  effective 
restraint,  and  he  becomes  short  and  incisive  in  just  the 
degree  in  which  he  is  possessed  of  the  conversational  art. 
In  this  art  Selden  unquestionably  excelled.  We  do  not 
need  Clarendon's  testimony  that  he  was  the  most  clear 
discourser,  and  had  the  best  faculty  in  making  hard  things 
easy,  and  presenting  them  to  the  understanding  of  any 
man  that  hath  been  known.  The  Table  Talk  is  evidence 
enough.  It  is  as  lively  as  his  written  works  are  dull,  as 
attractive  as  they  are  many  of  them  repelling.  The  mis 
cellaneous  collection  varies  in  interest  of  course.  Some 
of  it  has  to  do  with  matters  of  mere  research;  some 
with  matters  of  grave  consequence  at  the  time,  but  of 
little  or  none  now.  Nor  is  it  free  from  mistakes  and 
contradictions,  or  from  what  its  critic  in  the  Acta  Erudi- 
torum  calls  $o/>rt/ca  anoya-para.  In  one  passage,  for  example, 
it  speaks  slightingly  of  the  learning  of  the  bishops ;  in 
another  it  declares  that  there  never  was  a  more  learned 
clergy,  and  that  no  one  taxes  them  with  ignorance.  In  the 
discourse  on  Preaching,  it  first  condemns  and  then  recom 
mends  preaching  often  in  the  same  sense.  In  its  defence 


INTRODUCTION  xxv 

of  duelling,  in  its  explanation  of  the  ass's  head  story 
(Christians,  3)  and  of  the  Descent  into  Hell,  it  is  hardly 
ingenious,  much  less  convincing.  Its  repeated  assertions 
that  moral  rules  are  of  no  force  without  a  theological 
sanction,  display  Selden  possibly  as  a  good  theologian, 
certainly  as  an  unsound  moralist.  Some  of  its  remarks  on 
the  obligation  of  an  oath  are  even  more  open  to  question. 
The  discourse  on  Oaths  might  almost  be  headed — the  art 
of  perjury  made  easy.  But  on  all  these  points  it  is  Selden's 
reporter  with  whom  the  chief  fault  must  rest.  It  was  his 
business  to  discriminate  between  what  was  worth  and 
what  was  not  worth  giving  to  the  world  ;  and  not  to  write 
down  and  publish  everything  said,  it  might  be,  at  random 
or  in  a  perverse  mood,  and  forgotten  as  soon  as  it  was 
said,  or  as  soon  as  the  thing  under  discussion  had  ceased 
to  be  a  question  which  Selden  had  approached  as  a  con 
troversialist  rather  than  as  a  judge.  But  when  all  deduc 
tions  have  been  made,  enough  remains  to  bear  out  the 
very  high  repute  in  which  the  Table  Talk  has  stood.  Its 
critic  in  the  Acta  Eruditorum l  wishes  it  included  among 
the  '  multa  ingenii  monumenta  quibus  (Selden)  aeternam 
famam  meruit.'  Johnson  singles  it  out  as  the  best  book 
of  its  kind  in  existence,  better  than  any  of  the  much  be- 
praised  French  anas.  Coleridge,  as  a  poet,  quarrels  with 
it,  but  he  still  finds  more  weighty  bullion  sense  in  it  than 
in  the  same  number  of  pages  of  any  uninspired  writer. 
This  is  substantially  the  verdict  which  the  world  of 
letters  has  accepted  and  has  endorsed.  Johnson,  one  of 
the  vouchers  for  it,  has  been  termed  the  wisest  and  the 
wittiest  of  Englishmen.  The  Table  Talk  shows  us,  so  to 
say,  the  figure  in  every-day  dress  of  one  who  might  not 
unfairly  take  rank  as  his  competitor  for  one  distinction. 

1  Supplementa,  Tom.  i :  see  viii.  p.  424. 


*^*   The  References  in  the  Notes  are  to  the  following 
Editions : — 

ROGER  BACON.     Opus  Majus.    Jebb's  ed.   1733.  folio. 
BAILLIE.     Letters  and  Journals.    Edinburgh.    1775.   2  vols. 

BINGHAM.     Christian  Antiquities  and  other  Works.     Clarendon  Press. 
1855.    10  vols. 

CLARENDON.    History  of  the  Rebellion.   Clarendon  Press.   1807.  6  vols. ; 

paged  as  3  and  so  referred  to. 
CLARENDON.    Life.    Clarendon  Press.     1827. 

DUGDALE.     Monasticon.     By  Caley,  Ellis  &  Bandinel.    1830.   6  vols. 
FIGUIER.     Histoire  du  Merveilleux.    Paris.    1860.   8vo. 
GIBSON.     Codex.   1761.   2  vols. 
H  ARDWICK.     History  of  the  A  rticles.    1851. 
LAUD'S  WORKS.     Library  of  Anglo- Catholic  Theology.   1854. 
NALSON.     Collections.   1682.   2  vols. 
NEAL.     History  of  the  Puritans.    1822.   5  vols. 
PEARSON.     On  the  Creed.     Clarendon  Press.    1816.   2  vols. 
Preuves  des  libertez  de  V  Eglise  G  alii  cane.    1639.    I  vol.   folio. 
PRYNNE.    Histrio-mastix.   1633.   small  410. 
RUSHWORTH.     Historical  Collections.    1721.   8  vols. 
SELDEN.     Works.    Wilkins' ed.    1726.   6  vols.,  paged  and  referred  to  as  3. 

folio. 

STOW.    Chronicle.    1631. 

Ti-aitez  des  droits  et  libertez  de  V Eglise  Gallic ane.    1639.    I  vol.   folio. 
WHITELOCK.    Memorials.   1732.  folio. 
WILKINS.     Concilia.   1737.   4  vols.  folio. 
WOOD.      Athenae   Oxonienses.      Bliss's   ed.     1817.     4  vols.      (Selden's 

Life  is  given  in  vol.  iii.  p.  366  ff.) 


THE   DISCOURSE 


OF 


JOHN   SELDEN,   ESQ. 


OR 


HIS  SENSE   OF  VARIOUS  MATTERS   OF  WEIGHT  AND 
HIGH   CONSEQUENCE 


RELATING   ESPECIALLY  TO 


RELIGION    AND    STATE 


Distingue  tempera 


TO   THE 

MR.    JUSTICE    HALE, 

ONE    OF    THE   JUDGES    OF   THE    COMMON-PLEAS 

AND    TO    THE    MUCH    HONOURED 

EDWARD    HEYWARD, 

JOHN    VAUGHAN, 

AND 
ROWLAND    JEWKS,    ESQRS 

Most  Worthy  Gentlemen, 

Were  you  not  executors  to  that  person,  who  (when  he  lived]  10 
was  the  glory  of  the  nation,  yet  I  am  confident  any  thing  of  his 
would  find  acceptance  with  you,  and  truly  the  sense  and  notion  here 
is  wholly  his,  and  most  of  the  words.  I  had  the  opportunity  to  hear 
his  discourse  twenty  years  together,  and  lest  all  those  excellent 
things  that  usually  fell  from  him  might  be  lost,  some  of  them  from 
time  to  time  I  faithfully  committed  to  writing,  which  here  digested 
into  this  method,  I  humbly  present  to  your  hands :  you  will  quickly 
perceive  them  to  be  his  by  the  familiar  illustrations  wherewith  they 
are  set  off:  in  which  way  you  know  he  was  so  happy,  that  (with 
a  marvellous  delight  to  those  that  heard  him)  he  would  presently  20 
convey  the  highest  points  of  religion,  and  the  most  important 
affairs  of  state  to  an  ordinary  apprehension. 

In  reading  be  pleased  to  distinguish  times,  and  in  your  fancy 
carry  along  with  you  the  when  and  the  why  many  of  these  things 
were  spoken ;  this  will  give  them  the  more  life,  and  the  smarter 
relish.  'Tis  possible  the  entertainment  you  find  in  them  may  render 
you  the  more  inclinable  to  pardon  the  presumption  of 

Your  most  obliged  and 

most  humble  servant 

RICH.  MILWARD.         30 

1.  2.  Mr.  Justice  Hale,    ) 

1.5.  Edward  Heyward  \  Milward  sPeaks  of  these  as  Selden's  executors. 
I  have  therefore  given  the  names  as  they  stand  in  Selden's  will  (see  Works, 
vol.  i,  Vita  Authoris,  p.  53),  and  as  Milward  may  be  assumed  to  have  given 
then, 


THE 
DISCOURSE   OF  JOHN  SELDEN 


I. 

ABBEYS.    PRIORIES. 

THE  unwillingness  of  the  monks  to  part  with  their  lands 
will  fall  out  to  be  just  nothing,  because  they  were  yielded 
up  to  the  king  by  a  supreme  hand,  viz*,  a  parliament.  If 
a  king  conquer  another  country,  the  people  are  loth  to 
lose  their  lands;  yet  no  divine  will  deny  but  the  king 
may  give  them  to  whom  he  please.  If  a  parliament  make 
a  law  concerning  leather,  or  any  other  commodity,  you 
and  I,  for  example,  are  parliament-men ;  perhaps  in  respect 
to  our  own  private  interests  we  are  against  it,  yet  the  10 

Explanation  of  signs. 
H.  Harleian  MS.  1315.        H.  2.  Harleian  MS.  690.        S.  Sloane  MS.  2513. 

Line  3.  they  were  yielded  up  to  the  king&c..']  The  lands  were  taken  from 
the  monks  by  two  Acts  of  Parliament.  The  earlier,  that  of  27  Henry 
VIII;  cap.  28,  gave  the  king  the  properties  of  the  smaller  houses,  below 
a  clear  annual  value  of  .£200.  The  next  Act,  that  of  31  Henry  VIII, 
cap.  13,  confirmed  the  surrenders  which  the  Abbots  or  Priors  of  the 
larger  houses  had  in  the  meantime  been  threatened  or  cajoled  into 
making.  Selden's  remarks,  here,  may  have  been  suggested  by  any 
one  of  the  numerous  attacks  made  on  church  property  in  his  own 
day. 


4  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

major  part  concludes  it;  we  are  then  involved,  and  the 
law  is  good. 

2.  When  the  founders  of  abbeys  laid  a  curse  upon  them 
that   should   take  away  those  lands,  I  would  fain   know 
what  power  they  had  to  curse  me.     'Tis  not  the  curses 
that  come  from  the  poor,  or  from  anybody,  that  do  me 
hurt  because  they  come  from  them ;    but  because  I  do 
something   ill   against  them,    that   deserves   God   should 
curse  me  for  it.     On  the  other  side,  'tis  not  a  man's  bless- 

10  ing  me,  that  makes  me  blessed ;  he  only  declares  me  to 
be  so ;  and  if  I  do  well,  I  shall  be  blessed,  whether  any 
bless  me  or  not. 

3.  At  the  time  of  dissolution,  they  were  tender  in  taking 
from  the  abbots  and  priors  their  lands  and  their  houses, 
till  they  surrendered  them,  as  most  of  them  did.     Indeed 
the  prior  of  St.  John's,  Sir  William  Weston  \  being  a  stout 

1   William  Weston]  Richard  Weston       the  High  Treasurer  in  the  early  years 
MSS.    and    early    editions ;    probably       of  Charles'  reign, 
through  confusion  with    the  name  of 

1.  3.  when  the  founders  of  abbeys  &c.]  This  may  be  an  objection  to 
one  of  the  arguments  which  Selden  had  heard  used  by  Dr.  Racket  in 
defence  of  the  sacredness  of  cathedral  revenues.  On  May  12,  1641, 
there  was  a  special  session  of  the  House  of  Commons  to  hear  a  dispute 
between  Dr.  Burgess,  as  assailant,  and  Dr.  Hacket,  as  defender  of  these 
revenues  ;  and  Hacket,  in  the  course  of  his  speech,  urged  that  'these' 
(sc.  the  chapter  revenues  and  lands)  '  are  dedicated  to  God  ;  the 
founders  appoint  the  uses,  and  curse  any  that  alter  it.'  See  Verney, 
Notes  on  the  Long  Parliament,  p.  75-76. 

1.  15.  Indeed  the  prior  of  St.  John's  &c.]  The  priory  of  St.  John  of 
Jerusalem,  the  chief  English  seat  of  the  Knights  Hospitallers,  was  not 
touched  by  the  Act  of  31  Henry  VIII,  since  the  prior  (as  Selden 
implies)  had  not  at  that  time  surrendered ;  nor  does  it  appear  that  he 
ever  did  surrender.  The  priory  lands  were  taken  away  by  a  special 
Act  passed  in  the  next  year.  The  prior  died  in  May,  1540,  on  the  day 
on  which  the  suppression  took  effect.  In  Dugdale's  Monasticon  (vol. 
vi.  800-805)  there  is  a  long  list  of  the  lands  and  farms  which  had  be 
longed  to  the  priory.  When  the  Knights  Templars  were  suppressed, 
all  their  lands  were  given  over  to  the  Hospitallers  ;  see  (7  Edward  II)  a 
letter  De  Terris  quondam  Templariorum  Hospitalariis  liberandis.  The 
grant  was  confirmed  by  6,  7,  and  12  Edward  III,  and  some  tenements 


THIRTY-NINE  ARTICLES.  5 

man,  got  into  France,  and  stood  out  a  whole  year ;  at  last 
submitted,  and  the  king  took  in  that  priory  also,  to  which 
the  Temple  belonged,  and  many  other  houses  in  England. 
They  did  not  then  cry  no  abbots,  no  priors,  as  we  do  now 
no  bishops,  no  bishops. 

4.  Henry  the  5th  put  away  the  friars  aliens,  and  seized 
to  himself  .£100,000  a  year ;  and  therefore  they  were  not 
the  protestants  only  that  took  away  church  lands. 

5.  In  Queen  Elizabeth's  time,  when  all  the  abbeys  were 
pulled  down,  all  good  works  defaced,  then  the  preachers  10 
must  cry  up  justification  by  faith,  not  by  good  works. 


II. 
THIRTY-NINE  ARTICLES. 

THE  nine  and  thirty  articles  are  much  another  thing  in 
Latin,  in  which  tongue  they  were  made,  than  they  are 

in  London,  which  had  been  wrongfully  seized  by  Hugh  Despencer, 
were  restored  and  secured  to  the  Hospitallers.  Dugdale,  Monasticon, 
vi.  809,  810. 

1.  6.  the  friars  aliens]  These  were  religious  orders,  domiciled  abroad, 
and  holding  land  in  England.  They  were  pecked  at  several  times 
before  Henry  Vth's  reign.  Edward  I  began  in  1285  :  Edward  III  fol 
lowed  in  1337.  In  1361  their  lands  were  restored,  but  their  revenues 
were  still  occasionally  taken  away  for  a  while.  They  were  sequestered 
during  Richard  II,  and  were  finally  expropriated  in  2  Henry  V. 
Dugdale,  Monasticon,  vi.  985  ff.  See  also  Prioratuum  Alienigenorum 
Catalogus,  qui  Leicestrensi  Parliamento  suppressi  sunt.  Anno  Henrici 
Quinti  secundo.  An.  Dom.  1414.  Dugdale,  Monasticon,  vi.  1652-53. 

1.  13.  much  another  thing  in  Latin  &c.]  See  e.  g.  Article  9,  in  which 
'  quamvis  renatis  et  credentibus  nulla  propter  Christum  est  condem- 
natio,'  is  rendered  by,  '  although  there  is  no  condemnation  for  them 
that  believe  and  are  baptized.'  In  Article  33, '  pcenitentia '  is  rendered 
'  penance' — an  error  to  which  Selden  seems  to  refer  in  the  discourse 
on  '  Penance.'  The  right  claimed  in  Article  37, '  Christianis  \\cetjusta 
bella  administrare,'  is  enlarged  into  '  it  is  lawful  for  Christian  men  to 
serve  in  the  wars.'  The  older  version  of  1552  had  translated  the  same 


6  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

translated  into  English.  They  were  made  at  three  several 
convocations,  and  confirmed  by  act  of  parliament  six  or 
seven  times  after.  There  is  *a  secret  concerning  them : 
of  late,  ministers  have  subscribed  to  all  of  them ;  but  by 
the  act1  of  parliament  that  confirmed  them,  they  ought 
only  to  subscribe  to  those  articles  which  contain  matters  of 
faith,  and  the  doctrine  of  the  sacraments,  as  appears  by  the 
first  subscriptions.  But  Bishop  Bancroft,  in  the  convoca 
tion  held  in  King  James's  days,  he  began  it ;  that  ministers 
10  should  subscribe  to  three  things,  to  the  king's  supremacy, 
to  the  common  prayer,  and  to  the  39  articles  :  Many  of 
them  do  not  contain  matter  of  faith.  It  is  matter  of  faith 
how  the  church  should  be  governed  ?  Whether  infants 
should  be  baptized  ?  Whether  we  have  any  property  in 
our  goods? 

1  Act,  H.  2  and  S.]  Acts,  H. 

words  by  '  to  serve  in  laweful  warres.'  There  are  some  other  minor 
inaccuracies. 

1.  2.  six  or  seven  times  after]  If  this  reading  is  to  stand,  the  word 
'  times  '  must  be  taken  in  a  special  sense — parliamentary  sessions  or 
terms.  So,  perhaps,  in  'Confession,'  sec.  i,  'In  time  of  Parlia 
ment,'  i.  e.  when  Parliament  had  met.  The  Articles  were  confirmed 
once  only,  viz*,  in  1571,  by  13  Elizabeth,  chap.  12. 

1. 5.  by  the  act  of  parliament  that  confirmed  them  &c.]  The  Act  orders 
that  every  minister  (except  certain  specified  persons)  is  to  declare  his 
assent,  and  subscribe  to  all  the  Articles  of  Religion  which  only  concern 
the  confession  of  the  true  Christian  faith  and  the  doctrine  of  the 
Sacraments. 

The  obligation  on  the  clergy  to  subscribe  to  the  whole  of  the 
Articles  was  imposed  at  a  Synod  of  the  province  of  Canterbury,  held 
in  1604,  under  the  presidency  of  Bancroft,  then  Bishop  of  London.  It 
was  then  settled  that  no  one  was  to  be  ordained  who  had  not  stated  in 
writing— Quod  libro  de  religionis  Articulis,  in  quos  consensum  est  in 
Synodo  Londinensi  an.  MDLXII.  omnino  comprobat,  et  quod  omnes  et 
singulos  Articulos  in  eodem  contentos,  qui  triginta  novem  citra  ratifi- 
cationem  numerantur,  verbo  Dei  consentaneos  esse  agnoscit  (Wilkins, 
Concilia,  iv.  386). 


BAPTISM.  7 

III. 
BAPTISM. 

1.  'TWAS  a  good  way  to  persuade  men  to  be  christened, 
to  tell  them  that  they  had  a  foulness  about  them,  viz1,  original 
sin,  that  could  not  be  washed  away  but  by  baptism. 

2.  The  baptizing  of  children  with  us,  doth  only  prepare 
a  child,  against  he  comes  to  be  a  man,  to  understand  what 
Christianity  means.  In  the  church  of  Rome  it  has  this  effect, 
it  frees  children  from  hell.     They  say  they  go  into  limbus 
infantum.     It  succeeds  circumcision,  and  we  are  sure  the 
child  understood  nothing  of  that  at  eight  days  old.    Why  10 
then  may  not  we  as  reasonably  baptize  a  child  at  that  age  ? 
In  England,  of  late  years,  I  ever  thought  the  priest  baptized 
his  own  fingers  rather  than  the  child. 

3.  In  the  primitive  times  they  had  godfathers  to  see  the 
children  brought  up  in  the  Christian  religion,  because  many 
times,  when  the  father  was  a  Christian,  the  mother  was  not ; 
and  sometimes  when  the  mother  was  a  Christian,  the  father 
was  not ;  and  therefore  they  made  choice  of  two  or  more 
that  were  Christians,  to  see  the  children  brought  up  in  that 
faith.  20 

1.  8.  it  frees  children  from  hell.  They  say  they  go  &c.]  i.  e.  They  say 
that  unbaptized  children  go,  &c.  The  Limbus  Infantum  was  one  of  the 
divisions  of  hell.  In  the  Church  of  Rome  baptism  is  said  to  free 
children  from  this.  See  Canons,  &c.  of  the  Council  of  Trent,  Session  v. 
sec.  2,  3,  4.  On  the  limbus  puerorum,  the  place  of  eternal  punishment 
for  those  quisolo  originali  peccato  gravantur,ai\.&  on  the  degree  of  punish 
ment,  the  mitissimam  poenam  which  they  are  alleged  to  suffer,  see 
Aquinas,  Summa  Theolog.  Supplementum  3tiae  partis,  quaest.  69,  art. 
5  £  6.  So,  too,  Moroni  (Eccles.  Diet,  under  title  Limbo,  Limbus) 
writes— II  secondo  luogo,  che  chiamasi  limbo  o  limbus  puerorum,  e 
quello  in  che  vanno  i  bambini  morti  senza  battesimo.  Many  various 
opinions  are  collected  as  to  the  nature  and  extent  of  their  punishment. 
That  it  is  to  be  eternal  all  the  cited  authorities  agree.  So,  too,  Dante 
writes  of  the  occupants  of  the  Limbo,  or  first  circle  of  the  Inferno,  a  vast 
crowd  of  infants,  women,  and  men,  there  placed  perche  non  ebber  bat- 
tesmo,  and  suffering  only  duol  senza  martiri.  Inferno,  Canto  iv.  28-35. 


8  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

IV. 

BASTARD. 

Tis  said,  23  Deuteron.  2,  A  bastard  shall  not  enter  into 
the  congregation  of  the  Lord,  even  to  the  tenth  generation. 
Non  ingredietur  ecclesiam  Domini,  he  shall  not  enter  into 
the  church.  The  meaning  of  the  phrase  is,  he  shall  not 
marry  a  Jewish  woman.  But  upon  this  ground,  grossly 
mistaken,  a  bastard  at  this  day  in  the  church  of  Rome, 
without  a  dispensation,  cannot  take  orders.  The  thing 
haply  well  enough,  where  'tis  so  settled  :  but  that  'tis a  upon 
10  a  mistake  (the  place  having  no  reference  to  the  church)  ap 
pears  plainly  by  what  follows  at  the  3  verse ;  An  Ammonite 
or  Moabite  shall  not  enter  into  the  congregation  of  the 
Lord,  even  to  the  tenth  generation.  Now  you  know  with 
the  Jews  an  Ammonite  or  a  Moabite  could  never  be  a 
priest ;  because  their  priests  were  born  so,  not  made. 

1  But  that  tis,  S.]  H.  and  H.  2,  omit  '  that.' 

1.  5.  The  meaning  of  the  phrase  is  &c.]  Selden,  in  his  De  Successione 
in  Pontificatum  Ebraeorum,  says  that  the  sense  which  he  gives  here 
to  the  words  is  universally  accepted  among  the  Jews.  Works,  ii. 
p.  158. 

1. 6.  But  upon  this  ground,  &c.]  That  the  rule  in  the  Church  of  Rome 
was  based  on  this  text  is  stated,  conjecturally,  by  Pope  Gregory  IX. 
In  a  letter  addressed  to  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  on  the  appoint 
ment  of  a  bastard  to  the  see  of  Worcester,  Gregory  declares— Nos 
ergo  cum  fratribus  nostris  habito  super  hoc  diligenti  tractatu,  relectis 
canonibus,  quosdam  invenimus  qui  non  legitime  genitos  promoveri 
vetant  ad  officium  pastorale,  causam  forte  trahentes  ex  lege  divina  per 
quam  spurii  et  manzeres  usque  in  decimam  generationem  in  ecclesiam 
Dei  prohibentur  intrare.  The  matter  is  then  debated  pro  and  con,  and 
the  Pope  concludes  that  although,  according  to  a  canon  of  the  Lateran 
Council,  the  appointment  is  irregular,  yet  he  has  a  dispensing  power. 
Decretales  Gregorii  IX,  lib.  i.  tit.  6,  cap.  xx.  Corpus  Juris  Canonici, 
vol.  2,  pp.  61,  62  (ed.  2  by  Friedberg,  1881). 

So,  too,  Boniface  VIII  insists  on  the  need  of  a  dispensation,  episcopal 
for  the  lesser  orders,  papal  for  the  greater.  Ibid.  p.  977. 

Aquinas  cites  the  text  as  one  among  the  arguments  against  the 


BASTARD.  — BIBLE,  SCRIPTURE.  9 

V. 

BIBLE,  SCRIPTURE. 

1.  'Tis  a  great  question  how  we  know  Scripture  to  be 
Scripture,  whether  by  the  Church,  or  by  man's  private 
spirit.     Let  me  ask  you  how  I  know  anything?    How  I 
know  this  carpet  to  be  green  ?    First,  because  somebody 
told  me  it  was  green  :  that  you  call  the  church  in  your  way. 
And  then  after  I  have  been  told  it  is  green,  when  I  see  that 
colour  again,  I  know  it  to  be  green,  my  own  eyes  tell  me  it 
is  green ;  that  you  call  the  private  spirit. 

2.  The  English  translation  of  the  Bible,  is  the  best  trans- 10 
lation  in  the  world,  and  renders  the  sense  of  the  original 
best,  taking  in  for  the  English  translation  the  Bishops' 
Bible  as  well  as  king  James's.     The  translators l  in  king 
James's  time  took  an   excellent  way.    That  part  of  the 
Bible  was  given  to  him  who  was  most  excellent  in  such  a 
tongue  (as  the  Apocrypha  to  Andrew  Downs)  and  then  they 
met  together,  and  one  read  the  translation,  the  rest  holding 
in  their  hands  some  Bible,  either  of  the  learned  tongues,  or 
French,  Spanish,  Italian,  &c.    If  they  found  any  fault  they 
spoke ;  if  not,  he  read  on.  20 

1  Translators,  H.  2,  corrected  from  '  translation  ']  '  translation/  H. 

admission  of  bastards  to  orders.  He  concludes  against  their  admission 
without  a  dispensation,  but  on  general  grounds,  and  without  further 
reference  to  the  text.  Summa  Theolog.  Supplement,  3  part,  quaest.  39, 
art.  5. 

1.  2.  '  Tis  a  great  question  &c.]  This  question  is  discussed  very  fully 
in  the  course  of  the  celebrated  conference  between  Laud  and  the  Jesuit 
Fisher,  the  first  complete  account  of  which  was  published  in  1639. 
Laud  handles  the  matter  at  greater  length  and  with  more  unction  than 
Selden ;  but  for  the  most  part  substantially  to  the  same  effect.  See 
Laud's  Works,  vol.  ii.  p.  70  ff. 

1.  10.  The  English  translation  &c.]  For  an  account  of  the  persons 
employed  in  the  translation,  and  of  the  rules  which  they  were  in 
structed  to  follow,  see  Wilkins,  Concilia,  iv.  432,  and  Fuller's  Church 
History,  bk.  x.  sec.  3,  §  i,  with  note  h  in  Brewer's  edition. 


io  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

3.  There  is  no  book  so  translated  as  the  Bible.   For  the 
purpose,  if  I  translate  a  French  book  into  English,  I  turn 
it  into  English  phrase,  not  into  French  English.    II  fait 
froid,  I  say,  it  is  cold,  not  it  makes  cold  ;  but  the  Bible  is 
translated  into  English  words  rather,  than  into  English 
phrase.     The  Hebraisms  are  kept,  and  the  phrase  of  that 
language  is  kept:  as  for  example,  [He  uncovered  her  shame] 
which  is  well  enough,  so  long  as  scholars  have  to  do  with 
it ;  but  when  it  comes  among  the  common  people,  lord, 

io  what  gear  do  they  make  of  it ! 

4.  Scrutamini  scripturas.    These  two  words  have  undone 
the  world.    Because  Christ  spake  it  to  his  disciples,  there 
fore  we  must  all,  men,  women,  and  children,  read  and  in 
terpret  the  Scriptures. 

5.  Henry  the  8th  made  a  law,  that  all  men  might  read 
the  Scriptures,  except  servants;  but  no  women,  except 
ladies  and  gentlewomen,  who  had  leisure,  and  might  ask 
somebody  the  meaning.    The  law  was  repealed  in  Edward 
the  6th  days. 

20  6.  Laymen  have  best  interpreted  the  hard  places  of  the 
Bible,  such  as  Joannes  Picus,  Scaliger,  Grotius,  Salmasius, 
Heinsius,  &c. 

7.  If  you  ask,  Which,  of  Erasmus,  Beza,  or  Grotius,  did 
best  upon  the  New  Testament?  'tis  an  idle  question,  for 
they  did  all  well  in  their  way.  Erasmus  broke  down  the 
first  brick ;  Beza  added  many  things,  and  Grotius  added 
much  to  him,  in  whom  we  have  either  something  new,  or 


1.  i.  For  the  purpose}  i.e.  for  instance  :  for  proof  of  what  I  say.  A 
phrase  used  by  Selden  elsewhere.  See  'Trade,'  sec.  i,  and— 
Eudoxus  yet  hath  otherwise  placed  them  ;  as  for  the  purpose,  the 
spring  equinox  on  the  sixth  day  after  the  sun's  entrance  into  Aries  &c. 
Works,  iii.  1415. 

1.  io.     what  gear}    i.  e.  what  stuff. 

1.  ii.  Scrutamini]  Gk.  cpevi/are,  probably  the  Present  Indicative,  and 
if  so  the  words  have  been  doubly  misinterpreted. 

1.  15.   Henry  the  Qth  made  a  law]   This  was  34  &  35  Henry  VIII,  ch.  i. 


BIBLE,  SCRIPTURE.  n 

else  something  heightened  that  was  said  before ;  and  so 
'twas  necessary  to  have  them  all  three. 

8.  The  text  serves  only  to  guess  by ;  we  must  satisfy 
ourselves  fully  out  of  the  authors  that  lived  about  those 
times. 

9.  In  interpreting  the  scripture,  many  do,  as  if  a  man 
should  see  one  have  ten  pounds,  which  he  reckoned  by  i, 
2>  3)  4>  5>  6,  7,  8,  9,  10 ;  meaning  four  was  but  four  units, 
and  five  five  units,  &c.,  and  that  he  had  in  all  but  ten 
pounds ;  the  other  that  sees  him,  takes  not  the  figures  10 
together  as  he  doth,  but  picks  here  and  there,  and  there 
upon  reports,  that  he  has  five  pounds  in  one  bag,  and  six 
pounds  in  another  bag,  and  nine  pounds  in  another  bag, 
&c.  when  as  in  truth,  he  hath  but  ten  pounds  in  all.    So  we 
pick  out  a  text  here  and  there  to  make  it  serve  our  turn  ; 
whereas,  if  we  took  it  all  together,  and  considered  what  went 
before,  and  what  followed  after,  we  should  find  it  meant  no 
such  matter. 

10.  Make  no  more  allegories  in  scripture  than  needs 
must.   The  fathers  were  too  frequent  in  them  :  they  indeed,  20 
before  they  fully  understood  the  literal  sense,  looked  out 
for  an  allegory.      The  folly  whereof  you  may  conceive 
thus  ;  here  at  the  first  sight  appears  to  me  in  my  window, 

a  glass  and  a  book,  I  take  it  for  granted  'tis  a  glass  and  a 
book ;  thereupon  I  go  about  to  tell  you  what  they  signify  ; 
afterwards,  upon  nearer  view,  they  prove  no  such  things  ; 
one  is  a  box  made  like  a  book,  the  other  is  a  picture  made 
like  a  glass.  Where's  now  my  allegory  ? 

11.  When  men  meddle  with  the  literal  text,  the  question 
is,  where  they  should  stop?    In  this  case,  a  man  must 30 
venture  his  discretion,  and  do  his  best  to  satisfy  himself 
and  others  in  those  places  where  he  doubts.    For  although 

1. 20.  The  fathers  were  too  frequent  in  theni\  This  is  amply  verified  by 
the  120  closely  printed  pages  of  the  Index  de  Allegoriis,  in  the  second 
vol.  of  the  Indices  to  Migne's  Patrologiae  Cursus  Completus,  p.  123  ff. 


12  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

we  call  the  Scripture  the  word  of  God  (as  it  is)  yet  it  was 
writ  by  a  man,  a  mercenary  man,  whose  copy  either 
might  be  false,  or  he  might  make  it  false :  for  example,  here 
were  a  thousand  bibles  printed  in  England  with  the  text 
thus,  [Thou  shalt  commit  adultery]  the  word  not  left  out. 
Might  not  this  text  be  mended? 

12.  The   scripture  may  have   more  senses  besides  the 
literal,  because  God  understands  all  things  at  once ;  but  a 
man's  writing  has  but  one  true  sense,  which  is  that  which 

10  the  author  meant  when  he  writ  it. 

13.  When  you  meet  with  several  readings  of  the  text, 
take  heed  you  admit  nothing  against  the  tenets  of  your 
church ;  but  do  as  if  you  were  going  over  a  bridge,  be  sure 
and  hold  fast  by  the  rail,  and  then  you  may  dance  here  and 
there  as  you  please ;  be  sure  you  keep  to  what  is  settled, 
and  then  you  may  flourish  upon  your  various  lections. 

14.  The  Apocrypha  is   bound  with   the   Bibles   of  all 
churches  that  have  been  hitherto.    Why  should  we  leave  it 
out?     The    church   of  Rome    has    her  Apocrypha,   viz*. 

20  Susanna,  and  Bel  and  the  Dragon,  which  she  does  not 

1. 4.  here  were  a  thousand  Bibles  £c.]  Mr.  Barker,  the  printer.  There 
is  a  cause  begunne  against  him  for  false  printing  of  the  Bible  in  divers 
places  of  it,  in  the  edition  of  1631,  viz*  in  the  20  of  Exod[us]  '  Thou 
shalt  committ  adultery';  and  in  the  fifte  of Deut[eronomy]  'The  Lord 
hath  shewed  us  his  glory,  and  his  great  asse ' ;  and  for  divers  other 
faults.  High  Commission  Cases,  pp.  296  and  304  (Camden  Society). 

Barker  was  not  the  only  sufferer.  Laud's  account  is  that — among 
them  (i.  e.  the  printers)  their  negligence  was  such  as  that  there  were 
found  above  a  thousand  faults  in  two  editions  of  the  Bible  and  Common 
Prayer-Book.  And  one,  which  caused  this  search,  was  that  in  Exod. 
xx.  where  they  had  shamefully  printed,  Thou  shalt  commit  adultery. 
For  this,  the  masters  of  the  printing  house  were  called  into  the  High 
Commission,  and  censured,  as  they  well  deserved  it  ....  And 
Hunsford,  being  hit  in  his  credit,  purse,  and  friends,  by  that  censure 
for  so  gross  an  abuse  of  the  Church  and  religion,  labours  to  fasten  his 
fangs  upon  me.  History  of  the  Troubles  and  Trial  of  Abp.  Laud,  Laud's 
Works,  iv.  165  and  195. 

This  edition  was  known  as  '  the  wicked  Bible.' 

1.  20.    Susanna,  and  Bel  and  the  Dragon]    This  is  not  so.    Susannah 


BISHOPS  BEFORE  THE  PARLIAMENT.  13 

esteem  equally  with  the  rest  of  those  books  that  we  call 
Apocrypha. 


VI. 

BISHOPS  BEFORE  THE  PARLIAMENT. 

T.  A  BISHOP,  as  a  bishop,  had  never  any  ecclesiastical 
jurisdiction  :  for  as  soon  as  he  was  electus  confirmatus,  that 
is,  after  the  three  proclamations  in  Bow-church,  he  might 
exercise  jurisdiction,  before  he  was  consecrated ;  but  till 
then a  he  was  no  bishop,  neither  could  he  give  orders.  Be 
sides,  suffragans  were  bishops,  and  they  never  claimed  any 
jurisdiction.  10 

1  But  till  then,  H.  2,  corrected]  not  till  then,  H. 

and  Bel  and  the  Dragon  are  canonical  in  the  Church  of  Rome.  They 
are  not  specially  named  in  the  Decree  of  the  Council  of  Trent,  settling 
the  Canon  of  Scripture,  because  they  are  printed  in  the  Vulgate  as  part 
of  the  book  of  Daniel,  and  come,  therefore,  under  the  general  rule  that 
the  books  named  as  canonical  are  to  be  received  entire,  with  all  their 
parts,  as  they  are  contained  in  the  old  Latin  Vulgate.  The  only  books 
of  the  Apocrypha  not  received  as  canonical  are  the  3rd  and  4th  Books 
of  Esdras  (printed  in  the  English  Apocrypha  as  Esdras  i  &  2)  and  the 
Prayer  of  Manasseh.  See  Canons  and  Decrees  of  the  Council  of 
Trent,  Session  iv. 

Accordingly,  in  the  Douay  version,  the  History  of  Susannah  and 
Bel  and  the  Dragon  stand  in  their  appointed  place  as  parts  of  the 
canonical  book  of  Daniel. 

1.  4.  A  bishop  as  a  bishop  £c.]  Selden  discusses  this  very  fully  in 
his  De  Synedriis  veterum  Ebraeorum,  lib.  I,  ch.  13.  vol.  i.  p.  1066. 

1.  6.  three  proclamations]  These  were  and  are  part  of  the  ceremony 
of  confirmation.  Strype  in  his  life  of  Archbishop  Parker,  bk.  ii.  ch.  i, 
gives  an  exact  account  of  the  whole  process  in  Parker's  case,  as  it 
was  performed  in  the  church  of  St.  Mary  de  Arcubus  [i.  e.  Mary  le 
Bow  in  Cheapside]  .  .  .  The  consecration — until  which  he  '  was  no 
bishop,  neither  could  he  give  orders  '—came  eight  days  afterwards. 

1.  9.  suffragans]  These  are  expressly  said  to  have '  no  authority  or 
jurisdiction  beyond  that  expressed  in  their  licenses  by  a  bishop  or 
archbishop  to  whom  they  are  suffragans  by  commission  under  seal.' 
26  Henry  VIII,  ch.  14,  sec.  6. 


I4  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

2.  Anciently  the  noblemen  lay  within  the  city  for  safety 
and  security.    The  bishops'  houses  were  by  the  water 
side,  because  they  were  held  sacred  persons,  which  no 
body  would  hurt. 

3.  There  was  some  sense  for  commendams  at  first ;  when 
there  was  a  living  void,  and  never  a  clerk  to  serve  it,  the 
bishops  were  to  keep  it  till  they  found  a  fit  man ;  but  now 
'tis  a  trick  for  the  bishop  to  keep  it  to  himself. 

4.  For  a  bishop  to  preach  'tis  to  do  other  folks'  office. 
10  As  if  the  steward  of  the  house  should  execute  the  porter's 

or  the  cook's  place ;  'tis  his  business  to  see  that  they  and 
all  others  about  the  house  perform  their  duties. 

5.  That  which  is  thought  to  have  done  the  bishops  hurt, 

1.  5.  commendams]  It  was  one  of  Archbishop  Laud's  projects  '  to 
annex  for  ever  some  settled  commendams,  and  those,  if  it  may  be, 
sine  cura,  to  all  the  small  bishoprics.'  Laud's  Works,  vol.  iii.  p.  254. 

That  he  had  done  this  was  one  of  the  charges  brought  against  him 
at  his  trial.  In  his  history  of  his  trial,  he  explains  and  defends  his 
act,  but  he  adds  in  the  course  of  his  remarks  about  it — '  I  considered 
that  the  commendams  taken  at  large  and  far  distant,  caused  a  great 
dislike  and  murmur  among  many  men.  That  they  were  in  some  cases 
materia  odiosa  and  justly  complained  of.'  Works,  vol.  iv.  p.  177. 

For  further  proof  of  the  abuse  of  which  Selden  speaks,  see  Sir 
Ralph  Verney's  Notes  of  Proceedings  in  the  Long  Parliament,  p.  14, 
giving  the  heads  of  a  remonstrance  of  some  of  the  clergy,  referring 
inter  alia  to  commendams.  The  remonstrance  says,  in  Article  16, 
'  Bishops  hold  commendams  and  never  come  at  them.  As  Main- 
waring,  Bishop  of  St.  Davids,  and  the  Bishop  of  Chester  hold  two 
of  .£1100  per  annum.' 

1.  9.  For  a  bishop  to  preach  £c.]  That  bishops  did  not  preach  is 
among  the  charges  made  against  them  by  Nathaniel  Fiennes  (Feb. 
1640).  Nalson,  Collections,  i.  758. 

See,  too,  Sir  Benjamin  Rudyard's  speech  on  Sir  E.  Deering's  Bill 
for  the  abolishing  of  bishops,  &c.  (May,  1641).  Some  of  ours,  as  soon 
as  they  are  bishops,  adepto  fine,  cessat  mofus,  they  will  preach  no 
longer,  their  office  is  to  govern.  But  in  my  opinion  they  govern  worse 
than  they  preach,  though  they  preach  not  at  all,  for  we  see  to  what 
a  pass  their  government  hath  brought  us.  Nalson,  Collections,  ii.  249. 

1.  13.  That  which  is  thought  &c.]  Clarendon,  after  speaking  of  the 
slovenly  state  into  which  many  churches  had  fallen  during  Archbishop 
Abbot's  time,  and  of  the  irregular  way  in  which  the  services  had  in 


BISHOPS  BEFORE  THE  PARLIAMENT.  15 

is  their  gpmg  about  to  bring  men  to  a  blind  obedience,  im 
posing  things  upon  them  [though  perhaps  small  and  well 
enough]  without  preparing  them,  and  insinuating  into  their 
reasons  and  fancies.  Every  man  loves  to  know  his  com 
mander.  I  wear  those  gloves,  but  perhaps  if  an  alderman 
should  command  me,  I  should  think  much  to  do  it.  What 
has  he  to  do  with  me  ?  Or  if  he  has,  peradventure  I  do 
not  know  it.  This  jumping  upon  things  at  first  dash  will 
destroy  all.  To  keep  up  friendship  there  must  be  little 
addresses  and  applications ;  whereas  bluntness  spoils  it  10 
quickly.  To  keep  up  the  hierarchy,  there  must  be  appli 
cations  made  to  men,  they  must  be  brought  on  by  little  and 
little ;  so  in  the  primitive  times  the  power  was  gained,  and 
so  it  must  be  continued.  Scaliger  said  of  Erasmus ;  si 
minor  esse  voluerit,  major  fuisset ;  so  we  may  say  of  the 
bishops,  si  minores  esse  voluerint,  major es  fuissent. 

many  places  been  performed,  adds — '  This  profane  liberty  and  un- 
cleanliness  the  Archbishop  [i.e.  Laud]  resolved  to  reform  with  all 
expedition,  requiring  the  other  bishops  to  concur  with  him  in  so  pious 
a  work.'  He  adds,  presently,  that — '  The  Archbishop  prosecuted  this 
affair  more  passionately  than  was  fit  for  the  season ;  and  had  pre 
judice  against  those  who,  out  of  fear  or  foresight,  or  not  understanding 
the  thing,  had  not  the  same  warmth  to  promote  it.  The  bishops  who 
had  been  preferred  by  his  favour,  or  who  hoped  to  be  so,  were  at 
least  as  solicitous  to  bring  it  to  pass  in  their  respective  dioceses ;  and 
some  of  them  with  more  passion  and  less  circumspection  than  they 
had  his  example  for,  or  than  he  approved  ;  prosecuting  those  who 
opposed  them  very  fiercely,  and  sometimes  unwarrantably,  which  was 
kept  in  remembrance.'  Clarendon,  Hist.  vol.  i.  148  ff. 

1.  9.  little  applications}  i.  e.  (as  explained  at  length  by  Bacon  in  the 
Adv.  of  Learning) — 'the  observing  carefully  a  man's  manners  and 
customs,  with  the  intention  to  understand  him  sufficiently  whereby 
not  to  give  him  offence.'  Lord  Bacon's  Works  (Ellis  and  Spedding), 
vol.  iii.  279. 

1. 14.  Scaliger  said  &c.]  The  nearest  I  can  find  to  this  is  a  passage  in 
J.  J.  Scaliger's  Table  Talk.  Erasmus  perspicacissimo  vir  ingenio,  se 
ipso  haud  dubie  futurus  major  (quod  scribit  Paulus  Jovius)  si  Latinae 
linguae  conditores  imitari,  quam  petulanti  linguae  indulgere  maluisset. 
Prima  Scaligerana,  sub  voce  Erasmus. 

1.  15.    voluerit,]    voluit  MSS.  and  early  printed  editions. 


16  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

6.  The  bishops  were  too  hasty ;  else  with  a  discreet 
slowness  they  might  have  had  what  they  aimed  at.    The 
old  story  of  the  fellow  that  told  the  gentleman  he  might 
get  to  such  a  place  if  he  did  not  ride  too  fast,  would  have 
fitted  their  turn. 

7.  For  a  bishop  to  cite  an  old  canon  to  strengthen  his 
new  articles,  is  as  if  a  lawyer  should  plead  an  old  statute 
that  has  been  repealed  God  knows  how  long. 


VII. 

BISHOPS  IN  THE  PARLIAMENT. 

10     i.  BISHOPS  have  the  same  right  to  sit  in  Parliament  as 
the  best  of  earls  and  barons ;  that  is,  those  that  were  made 

1.  6.  For  a  bishop  to  cite  &c.]  This  was  done  in  the  Constitutions 
and  Canons  Ecclesiastical,  put  out  in  1640  by  the  Synods  of  the  two 
Provinces.  See  Canon  v.  '  Against  Sectaries '  and  Canon  ix  on  the 
summary  or  collection  of  visitatory  articles  which  the  Synod  had 
caused  to  be  made  out  of  the  rubric  and  the  canons  and  warrantable 
rules  of  the  Church.  Wilkins,  Concilia,  iv.  548  and  550. 

1. 10.  Bishops  have  the  same  right  £c.]  The  various  objections,  here 
stated  and  answered,  to  the  right  of  bishops  to  sit  in  Parliament,  to  the 
nature  of  their  seat  by  office  and  not  by  blood,  and  to  the  policy  of 
allowing  them  to  meddle  with  temporal  affairs,  were  raised  from  time 
to  time  in  the  long  series  of  discussions  which  led  finally  to  the  aboli 
tion  of  their  right  and  then  of  their  office. 

See,  especially,  the  reasons  offered  by  the  Commons  in  reply  to  the 
reasons  offered  by  the  Lords  in  favour  of  the  bishops,  June,  1641. 
They  cover  most  of  the  points  raised  in  this  chapter  of  the  Table  Talk. 

The  Commons  do  conceive  that  bishops  ought  not  to  have  votes  in 
Parliament.  First,  because  it  is  a  very  great  hindrance  to  the  exercise 
of  their  ministerial  function. 

(2)  Because  they  do  vow  and  undertake  at  their  ordination,  when 
they  enter  into  Holy  Orders,  that  they  will  give  themselves  wholly 
to  that  vocation. 

(5)  Because  they  are  but  for  their  lives,  and  therefore  are  not  fit  to 
have  legislative  power  over  the  honours,  inheritances,  persons,  and 
liberties  of  others. 

(6)  Because  of  bishops'  dependency  and  expectation  of  translation 
to  places  of  greater  profit.    Nalson,  Collections,  ii.  260. 


BISHOPS  IN  THE  PARLIAMENT.  17 

by  writ.  If  you  ask  one  of  them  [Arundel,  Oxford,  North 
umberland]  why  they  sit  in  the  house  ?  they  can  only  say, 
their  father  sat  there  before  them  *,  and  their  grandfather 
before  him,  &c.  And  so  says  the  bishop :  he  that  was  a 
bishop  of  this  place  before  me,  sat  in  the  house,  and  he 
that  was  a  bishop  before  him,  &c.  Indeed  your  later  earls 
and  barons  have  it  expressed  in  their  patents,  that  they 
shall  be  called  to  the  parliament. 

Objection.  But  the  lords  sit  there  by  blood,  the  bishops 
not.  10 

Answer.  'Tis  true,  they  sit  not  there  both  the  same 
way,  yet  that  takes  not  away  the  bishop's  right.  If  I  am 
a  parson  of  a  parish,  I  have  as  much  right  to  my  glebe  and 
tithes,  as  you  have  to  your  land,  that  your  ancestors  have 
had  in  that  parish  800  years. 

2.  The  bishops  were   not  barons,   because   they  had 

1  Before  them,  H.  2]  so  originally  in  H.  '  him '  is  written  over  { them.' 

1. 16.  The  bishops  were  not  barons  &c.]  What  Selden  here  denies  was 
among  the  statements  made  by  Mr.  Bagshaw,  Reader  of  the  Middle 
Temple,  in  his  speech  in  Hall  (1639)  on  the  thesis  Whether  it  be  a 
good  Act  of  Parliament  that  is  made  without  the  assent  of  the  Lords 
Spiritual.  He  argues  that  it  is  good,  because  inter  alia  '  they  do  not  sit 
in  Parliament  as  bishops,  but  by  reason  of  the  baronies  annexed  to 
their  bishopricks,  which  was  done  5  W.  I,  and  all  of  them  have  baronies 
except  the  Bishop  of  Man,  and  he  is  not  called  to  Parliament.'  White- 
lock,  Memorials,  p.  33. 

Selden  explains  his  point  more  fully  in  his  Titles  of  Honour,  part  ii. 
ch.  5,  vol.  iii.  pp.  659,  724,  727.  He  shows  that  in  the  Saxon  times  the 
lay  claim  to  be  included  in  the  Witenagemot  was  the  holding  of  land  of 
the  king  in  chief  by  knight's  service.  Those  who  so  held  were,  after 
the  Normans,  parliamentary  barons,  and  their  tainlands  only  were  the 
parliamentary  baronies.  But  in  Saxon  times,  the  bishops  did  not  hold 
by  this  tenure,  yet  they  were  none  the  less  summoned  regularly  to  the 
Witenagemot,  and  had  voice  and  place  as  bishops.  And  thus  their 
freedom  from  that  tenure  ....  continued  it  seems  till  the  fourth  year 
of  King  William  I,  when  he  made  the  bishopricks  and  abbeys  subject 
to  knight's  service  in  chief,  by  creation  of  new  tenures,  and  so  first 
turned  their  possessions  into  baronies,  and  thereby  made  them  barons 
of  the  kingdom  by  tenure. 

C 


i8  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

baronies  annexed  to  their  bishoprics  (for  few  of  them  had 
so,  unless  the  old  ones,  Canterbury,  Winchester,  Durham, 
&c.  the  new  erected  we  are  sure  had  none,  as  Gloucester, 
Peterborough,  &c.  Besides,  few  of  the  temporal  lords  had 
any  baronies).  But  they  are  barons,  because  they  are 
called  by  writ  to  the  parliament,  and  bishops  were  in  the 
parliament  ever  since  there  is  any  mention  or  sign  of  a  par 
liament  in  England. 

3.  Bishops  may  be  judged  by  the  peers,  though  in  time 
10  of  popery  it  never  happened,  because  they  pretended  they 

were  not  obnoxious  to  a  secular  court ;  but  their  way  was 
to  cry,  Ego  sum  frater  doniini  papce,  I  am  a  brother  to  my 
lord  the  pope,  and  therefore  take  not  myself  to  be  judged 
by  you.  In  this  case  they  impannelled  a  Middlesex  jury, 
and  dispatched  the  business. 

4.  Whether  may  bishops  be  present  in  case  of  blood  ? 

1.  3.  as  Gloucester,  Peterborough  £c.]  These  were  among  the  six 
bishoprics  founded  by  Henry  VIII  out  of  part  of  the  spoils  of  the 
monasteries.  On  the  nature  of  their  endowment  see  the  king's  grant 
to  the  bishopric  of  Gloucester :  '  Damus  ....  habenda  et  tenenda 
omnia  et  singula  praedicta,  Aulas,  Cubicula  ....  domos  aedificia  et 
caetera  omnia  et  singula  praemissa  praefato  episcopo  Gloucestriae  et 
successoribus  suis  imperpetuum,  tenenda  de  nobis  haeredibus  et  suc- 
cessoribus  nostris  in  puram  et  perpetuam  eleemosinam/  Rymer, 
Foedera,  xiv.  727  (1712  fol.). 

'  So,  too,  in  the  case  of  Peterborough,  the  king  (1542)  grants  to  the 
bishop  and  his  successors,  various  manors  and  rents  (valued  at 
,£368  us.  6rf.),  in  puram  et  perpetuam  eleemosynam,  and  subject  to  de 
ductions  only  for  tenths  and  first-fruits.'  Willis,  Survey  of  Cathedrals, 
iii.  493  (London,  1742,  3  vols.). 

1.  9.  Bishops  may  be  judged  £c.]  Selden,  in  his  treatise  on  the  privi 
leges  of  the  baronage,  lays  it  down  as  a  rule  of  the  common  law  that 
bishops,  although  unquestionably  peers  of  the  realm,  were  to  be  tried 
by  common  juries  and  were  in  fact  so  tried  ;  no  regard  being  paid  to 
their  claim  as  churchmen  to  be  free  from  lay  jurisdiction.  He  gives 
several  instances  in  which  this  claim  was  made  and  disallowed,  and 
the  trial  had  by  a  common  jury.  Works,  iii.  1538  ff. 

1.  16.  Whether  may  bishops  be  present  &c.]  This  question  became 
prominent  and  was  hotly  disputed  at  the  trial  of  the  Earl  of  Strafford. 


BISHOPS  IN  THE  PARLIAMENT.  19 

Answer.  That  they  had  a  right  to  give  votes,  appears 
by  this ;  always  when  they  did  go  out,  they  left  a  proxy ; 
and  in  the  time  of  the  abbots,  one  man  had  10,  20,  or  30 
voices.  In  Richard  the  2d's  time  there  was  a  protestation 
against  the  canons,  by  which  they  were  forbidden  to  be  pre 
sent  in  case  of  blood.  The  statute  of  the  25th  of  Henry  the 
8th  may  go  a  great  way  in  this  business.  The  clergy  were 
forbidden  to  use  or  cite  any  canon,  &c.  but  in  the  later  end 
of  the  statute,  there  was  a  clause,  that  such  canons  as  were 
in  usage  in  this  kingdom,  should  be  in  force  till  the  thirty- 10 
two  commissioners  appointed  should  make  others ;  pro 
vided  they  were  not  contrary  to  the  king's  supremacy. 
Now  the  question  will  be,  whether  these  canons  for  blood 
were  in  use  in  this  kingdom  or  no  ?  The  contrary  whereof 
may  appear  by  many  precedents  in  Richard  3  and  Henry  7 
and  the  beginning  of  Henry  8 l  in  which  time  there  were 
more  attainted  than  since,  or  scarce  before.  The  canons  of 
irregularity  for  blood  were  never  received  in  England, 
but  upon  pleasure.  If  a  lay  lord  was  attainted,  the  bishops 

1  Richard,  Henry,  Henry,  H.  2]  initials  only  in  H. 

The  bishops  were  denied  all  meddling  even  in  the  commission  of 
preparatory  examinations  concerning  the  Earl  of  Strafford,  as  causa 
sanguinis,  and  they  as  men  of  mercy,  not  to  deal  in  the  condemnation 
of  any  person.  Fuller,  Church  History,  bk.  xi.  sec.  9,  §  10. 

That  bishops  were  forbidden  by  the  canons  to  pronounce  sentence 
of  condemnation  at  trials  on  a  capital  charge,  is  clear.  See  e.g. 
Wilkins,  Concilia,  vol.  i.  112,  365  and  474. 

On  the  authority  of  the  canons,  as  law,  it  is  laid  down  by  25  Henry 
VIII,  chap.  19,  that  the  canons  are  not  to  be  pleaded  or  used  if  con 
trary  to  the  king's  prerogative  or  to  the  customs,  laws  and  statutes  of 
the  kingdom — canons,  not  thus  contrary,  to  be  in  force,  as  Selden 
states. 

In  the  case  referred  to  in  Richard  IPs  time,  the  exclusion  of  the 
bishops  was  a  concession  granted  to  them  at  their  own  request.  The 
whole  subject  is  discussed  exhaustively  in  the  opinion  delivered 
by  the  Bishop  of  Lincoln  (Williams)  as  to  the  right  of  the  bishops  to 
be  present  at  Strafford's  trial.  Hacket,  Life  of  Williams,  part  ii. 
P-  153  ff. 

C  2 


20  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

assented  to  his  condemning,  and  were  always  present  at  the 
passing  of  the  bill  of  attainder :  but  if  a  spiritual  lord,  they 
went  out,  as  if  they  cared  not  whose  head  was  cut  off, 
so  none  of  their  own.  In  those  days  the  bishops,  being 
of  great  houses,  were  often  entangled  with  the  lords  in 
matters  of  treason;  but  when  d'ye  hear  of  a  bishop- 
traitor  now? 

5.  You  would  not  have  bishops  meddle  with  temporal 
affairs.  Think  who  you  are  that  say  it.  If  a  Papist,  they 
10  do  in  your  church ;  if  an  English  Protestant,  they  do  among 
you ;  if  a  Presbyterian,  where  you  have  no  bishops,  you 
mean  your  Presbyterian  lay  elders  should  meddle  with 
temporal  affairs  as  well  as  spiritual.  Besides,  all  jurisdic 
tion  is  temporal,  and  in  no  church  but  they  have  some 
jurisdiction  or  other.  The  question  then  will  be  reduced 
to  magis  and  minus  ;  they  meddle  more  in  one  church  than 
in  another. 

1.  8.  You  ivould  not  have  bishops  meddle  with  temporal  affairs,  &c.] 
So  in  1641,  a  bill  was  introduced  for  the  second  time  to  forbid  bishops 
having  votes  in  Parliament  or  holding  any  temporal  office,  'the 
greatest  argument  being  that  their  intermeddling  with  temporal 
affairs  was  inconsistent  with,  and  destructive  to,  the  exercise  of  their 
spiritual  function.'  Clarendon,  i.  470. 

The  same  argument  was  used  by  Lord  Say  and  Sele  (June  1641), 
who  based  it  on  the  Scriptural  rule  that — '  No  man  that  warreth,  en- 
tangleth  himself  with  the  aifairs  of  the  world.'  Nalson,  Collections, 
ii.  268. 

Early  in  1641,  a  committee  of  the  House  of  Commons,  appointed  to 
consider  a  remonstrance  of  some  ministers,  and  the  London  petition 
for  the  better  government  of  the  Church,  voted,  inter  alia,  that  Article  6, 
complaining  that  bishops  were  encumbered  with  temporal  power  and 
state  affairs,  was  material  and  fit  to  be  considered  by  the  House.  Sir 
R.  Verney's  Notes  of  Proceedings  in  the  Long  Parliament,  pp.  4-14. 

Most  of  the  questions  treated  in  the  Table  Talk,  were  raised  in  the 
course  of  this  inquiry. 

See,  too,—  '  It  is  not  possible  for  one  man  to  discharge  two  functions, 
whereof  either  is  sufficient  to  employ  the  whole  man,  especially  that 
of  the  ministry,  so  great  that  they  ought  not  to  entangle  themselves 
writh  the  affairs  of  this  world.'  Speech  of  Nathaniel  Fiennes,  Feb. 
1640-41.  Nalson,  Collections,  i.  757. 


BISHOPS  IN  THE  PARLIAMENT.  21 

6.  Objection.  Bishops  give  not  their  votes  by  blood  in 
parliament,  but  by  an  office  annexed  to  them  ;  which  being 
taken  away,  they  cease  to  vote ;  therefore  there  is  not  the 
same  reason  for  them  as  for  temporal  lords. 

Answer.  We  do  not  pretend  they  have  that  power  the 
same  way,  but  they  have  a  right ;  he  that  has  an  office  in 
Westminster-hall  for  his  life,  the  office  is  as  much  his,  as 
his  land  is  his  that  has  land  by  inheritance. 

7.  Whether  had  the  inferior  clergy  ever  anything  to  do 
in  the  parliament  ? 

Answer.  No,  no  otherwise  than  thus;  there  were  certain 
of  the  clergy  that  did  use  to  assemble  near  the  parliament, 
with  whom  the  bishops,  upon  occasion,  might  consult; 
(but  there  were  none  of  the  convocation,  as  it  was  after 
wards  settled,  viz*,  the  dean,  the  archdeacon,  one  for  the 


Instances  to  the  same  effect  will  be  found  passim  in  the  debates  and 
speeches  of  the  time. 

1.  i.  Bishops  give  not  their  votes  by  blood  &c.]  This  was  one  of  the 
stock  arguments  against  the  bishops.  See,  e.g. 

'  If  they  may  remove  bishops,  they  may  as  well  next  time  remove 
barons  and  earls. 

1  Answer.  The  reason  is  not  the  same,  the  one  sitting  by  an  honour 
invested  in  their  blood  and  hereditary,  which  though  it  be  in  the 
king  to  grant  alone  yet  being  once  granted  he  cannot  take  away.  The 
other  sitting  by  a  barony  depending  upon  an  office,  which  may  be 
taken  away ;  for  if  they  be  deprived  of  their  office  they  sit  not.' 
Speech  of  Lord  Say  and  Sele,  June,  1641.  Nalson,  Collections,  ii.  268. 

1. 14.  the  convocation  as  it  was  afterwards  settled]  In  or  about  1283,  a 
canon  was  framed  which  may  be  regarded  as  settling  historically  the 
representation  of  the  clergy  in  the  convocation  of  the  province  of 
Canterbury.  The  rule  laid  down  is  '  ut  in  proxima  congregatione  .... 
praeter  personas  episcoporum  et  procuratores  absentium,  veniant 
duo  aut  unus  a  clero  episcopatuum  singulorum.'  The  Archbishop's 
full  writ,  of  which  the  canon  is  a  copy,  summons  the  attendance  of 
bishops,  abbots,  priors,  deans,  and  archdeacons  throughout  the  pro 
vince  of  Canterbury.  Also  *  de  qualibet  diocesi  duo  procuratores 
nomine  cleri,  et  de  singulis  capitulis  ecclesiarum  cathedralium  et  col- 
legiatarum  singuli  procuratores.'  Stubbs,  Documents  illustrative  of 
English  History,  pp.  452  and  456. 


22  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

chapter,  two  for  the  diocese)  but  it  happened  by  continu 
ance  of  time  (to  save  charges  and  trouble),  their  voices  and 
the  consent  of  the  whole  clergy  were  involved  in  the 
bishops,  and  at  this  day  the  bishops'  writs  run,  to  bring  all 
these  to  the  parliament,  but  the  bishops  themselves  stand 
for  all. 

8.  Bishops  were  formerly  of  these  two  conditions ;  either 
men  bred  canonists  and  civilians,  sent  up  and  down  am 
bassadors  to  Rome  and  other  parts,  and  so  by  their  merit 

10  came  to  that  greatness  ;  or  else  great  noblemen's  sons,  or 
brothers,  or  nephews,  and  so  born  to  govern  the  state. 
Now  they  are  of  a  low  condition,  their  education  nothing 
of  that  way ;  he  gets  a  living,  and  then  a  greater  living, 
and  then  a  greater  than  that,  and  so  comes  to  govern. 

9.  Bishops  are  now  unfit  to  govern,  because  of  their 
learning  :  they  are  bred  up  in  another  law  :  they  run  to  the 
text  for  something  done  amongst  the  Jews,  that  nothing 
concerns  England.     'Tis  just  as  if  a  man  would  have  a 
kettle,  and  he  would   not  go  to  our  braziers  to  have  it 

20  made,  as  they  make  kettles  ;  but  he  would  have  it  made  as 
Hiram  made  his  brass-work,  who  wrought  in  Solomon's 
temple. 

10.  To  take  away  bishops'  votes,  is  but  the  beginning  to 

1.  23.  To  take  away  bishops'  votes  &c.]  This  was  borne  out  by  the 
event.  '  In  1646,  by  ordinance  of  Parliament,  the  name,  title,  style, 
and  dignity  of  archbishop  and  bishop  were  wholly  taken  away,  from 
and  after  September  5,  and  all  and  every  person  was  disabled  to  hold 
the  place,  function,  or  stile  of  archbishop  or  bishop.'  Rushworth, 
Hist.  Collections,  vol.  vi.  373. 

That  they  will  '  always  go  for  the  king,  as  he  will  have  them '  was, 
in  effect,  one  of  the  arguments  used  against  them  in  1641.  'The  Com 
mons  do  conceive  that  bishops  ought  not  to  have  votes  in  Parliament, 
because  ....  of  bishops'  dependency  and  expectation  of  translation 
to  places  of  greater  profit.'  Nalson,  Collections,  ii.  261. 

So,  too,  Lord  Say  and  Sele,  in  the  course  of  a  debate  in  the  same 
year,  urges  that  bishops  'have  such  an  absolute  dependency  upon 
the  king  that  they  sit  not  here  as  freemen  ....  For  their 
fears,  they  cannot  lay  them  down,  since  their  places  and  seats  in 


BISHOPS  OUT  OF  THE  PARLIAMENT.  23 

take  them  away ;  for  then  they  can  be  of  no  longer  use  to 
the  king  or  state.  Tis  but  like  the  little  wimble,  to  let  in 
the  greater  auger. 

Objection.  But  they  are  but  for  their  life,  and  that  makes 
them  always  go  for  the  king  as  he  will  have  them. 

Answer.  This  is  against  a  double  charity ;  for  you  must 
always  suppose  a  bad  king  and  bad  bishops.  Then 
again,  whether  will  a  man  be  sooner  content,  himself 
should  be  made  a  slave,  or  his  son  after  him  ?  [when  we 
talk  of  our  children  we  mean  ourselves].  Besides,  they  10 
that  have  posterity  are  more  obliged  to  the  king  than  they 
that  are  only  for  themselves,  in  all  the  reason  in  the 
world. 

11.  How  shall  the  clergy  be  in  the  parliament,  if  the 
bishops  be  taken  away  ? 

Answer.  By  the  laity  ;  because  the  bishops,  in  whom  the 
rest  of  the  clergy  are  included,  assent  to  the  taking  away 
their  own  votes,  by  being  involved  in  the  major  part  of  the 
house.  This  follows  naturally. 

12.  The  bishops  being  put  out  of  the  house,  whom  will  20 
they  lay  the  fault  upon  now  ?    When  the  dog  is  beat  out 
of  the  room  where  will  they  lay  the  stink  ? 


VIII. 
BISHOPS  OUT  OF  THE  PARLIAMENT. 

i.  IN  the  beginning,  bishops  and  presbyters  were  alike  ; 
like  your  gentleman  in  the  country,  whereof  one  is  made 

Parliament  are  not  invested  in  them  by  blood,  and  so  hereditary,  but 
by  annexation  of  a  barony  to  their  office  ;  and  depending  upon  that 
office  and  thereby  of  their  places,  at  the  king's  pleasure  they  .... 
sit  ....  but  at  will  and  pleasure.'  Nalson,  Collections,  ii.  268. 

1.  20.  The  bishops  being  put  out  of  the  house  &c.]  This  was  done  in 
1642,  when  the  king  was  at  length  induced  to  give  his  consent  to  the 
Bill  excluding  them.  Clarendon,  i.  668. 

1.  24.    In  the  beginning,  bishops  and  presbyters  £c.]     The  question 


24  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

deputy-lieutenant,  another  justice  of  peace ;  so  one  is 
made  a  bishop,  another  a  dean  :  And  that  kind  of  govern 
ment  by  archbishops  and  bishops  no  doubt  came  in,  in 
imitation  of  the  temporal  government,  no  jure  divino.  In 
time  of  the  Roman  empire,  where  they  had  a  legatus,  there 
they  placed  an  archbishop ;  where  they  had  a  rector,  there 
a  bishop ;  that  every  one  might  be  instructed  in  Christi 
anity,  which  now  they  had  received  into  the  empire. 

2.  They  that  speak  ingenuously1  of  bishops  and  presby- 

1  Ingenuously]  MSS.  ingeniously.  The  two  words  are  confused  in  several 
places. 

raised  in  the  first  three  sections  as  to  the  identity  of  bishops  and 
presbyters  was  one  of  the  stock  subjects  of  dispute  in  Selden's  day. 
After  the  triumph  of  the  Presbyterian  party,  it  was  answered  by  the 
legislature  in  the  affirmative  : — 

'  Whereas  the  word  Presbyter,  that  is  to  say  Elder,  and  the  word 
Bishop,  do  in  the  Scripture  intend  and  signify  one  and  the  same 
function,  although  the  title  of  Bishop  hath  been  by  corrupt  custom 
appropriated  to  one,  &c. 

<  Nov.  8,  1645.' 
Ordinance  of  Lords  and  Commons.     Rushworth,  Collections,  vi.  212. 

Selden's  view  agrees  with,  and  was  not  improbably  based  upon,  that 
of  Archbishop  Usher,  to  whom  he  was  in  the  habit  of  referring,  and 
for  whose  judgment  he  had  a  great  and  merited  respect.  Usher, 
his  biographer  Parr  writes,  was  charged  *  That  he  ever  declared  his 
opinion  to  be,  that  Episcopus  et  Presbyter  gradu  tantum  differunt  non 
ordine — which  opinion,'  says  Parr,  '  I  cannot  deny  to  have  been  my 
Lord  Primate's  since  I  find  the  same  written  almost  verbatim  with  his 
own  hand,  dated  Nov.  26,  1655.  And  that  the  Lord  Primate  was 
always  of  this  opinion  I  find  by  another  note  of  his  own  hand,  written 
in  another  book  many  years  before  this.'  Parr  adds  some  limitations 
and  cautions ;  but  subject  to  these,  confirms  the  opinion  from  other 
writers.  '  So  that  you  see,'  he  adds, '  that  as  learned  men,  and  as  stout 
asserters  of  episcopacy  as  any  the  Church  of  England  hath  had,  have 
been  of  the  Lord  Primate's  judgment  in  this  matter,  though  without 
any  design  to  lessen  the  order  of  bishops  or  to  take  away  their  use  in 
the  Church.'— Life  of  Usher,  Appendix,  pp.  5-7. 

1.  4.  In  time  of  the  Roman  Empire  &c.]  Bingham,  Christian  An 
tiquities,  bk.  ix.  goes  minutely  into  this,  and  shows  in  detail  that  the 
Church,  in  setting  up  metropolitan,  patriarchal,  and  episcopal  sees, 
commonly  took  the  model  from  the  civil  divisions  of  the  state. 


BISHOPS  OUT  OF  THE  PARLIAMENT.  25 

ters  say,  that  a  bishop  is  a  greater  presbyter,  and  during 
the  time  of  his  being  bishop,  above  a  presbyter :  as  the 
president  of  the  college  of  physicians,  is  above  the  rest, 
yet  he  himself  no  more  than  a  doctor  of  physic. 

3.  The  word  [bishop]  and  \presbyter]  are  promiscuously 
used ;   that  is   confessed  by  all :   and  though   the  word 
bishop  be  in  Timothy  and  Titus,  yet  that  will  not  prove 
the  bishops  ought  to  have  a  jurisdiction  over  the  pres 
byters,  though  Timothy  or  Titus  had  by  the  order  that 
was  given  them.    Somebody  must  take  care  of  the  rest :  10 
and  that  jurisdiction  was  but  to  excommunicate ;  and  that 
was  but  to  tell  them  they  should  come  no  more  into  their 
company.    Or  grant  they  did  make  canons  one  for  another, 
before  they  came  to  be  in  the  state :  does  it  follow  they 
must  do  so  when  the  state  has  received  them  into  it? 
What  if  Timothy  had  power  in  Ephesus,  and  Titus  in 
Crete  over  the  presbyters  ?    Does  it  follow  therefore  our 
bishops  must  have  the  same  in  England?     Must  we  be 
governed  like  Ephesus  or  Crete  ? 

4.  However  some  of  the  bishops  pretend  to  be  jure  20 
divino,  yet  the  practice  of  the  kingdom  has   ever  been 
otherwise ;  for  whatsoever  bishops  do  otherwise  than  the 

1.  20.  However  some  of  the  bishops  pretend  &c.]  This  was  and  has 
ever  been  the  claim  of  the  High  Church  party.  We  find  it  e.g. 
asserted  by  Andrewes,  and  approved  by  Laud,  and  in  express  terms 
asserted  by  Laud  himself.  See  '  Die  Mercurii,  ostendi  rationes  regi 
cur  chartae  Episcopi  Winton.  defuncti,  de  episcopis  quod  sint  jure 
divino,  praelo  tradendae  sint,  &c.'  Laud's  Diary,  Jan.  17,  1626; 
Works,  iii.  199. 

'  We  maintain  that  our  calling  of  bishops  is  jure  divino,  by  divine 
right.  . .  This  I  will  say  and  abide  by  it,  that  the  calling  of  bishops 
is  jure  divino,  by  divine  right,  though  not  all  adjuncts  to  their  calling.' 
Speech  at  the  censure  of  Bastwick,  Burton,  and  Prynne ;  Works,  vi. 
pt.  i.  p.  43. 

Selden's  argument  to  the  contrary  seems  to  be  based  on  the  legal 
control  exercised  over  bishops  in  the  discharge  of  their  functions, 
most  notably  in  the  matter  of  excommunications.  See  '  Excommuni 
cation.' 


26  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

law  permits,  Westminster-hall  can  controul,  or  send  them 
to  absolve,  &c. 

5.  He  that  goes  about  to  prove  bishops  to  be  jure  divino, 
does  as  a  man  that,  having  a  sword,  shall  strike  it  against 
an  anvil ;  if  he  strike  it  awhile  there,  he  may  peradventure 
loosen  it,  though  it  be  never  so  well  riveted ;  it  will  serve 
to  cut  flesh  or  strike  another  sword,  but  not  against  an 
anvil. 

6.  If  you  should  say,  you  held  your  land  by  Moses'  or 
10  God's  law,  and  would  try  it  by  that,  you  may  perhaps  lose ; 

but  by  the  law  of  the  kingdom  you  are  sure  of  it.  So 
may  the  bishops  by  this  plea  of  jure  divino  lose  all.  The 
pope  had  as  good  a  title  by  the  law  of  England  as  could 
be  had,  had  he  not  left  that,  and  claimed  by  power  from 
God. 

7.  There  is  no  government  enjoined  by  example,  but  by 
precept :  it  does  not  follow  we  must  have  bishops  still,  be 
cause  we  have  had  them  so  long.     They  are  equally  mad 
who  say  bishops  are  so  jure  divino  that  they  must  be 

20 continued;  and  they  who  say,  they  are  so  anti-christian 
that  they  must  be  put  away.     All  is  as  the  state  likes. 

8.  To  have  no  ministers  but  presbyters,  'tis  as  if  in  the 
temporal  state,  they  should  have  no  officers  but  constables, 
and  justices  of  peace  which  are  but  greater  constables. 
Bishops  do  best  stand  with  monarchy ;  that  as  amongst  the 
laity,  you  have  dukes,  lord-lieutenants,  judges,  &c.  to  send 
down  the  king's  pleasure  to  his  subjects ;   so  you  have 
bishops  to  govern  the  inferior  clergy :  these  upon  occasion 
may  address   themselves   to   the  king,  otherwise    every 

3°  parson  of  the  parish  must  come  and  run  up  to  the  court. 

9.  The  protestants  have  no  bishops  in  France,  because 

1.  31.  The  protestants  have  &c.]  Probably  suggested  by  Usher,  who 
is  quoted  by  his  biographer  Parr,  as  excusing  or  palliating  the  absence 
of  bishops  in  the  Churches  of  France  on  the  ground  that  they  are 
( living  under  a  popish  power  and  cannot  do  what  they  would.'  Parr's 
Life,  Appendix,  pp.  5  and  6. 


BISHOPS  OUT  OF  THE  PARLIAMENT.  27 

they  live  in  a  catholic  country,  and  they  will  not  have 
catholic  bishops;  therefore  they  must  govern  themselves 
as  well  as  they  may. 

10.  What  is  that  to  the  purpose,  to  what  end  bishops' 
lands  were  given  to  them  at  first  ?    We  must  look  to  the 
law  and   custom    of  the   place.     What   is    that   to   any 
temporal  lord's  estate,  how  lands  were  first  divided,  or 
how  in  William  the  Conqueror's  days?    And  if  men  at 
first  are  juggled  out  of  their  estates,  yet  they  are  rightly 
their  successors.     If  my  father  cheat  a  man,  and  he  con-  TO 
sents  to  it,  the  inheritance  is  rightly  mine. 

11.  If  there  be  no  bishops,  there  must  be  something  else 
which  has  the  power  of  bishops,  though  it  be  in  many; 
and  then  had  you  not  as  good  keep  them  ?     If  you  will 
have  no  half-crowns,  but  only  single  pence,  yet  30  single 
pence  are  a  half-crown  ;  and  then  had  you  not  as  good  keep 
both?     But  the  bishops  have  done  ill.    'Twas  the  men, 
not  the  function.    As  if  you  should  say,  you  would  have 
no  more  half-crowns,  because  they  were  stolen,  when  the 
truth  is   they  were  not   stolen  because   they  were   half-  20 
crowns,  but   because  they  were   money,  and  light  in   a 
thief's  hands. 

12.  They  that  would  pull  down  the  bishops  and  erect  a 
new  way  of  government,  do  as  he  that  pulls  down  an  old 
house,  and  builds  another  of  another  fashion.     There's  a 
great  deal  ado,  and  a  great  deal  of  trouble ;  the  old  rubbish 
must  be  carried  away,  and  new  materials  must  be  brought ; 
workmen   must  be   provided;   and  perhaps  the  old  one 
would  have  served  as  well. 

13.  If  the  prelatical  and  presbyterian  party  should  dis-so 
pute,  who  should  be  judge  ?     Indeed  in  the  beginning  of 
queen  Elizabeth  there  was  such  a  difference  between  the 

1.  31.  Indeed  in  the  beginning  of  queen  Elizabeth  &c.]  Strype,  in  the 
Annals  of  the  Reformation,  vol.  i.  chap.  5,  gives  a  lengthy  account 
of  this  '  conference  between  some  popish  bishops  and  other  learned 


28  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

protestants  and  papists,  and  Sir  Nicholas  Bacon,  lord 
chancellor,  was  appointed  to  be  judge ;  but  the  conclusion 
was,  the  stronger  party  carried  it.  For  so  religion  was 
brought  into  kingdoms,  so  it  has  been  continued,  and  so  it 
may  be  cast  out,  when  the  state  pleases. 

14.  'Twill  be  a  great  discouragement  to  scholars,  that 
bishops  should  be  put  down.  For  now  the  father  can  say 
to  the  son,  and  the  tutor  to  the  pupil,  Study  hard,  and  you 
shall  have  vocem  et  sedem  in  parliamento  ;  then  it  must  be, 
Study  hard,  and  you  shall  have  an  ;£ioo  a  year  if  you 
please  your  parish. 

Objection.  But  they  that  enter  into  the  ministry  for 
preferment,  are  like  Judas  that  looked  after  the  bag. 

Answer.  It  may  be  so,  if  they  turn  scholars  at  Judas 
his  age.  But  what  arguments  will  you  use  to  persuade 
them  to  follow  their  books,  when  they  are  young  ? 

men  of  that  communion,  and  certain  protestant  divines,  held  in  the 
month  of  March,  1559,  by  order  of  the  Queen's  privy  council,  to  be 
performed  in  their  presence,  eight  on  one  side  and  eight  on  the  other.' 
The  Queen  orders  it  to  be  conducted  in  writing  and  the  papists  to 
begin.  The  first  day  passed  off  quietly.  On  the  second  day,  difficul 
ties  were  raised  as  to  the  course  of  the  proceedings  and  the  papists 
refused  to  go  on,  as  it  had  been  arranged  that  they  should.  The 
conference  thereupon  broke  up,  after  some  ominous  words  from  the 
Lord  Keeper,  Sir  Nicholas  Bacon.  '  For  that  ye  would  not  that  we 
should  hear  you,  perhaps  you  may  shortly  hear  of  us.'  And  so  they 
did,  for,  as  a  punishment  for  their  contempt,  the  Bishops  of  Winchester 
and  Lincoln  were  committed  to  the  Tower,  and  the  others,  except 
the  Abbot  of  Westminster,  were  bound  to  make  their  personal  appear 
ance  before  the  Council  and  not  to  depart  the  cities  of  London  and 
Westminster  until  ordered.  They  were  afterwards  compelled  to 
dance  attendance  every  day  at  the  Council  from  April  5  to  May  12, 
until  at  length  their  fines  for  contempt  were  settled  ;  'and  so  they  were 
discharged,  recognizances  for  their  good  abearing  being  first  taken  of 
them.' 

In  the  Editor's  Preface  to  the  second  volume  of  Laud's  Works, 
numerous  instances  are  given  of  oral  and  of  written  controversies  and 
disputations  in  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries,  some  of  them 
between  protestants  and  papists,  others  between  the  champions  of 
different  protestant  sects. 


BOOKS.    AUTHORS.  29 

IX. 

BOOKS.    AUTHORS. 

1.  THE  giving  a  bookseller  his  price  for  his  books,  has 
this  advantage ;  he  that  will  do  it,  shall  be  sure  to  have  the 
refusal  of  whatsoever  comes  to  his  hands,  and  so  by  that 
means  get  many  things,  which  otherwise  he  should  never 
have  seen.     So  'tis  in  giving  a  bawd  her  price. 

2.  In  buying  books  or   other  commodities,  it  is    not 
always  the  best  rule  to  bid  but  half  so  much  as  the  seller 
asks.    Witness  the  country  fellow,  that  went  to  buy  two 
shove-groat  shillings ;  they  asked  him  three  shillings,  and  10 
he  offered  them  eighteen-pence. 

3.  They  counted  the  price  of  the  books  (Acts  xix.  19), 
and  found  it  fifty  thousand  pieces  of  silver;  that  is,  so 
many  sestertii,  or  so  many  three-halfpence  of  our  money ; 
about  three  hundred  pound  sterling. 

4.  Popish  books  teach  and  inform ;  what  we  know,  we 

1.  10.  two  shove-groat  shillings .]  Shove-groat  was  one  of  the  names 
of  a  game  played  by  driving  a  smooth  coin  with  a  smart  stroke  of  the 
hand  along  a  table,  at  the  further  end  of  which  nine  partitions  had 
been  marked  off,  with  a  number  inscribed  on  each  of  them.  The  score 
was  reckoned  according  to  the  number  on  the  partition  in  which  the 
coin  rested.  See  Strutt,  Sports  and  Pastimes,  bk.  iv.  sec.  19. 
Nares  (Glossary,  sub  voce  '  shove-groat ')  adds  that  the  shove-groat 
shilling,  the  coin  with  which  the  game  was  played,  was  sometimes  a 
smooth  shilling,  sometimes  a  smooth  groat,  sometimes  a  smooth  half 
penny  ;  and  that  any  flat  piece  of  metal  would  have  answered  the 
purpose,  and  would  have  passed,  therefore,  as  a  shove-groat  shilling. 

1.  16.  Popish  books  £c.]  By  3  James  I,  ch.  5,  sec.  25  the  im 
portation  is  forbidden  of  popish  primers,  ladies'  psalters,  manuals, 
rosaries,  popish  catechisms,  missals,  breviaries,  portals,  legends  and 
lives  of  saints  containing  superstitious  matter,  and  the  books  them 
selves  are  ordered  to  be  seized  and  burned. 

It  was  one  of  the  charges  against  Laud  that  he  had  connived  at  the 
importation  of  popish  books,  and  had  restored  them  to  their  owners 
when  they  had  been  seized  by  the  searchers.  His  answer  to  the 
charge  is  that  great  numbers  of  them  had  been  burnt,  and  that  if  any 
of  them  had  been  re-delivered  to  their  owners  it  was  by  order  not  from 
himself,  but  from  the  High  Commission.  Laud's  Works,  vol.  iv.  p.  347. 


30  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

know  much  out  of  them.  The  fathers,  church  story, 
school-men,  all  may  pass  for  popish  books ;  and  if  you  take 
away  them,  what  learning  will  you  leave  ?  Besides,  who 
must  be  judge  ?  The  customer  or  the  waiter?  If  he  dis 
allows  a  book,  it  must  not  be  brought  into  the  kingdom ; 
then  lord  have  mercy  upon  all  scholars !  These  puritan 
preachers,  if  they  have  any  thing  good,  they  have  it  out  of 
popish  books,  though  they  will  not  acknowledge  it,  for  fear 

Whatever  Laud  may  have  done,  or  omitted  to  do,  while  he  was  in 
power,  the  Act  against  popish  books  was  strictly  enforced  afterwards. 
See  Nalson's  Collections,  vol.  ii.  p.  690,  Dec.  i,  1641.  This  day  the 
Bishop  of  Exon  reported  to  the  Lords'  House,  '  That  the  Committee 
formerly  appointed  by  their  House,  have  perused  those  books  which 
were  seized  on  coming  from  beyond  the  seas  .  .  .  and  finds  them  to 
be  of  three  several  sorts. 

'  Such  as  are  fit  to  be  delivered  to  their  owners  and  to  be  sold. 
The  Holy  Table,  name  and  thing. 
Mr.  Walker's  Treaty  of  the  Sabbath,  &c. 

'  A  second  sort,  fit  to  be  sold  to  choice  persons. 

Thomas  de  Kempis,  Of  the  following  of  Christ,  &c. 

'  A  third  sort  of  superstitious  tablets  and  books,  which  are  fit  to  be 
burnt,  as 

Missals,  Primers,  and  Offices  of  Our  Lady,  &c.  .  .  . 

'  Ordered  .  .  .  the  second  sort  to  be  delivered  over  to  safe  hands,  to 
be  sold  to  Noblemen,  Gentlemen,  and  Scholars,  but  not  to  women. 

'  That  the  third  sort  be  burned  by  the  Sheriffs  of  London  in  Smith- 
field  forthwith.' 

Selden's  remark  was  probably  made  about  the  date  at  which  this 
more  strict  rule  was  put  in  force. 

1.4.  The  customer}  A  collector  and  farmer  of  the  customs.  Conf. 
Hakluyt's  Voyages,  i.  189-191  (ed.  of  1809,  4to).  '  In  the  ancient  state 
of  Rome,  the  tenants  of  the  empire  paid  for  rent  the  tenth  of  their 
corn,  whence  the  publicans  that  hired  it,  as  the  customers  do  here  the 
king's  custom,  were  called  decumamV  Selden,  Works,  iii.  1098. 

1.  4.  the  waiter}  This  probably  means  the  tide-waiter,  one  of  the 
officers  of  the  customs,  whose  duty  it  was  to  watch  the  landing  of 
goods  arriving  from  abroad. 

1.  6.  These  puritan  preachers  &c.]  So  the  London  Petition  against 
bishops,  &c.,  complains  of '  the  Liturgy  for  the  most  part  framed  out 
of  the  Romish  Breviary,  Ritualium,  Mass  Book,  also  the  book  of 
Ordination,  framed  out  of  the  Roman  Pontifical.'  Nalson,  Collections, 
1.663. 


CANON  LAW.— CEREMONY.  31 

of  displeasing  the  people.     He  is  a  poor  divine  that  cannot 
sever  the  good  from  the  bad. 

5.  It  is  good  to  have  translations,  because  they  serve  as 
a  comment,  so  far  as  the  judgment  of  one  man  goes. 

6.  In  answering  a  book,  'tis  best  to  be  short ;  otherwise 
he  that  I  write  against  will  suspect  I  intend  to  weary  him, 
not  to  satisfy  him.     Besides  in  being  long  I  shall  give  my 
adversary  a  huge  advantage ;  somewhere  or  other  he  will 
pick  a  hole. 

7.  In  quoting  of  books,  quote  such  authors  as  are  usually  10 
read ;  others  you  may  read  for  your  own  satisfaction,  but 
not  name  them. 

8.  Quoting  of  authors  is  most  for  matter  of  fact ;  and  then 
I  write  them  as  I  would  produce  a  witness ;  sometimes  for 
a  free  expression,  and  then  I  give  the  author  his  due,  and 
gain  myself  praise  by  reading  him. 

9.  To  quote  a  modern  Dutchman  where  I  may  use  a 
classic  author,  is  as  if  I  were  to  justify  my  reputation,  and 
I  neglect  all  persons  of  note  and  quality  that  know  me,  and 
bring  the  testimonial  of  the  scullion  in  the  kitchen.  20 


X. 

CANON  LAW. 

IF  I  would  study  the  canon-law,  as  it  is  used  in  England, 
I  must  study  the  heads  here  in  use,  then  go  to  the  prac- 
tisers  in  those  courts  where  that  law  is  practised,  and  know 
their  customs.  So  for  all  the  study  in  the  world. 


XL 

CEREMONY. 

i.  CEREMONY  keeps  up  all  things ;  'tis  like  a  penny  glass 
to  a  rich  spirit,  or  some  excellent  water;  without  it  the 
water  will  be  spilt,  the  spirits  lost. 


32  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

2.  Of  all  people,  ladies  have  no  reason  to  cry  down 
ceremonies,  for  they  take  themselves  extremely  slighted 
without  it1.  And  were  they  not  used  with  ceremony,  with 
compliments  and  addresses,  with  legs,  and  kissing  of  hands, 
they  were  the  pitifullest  creatures  in  the  world :  but  yet 
(methinks)  to  kiss  their  hands  after  their  lips,  as  some  do, 
is  like  little  boys,  that  after  they  have  eat  the  apple,  fall  to 
the  paring,  out  of  a  love  they  have  to  the  apple. 


XII. 
CHANCELLOR. 

>  i.  THE  bishop  is  not  to  sit  with  the  chancellor  in  his 
court  as  being  a  thing  either  beneath  him  or  beside  him, 
no  more  than  the  king  is  to  sit  in  the  king's  bench,  when 
he  has  made  a  lord-chief-justice. 

2.  The  chancellor  governed  in  the  church,  who  was  a 
layman.  And  therefore  'tis  false  which  they  charge  the 
bishops  with,  that  they  challenge  sole  jurisdiction.  For 
the  bishop  can  no  more  put  out  the  chancellor,  than  the 

1  Without  it,  H.  2]  without,  H. 

I.  4.  with  legs,]  The  '  leg '  is  an  old-fashioned  bow  or  courtesy, 
in  which  the  leg  is  drawn  back.  The  word  occurs  again  in  '  Poetry ' 
sec.  4  and  in  '  Thanksgiving.'  Conf.  '  I  think  it  much  more  passable 
to  put  off  the  hat  and  make  a  leg  like  an  honest  country  gentleman, 
than  like  an  ill-fashioned  dancing  master.'  Locke,  Some  Thoughts 
concerning  Education,  §  196. 

1.  10.  The  bishop  is  not  to  sit  £c.]  This  seems  aimed  at  Canon  xi. 
of  the  Constitutions  and  Canons  of  1640,  which  ordains  '  that  hereafter 
no  bishop  shall  grant  any  patent  to  any  chancellor  .  .  .  otherwise  than 
with  express  reservation  to  himself  and  his  successors  of  the  power 
to  execute  the  said  place,  either  alone  or  with  the  chancellor,  if  the 
bishop  shall  please  to  do  the  same.'  Wilkins,  Concilia,  iv.  551. 

The  next  clause  in  the  Table  Talk  must  have  been  spoken  before 
this  Canon  had  been  put  out.  The  Canon  clearly  gives  the  bishop 
a  *  sole  jurisdiction,'  as  often  as  he  chooses  to  claim  it. 


CHANCELLOR-CHANGING  SIDES.  33 

chancellor  the  bishop.  They  were  many  of  them  made 
chancellors  for  their  lives :  and  he  is  the  fittest  man  to 
govern,  because  divinity  so  overwhelms  all  other  things. 


XIII. 

CHANGING  SIDES. 

1.  'Tis  the  trial  of  a  man  to  see  if  he  will  change  his 
side;    and  if  he  be  so  weak  as  to  change  once,  he  will 
change  again.     Your  country  fellows  have  a  way  to  try  if 
a  man  be  weak  in  the  hams,  by  coming  behind  him,  and 
giving  him  a  little  blow  unawares ;   if  he  bend  once,  he 
will  bend  again.  ] 

2.  The  lords  that  fall  from  the  king,  after  they  have  got 
estates  by  base  flattery  at  court,  and  now  pretend  con 
science,  do  as  a  vintner,  that  when  he  first  sets  up,  you 
may  bring  your  wench  to  his  house,  and  do  your  things 
there;  but  when  he  grows  rich,  he  turns  conscientious, 
and  will  sell  no  wine  on  the  sabbath-day. 

3.  Colonel  Goring  serving  first  the  one  side  and  then 

1.  2.  for  their  lives]  Singer  suggests  that  'for  their  learning' 
would  give  a  better  sense  here,  but  there  is  no  authority  for  the 
change, 

1.  17.  Colonel  Goring  &c.]  Goring,  in  1641,  gave  evidence  in  Par 
liament  about  a  real  or  alleged  plot  of  the  King  for  bringing  up 
the  army  to  London  to  surprise  the  Tower  and  overawe  the 
Parliament.  His  disclosures  were  thought  so  important  that  he 
received  public  thanks  '  for  preserving  the  kingdom  and  the  liberties 
of  Parliament.' 

In  1642  we  hear  of  him  as  Governor  of  Portsmouth,  '  having 
found  means  to  make  good  impressions  again  in  their  Majesties  of  his 
fidelity.' 

In  the  course  of  the  same  year,  having  come  under  the  suspicion 
of  the  Parliament,  and  having  been  called  to  account  by  them,  he 
contrived  so  to  clear  himself  that  'they  desired  him  to  repair  to 
his  government,  and  to  finish  those  works  which  were  necessary 
for  the  safety  of  the  place.'  They  supplied  him  with  money  for 

D 


34  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

the  other,  did  like  a  good  miller,  that  knows  how  to  grind 
which  way  soever  the  wind  sits. 

4.  After  Luther  had  made  a  combustion  in  Germany 
about  religion,  he  was  sent  to  by  the  pope,  to  be  taken 
off,  and  offered  any  preferment  in  the  church,  that  he 
would  make  choice  of:  Luther  answered,  if  he  had 

the  purpose,  and  gave  him  a  lieutenant-general's  commission  in  the 
Parliamentary  army.  On  his  return  to  Portsmouth  he  declared  for 
the  King. 

His  next  act  was  to  surrender  Portsmouth  to  the  Parliament, 
treacherously  according  to  Clarendon,  but  certainly  not  without  having 
made  strenuous  efforts  for  its  defence. 

In  1643  he  was  appointed  to  a  command  in  the  King's  army  at 
York  '  by  the  Queen's  favour  notwithstanding  all  former  failings/ 
and  from  this  date  onwards  he  continued  to  serve  the  King.  Claren 
don  sketches  his  character  and  conduct  in  terms  of  great  bitterness, 
very  unlike  Selden's  easy-going  remark.  See  Hist,  of  Rebellion,  i. 
414-417,  651,  1114-1119  ;  ii.  27,  212,  830  ff. 

1.  3.  After  Luther  had  made  a  combustion  £c.]  The  story  of  the 
offers  made  to  Luther  by  the  Pope's  legate,  and  of  Luther's  reply  to 
them,  rests  on  the  authority  of  Father  Paul  Sarpi.  But  Selden  does 
not  tell  it  quite  fairly  to  Luther.  What  Sarpi  says  is  that  in  1535 
the  legate,  Vergerio,  had  a  special  commission  to  treat  with  Luther 
and  with  other  prominent  persons  among  the  reformers,  and  to  make 
all  sorts  of  promises  to  them,  if  only  he  could  bring  them  to  terms. 
Vergerio,  accordingly,  arranged  a  meeting  with  Luther  at  Wittemburg, 
and  threw  out  some  very  clear  hints  of  what  the  Pope,  Paul  III, 
would  do  to  reward  him  if  he  would  but  cease  from  troubling  the 
Church  and  the  world.  Luther's  answer  was  that  the  offers  had 
come  too  late,  for  he  had  been  driven  by  the  harshness  with  which 
he  had  been  formerly  treated,  to  make  a  more  exact  enquiry  into 
the  errors  and  abuses  of  the  papacy,  and  knowing  what  he  now 
knew  he  could  not  in  conscience  refrain  from  telling  it  out  to  the 
world.  See  Istoria  del  Concilio  Tridentino,  lib.  i.  sec.  53  (edition  of 
1835,  in  7  vols.).  Luther  speaks  of  this  interview  in  a  letter  to  Jonas, 
written  in  the  same  year,  but  he  says  only  that  he  met  the  Pope's 
legate  by  invitation, — '  sed  quos  sermones  habuerim  non  licet  homini 
scribere.'  (De  Wette,  Luther's  Briefe,  iv.  648.)  Sarpi's  story  must  be 
taken  for  what  it  is  worth.  His  authority  is  not  by  any  means  unim 
peachable,  and  Pallavicino  (iii.  c.  18)  ridicules  the  tale  as  a  romance. 

I  am  indebted  to  the  Bishop  of  Peterborough  for  all  the  above 
references. 


CHRISTIANS.  35 

offered  half  as  much  at  first,  he  would  have  accepted  it, 
but  now  he  had  gone  so  far,  he  could  not  come  back. 
In  truth  he  had  made  himself  a  greater  thing  than  the}'' 
could  make  him ;  the  German  princes  courted  him ;  he 
was  become  the  author  of  a  sect  ever  after  to  be  called 
Lutherans.  So  have  our  preachers  done  that  are  against 
the  bishops,  they  have  made  themselves  greater  with  the 
people  than  they  can  be  made  the  other  way,  and  there 
fore  there  is  the  less  probability  of1  bringing  them  off. 
Charity  to  strangers  is  enjoined  in  the  text.  By  strangers  10 
is  there  understood,  those  that  are  not  of  your  own  kin, 
strangers  to  your  blood,  not  those  you  cannot  tell  whence 
they  come;  that  is,  be  charitable  to  your  neighbours 
whom  you  know  to  be  honest  poor  people. 


XIV. 

CHRISTIANS. 

1.  IN  the  church  of  Jerusalem,  the  Christians  were  but 
another  sect  of  Jews,  that  did  believe  the  Messias  was 
come.     To  be  called,  was  nothing  else  but  to  become  a 
Christian,  to  have  the  name  of  a  Christian,  it  being  their 
own  language;  for  among  the  Jews,  when  they  made  a 20 
doctor  of  law,  'twas  said  he  was  called. 

2.  The  Turks  tell  their  people  of  a  heaven  where  there 
is  a  sensible  pleasure,  but  of  a  hell  where  they  shall  suffer 
they  do  not  know  what.     The  Christians  quite  invert  this 
order ;  they  tell  us  of  a  hell  where  we  shall  feel  sensible 
pain,  but  of  a  heaven  where  we  shall  enjoy  we  cannot  tell 
what. 

3.  Why  did  the  heathen  object  to  the  Christians,  that 

1  Less  probability  of.     Singer  conjecturally]  less  charity  probably  of,  MSS. 

1.  28.     Why  did  the  heathen  &c.]    On  the  identification  of  Jews  and 
Christians,  and  on  the  reasons  for  it,  Selden  speaks  in  several  places. 

D  2 


36  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

they  worshipped  an  ass's  head?  You  must  know,  that 
to  a  heathen,  a  Jew  and  a  Christian  were  all  one,  that  they 

What  he  says  in  effect  is  that,  since  Christianity  had  its  origin  in 
Judaea,  since  the  early  Christians  were  in  great  part  Jews  by  race, 
and  worshipped  the  same  supreme  God  as  the  Jews,  and  since  they 
preserved  for  some  time  the  civil  rites  and  ceremonies  of  their  nation, 
it  was  quite  natural  that  the  alien  peoples,  among  whom  they  lived 
and  from  whose  worship  they  both  alike  kept  markedly  aloof,  should 
have  seen  no  difference  between  them,  and  that  in  point  of  fact  they 
habitually  included  them  both  under  the  common  name  of  Jews. 
See  Selden,  Works,  i.  59.  II.  Prolegomena,  p.  10.  II.  405  and  657. 

The  fiction  about  the  ass's  head  was,  Bochart  says,  started  by 
Apion,  an  Egyptian  grammarian  of  the  first  half  of  the  first  century, 
and  he  adds  proof  of  the  very  wide  credence  which  it  received,  about 
the  Jews  first,  and  about  the  Christians  afterwards.  The  origin  of 
the  story  he  explains  in  several  ways,  but  not  very  happily.  See 
Hierozoicon,  pt.  i,  bk.  ii.  ch.  xviii. 

Morinus  criticises  Bochart  and  the  authorities  which  Bochart 
quotes,  and  then  with  some  hesitation  tries  his  own  hand  on  the 
problem.  One  of  his  conjectures  is  that  the  Hebrew  words  for  a  pot 
(sc.  of  manna)  and  for  an  ass  are  so  nearly  alike  as  hardly  to  be  dis 
tinguished,  and  that  the  pot  of  manna,  with  its  two  handles  or  ears, 
preserved  in  the  holy  place,  might  itself  be  taken  as  an  image  of  an 
ass's  head. 

Conf.  Dissertationes  Octo  (Geneva,  1683),  p.  157,  on  the  question, 
'  Unde  potuit  venire  in  mentem  gentium  caput  asininum  esse  Chris- 
tianorum  Deum  ?' 

The  story,  as  told  by  Apion,  takes  two  forms,  viz.  that  the  head  of 
an  ass  in  gold,  an  object  of  worship  among  the  Jews,  was  found  in 
the  holy  place  of  the  Temple  by  Antiochus  Epiphanes  ;  and  again  that 
a  man  named  Zabidus,  in  the  course  of  a  war  between  the  Jews  and 
the  Idumaeans,  managed  to  make  his  way  into  the  Temple,  and  there 
found  and  carried  away  the  golden  head.  See  Josephus  against 
Apion,  bk.  ii.  ch.  7  and  10. 

But  if  the  calumny  originated  with  Apion,  and  if  the  later  versions 
of  it  can,  as  Bochart  says,  be  traced  to  him  as  their  source,  it  seems 
hardly  worth  while  to  enquire  about  it  any  further.  Apion,  it  must 
be  remembered,  was  notorious  as  a  hater  of  the  Jews.  He  not  only 
wrote  against  them,  but  he  was  sent  to  Rome,  on  a  special  mission, 
as  the  most  fit  person  to  plead  before  the  Emperor  Caligula  on  behalf 
of  the  Alexandrian  Greeks,  in  their  quarrel  with  the  Alexandrian 
Jews,  and  he  did  his  work  so  effectively  that  the  Emperor  refused 
even  to  hear  his  opponent,  Philo.  The  ass's  head  story,  however 
started,  and  with  whatever  accessories  it  was  adorned,  would  have 


CHRISTMAS.  37 

regarded  him  not,  so  he  was  not  one  of  them.  Now  that 
of  the  ass's  head  might  proceed  from  such  a  mistake  as 
this.  By  the  Jewish  law,  all  the  firstlings  of  cattle  were 
to  be  offered  to  God,  except  a  young  ass,  which  was  to  be 
redeemed ;  a  heathen  being  present,  and  seeing  young 
calves,  and  young  lambs  killed  at  their  sacrifices,  only 
young  asses  redeemed,  might  very  well  think  they  had 
that  silly  beast  in  some  high  estimation,  and  thence  might 
imagine  they  worshipped  it  as  a  God. 


XV. 

CHRISTMAS. 

1.  CHRISTMAS  succeeds  the  Saturnalia,  the  same  time, 
the  same  number  of  holy  days ;  then  the  master  waited 
upon  the  servant,  just  like  the  lord  of  misrule. 

2.  Our  meats  and  our  sports  (much  of  them)  have  rela 
tion  to  church-work.     The  coffin  of  our  Christmas  pies,  in 
shape  long,  is  in  imitation  of  the   cratch ;    our  choosing 

gained  ready  credence  at  Rome  about  a  people  of  whom  they  knew 
little,  and  for  whom  they  had  no  love.  It  was  told  first  about  the 
Jews,  and  the  identification  of  Jews  and  Christians  explains  suffi 
ciently  how  it  came  to  be  told  about  the  Christians  afterwards. 

1.  13.  the  lord  of  misrule]  Strutt  gives  a  full  account  of  this  'mock 
prince,'  or  '  master  of  merry  disports,'  of  the  manner  of  his  appoint 
ment,  of  the  length  of  his  reign,  and  of  the  nature  and  privileges  of 
his  office.  He  refers  to  and  endorses  Selden's  opinion  that  all  these 
whimsical  transpositions  of  dignity  are  derived  from  the  ancient 
Saturnalia,  or  feasts  of  Saturn,  when  the  masters  waited  upon  their 
servants,  who  were  honoured  with  mock  titles  and  permitted  to 
assume  the  state  and  deportment  of  their  lords.  Sports  and  Pas 
times,  bk.  iv.  chap.  3,  sec.  1-8. 

1.  16.  the  cratch}  An  old  English  word  for  rack  or  manger.  Fr. 
creche.  It  is  frequently  used  for  the  manger  in  which  Christ  was 
laid.  Conf.  '  And  sche  bare  hir  first  borun  sone,  and  wlappide  hym  in 
clothis,  and  leide  hym  in  a  cratche.'  Luke  ii.  7 ;  Wycliffe's  Trans, 
second  version,  as  printed  by  Forshall  and  Madden. 


38  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

king  and  queen  on  twelfth-night,  has  reference  to  the 
three  kings.  So  likewise  our  eating  of  fritters,  whipping 
of  tops,  roasting  of  herrings,  jack  of  lents,  &c.  they  were 
all  in  imitation  of  church-work,  emblems  of  martyrdom. 
Our  tansies  at  Easter  have  reference  to  the  bitter  herbs  ; 
though  at  the  same  time  it  was  always  the  fashion,  for  a 
man  to  have  in  his  house  a  gammon  of  bacon,  to  shew 
himself  to  be  ho  Jew. 


XVI. 

CHURCH. 

10  i.  HERETOFORE  the  kingdom  let  the  church  alone,  let 
them  do  what  they  would,  because  they  had  something 
else  to  think  of,  viz*,  wars ;  but  now  in  time  of  peace,  we 
begin  to  examine  all  things,  will  have  nothing  but  what  we 
like,  grow  dainty  and  wanton  ;  just  as  in  a  family,  the  heir 
uses  to  go  a  hunting,  he  never  considers  how  his  meal 
is  dressed  ;  takes  a  bit l,  and  away ;  but  when  he  stays 
within,  then  he  grows  curious,  he  does  not  like  this,  nor 
he  does  not  like  that,  he  will  have  his  meat  dressed  his 
own  way,  or  peradventure  he  will  dress  it  himself. 

20     2.  It  hath  ever  been  the  gain  of  the  church,  when  the 

1   Takes  a  bit,  H.  2]  take  a  bit,  H. 

1.  3.    Jack  a  lent}     Explained  in  Johnson's  Dictionary  as  a  puppet 
formerly  thrown  at  in  Lent,  like  shrove-cocks.     Conf. : 
'  Thou,  that  when  last  thou  wert  put  out  of  service, 
Travell'dst  to  Hamstead-heath,  on  an  Ash  Wednesday, 
Where  thou  didst  stand  six  weeks  the  Jack  o'  Lent, 
For  boys  to  hurl  three  throws  a  penny  at  thee.' 

Ben  Jonson,  Tale  of  a  Tub,  Act  iv.  sc.  2. 

1.  5.  Our  tansies]  '  Tansy,  a  herb  :  also  a  sort  of  pancake  or  pud 
ding  made  with  it.3  Bailey,  Old  English  Dictionary. 

1.  20.  the  gain  of  the  church]  I  am  not  sure  that  this  is  the  correct 
reading.  The  MSS.  give  gaine,  which  may  quite  possibly  have  been 
a  mistake  for  game,  a  word  better  suited  to  the  sense  here.  So,  in 
Bacon's  Essay  *  Of  Usury,'  the  unquestionably  correct  reading,  '  at 


CHURCH.  39 

king  will  let  the  church  have  no  power,  to  cry  down  the 
king  and  cry  up  the  church.  But  when  the  church  can 
make  use  of  the  king's  power,  then  to  bring  all  under  the 
king's  prerogative.  The  catholics  of  England  go  one  way, 
and  the  court  clergy  the  other 1. 

3.  A  glorious  church  is  like  a  magnificent  feast,  there 
is  all  the  variety  that  may  be,  but  every  one  chooses  out 
a  dish  or  two  that  he  likes,  and  lets  the  rest  alone.    How 
glorious  soever  the  church  is,  every  one  chooses  out  of  it 
his  own  religion,  by  which  he  governs  himself,  and  lets  10 
the  rest  alone. 

4.  The  laws  of  the  church  are  most  favourable  to  the 
church,  because  they  were  the  church's  own  making ;  as 
the  heralds  are  the  best  gentlemen,  because  they  make 
their  own  pedigree. 

5.  There  is  a  question  about  that  article,  concerning 

1   The  other}  corrected  in  MSS.  from  '  an  other.' 

the  end  of  the  game/  appears  in  some  copies  of  the  edition  of  1625 
as  *  at  the  end  of  the  gaine.'  So,  too,  in  the  Table  Talk  (Power, 
State,  end  of  sec.  7)  the  Harleian  MS.  1315  reads,  quite  distinctly, 
'  comine,'  instead  of  '  comme.' 

1.  16.  There  is  a  question  about  that  article  &c.]  The  words  in 
question — '  The  Church  hath  power  to  decree  rites  or  ceremonies  and 
authority  in  controversies  of  faith,'  or,  as  they  appear  in  the  original 
Latin,  '  Habet  Ecclesia  ritus  statuendi  jus,  et  in  fidei  controversiis 
auctoritatem ' — were  certainly  part  of  the  Latin  text  as  printed  in  1563, 
with  the  approval  of  the  Queen.  They  were  not  in  Archbishop  Parker's 
preparatory  draft  of  the  articles,  but  they  certainly  were  in  the  copy 
finally  signed  by  the  archbishop,  the  bishops  and  the  clergy  of  the 
Lower  House,  at  the  convocation  on  January  29,  1562  (1563).  Their 
subsequent  history  is  not  equally  clear.  They  were  not  in  the  English 
MS.  signed  by  the  bishops  in  the  convocation  of  1571.  They  were 
in  the  Latin  articles  signed  by  the  Lower  House  in  the  same  year. 
It  appears,  too,  that  in  1571  there  were  copies  of  the  articles  printed 
in  Latin  and  in  English  with  the  above  words,  and  other  copies, 
certainly  in  English,  without  the  words.  The  whole  question  is  dis 
cussed,  and  a  summary  of  the  arguments  pro  and  con  given,  in  Hard- 
wick's  History  of  the  Thirty-nine  Articles,  p.  141.  See  also  Laud's 
Works,  vol.  iv.  30,  and  vol.  vi.  64  ff.  A  charge  that  the  bishops  had 


40  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

the  power  of  the  church,  whether  these  words  (of  having 
power  in  controversies  of  faith)  were  not  stolen  in ; 
but  'tis  most  certain  they  were  in  the  Book  of  Articles 
that  was  confirmed,  though  in  some  editions  they  have 
been  left  out :  but  the  Article  before  tells  you,  who  the 
church  is ;  not  the  clergy,  but  ccetus  fidelium. 


XVII. 
CHURCH  OF  ROME. 

1.  BEFORE  a  juggler's  tricks  are  discovered  we  admire 
him,  and  give  him  money,  but  afterwards  we  care  not  for 

10  them  :  so  'twas  before  the  discovery  of  the  juggling  of  the 
church  of  Rome. 

2.  Catholics  say,  we  out  of  our  charity  believe  they  of 
the  church  of  Rome  may  be  saved :  but  they  do  not  be 
lieve  so  of  us ;  therefore  their  church  is  better  according 
to  our  own  selves.     First,  some  of  them  no  doubt  believe 
as  well  of  us,  as  we  do  of  them ;  but  they  must  not  say  so. 
Besides  is  that  an  argument,  their  church  is  better  than 
ours  because  it  has  less  charity? 

forged  the  clause  and  had  foisted  it  into  the  articles,  is  dealt  with 
at  length  in  Laud's  speech  at  the  censure  of  Burton,  Bastwick,  and 
Prynne.  Strype,  in  his  Life  of  Archbishop  Parker,  bk.  iv.  chap.  5, 
says  that  a  Latin  copy  of  the  articles,  printed  in  1563,  and  containing 
the  disputed  clause,  'is  still  extant  in  the  Bodleian  Library  among 
Mr.  Selden's  books  .  .  .  being  found  in  Archbishop  Laud's  library, 
from  whence  Mr.  Selden  immediately  had  it.'  He  adds,  further,  that 
there  were  three  editions  of  the  Thirty-nine  Articles  in  English, 
printed  in  1571  by  Jugg  and  Cawood,  all  which  have  this  clause; 
*  which  three  editions,  with  the  said  clause,  I  myself  saw,  as  well  as 
other  inquisitive  persons,  at  Mr.  Wilkins's,  a  bookseller  in  St.  Paul's 
Church-yard.'  '  So  that  at  length  an  edition  that  appeared  abroad  in 
the  same  year,  printed  by  John  Day,  wanting  the  clause,  hath  been 
judged  (and  that  upon  good  grounds)  to  be  spurious.' 

1.  17.    Besides  is  that  an  argument,  &c.]    Dr.  Prideaux  makes  this 


CHURCH   OF  ROME.— CHURCHES.  41 

3.  One  of  the  church  of  Rome  will  not  come  to  our 
prayers.  Does  that  argue  he  does  not  like  them?  I 
would  fain  see  a  catholic  leave  his  dinner,  because  a 
nobleman's  chaplain  says  grace.  Nor  haply  would  he 
leave  the  prayers  of  the  church,  if  going  to  church  were 
not  made  a  note  of  distinction  between  a  protestant1  and 
a  papist. 


XVIII. 
CHURCHES. 

THE  way  coming  into  our  great  churches  was  anciently 
at  the  west  door,  that  men  might  see  the  altar,  and  all  the  10 
church  before  them  ;  the  other  doors  were  but  posterns, 

1  Protestant,  H.  2]  protest,  H. 

point  in  the  course  of  a  series  of  lectures  to  which  Selden  refers 
elsewhere.  See  note  on  '  Predestination,'  sec.  3. 

1.9.  The  way  coming  &c.]  After  the  narthex  (ante-temple)  followed 
that  part  which  was  properly  called  vaos,  the  temple,  and  navis,  the 
nave  or  body  of  the  church  .  . .  The  entrance  into  it  from  the  narthex 
was  by  the  gates,  which  the  modern  rituals  and  Greek  writers  call 
TruXcu  cbpatcu  and  ftao-iXiKai,  the  '  beautiful  and  royal  gates.'  Here  their 
kings  were  wont  to  lay  down  their  crowns  before  they  proceeded 
further  into  the  Church.  Bingham,  Christian  Antiquities,  bk.  viii. 
ch.  5,  sec.  i. 

These  royal  gates  were  usually  at  the  west,  since  the  churches 
were  usually  built  east  and  west,  with  the  altar  at  the  east  end,  but 
the  rule  was  not  always  observed.  See  Christian  Antiquities,  bk.  viii. 
ch.  3,  sec.  2. 

Bingham  gives,  in  this  chapter,  the  ground-plan  of  an  ancient 
church,  showing  the  royal  gates  at  the  west,  with  the  altar  and  all 
the  church  in  full  view  in  front  of  them,  and  the  other  gates  or 
posterns  at  the  sides.  See  also  Selden's  letter  to  Usher  of 
March  24,  1621  (22),  asking  '  whether  we  find  that  any  churches  in 
the  elder  times  of  Christianity  were  with  the  doors  or  fronts  east 
ward  '  (Works,  ii.  1707),  and  Usher's  reply  of  April  16,  showing  that 
ancient  churches  were  built  in  a  variety  of  ways,  some  '  with  the 
doors  or  fronts  eastward,'  some  standing  north  and  south ;  but  that 
for  the  most  part  they  had  the  entrance  at  the  west  and  the  altar  at 
the  east  end.  R.  Parr's  Life  of  Usher.  Letters,  p.  81.  Letter  49. 


THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 


XIX. 

CITY. 

1.  WHAT  makes  a  city?    Whether  a  bishoprick,  or  any 
thing  l  of  that  nature  ? 

Answer.  Tis  according  to  the  first  charter  which  made 
them  a  corporation.  If  they  are  incorporated  by  name  of 
civitas,  then  they  are  a  city;  if  by  the  name  of  burgum, 
then  they  are  a  borough. 

2.  The  lord  mayor  of  London  by  their  first  charter  was 
to  be  presented  to  the  king ;  in  his  absence  to  the  lord 

10  chief  justiciary  of  England  ;  afterwards  to  the  lord  chancel 
lor,  now  to  the  barons  of  the  exchequer ;  but  still  there 
was  a  reservation,  that  for  their  honour  they  should  come 
once  a  year  to  the  king,  as  they  do  still. 

1  Anything,  H.  2]  any,  H. 

1.  8.  The  lord  mayor  of  London  £c.]  The  first  notice  of  the 
presentment  of  the  lord  mayor  to  the  King  occurs  in  the  fifth 
charter,  granted  by  King  John,  1215.  It  grants  to  the  barons  of  the 
city  of  London  that  they  may  choose  every  year  a  mayor, '  so  as,  when 
he  shall  be  chosen,  to  be  presented  to  us  or  our  justice,  if  we  shall 
not  be  present.'  By  the  sixth  charter  of  Henry  III,  the  mayor  when 
chosen  is  to  be  '  presented  to  the  Barons  of  the  Exchequer,  we  not 
being  at  Westminster,  so  notwithstanding  at  the  next  coming  of  us  or 
our  heirs  to  Westminster  or  London,  he  be  presented  to  us  or  our 
heirs,  and  so  admitted  mayor.'  Edward  I  fixes  the  first  presentation 
to  be  to  the  '  Constable  of  our  Tower  of  London,  but  to  us  at  our  next 
coming  to  London.'  See  Noorthouck,  Hist,  of  London,  pp.  778,  782, 
784.  This  rule  is  not  varied  in  any  later  charters.  For  the  practice, 
as  it  had  afterwards  been  settled,  see  Maitland's  Hist,  of  London, 
p.  1193  (fol.  1756).  'The  Lord  Mayor  elect,'  Maitland  says,  'is 
presented  first  to  the  Lord  Chancellor,  and  afterwards  to  the  Barons 
of  the  Exchequer,  when  he  has  been  sworn  into  his  office.' 


CITY.-CLERGY.  43 

XX. 

CLERGY. 

1.  THOUGH  a  clergyman  have  no  faults  of  his  own,  yet 
the  faults  of  the  whole  tribe  shall  be  laid  upon  him,  so  he 
shall  be  sure  not  to  lack. 

2.  The  clergy  would  have  us  believe  them  against  our 
own  reason ;  as  the  woman  would  have  had  her  husband 
against  his  own  eyes,  when  he  took  her  with  another  man, 
which  she  stoutly  denied :   What !  will  you  believe  your 
own  eyes  before  your  own  sweet  wife  ? 

3.  The  condition  of  the  clergy  towards  the  prince,  and  10 
the  condition  of  the  physician  is  all  one  :  the  physicians 
tell  the  prince  they  have  agaric  and  rhubarb  good  for  him 
and  good  for  his  subjects'  bodies  ;  upon  this  he  gives  them 
leave  to  use  it ;  but  if  it  prove  naught,  then  away  with  it, 
they  shall  use  it  no  more  ;  so  the  clergy  tell  the  prince  they 
have  physic  good  for  his  soul,  and  good  for  the  souls  of  his 
people  ;  upon  that  he  admits  them :  but  when  he  finds  by 
experience   they  both  trouble  him  and  his  people,  then 
away  with  them,  he  will  have  no  more  to  do  with  them. 
What  is  that  to  them,  or  any  body  else,  if  a  king  will  not  go  20 
to  heaven  ? 

4.  A  clergyman  goes  not  a  dram  further  than  this  :  you 
ought  to  obey  your  prince  in  general.     If  he  does  he  is 
lost :  how  to  obey  him,  you  must  be  informed  by  those, 
whose  profession  it  is  to  tell  you.    The  parson  of  the  Tower 
(a  good  discreet  man)  told  Dr.  Mosely  (who  was  sent  to 
me,  and  the  rest  of  the  gentlemen  committed  3d  Caroli, 
to  persuade  us  to  submit  to  the  king)  that  they  found  no 

1.  6.  as  the  woman  would  have  had  &c.]  This  seems  to  refer  either 
to  the  story  told  in  the  first  of  the  Adolphi  Fabulae  (quoted  in  the 
Aldine  ed.  of  Chaucer,  vol.  i.  232,  Introductory  Remarks),  or  to 
Chaucer's  adaptation  of  the  story  in  the  'Merchant's  Tale/  of  January 
and  May. 


44  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

such  words,  as  parliament,  habeas  corpus,  return,  tower,  &c. 
neither  in  the  fathers,  nor  in  the  schoolmen,  nor  in  the  text ; 
and  therefore,  for  his  part,  he  believed  they  understood 
nothing  of  the  business.  A  satire  upon  all  those  clergymen 
that  meddle  with  matters  they  do  not  understand. 

5.  All  confess  there  never  was  a  more  learned  clergy. 
No  man  taxes  them  with  ignorance.     But  to  talk  of  that,  is 
like  the  fellow  that  was  a  great  wencher ;  he  wished  God 
would  forgive  him  his  lechery,  and  lay  usury  to  his  charge. 

jo  The  clergy  have  worse  faults. 

6.  The  clergy  and  treaty  together  are  never  like  to  do 

1.  ii.  The  clergy  and  treaty]  This  is  the  clear  reading  of  the  three 
MSS.  which  I  have  examined.  The  printed  editions  have  'the 
clergy  and  laity,'  which  gives  an  easier  sense  for  the  line,  but  does 
not  suit  so  well  with  the  general  drift  of  the  section.  Selden  seems 
to  be  referring  to  some  attempted  arrangement  between  two  parties, 
in  which  the  interference  of  the  clergy,  on  the  one  side  and  on  the 
other,  was  likely  in  his  judgment  to  do  harm  by  mixing  up  matters 
which  had  better  have  been  left  out.  There  were  several  attempted 
arrangements  of  which  this  might  have  been  said.  There  was,  e.  g., 
the  attempted  treaty  for  peace  between  the  King  and  the  Parliament 
in  1643,  in  which  one  of  the  proposals  was  '  that  religion  might  be 
settled  with  the  advice  of  a  synod  of  divines  in  such  a  manner  as  his 
Majesty,  with  the  consent  of  both  Houses  of  Parliament,  should 
appoint '  (Clarendon,  History,  ii.  477).  Again,  there  was  the  abortive 
treaty  of  Newport,  discussed  in  September,  1648,  between  the  King, 
with  some  divines  among  his  advisers,  and  the  Parliamentary  com 
missioners,  attended  by  a  body  of  their  divines.  In  the  course  of 
this,  questions  about  the  church  came  prominently  forward,  and  it 
was  mainly  on  these  that  the  negotiations  finally  broke  down  (Clar 
endon,  History,  vol.  iii.  324,  327,  338-9).  The  remark  in  the  text,  in 
whichever  form  it  stands,  must  clearly  be  limited  to  some  such 
instance  as  the  above.  It  is  not  to  be  taken  as  condemning  in  every 
case  the  joint  action  of  clergy  and  laity.  In  '  Synod  Assembly,'  sec.  3, 
Selden  distinctly  approves  this,  and  indeed  insists  upon  it  as  neces 
sary.  He  was  himself  a  lay  member  of  the  Westminster  Assembly  of 
Divines,  a  mixed  lay  and  clerical  body,  for  which  religious  matters 
were  the  appointed  business  :  so  that  '  the  apothecary '  was  in  place 
there,  and  his  rhubarb  and  agaric  were  the  proper  ingredients  of  the 
sauce.  The  reading,  therefore, — '  the  clergy  and  treaty ' — though  an 
awkward  collocation  of  words,  seems  to  give  a  sense  best  suited  to 


HIGH  COMMISSION.  45 

well.  'Tis  as  if  a  man  were  to  make  an  excellent  feast,  and 
would  have  his  apothecary  and  his  physician  should  come 
into  the  kitchen :  the  cooks,  if  they  were  let  alone,  would 
make  excellent  meat ;  but  then  comes  the  apothecary,  and 
he  puts  rhubarb  into  the  sauce,  and  agaric  into  another 
sauce  and  so  spoils  all.  Chain  up  the  clergy  on  both  sides. 


XXI. 

HIGH  COMMISSION. 

MEN  cry  out  upon  the  high  commission,  as  if  only  clergy 
men  had  to  do  in  it ;  when  I  believe  there  are  more  laymen 
in  commission  there,  than  clergymen.  If  the  laymen  will  * 
not  come,  whose  fault  is  that  ?  So  of  the  star-chamber,  the 
people  think  the  bishops  only  censured  Prynne,  Burton, 
and  Bastwick,  when  there  were  but  two  there,  and  one 
spoke  not  in  his  own  cause. 

the  whole  passage,  and  most  in  agreement  with  Selden's  judgment 
elsewhere. 

1.  8.  as  if  only  clergymen  &c.]  The  Commissioners  present  in  the 
High  Commission  Court  on  e.  g.  Nov.  17,  1631,  were  six  clerics  and 
four  laymen  ;  on  Nov.  24  there  were  seven  clerics  and  five  laymen ; 
on  Jan.  26,  163!,  six  clerics  and  four  laymen ;  on  Feb.  9  there  were 
three  clerics  and  eight  laymen.  See  High  Commission  Cases  (Cam- 
den  Society),  pp.  239,  245,  261,  264.  On  the  popular  dislike  of  the 
High  Commission  Court,  and  on  the  very  good  reasons  for  it,  see 
Clarendon,  Hist.,  vol.  i.  p.  439.  His  statement  is,  in  effect,  that  it  had 
come  to  meddle  with  things  which  did  not  properly  concern  it ;  that 
it  had  extended  its  sentences  and  judgments,  in  matters  tryable 
before  it,  beyond  that  degree  which  was  justifiable,  and  had  not  only 
neglected  prohibitions  from  the  supreme  courts  of  law,  but  had  re 
prehended  the  judges  for  doing  their  duty  in  granting  them.  The 
growth  of  these  abuses  he  ascribes  to  '  the  great  power  of  some 
bishops  at  court.' 

1.  12.  people  think  the  bishops  only  &c.]  They  were  tried,  Clarendon 
says,  '  in  as  full  a  court  as  ever  I  saw  in  that  place.'  The  bishops  pre 
sent  were  '  only  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  and  the  Bishop  of 
London/  Hist.  i.  310.  The  bishop  who  spoke  was  Laud,  the  arch- 


46  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

XXII. 
HOUSE  OF  COMMONS. 

i.  THERE  be  but  two  erroneous  opinions  in  the  House  of 
Commons ;  that  the  Lords  sit  only  for  themselves ;  when 
the  truth  is,  they  sit  as  well  for  the  commonwealth.  The 
knights  and  burgesses  sit  for  themselves  and  others,  some 
for  more,  some  for  fewer.  And  what  is  the  reason  ?  Be 
cause  the  room  will  not  hold  all ;  the  Lords  being  few,  they 
all  come ;  and  imagine  the  room  able  to  hold  all  the  Com 
mons  of  England,  then  the  Knights  and  burgesses  would 
10  sit  no  otherwise  than  the  Lords  do.  The  second  error  is, 

bishop.  His  speech  is  given  at  length  in  Laud's  Works,  vol.  vi. 
p.  41  ff.  The  sentence  was  brutal,  and  it  was  carried  out  with  brutal 
and  unusual  severity.  *  The  report  thereof/  says  Rushworth,  *  flew 
quickly  into  Scotland,  and  the  discourse  among  the  Scots  were,  that 
the  bishops  of  England  were  the  cause  thereof.'  Historical  Collec 
tions,  ii.  385.  So  Prynne,  speaking  from  the  pillory,  ascribes  the 
whole  business  to  the  vexation  of  the  bishops  as  the  subjects  of  the 
libels  for  which  he  and  the  others  had  been  sentenced.  Cobbett, 
State  Trials,  p.  747.  His  statement  is  borne  out  by  Whitelock's  account 
of  the  case. 

'  The  King  and  Queen  did  nothing  direct  against  him  (Prynne)  till 
Laud  set  Dr.  Heylin  (who  bore  a  great  malice  to  Prynne  for  confuting 
some  of  his  doctrines)  to  peruse  Prynne's  book,  &c.  The  archbishop 
went  with  these  notes  to  Mr.  Attorney  Noy,  and  charged  him  to  pro 
secute  Prynne,  which  Noy  afterwards  did  rigorously  enough  in  the 
Star  Chamber,  and  in  the  meantime  the  Bishops  and  Lords  in  the 
Star  Chamber  sent  Prynne  close  prisoner  to  the  Tower.'  Whitelock, 
Memorials,  p.  18. 

The  trial  in  the  Star  Chamber  was  in  1637.  That  court  and  the 
High  Commission  Court  were  abolished  in  1640.  Selden's  remarks 
must  therefore  have  been  made  at  some  time  between  the  two  dates. 

1.  3.  that  the  Lords  sit  only  £c.]  '  If  they  (sc.  the  bishops)  vote  for 
the  clergy,  then  they  are  to  be  elected  by  the  clergy,  as  the  members 
of  the  Commons  House  now  are  ;  but  your  Lordships,  voting  only  for 
yourselves,  need  no  electors.'  Solicitor  St.  John's  speech  at  a  confer 
ence  of  the  two  Houses,  1641.  Nalson's  Collections,  ii.  501. 

So,  too,  in  Baillie's  Letters  and  Journals,  we  find  it  stated  that  the 
Lords  represent  none  but  themselves.  Vol.  i.  369. 

1.  10.     The  second  error  is  £c.]    That  a  money  bill  must  originate  with 


HOUSE  OF  COMMONS.— COMPETENCY.  47 

that  the  House  of  Commons  are  to  begin  to  give  subsidies ; 
yet  if  the  Lords  dissent,  they  can  give  no  money. 

2.  The  House  of  Commons  is  called  the  Lower  House 
in  twenty  acts  of  parliament :  but  what  are  twenty  acts  of 
parliament  amongst  friends  ? 

3.  The  form  of  a  charge  runs  thus,  I  accuse  in  the  name 
of  all  the  Commons  of  England.     How  then  can  any  man 
be  as  a  witness,  when  every  man  is  made  an  accuser? 


XXIII. 
COMPETENCY. 

THAT  which  is  a  competency  for  one  man,  is  not  enough  10 
for  another ;  no  more  than  that  which  will  keep  one  man 
warm  will  keep  another  man  warm  :  one  man  can  go  in 

the  House  of  Commons  is  admitted  on  all  hands.  But  whether  the 
opinion,  that  if  the  Lords  dissent  the  Commons  can  give  no  money, 
is,  as  Selden  terms  it,  an  error,  is  more  than  doubtful.  '  It  is  true  that 
the  Bill  of  Subsidy  is  offered  by  the  Commons  only ;  but  before  that 
stage  is  reached,  it  is  sent  up  to  the  Lords,  is  thrice  read  by  them,  and 
is  then  sent  back  to  the  Commons,  and  there  it  remaineth  to  be  carried 
by  the  Speaker,  when  he  shall  present  it.'  See  Orders  and  Proceed 
ings  of  the  Commons,  ch.  xv.  Harleian  MS.  v.  266. 

Sir  Erskine  May  says  expressly  that  *  A  grant  from  the  Commons  is 
not  effectual,  in  law,  without  the  ultimate  assent  of  the  Queen  and  of 
the  House  of  Lords.'  Law,  &c.,  of  Parliament,  p.  638  (gth  ed.). 

Indeed,  that  the  Commons  in  Selden's  day  had  a  less  independent 
control  over  grants  than  they  have  gained  since,  appears  from  the  fact 
that  although  their  right  to  originate  grants  was  unquestionable,  yet 
bills  of  supply  were,  until  1671,  liable  to  be  amended  by  the  Lords. 
Ibid.  p.  641. 

1.  6.  The  form  of  a  charge  &c.]  See,  Message  to  the  Lords  re 
Strafford,  delivered  by  Mr.  Pym  at  the  command  of  the  House  :  '  My 
Lords  ....  I  do  here  in  the  name  of  the  Commons  now  assembled 
in  Parliament,  and  in  the  name  of  all  the  Commons  of  England,  accuse 
Thomas,  Earl  of  Strafford,  Lord  Lieutenant  of  Ireland,  of  High 
Treason.'  Nalson,  Collections,  vol.  ii.  p.  7. 

There  are  other  instances  given  at  p.  796,  and  passim. 


48  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

doublet  and  hose,  when  another  man  cannot  be  without  a 
cloak,  and  yet  have  no  more  clothes  than  is  necessary  for 
him. 


XXIV. 

CONFESSION. 

1.  IN  the  time  of  parliament  it  used  to  be  one  of  the  first 
things  the  house  did,  to  petition  the  king  that  his  confessor 
might  be  removed  ;  as  fearing  either  his  power  with  the 
king,  or  else,  lest  he  should  reveal  to  the  pope  what  the 
house  was  in  doing,  as  no  doubt  he  did,  when  the  Catholic 

10  cause  was  concerned. 

2.  The  difference  between  us  and  the  papists  is,  we  both 
allow  contrition,  but  the  papists  make  confession  a  part  of 
contrition ;  they  say,  a  man  is  not  sufficiently  contrite,  unless 
he  confess  his  sins  to  a  priest. 

3.  Why  should  I  think  a  priest  will  not  reveal  confession? 
I  am  sure  he  will  do  any  other  thing  that  is  forbidden  him, 
haply  not  so  often  as  I.    The  uttermost  punishment  is 
deprivation.    And  how  can  it  be  proved,  that  ever  any  man 
revealed  confession,  when  there  is  no  witness  ?    And  no 

20  man  can  be  witness  in  his  own  cause.  A  mere  gullery. 
There  was  a  time  when  'twas  public  in  the  church,  and 
that  is  much  against  their  auricular  confession. 


XXV. 

GREAT  CONJUNCTION. 

THE  greatest  conjunction  of  Saturn  and  Jupiter  happens 
but  once  in  eight  hundred  years,  and  therefore  astrologers 

1.  24.  The  greatest  conjunction  £c.]  '  Conjonction  en  Astronomie  se 
dit  de  la  rencontre  apparente  de  deux  astres  ou  de  deux  planetes  dans 
le  meme  point  des  cieux,  ou  plutot  dans  le  meme  degre  du  zodiaque. 


CONFESSION.  —  CONSCIENCE.  49 

can  make  no  experiments  of  it,  nor  foretell  what  it  means  ; 
not  but  that  the  stars  may  mean  something,  but  we  cannot 
tell  what  because  we  cannot  come  at  them.  Suppose  a 
planet  were  a  simple,  or  an  herb ;  how  could  a  physician 
tell  the  virtue  of  that  simple,  unless  he  came  at  it,  to 
apply  it  ? 


XXVI. 
CONSCIENCE. 

1.  HE  that  hath  a  scrupulous  conscience,  is  like  a  horse 
that  is  not  well  wayed l ;  he  starts  at  every  bird  that  flies  out  10 
of  the  hedge. 

2.  A  knowing  man  will  do  that  which  a  tender  con- 

1  Wayed,  H.  2]  weighed  H. 

The  conjunction  of  Saturn  and  Jupiter,  placed  by  astronomers  among 
the  grand  conjunctions,  happens  once  in  every  twenty  years.  A  less 
frequent  conjunction,  placed  among  the  very  grand,  is  that  of  Saturn, 
Jupiter,  and  Mars,  which  happens  once  in  every  five  hundred  years. 
See  Diderot  and  D'Alembert,  Encyclopedic,  under  heading  Con- 
jonction. 

If  Selden  is  writing  of  astrological  conjunctions  (as  it  would  appear 
he  is,  from  the  remarks  which  follow)  see,  on  the  whole  passage, — 
Planetarum  prima  diversitas  est  in  virtutibus  propriis.  Nam  Saturnus 
est  frigidus  et  siccus,  et  omnis  pigritiae  et  mortificationis  et  destruc- 
tionis  rerum  causativus  per  egressum  siccitatis  et  frigoris.  Mars  vero 
est  corruptivus  propter  egressum  caliditatis  et  siccitatis  et  isti  duo 
planetae  nunquam  faciunt  bonum  nisi  per  accidens ;  sicut  aliquando 
venenum  est  bonum  per  accidens  .... 

Habent  autem  planetae  virtutes  alias  a  signis  .  .  .  .  et  iterum  penes 
aspectus,  qui  sunt  conjunctio,  oppositio,  etc.  Conjunct!  dicuntur 
planetae,  quando  sunt  in  eodem  signo  oppositi,  quando  unus  est  in 
septimo  ab  alio  ....  Quando  vero  malus  opponitur  aut  conjungitur 
malo,  tune  magnum  malum  est,  £c.  R.  Bacon,  Opus  Majus,  p.  237-8. 

1.9.  well  wayed j\  Explained  in  Bailey's  Etymological  English  Diet. 
1  to  way  a  horse  is  to  teach  him  to  travel  in  the  way.' 

'Way'd  Horse  (with  horsemen)  is  one  who  is  already  backed, 
suppled  and  broken  and  shows  a  disposition  to  the  manage.' 

E 


50  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

scienced  man  dares  not  do,  by  reason  of  his  ignorance; 
the  other  knows  there  is  no  hurt :  as  a  child  is  afraid  to  go 
in  the  dark,  when  a  man  is  not,  because  he  knows  there's 
no  danger. 

3.  If  we  once  come  to  leave  that  out-loose,  as  to  pretend 
conscience  against  law,  who  knows  what  inconveniency 
may  follow  ?    For  thus,  suppose  an  anabaptist  comes  and 
takes  my  horse  ;  I  sue  him,  he  tells  me  he  did  according  to 
his  conscience ;  his  conscience   tells   him   all  things  are 

10  common  amongst  the  saints,  what  is  mine  is  his  ;  therefore 
you  do  ill  to  make  such  a  law,  if  any  man  take  another's 
horse  he  shall  be  hanged.  What  can  I  say  to  this  man  ? 
He  does  according  to  his  conscience.  Why  is  not  he  as 
honest  a  man,  as  he  that  pretends  a  ceremony,  established 
by  law,  is  against  his  conscience  ?  Generally  to  pretend 
conscience  against  law  is  dangerous ;  in  some  cases  haply 
we  may. 

4.  Some  men  make  it  a  case  of  conscience,  whether  a 
man  may  have  a  pigeon-house,  because  his  pigeons  eat 

20  other  folks'  corn.  But  there  is  no  such  thing  as  conscience 
in  the  business.  The  matter  is,  whether  he  be  a  man  of 
such  quality,  that  the  state  allows  him  to  have  a  dove- 
house  ;  if  so,  there's  an  end  to  the  business ;  his  pigeons 
have  a  right  to  eat  where  they  list  themselves. 

1.  21.  The  matter  is,  whether  he  be  £c.]  The  law  seems  to  have  been 
that— A  lord  of  a  manor  might  build  a  dove-cote  upon  his  land,  parcel 
of  his  manor,  and  this  he  might  do  by  virtue  of  his  right  as  lord 
thereof.  It  appears  also  from  the  obiter  dicta  in  a  case  before  the 
King's  Bench,  that  the  parson  had  a  like  right.  But  the  tenant  of  a 
manor  could  not  do  it  without  licence,  the  reason  assigned  being  that 
he  can  have  no  right  to  any  privilege  that  may  be  prejudicial  to 
others. 

In  every  case,  however,  in  which  pigeons  came  upon  a  man's  land, 
he  might  lawfully  kill  them,  the  quality  of  their  owner  notwithstand 
ing.  See  Croke's  Reports  of  cases  in  the  reign  of  James  I,  pp.  382, 
490,  and  Salkeld's  Reports  of  cases  in  the  reign  of  William  and  Mary, 
vol.  iii.  p.  248,  sub  voce  '  Nuisance.' 


CONSECRATED  PLACES.  51 

XXVII. 
CONSECRATED  PLACES. 

1.  THE  Jews  had  a  peculiar  way  of  consecrating  things 
to  God,  which  we  have  not. 

2.  Under  the  law,  God,  who  was  master  of  all,  made 
choice  of  a  temple  to  be  worshipped  in,  where  he  was  more 
especially  present :  just  as  the  master  of  a  house,  who  owns1 
all  the  house,  makes  choice  of  one  chamber  to  lie  in,  which 
is  called  the  master's  chamber ;  but  under  the  gospel  there 
is  no  such  thing ;  temples  and  churches  are  set  apart  for 
the  conveniency  of  men  to  worship  in  ;  they  cannot  meet  10 
upon  the  point  of  a  needle,  but  God  himself  makes  no 
choice. 

3.  All  things  are  God's  already,  we  can  give  him  no  right 
by  consecrating  any  that  he  had  not  before,  only  we  set  it 
apart  to  his  service.   Just  as  a  gardener  brings  his  lord  and 
master  a  basket  of  apricocks,  and  presents  them ;  his  lord 
thanks  him  for  them,  perhaps  gives  him  something  for  his 
pains,  and  yet  the  apricocks  were  as  much  his  lord's  before 
as  now. 

4.  What  is   consecrated,   is  given   to   some  particular  20 
man,  to  do  God  service ;  not  given  to  God,  but  given  to 
man  to  serve  God.    And  there's  not  anything,  lands,  or 
goods,  but  some  men  or  other  have  it  in  their  power  to 
dispose    of   as    they   please.      The    saying    things   con 
secrated  cannot  be  taken  away,  makes  men  afraid  of  con 
secration. 

5.  Yet  consecration  has  this  power,  when  a  man  has 
consecrated  anything  unto  God,  he  cannot  of  himself  take 
it  away. 

1  Owns]  owes,  MSS. 

1.  20.     What  is  consecrated,  &c.]     See  note  on  '  Tithes/  sec.  5. 

E  1 


52  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

XXVIII. 
CONTRACTS. 

i.  IF  our  fathers  have  lost  their  liberty,  why  may  not  we 
labour  to  regain  it  ? 

Answer.  We  must  look  to  the  contract ;  if  that  be  rightly 
made,  we  must  stand  to  it.  If  we  once  grant  we  may  recede 
from  contracts,  upon  any  inconveniency  may  afterwards 
happen,  we  shall  have  no  bargain  kept.  If  I  sell  you  a 
horse,  and  afterwards  do  not  like  my  bargain,  I  will  have 
my  horse  again. 

10  2.  Keep  your  contracts.  So  far  a  divine  goes,  but  how 
to  make  our  contracts  is  left  to  ourselves ;  and  as  we  agree 
about  the  conveying  of  this  house,  or  that  land,  so  it  must 
be.  If  you  offer  me  a  hundred  pounds  for  my  glove,  I  tell 
you  what  my  glove  is,  a  plain  glove,  pretend  no  virtue  in  it, 
the  glove  is  my  own,  I  profess  not  to  sell  gloves,  and  we 
agree  for  an  hundred  pounds ;  I  do  not  know  why  I  may 
not  with  a  safe  conscience  take  it.  The  want  of  that  com 
mon  obvious  distinction  of  jus  prceceptivum,  and  jus  permis- 
sivum,  does  much  trouble  men. 

20  3.  Lady  Kent  articled  with  Sir  Edward  Herbert,  that  he 
should  come  to  her  when  she  sent  for  him,  and  stay  with 
her  as  long  as  she  would  have  him  ;  to  which  he  set  his 
hand :  then  he  articled  with  her,  that  he  should  go  away 
when  he  pleased,  and  stay  away  as  long  as  he  pleased ;  to 
which  she  set  her  hand.  This  is  the  epitome  of  all  the 
contracts  in  the  world,  betwixt  man  and  man,  betwixt  prince 
and  subject ;  they  keep  them  as  long  as  they  like  them,  and 
no  longer. 

1.  20.  Lady  Kent  articled  &c.]  This  probably  means  that  Lady 
Kent  retained,  or  sought  to  retain,  Sir  Edward  Herbert,  an  eminent 
lawyer  of  the  time,  at  a  yearly  salary,  to  do  her  legal  work.  Such 
arrangements  were  not  uncommon.  See  Aikin,  Life  of  Selden, 
p.  154,  note. 


CONTRACTS.  —  CREED.  53 

XXIX. 

CONVOCATION. 

1.  WHEN  the  king  sends  his  writ  for  a  parliament,  he 
sends  for  two  knights  for  a  shire,  and  two  burgesses  for 
a  corporation  :  but  when  he  sends  for  two  archbishops  for 
a  convocation,  he  commands  them  to  assemble  the  whole 
clergy ;  but  they,  out  of  custom  amongst  themselves,  send 
to  the  bishops  of  their  provinces,  to  will  them  to  bring  two 
clerks  for  a  diocese,  the  dean,  one  for  the  chapter,  and  the 
archdeacons;  but  to  the  king  every  clergyman  is  there 
present.  10 

2.  We  have  nothing  so  nearly  expresses  the  power  of 
the  convocation,  in  respect  of  the  parliament,  as  a  court- 
leet,  where  they  have  a  power  to  make  bye-laws,  as  they 
call  them ;  as  that  a  man  shall  put  so  many  cows  or  sheep 
in  the  common ;  but  they  can  make  nothing  that  is  contrary 
to  the  laws  of  the  kingdom. 


XXX. 

COUNCIL. 

THEY  talk  (but  blasphemously  enough)  that  the  Holy 
Ghost  is  president  of  their  General  Councils ;  when  the 
truth  is,  the  odd  man  is  still  the  Holy  Ghost.  ; 


XXXI. 

CREED. 

ATHANASIUS'S  creed  is  the  shortest,  take  away  the  preface, 
and  the  force,  and  the  conclusion,  which  are  not  part  of  the 

1.  6.    they,  out  of  custom  amongst  themselves,  &c.]     See  note  on 
*  Bishops  in  Parliament,'  sec.  7. 


54  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

creed.  In  the  Nicene  creed  it  is  eis  €KK\r)(rtav,  I  believe  in 
the  church ;  but  now  our  Common-prayer  has  it,  I  believe 
one  catholic  and  apostolic  church.  They  like  not  creeds, 
because  they  would  have  no  forms  of  faith,  as  they  have 
none  of  prayer,  though  there  be  more  reason  for  the  one 
than  for  the  other. 


XXXII. 

DAMNATION. 

1.  IF  the  physician  sees  you  eat  any  thing  that  is  not 
good  for  your  body,  to  keep  you  from  it,  he  cries  'tis 

10  poison.  If  the  divine  sees  you  do  any  thing  that  is 
hurtful  for  your  soul,  to  keep  you  from  it,  he  cries  you  are 
damned. 

2.  To  preach  long,  loud,  and  damnation,  is  the  way  to 
be  cried  up.    We  love  a  man  that  damns  us,  and  we  run 
after  him  again  to  save  us.     If  a  man  had  a  sore  leg,  and 
he  should  go  to  an  honest  judicious  surgeon,  and  he  should 
only  bid  him  keep  it  warm,  and  anoint  with  such  an  oil  (an 
oil  well  known),  that  would  do  the  cure,  haply  he  would 
not  much  regard  him,  because  he  knew  the  medicine  before- 

20  hand  an  ordinary  medicine.  But  if  he  should  go  to  a 
surgeon  that  should  tell  him,  your  leg  will  gangrene  within 
three  days,  and  it  must  be  cut  off,  and  you  will  die,  unless 

1.  i.  In  the  Nicene  creed  it  is  &c.]  In  the  original  Nicene  creed 
the  words  do  not  occur.  They  were  introduced  in  381  at  the  Council 
of  Constantinople  —  Trtoreuo^ev  .....  et's  p.iav  ayiav  KaQoXiKrjv  KOI  aT 


On  the  distinction,  to  which  Selden  refers,  between  '  I  believe  in  ' 
and  '  I  believe,'  Bishop  Pearson  shows  that  '  Credo  sanctam  Ecclesiam, 
I  believe  there  is  an  holy  church  ;  or  Credo  in  sanctam  Ecclesiam  is 
the  same;  nor  does  the  particle  in  added  or  subtracted  make  any 
difference.'  See  Pearson  on  the  Creed,  vol.  i.  pp.  28,  504,  and  vol.  ii. 
p.  421. 


DAMNATION.  -  DEVILS.  55 

you  do  something  that  I  could  tell  you;  what  listening 
there  would  be  to  this  man !  Oh,  for  the  lord's  sake,  tell 
me  what  this  is,  I  will  give  you  any  content  for  your  pains. 


XXXIII. 
SELF-DENIAL. 

'Tis  much  the  doctrine  of  the  times,  that  men  should  not 
please  themselves,  but  deny  themselves  every  thing  they 
take  delight  in  ;  not  look  upon  beauty,  wear  no  good  clothes, 
eat  no  good  meat,  &c.  which  seems  the  greatest  accusa 
tion  that  can  be  upon  the  Maker  of  all  good  things.  If 
they  be  not  to  be  used,  why  did  God  make  them  ?  The  10 
truth  is,  they  that  preach  against  them,  cannot  make  use 
of  them  themselves,  and  then  again,  they  get  esteem  by 
seeming  to  contemn  them.  But  yet,  mark  it  while  you  live, 
if  they  do  not  please  themselves  as  much  as  they  can  ;  and 
we  live  more  by  example  than  precept. 


XXXIV. 

DEVILS. 

i.  WHY  have  we  none  possessed  with  devils  in  England  ? 
The  old  answer  is,  the  protestants  the  devil  has  already, 
and  the  papists  are  so  holy,  he  dares  not  meddle  with  them. 
Why  then,  beyond  seas,  where  a  nun  is  possessed,  when ; 

1.  20.  Why  then,  beyond  seas,  £c.]  The  argument  seems  to  be  that  the 
alleged  holiness  of  the  papists  is  no  sufficient  safe-guard  to  prevent 
the  devil  from  daring  to  meddle  with  them,  and  that  the  hunting  of 
huguenots  out  of  church  is  a  proof  of  enmity  between  the  devil  and 
his  alleged  friends  or  allies. 

In  the  sixteenth  and  early  in  the  seventeenth  centu^,  there  were 
several  outbursts  of  demoniacal  possession.  In  1609  the  Basque 


56  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

a  huguenot  comes  into  the  church,  does  the  devil  hunt 
him  out  ?  The  priest l  teaches  him ;  you  never  saw  the 
devil  throw  up  a  nun's  coats ;  mark  that ;  the  priest  will  not 
suffer  it,  for  then  the  people  will  spit  at  him. 

2.  Casting  out  devils  is  mere  juggling.  They  never  cast 
out  any  but  what  they  first  cast  in.  They  do  it  where,  for 
reverence,  no  man  shall  dare  to  examine  it.  They  do  it  in 
a  corner,  in  a  mortice-hole,  not  in  the  market-place.  They 
do  nothing  but  what  may  be  done  by  art.  They  make  the 
10  devil  fly  out  at  a  window  in  the  likeness  of  a  bat,  or  a  rat. 
Why  do  they  not  hold  him  ?  Why,  in  the  likeness  of  a 
bat,  or  a  rat,  or  some  creature  that  is  ?  Why  not  in  some 
shape  we  paint  him  in,  with  claws  and  horns?  By  this 
trick  they  gain  much,  gain  upon  men's  fancies,  and  so  are 

1   The  priest,  H.  2]  the  devil,  H. 

country  was  the  scene,  and  it  was  shifted,  in  the  same  year,  to  the 
Ursuline  convent  at  Aix.  In  1613  the  nuns  of  St.  Brigitte,  at  Lille, 
were  tormented  a  second  time  by  demons.  They  had  suffered  in  the 
same  way  about  half  a  century  before.  But  the  most  notorious  of  all 
these  attacks  was  the  possession  of  the  mother  superior  and  some  of 
the  nuns  at  the  Ursuline  convent  at  Loudun  in  1632-4.  The  history  of 
this  remarkable  affair  is  given  at  length  by  Figuier.  It  appears  to  have 
been  the  combined  result  of  wild  nymphomania  and  conscious  fraud 
on  the  part  of  the  possessed  nuns,  probably  aided  by  some  sugges 
tive  trickery  on  the  part  of  other  persons.  It  had,  as  it  was  intended 
it  should  have,  a  tragical  ending  for  the  cure  of  Loudun,  Urbain 
Grandier,  who  was  burnt  alive  in  1634,  on  a  maliciously  contrived 
charge  that  he  had  introduced  the  devils  into  the  bodies  of  the  nuns. 
For  the  full  details  of  this  awful  story,  see  Figuier,  Histoire  du 
Merveilleux,  vol.  i.  pp.  81-257,  and  Bayle,  Dictionnaire,  under  the 
heading  ( Grandier.' 

I  find  no  mention  anywhere  of  the  possessed  nuns  hunting  a 
huguenot  out  of  the  church.  The  nearest  approach  to  it  is  in  the 
account  of  the  possession  in  1552  of  the  nuns  of  the  convent  of 
Kintorp  near  Strasbourg,  in  the  course  of  which — '  Elles  ne  gouver- 
naient  plus  leur  volonte.  Une  fureur  irresistible  les  portait  a  se 
mordre,  a  frapper  et  a  mordre  leurs  compagnes,  a  se  precipiter  sur 
les  etrangers  pour  leur  faire  du  mal.'  Introduction  to  the  Histoire  du 
Merveilleux,  p.  47. 


DEVILS.  57 

reverenced.  And  certainly  if  the  priest  can  deliver  me 
from  him,  that  is  my  greatest  enemy,  I  have  all  the  reason 
in  the  world  to  reverence  him. 

Objection.  But  if  this  be  juggling,  why  do  they  punish 
impostors  ? 

Answer.  For  great  reason ;  because  they  do  not  play 
their  part  well,  and  for  fear  others  should  discover  them, 
and  so  think  all  of  them  to  be l  of  the  same  trade. 

3.  A  person  of  quality  came  to  my  chamber  in  the 
Temple,  and  told  me  he  had  two  devils  in  his  head ;  [1 10 
wondered  what  he  meant]  and  just  at  that  time,  one  of 
them  bid  him  kill  me,  [with  that  I  begun  to  be  afraid,  and 
thought  he  was  mad]  he  said  he  knew  I  could  cure  him,  and 
therefore  entreated  me  to  give  him  something,  for  he  was 
resolved  he  would  go  to  nobody  else.  I  perceiving  what 
an  opinion  he  had  of  me,  and  that  'twas  only  melancholy 
that  troubled  him,  took  him  in  hand,  warranted  him,  if  he 
would  follow  my  directions,  to  cure  him  in  a  short  time. 
I  desired  him  to  let  me  be  alone  for  an  hour,  and  then  to 
come  again,  which  he  was  very  willing  to.  In  the  mean  20 
time  I  got  a  card,  and  lapt  it  handsomely  up  in  a  piece  of 
taffata,  and  put  strings  to  the  taffata,  and  when  he  came, 
gave  it  him,  to  hang  about  his  neck ;  withal  charged  him, 
that  he  should  not  disorder  himself  neither  with  eating  or 
drinking,  but  eat  very  little  of  supper,  and  say  his  prayers 
duly  when  he  went  to  bed,  and  I  made  no  question  but  he 
would  be  well  in  three  or  four  days.  Within  that  time  I 
went  to  dinner  at  his  house,  and  asked  him  how  he  did. 
He  said  he  was  much  better,  but  not  perfectly  well,  for  in 
truth  he  had  not  dealt  clearly  with  me :  he  had  four  devils  30 
in  his  head,  and  he  perceived  two  of  them  were  gone  with 
that  which  I  had  given  him,  but  the  other  two  troubled  him 
still.  Well,  said  I,  I  am  glad  two  of  them  are  gone ;  I  make 
no  doubt  but  to  get  away  the  other  two  likewise.  So  I 

1   Think  all  of  them  to  be,  H.  2]  all  of  them  thought  to  be,  H. 


58  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

gave  him  another  thing  to  hang  about  his  neck.  Three 
days  after,  he  came  to  me  to  my  chamber,  and  professed 
he  was  now  as  well  as  ever  he  was  in  his  life,  and  did 
extremely  thank  me  for  the  great  care  I  had  taken  with 
him.  I  fearing  lest  he  might  relapse  into  the  like  dis 
temper,  told  him  that  there  was  none  but  myself  and  one 
physician  more,  in  the  whole  town,  that  could  cure  the 
devils  in  the  head,  and  that  was  doctor  Harvey  (whom  I 
had  prepared)  and  wished  him,  if  ever  he  found  himself  ill 
10  in  my  absence,  to  go  to  him,  for  he  could  cure  this  disease 
as  welt  as  myself.  The  gentleman  lived  many  years,  and 
was  never  troubled  after. 


XXXV. 

DUEL. 

i.  A  DUEL  may  still  be  granted  in  some  cases  by  the  law 
of  England,  and  only  there.  That  the  church  allowed  it 

1.  14.  A  duel  may  still  be  granted  £c.]  See  Selden,  Analecta  Anglo 
Britannica,  Works,  ii.  p.  949. 

But  he  adds  that  there  is  hardly  an  instance  to  be  found  in  which 
this  form  of  trial  has  been  actually  used  in  civil  cases,  and  very  few 
instances  in  which  it  has  been  used  in  criminal  cases. 

Blackstone  mentions  it  as  still  in  force  in  his  day. 

'  The  next  species  of  trial  is  of  great  antiquity,  but  much  disused  ; 
though  still  in  force  if  the  parties  chose  to  abide  by  it ;  I  mean  the 
trial  by  wager  of  battle  ....  a  trial  which  the  tenant  or  defendant  in 
a  writ  of  right,  has  it  in  his  election  at  this  day  to  demand.'  Blackstone, 
Commentaries,  bk.  iii.  ch.  22,  sec.  5.  So  too  in  criminal  trials— bk,  iv. 
ch.  27,  sec.  3. 

These  forms  of  trial,  in  civil  and  criminal  cases,  were  done  away 
with  by  59  George  III,  ch.  56. 

1.  15.  That  the  church  allowed  it  anciently,  &c.]  Ducange,  Glossary, 
sub  voce  '  Campiones '  (champions),  mentions  the  '  Campionum  obla- 
tiones,  in  Charta  Manassis  Episc.  Lingonensis,  ann.  1185,  quas  ii,  prius 
quam  in  arenam  descenderent,  Ecclesiis  offerebant,  quo  in  duellis  Deum 
sibi  propitium  conciliarent.' 

Also,  sub  voce  *  Duellum,'  he  shows  that — '  sacramenta  quae  in  his 


DUEL.  59 

anciently,  appears  by  this.  In  their  public  liturgies,  there 
were  prayers  appointed  for  the  duellists  to  say;  the  judge 
used  to  bid  one  of  them  go  to  such  a  church  and  pray,  &c. 
for  the  victory :  and  to  the  other  go  to  such  a  prelate  in 
such  a  church,  and  pray,  &c.  But  whether  is  this  lawful  ? 
If  you  grant  any  war  lawful,  I  make  no  doubt  but  to  con 
vince  it.  War  is  lawful,  because  God  is  the  only  judge 
betwixt  two  that  are  supreme.  Now  if  a  difference  happen 
betwixt  two  subjects,  and  it  cannot  be  decided  by  human 
testimony,  why  may  they  not  put  it  to  God,  to  judge  ro 
between  them,  by  the  permission  of  the  prince?  Nay, 
what  if  we  should  bring  it  down,  for  argument's  sake,  to 
the  sword-men.  One  gives  me  the  lie ;  'tis  a  great  disgrace 
to  take  it,  the  law  has  made  no  provision  to  give  remedy 
for  the  injury,  (if  you  can  suppose  any  thing  an  injury  for 
which  the  law  gives  no  remedy)  why  am  not  I  in  this  case 
supreme,  and  may  therefore  right  myself? 

2.  A  duke  ought  to  fight  with  a  gentleman.    The  reason 
is  this ;  the  gentleman  will  say  to  the  duke,  'tis  true,  you 
hold  a  higher  place  in  the  state  than  I ;  there's  a  great  20 
distance  betwixt  you  and  me;  but  your  dignity  does  not 

occasionibus  de  more  fiebant  super  sanctam  crucem,  sanctas  reliquias, 
aut  sancta  Evangelia,  proferebantur  coram  sacerdotibus  vel  Ecclesiae 
ministris.' 

Canciani,  in  his  Lex  Costumaria  Normannica,  gives  examples  of 
the  oaths  administered  to  the  combatants  that  they  are  using  no  help 
from  sorcery  or  magical  arts.  Leges  Barbarorum,  vol.  ii.  p.  395,  note. 

Muratori  shows  that  judicial  combats  were  held  anciently  under  the 
full  sanction  of  the  Church,  and  that  the  clergy  were  sometimes  parties 
to  them,  either  in  person  or  more  often  by  a  champion  chosen  to 
defend  their  cause.  Antiq.  Italicae,  iii.  p.  638,  Dissert.  39. 

Also,  on  p.  637,  '  Tanta  autem  fuit  divini  patrocinii  spes  in  abomi- 
nandis  hisce  certaminibus  ut  (Johanne  Sarisberiensi  in  Epistol.  169, 
aliisque  testibus)  certaturi  noctem  praecedentem  ducerent  insomnem 
in  Templo  ad  tumulum  alicujus  sancti,  ut  eum  in  agone  propitium 
experirentur.'  That  they  were  again  and  again  disapproved  by  the 
Church  and  forbidden  under  heavy  ecclesiastical  penalties,  hardly 
needs  proof.  The  proofs  occur  passim. 


60  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

privilege  you  to  do  me  an  injury ;  as  soon  as  ever  you  do 
me  an  injury,  you  make  yourself  my  equal,  and  as  you  are 
my  equal,  I  challenge  you ;  and  in  sense  the  duke  is  bound 
to  answer  him.  This  will  give  you  some  light  to  under 
stand  the  quarrel  betwixt  a  prince  and  his  subjects. 
Though  there  be  a  vast  distance  between  him  and  them, 
and  they  are  to  obey  him  according  to  their  contract ;  yet 
he  has  no  power  to  do  them  an  injury.  Then,  they  think 
themselves  as  much  bound  to  vindicate  their  right,  as  they 
10  are  to  obey  his  lawful  commands.  Nor  is  there  any  other 
measure  of  justice  left  upon  earth  but  arms. 


XXXVI. 

EPITAPH. 

AN  epitaph  must  be  made  fit  for  the  person  for  whom  it 
is  made.  For  a  man  to  say  all  the  excellent  things  that 
can  be  said  upon  one,  and  call  that  his  epitaph,  'tis  as  if 
a  painter  should  make  the  handsomest  piece  that  he  can 
possibly  make,  and  say  'twas  my  picture.  It  holds  in  a 
funeral  sermon. 


XXXVII. 

EQUITY. 

,  i.  EQUITY  in  law  is  the  same  that  the  spirit  is  in  religion, 
what  every  one  pleases  to  make  it.  Sometimes  they  go 
according  to  conscience,  sometimes  according  to  law,  some 
times  according  to  the  rule  of  the  court. 

1.  3.  in  sense  the  duke  is  bound]  i.  e.  in  reality ;  in  point  of  fact. 
Selden  uses  this  phrase  elsewhere,  see  '  Preaching,'  sec.  3  and 
'Vows.' 


EPITAPH.  -  EQUITY.  61 

2.  Equity  is   a    roguish  thing.     For  law  we   have   a 
measure,  know  what  to  trust  to ;  equity  is  according  to 
the  conscience  of  him  that  is  chancellor,  and  as  that   is 
larger  or  narrower,  so  is  equity.    Tis  all  one  as  if  they 
should  make  the  standard  for  the  measure  we  call  a  foot, 
a  chancellor's  foot1.     What  an  uncertain  measure  would 
this  be.     One  chancellor  has  a  long  foot,  another  a  short 
foot,  a  third  an  indifferent  foot ;  'tis  the  same  thing  in  the 
chancellor's  conscience. 

3.  That  saying,  Do  as  you  would  be  done  to,  is  often  10 
misunderstood;  for  'tis  not  thus  meant,  that  I,  a  private 
man,  should  do  to  you,  a  private  man,  as  I  would  have  you 
to  me,  but  do,  as  we  have  agreed  to  do  one  to  another  by 
public  agreement.     If  the  prisoner  should  ask  the  judge, 
whether  he  would  be  content  to  be  hanged,  were  he  in  his 
case,  he  would  answer,  No.    Then  says  the  prisoner,  Do 

1  We  call  a  foot,  a  chancellor's  foot.  Singer  conjecturally]  we  call  a  chan 
cellor's  foot,  MSS. 

1.  i.  Equity  is  a  roguish  thing.  &c.]  This  has  ceased  to  be  true,  as 
equity  has  come  gradually  to  be  administered  under  settled  rules.  On 
the  conflict  between  law  and  equity  in  Selden's  day,  and  on  the  general 
complaint  about  the  aggressive  and  exorbitant  authority  of  the  Court 
of  Chancery,  see  e.  g.  Chamberlain's  letter  to  Carleton,  November  14, 
1616.  '  On  Tuesday,  one  Bertram,  an  aged  gentleman,  killed  Sir  John 
Tyndall,  a  master  of  the  Chancery,  with  a  pistol  charged  with  three 
bullets,  pretending  he  had  wronged  him  in  the  report  of  a  cause,  to 
his  utter  undoing,  as  indeed  he  was  not  held  for  integerrimus.  .  .  . 
Mine  author,  Ned  Wymarke,  cited  Sir  William  Walter  for  saying  that 
the  fellow  mistook  his  mark,  and  should  have  shot  hailshot  at  the 
whole  court,  which  indeed  grows  great,  and  engrosses  all  manner  of 
cases,  and  breeds  general  complaint  for  a  decree  passed  there  this 
term,  subscribed  by  all  the  king's  learned  counsel,  whereby  that 
court  may  receive  and  call  in  question  what  judgments  soever  pass 
at  the  common  law,  whereby  the  jurisdiction  of  that  court  is  enlarged 
out  of  measure,  and  so  suits  may  become  as  it  were  immortal.  This 
success  is  come  of  my  Lord  Coke  and  some  of  the  judges  oppugning 
the  Chancery  so  weakly  and  unreasonably  that,  instead  of  overthrowing 
that  exorbitant  authority,  they  have  more  established  and  confirmed  it.' 
Court  and  Times  of  James  I,  vol.  i.  439  (2  vols.  1848). 


62  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

as  you  would  be  done  to.  Neither  of  them  must  do  as 
private  men,  but  the  judge  must  do  by  him  as  they  have 
publicly  agreed ;  that  is,  both  judge  and  prisoner  have 
consented  to  a  law,  that  if  either  of  them  steal  they  shall 
be  hanged. 


XXXVIII. 
EVIL  SPEAKING. 

1.  HE  that  speaks  ill  of  another,  commonly,  before  he  is 
aware,  makes  himself  such  a  one  as  he  speaks  against ;  for 
if  he  had  civility  or  breeding,  he  would  forbear  such  kind 

10  of  language. 

2.  A  gallant  man  is  above  ill  words.    An  example  we 
have  in  the  old  lord  of  Salisbury,  who  was  a  great  wise 
man.     Stone  had  called  some  lord  about  court,  fool,  the 

1. 13.  Stone  had  called  £c.]  Doran  (Court  Fools,  p.  196)  says  that  this 
remark  is  all  that  we  know  of  Stone.  It  seems  to  have  been  suggested 
by  the  unseemly  passages  of  arms  between  Archbishop  Laud  and 
Archibald  Armstrong,  the  Court  Fool  of  the  time  (1637).  Their  enmi 
ties  had  been  of  long  standing.  The  Fool  had  on  several  occasions 
offered  public  affronts  to  the  Archbishop,  with  the  result  (according  to 
Francis  Osborn)  that  Laud  '  managed  a  quarrel  with  Archie  the  King's 
fool,  and  by  endeavouring  to  explode  him  the  court  rendered  him  at 
last  so  considerable  ...  as  the  fellow  was  not  only  able  to  continue 
the  dispute  for  divers  years,  but  received  such  encouragement  from 
bystanders  as  he  hath  oft,  in  my  hearing,  belched  in  his  face  such 
miscarriages  as  he  was  really  guilty  of,  and  might,  but  for  this  foul- 
mouthed  Scot,  have  been  forgotten  ;  adding  such  other  reproaches  of 
his  own  as  the  dignity  of  his  calling  and  greatness  of  his  parts  could 
not  in  reason  or  manners  admit.'  Osborn  goes  on  to  speak  of  the 
Archbishop  as  '  hoodwinked  with  passion '  and  as  led  by  his  too  low- 
placed  anger  into  no  less  an  absurdity  than  an  endeavour  to  bring  the 
fool  into  the  Star  Chamber,  and  as  having  at  last  through  the  mediation 
of  the  Queen  got  him  discharged  the  Court.  Rushworth  says,  further, 
that  when  news  had  come  from  Scotland  that  there  had  been  tumults 
about  the  new  service-book,  introduced  at  Laud's  suggestion, '  Archi 
bald,  the  King's  fool,  said  to  his  Grace  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury, 


EVIL  SPEAKING.  63 

lord  complained,  and  has  Stone  whipped :  Stone  cries,  I 
might  have  called  my  lord  of  Salisbury  fool  often  enough, 
before  he  would  have  had  me  whipped. 

3.  Speak  not  ill  of  a  great  enemy,  but  rather  give  him 
good  words,  that  he  may  use  you  the  better,  if  you  chance 
to  fall  into  his  hands.  The  Spaniard  did  this  when  he  was 
a  dying ;  his  confessor  told  him  (to  work  him  to  repentance), 
how  the  devil  tormented  the  wicked  that  went  to  hell :  the 
Spaniard  replying,  called  the  devil  my  lord ;  I  hope  my 
lord  the  devil  is  not  so  cruel :  his  confessor  reproved  10 
him.  Excuse  me  for  calling  him  so,  says  the  Don ;  I 
know  not  into  what  hands  I  may  fall,  and  if  I  happen  into 
his,  I  hope  he  will  use  me  the  better  for  giving  him  good 
words. 

as  he  was  going  to  the  Council  Table,  '  Whea  's  feule  now  ?  doth  not 
your  Grace  hear  the  news  from  Striveling  about  the  Liturgy  ? '  with 
other  words  of  reflection.  This  was  presently  complained  of  to  the 
Council,  and  it  produced  an  order  from  the  King  and  the  assembled 
Lords  that '  Archibald  Armestrong,  the  King's  fool,  for  certain  scan 
dalous  words  of  a  high  nature,  spoken  by  him  against  the  Lord  Arch 
bishop  of  Canterbury,  his  Grace,  and  proved  to  be  uttered  by  him  by 
two  witnesses,  shall  have  his  coat  pulled  over  his  head  and  be  dis 
charged  the  King's  service  and  banished  the  Court.'— Rushworth, 
Collections,  ii.  470. 

It  may  be  questioned  whether  Rushworth  is  correct  in  thus  limiting 
the  occasion  of  Archie's  disgrace.  '  Archye,'  writes  Mr.  Gerrard  to 
Lord  Strafford  (Strafford  Papers,  vol.  ii.),  '  is  fallen  into  a  great  mis 
fortune  ;  a  fool  he  would  be,  but  a  foul-mouthed  knave  he  hath  proved 
himself ;  being  at  a  tavern  in  Westminster,  drunk  as  he  saith  himself, 
he  was  speaking  of  the  Scottish  business,  he  fell  a  railing  of  my  Lord 
of  Canterbury,  said  he  was  a  monk,  a  rogue,  and  a  traitor.  Of  this,  his 
Grace  complained  at  Council,  and  the  King  being  present,  it  was 
ordered  he  should  be  carried  to  the  Porter's  Lodge,  his  coat  pulled 
over  his  ears,  and  kicked  out  of  the  Court,'  &c. 

We  have  also  the  well-known  story  of  the  fool's  grace  at  dinner — 
1  Great  praise  be  given  to  God,  and  little  Laud  to  the  devil.'  See  Doran, 
Court  Fools,  205-207. 


64  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

XXXIX. 

EXCOMMUNICATION. 

i.  THAT  place  they  bring  for  excommunication,  put  away 
from  among  yourselves  that  wicked  person,  i  Cor.  v.  13, 
is  corrupted  in  the  Greek.  For  it  should  be  rb  irovrjpov, 
put  away  that  evil  from  among  you,  not  rbv  irovrjpov,  that 
evil  person.  Besides,  6  novripbs  is  the  devil,  in  Scripture, 
and  it  may  be  so  taken  there  ;  and  there  is  a  new  edition 
of  Theodoret  come  out,  that  has  it  right  r6  vovripov.  'Tis 
true  the  Christians,  before  the  civil  state  became  Christian, 

10  did  by  covenant  and  agreement  set  down  how  they  would 
live  ;  and  he  that  did  not  observe  what  they  agreed  upon, 
should  come  no  more  amongst  them ;  that  is,  be  excom 
municated.  Such  men  are  spoken  of  by  the  Apostle, 
Romans  i.  31,  whom  he  calls  aa-vvOerovs  KOL  aa-irovbovs ;  the 
Vulgar  has  it,  incompositos,  et  sine  fadere ;  the  last  word 
is  pretty  well,  but  the  first  not  at  all.  Origen,  in  his  book 
against  Celsus,  speaks  of  the  Christians'  o-wflTj/o/,  the  trans 
lator  renders  it  conventus,  as  it  signifies  a  meeting,  when 
it  is  plain  it  signifies  a  covenant,  and  the  English  Bible 

20  turned  the  other  word  well,  covenant-breakers.  Pliny  tells 
us,  the  Christians  took  an  oath  amongst  themselves  to  live 
thus  and  thus. 

1.  2.  That  place  they  bring  £c.]  Stanley,  in  his  notes  on  the 
Epistles  to  the  Corinthians,  remarks  on  this  verse  that — fgdpare  rbv 
rrovrjpov  is  the  usual  formula  for  punishment  on  great  crimes.  See 
Deut.  xiii.  5,  xvii.  7,  xxiv.  7,  &c.,  also  2  Kings  xxiii.  24.  He  adds, 
however,  that  Theodoret  and  Augustine  read  TO  irovrjpov,  and 
interpret  it  '  put  away  evil  from  amongst  you.' 

1.  16.  Origen,  in  his  book  £c.]  OVTQ>  8%  KOI  Xpiartavoi  .  .  .  ovvBrjicag 
TTOiovvrai  Trapa  TO.  vevop.io~p.eva  TO)  Sia/3oXo>  Kara  rov  §ia/3o\ou.  Contra 
Celsum,  bk.  i.  ch.  i.  The  word  awQijKr)  occurs  several  times  in 
this  chapter,  and  in  the  sense  which  Selden  gives  to  it. 

1.  20.  Pliny  tells  us,  £c.]  He  reports  it,  in  a  letter  to  Trajan,  as 
a  statement  made  to  him  by  certain  persons  who  had  been  brought 


EXCOMMUNICATION.  65 

2.  The  other  place  [die  ecclesice]  tell  the  church  (Matt,  xviii. 
17),  is  but  a  weak  ground  to  raise  excommunication  upon, 
especially  from  the  sacrament,  the  lesser  excommunication ; 
since  when  that  was  spoken,  the  sacrament  was  not  insti 
tuted1.     The  Jews*  ecclesia  was  their   Sanhedrim,  their 
court :  so  that  the  meaning  is,  if  after  once  or  twice  admo 
nition  this  brother  will  not  be  reclaimed,  bring  him  thither. 

3.  The  first  excommunication  was  180  years  after  Christ, 

1  Was  not  instituted}  was  instituted,  MSS. 

before  him  charged  with  being  Christians,  and  who  had  ceased  so 
to  be.  'Adfirmabant  autem,  hanc  fuisse  summam  vel  culpae  suae  vel 
erroris,  quod  essent  soliti  stato  die  ante  lucem  convenire  ;  carmenque 
Christo,  quasi  Deo,  dicere  secum  invicem,  seque  sacramento  non 
in  scelus  aliquod  obstringere,  sed  ne  furta,  ne  latrocinia,  ne  adul- 
teria  committerent,  ne  fidem  fallerent,  ne  depositum  appellati  ab- 
negarent.'  Epistles,  bk.  x.  97. 

1.  i.  The  other  place,  die  ecclesiae  &c.]  Selden,  in  interpreting  this 
place,  is  following  Erastus  in  his  Explicatio  gravissimae  questionis 
&c.  (1589)  where  he  discusses  it  at  great  length.  Conf.  e.g.  'Clarior 
evadet  tractatio  si  quae  et  qualis  fuerit  ilia  Ecclesia,  cui  jussit  dicere, 
consideretur.  In  cujus  rei  declaratione  hoc  pro  initio  et  fundamento 
pono  .  .  .  Christum  scilicet  de  Ecclesia  loqui  quae  turn  esset.' 
Thesis  46. 

'  Die  ecclesiae,  id  est,  Die  synedrio  . . .  Ego  enim  verba  haec  Die 
ecclesiae  idem  significare  assero,  quod  ista  significant,  Die  magistratui 
tuo,  si  non  est  impiae  religionis  defensor.'  Confirmatio  Thesium,  p.  322. 
See  also  Thesis  45  and  56. 

1.  3.  the  lesser  excommunication  j\  There  were  two  forms  of  ex 
communication — the  lesser,  involving  mainly  exclusion  from  the 
eucharist,  and  the  greater  involving  also  exclusion  from  all  inter 
course  with  the  rest  of  the  Christian  body.  See  Erastus,  Explicatio 
gravissimae  questionis,  &c.,  Thesis  7 ;  and  Selden's  De  Synedriis 
veterum  Ebraeorum,  i.  ch.  9.  Works,  vol.  i.  p.  918. 

1.  8.  The  first  excommunication  &c.]  This  is  not  clearly  and 
probably  not  correctly  reported.  The  excommunication  in  180  A.  D. 
and  that  by  Victor  are  distinct.  Victor's,  too,  was  much  more  than 
what  Selden  is  here  made  to  term  it.  It  was  a  wide  sweeping 
sentence,  cutting  off  the  whole  of  the  Asiatic  churches  from  com 
munion  with  the  rest  of  the  Church  Catholic ;  and  though  not  the 
first  absolutely,  was,  in  this  respect,  the  first  of  its  kind.  See  Selden, 
De  Synedriis  veterum  Ebraeorum,  bk.  i.  ch.  9.  Works,  i.  916.  But 

F 


66  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

and  that  by  Victor,  bishop  of  Rome.  But  that  was  no 
more  than  this,  that  they  should  communicate  and  receive 
the  sacrament  amongst  themselves,  not  with  those  of  the 
other  opinion :  the  controversy  (as  I  take  it)  being  about 
the  feast  of  Easter.  Men  do  not  care  for  excommunica 
tion  because  they  are  shut  out  of  the  church,  or  delivered 
up  to  Satan,  but  because  the  law  of  the  kingdom  takes 
hold  of  them.  After  so  many  days  a  man  cannot  sue,  no, 
not  for  his  wife,  if  you  take  her  from  him.  And  there  may 
10  be  as  much  reason  to  grant  it  for  a  small  fault,  if  there  be 
contumacy,  as  for  a  great  one.  In  Westminster  hall  you 
may  outlaw  a  man  for  forty  shillings,  which  is  their  excom 
munication,  and  you  can  do  no  more  for  £40,000. 

4.  When  Constantine  became  Christian,  he  so  fell  in 
love  with  the  clergy,  that  he  let  them  be  judges  of  all  things; 
but  that  continued  not  above  three  or  four  years,  by  reason 
they  were  to  be  judges  of  matters  they  understood 

that  there  were  excommunications  earlier  than  this  and  earlier  than 
180  A.  D.  is  clear  from  p.  920  and  from  the  chapter  passim. 

1.  5.  Men  do  not  care  &c.]  See  e.g.  Nathaniel  Fiennes'  speech 
in  Parliament  (1640) :  '  Were  it  not  for  the  civil  restraints  and  penal 
ties  that  follow  upon  it  (sc.  Excommunication)  no  man  will  pur 
chase  an  absolution  though  he  may  have  it  for  a  half-penny.  And 
I  have  heard  of  some  that  have  thanked  the  Ordinaries  for  abating 
or  remitting  the  fees  of  the  Courts,  but  I  never  heard  of  any  that 
thanked  them  for  reclaiming  their  souls  to  repentance  by  their  ex 
communications.'  Nalson,  Collections,  i.  760. 

1.  9.  there  may  be  as  much  reason  to  grant  it  £c.]  This  is  the 
argument  of  the  bishops  in  their  answer  to  a  book  of  articles  in 
1584.  They  urge  that  they  do  not  excommunicate  for  two-penny 
causes,  l  though  indeed  there  be  as  much  in  zd.  as  in  ^100,'  but  for 
disobedience  to  the  order,  decree,  and  sentence  of  the  judge.  So, 
in  a  temporal  cause  of  id,  a  man  is  outlawed  if  he  appear  not  or 
obey  not;  but  he  is  not  outlawed  for  2d,  but  for  his  disobedience 
in  a  two-penny  matter.  Wilkins,  Concilia,  iv.  311. 

1.  14.  When  Constantine  became  Christian  &c.]  The  evidence  for 
this  is  found  in  a  rescript,  purporting  to  be  addressed  by  Constan 
tine  to  the  Prefect  Ablavius.  For  the  contents  of  this,  document, 
and  for  the  discussions  which  have  been  raised  about  it,  see 
Excursus  A. 


EXCOMMUNICATION.  67 

• 

not ;  and  then  they  were  allowed  to  meddle  with  nothing 
but  religion.  All  jurisdiction  belonged  to  him,  and  he 
scantled  them  out  as  much  as  he  pleased,  and  so  things 
have  since  continued.  They  excommunicate  for  three  or 
four  things,  matters  concerning  adultery,  tithes,  wills,  &c. 
which  is  the  civil  punishment  the  state  allows  for  such 
faults.  If  a  bishop  excommunicate  a  man1  for  what  he 
ought  not,  the  judge  has  power  to  absolve,  and  punish  the 
bishop.  If  they  had  that  jurisdiction  from  God,  why  does 
not  the  church  excommunicate  for  murder,  for  theft?  Ifio 
the  civil  power  might  take  away  all  but  three  things,  why 
may  they  not  take  away  them  too  ?  If  this  excommunica 
tion  were  quite  taken  away,  the  presbyters  would  be  quiet ; 
'tis  that  they  have  a  mind  to,  'tis  that  they  would  fain  be  at. 

1  A  man,  H.  2]  omitted  in  H. 

1.  2.  he  scantled  them  out]  i.e.  simply — he  measured  them  out. 
The  word  involves  no  notion  of  a  scanty  measure,  as  the  reading 
in  the  printed  editions — '  scanted ' — does. 

1.  7.  If  a  bishop  excommunicate  &c.]  Selden,  in  his  De  Synedriis 
veterum  Ebraeorum,  bk.  i.  ch.  10,  gives  numerous  examples  in 
support  of  his  assertion  that  in  this  country,  as  in  other  Christian 
states,  the  power  of  excommunication  was  fixed  and  strictly  limited 
by  the  law  of  the  land.  He  shows  that  a  sentence,  illegally  pro 
nounced,  was  liable  to  be  annulled  by  the  King's  order  ;  that  punish 
ment  was  threatened  or  inflicted  on  clerics  who  refused  to  obey  the 
order ;  and  that  satisfaction  in  money  was  granted  to  the  person 
injured.  This  he  traces  from  William  I  to  his  own  day.  Works, 
vol.  i.  977-990.  See  also  note  on  Power,  State,  sec.  7. 

1.  14.  'tis  that  they  have  a  mind  to,  &c.]  The  Westminster  assembly 
of  divines  claimed  for  the  Presbytery  the  uncontrolled  right,  jure 
divino,  to  suspend  from  the  sacrament  such  persons  as  they  should 
judge  to  be  ignorant,  or  profane,  or  of  scandalous  lives.  This  they 
first  settled  by  a  majority  vote  among  themselves,  Selden  and  his 
friends  dissenting,  and  then  again  and  again  pressed  upon  Parliament 
to  admit  and  ratify  their  claim.  This,  however,  the  Parliament  refused 
to  do.  After  some  delay  it  granted  them  the  power  they  sought,  but 
added  a  provision  that  if  any  person  suspended  from  the  Lord's  Supper 
found  himself  aggrieved  by  the  proceedings  of  the  local  Presbytery, 
he  should  have  the  right  to  appeal  to  the  Assemblies,  and  thence,  in 

F  2 


68  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

Like  the  wench  that  was  to  be  married;  she  asked  her 
mother  when  'twas  done,  if  she  should  go  to  bed  presently  ? 
No,  says  her  mother,  you  must  dine  first ;  And  then  to  bed 
mother?  No,  you  must  dance  after  dinner;  And  then  to 
bed  mother  ?  No,  you  must  go  to  supper ;  And  then  to  bed 
mother?  &c. 


XL. 

FASTING  DAYS. 

1.  WHAT  the  Church  debars  us  one  day,  she  gives  us 
leave  to  take  it  out  in  another.     First  we  fast,  and  then  we 

10  feast.     First  there  is  a  carnival,  and  then  a  lent. 

2.  Whether  do  human  laws  bind  the  conscience?    If 
they  do,  'tis  a  way  to  ensnare :  If  we  say  they  do  not,  we 
open  a  door  to  disobedience. 

Ansiver.  In  this  case  we  must  look  to  the  justice  of 
the  law,  and  intention  of  the  lawgiver.  If  there  be  not 
justice  in  the  law,  'tis  not  to  be  obeyed ;  if  the  intention  of 
the  lawgiver  be  absolute,  our  obedience  must  be  so  too.  If 
the  intention  of  the  lawgiver  enjoin  a  penalty  as  a  compen 
sation  for  the  breach  of  the  law,  I  sin  not  if  I  submit  to  the 
20  penalty ;  if  it  enjoin  a  penalty,  as  a  further  enforcement  of 
obedience  to  the  law,  then  ought  I  to  observe  it;  which 
may  be  known  by  the  often  repetition  of  the  law.  The 
way  of  fasting  is  enjoined  unto  them  who  yet  do  not  observe 
it.  The  law  enjoins  a  penalty  as  an  enforcement  to  obedi 
ence  ;  which  intention  appears  by  the  often  calling  upon 

the  last  instance,  to  Parliament.  See  Whitelock,  Memorials,  pp.  129, 
135,  164,  165,  169,  170 ;  Neal's  History  of  the  Puritans,  iii.  242,  246. 
The  exact  words  of  the  Parliamentary  resolution  are  given  in  Rush- 
worth,  Collections,  part  iv.  vol.  i.  212.  Selden's  speech  in  the 
debate,  covering  the  same  ground  as  his  remarks  in  the  Table  Talk, 
is  given  by  Whitelock,  p.  169.  For  the  sequel  of  the  dispute,  see 
'  Presbytery/  sec.  4. 
1.  25.  which  intention  appears  £c,]  See  Gibson,  Codex,  tit.  x.  ch.  6, 


FASTING  DAYS.— FAITH  AND  WORKS.  69 

us  to  keep  that  law  by  the  king,  and  the  dispensation  to 
the  Church  to  such  as  are  not  able  to  keep  it,  as  young 
children,  old  folks,  diseased  men,  &c. 


XLI. 
FATHERS  AND  SONS. 

IT  hath  ever  been  the  way  of  fathers  to  bind  their  sons. 
To  strengthen  this  by  the  law  of  the  land,  every  one,  at 
twelve  years  of  age,  is  to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance  in 
court-leets,  whereby  he  swears  obedience  to  the  king. 


XLII. 

FAITH  AND  WORKS. 

'TWAS  an  unhappy  division  that  has  been  made  betwixt  10 
faith  and  works ;  though  in  my  intellect  I  may  divide  them, 
just  as  in  the  candle,  I  know  there  is  both  heat  and  light ; 
but  yet  put  out  the  candle,  and  they  are  both  gone  :  one 
remains  not  without  the  other.  So  'tis  betwixt  faith  and 
works.  Nay,  in  a  right  conception,  fides  est  opus.  If  I 
believe  a  thing,  because  I  am  commanded,  that  is  opus. 

p.  254,  where  the  successive  statutes  on  fasting,  with  the  penalties  for 
disobeying  them  and  the  provisions  made  for  dispensations  in  case  of 
need,  are  set  out  at  length. 

1.  7.  the  oath  of  allegiance  in  court-leets}  '  The  court-leet ...  is  a  court 
of  record,  held  once  in  the  year,  within  a  particular  hundred,  lordship 
or  manor,  before  the  steward  of  the  leet ;  being  the  king's  court  granted 
by  charter  to  the  lords  of  those  hundreds  or  manors.  ...  It  was  also 
anciently  the  custom  to  summon  all  the  king's  subjects  as  they  respec 
tively  grew  to  years  of  discretion  and  strength  to  come  to  the  court- 
leet,  and  there  take  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  king.'  Blackstone, 
Comment.,  bk.  iv.  ch.  19,  sec.  10. 

That  twelve  was  the  age  of  discretion  appears  from  the  fact  that 
persons  under  that  age  were  excused  attendance  at  the  court-leet. 


70  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

XLIII. 

FINES. 

THE  old  law  was,  that  when  a  man  was  fined,  he  was  to 
be  fined  salvo  contenemento,  so  as  his  countenance  might  be 
safe ;  taking  countenance  in  the  same  sense  as  your 
countryman  does,  when  he  says,  if  you  will  come  unto 
my  house,  I  will  shew  you  the  best  countenance  I  can, 
that  is,  not  the  best  face,  but  the  best  entertainment.  The 
meaning  of  the  law  was,  that  so  much  should  be  taken 
from  a  man,  such  a  gobbet  sliced  off,  that  yet  notwithstand- 
10  ing  he  might  live  in  the  same  rank  and  condition  he  lived 
in  before.  But  now  they  fine  men  ten  times  more  than 
they  are  worth. 

1.  ii.  But  now  they  fine  men  &c.]  It  was  one  of  the  grievances  urged 
against  the  High  Commission  Court  that  '  they  imposed  great  fines 
upon  those  who  were  culpable  before  them ;  sometimes  above  the 
degree  of  the  offence  ....  which  course  of  fining  was  much  more 
frequent  and  the  fines  heavier  after  the  King  had  granted  all  that 
revenue  to  be  employed  for  the  reparation  of  St.  Paul's  Church.' 
Clarendon,  Hist,  i.  439.  So,  too,  in  the  Star  Chamber,  part  of  the 
sentence  on  Burton,  Bastwick  and  Prynne  was  that  they  were  fined 
^5000.  Bishop  Williams,  for  having  received  and  divulged  some 
libellous  letters,  was  fined  ^8000.  It  was  not  paid,  and  could  not  have 
been,  owing  to  what  the  bishop  termed  'the  vacuity  of  his  purse.' 
Fuller,  Church  Hist.,  bk.  xi.  sec.  8,  §  4. 

Again,  in  1641,  when  the  High  Commission  Court  and  Star 
Chamber  had  been  swept  away,  and  when  judges  and  accused  had 
changed  places,  the  fines  were  as  heavy  as  before.  Archbishop 
Laud,  e.g.  for  his  part  in  framing  and  putting  out  the  Canons  of 
1640,  was  sentenced  by  Parliament  to  pay  a  fine  of  ^20,000 ;  Bishop 
Juxon  of  London,  and  Bishop  Wren  of  Ely  to  pay  ^"10,000  each ; 
the  rest  of  the  offending  bishops  to  pay  ^5000.  Rushworth,  Col 
lections,  iv.  235. 

A  fine  of  ,£20,000  was  imposed  on  Judge  Berkley  for  his  opinion  in 
favour  of  ship-money,  and  ;£  10,000  was  actually  paid  by  him  and  by 
his  fellow-culprit  Baron  Trevor.  Clarendon,  Hist.  ii.  566. 


FINES.— FRIARS.  71 

XLIV. 
FREE-WILL. 

THE  Puritans  who  will  allow  no  free-will  at  all,  but  God 
does  all,  yet  will  allow  the  subject  his  liberty  to  do  or  not 
to  do,  notwithstanding  the  king,  the  god  upon  earth.  The 
Arminians,  who  hold  we  have  free-will,  yet  say,  when  we 
come  to  the  king  there  must  be  all  obedience,  and  no 
liberty  must  be  stood  for. 


XLV. 

FRIENDS. 

OLD  friends  are  best.     King  James  used  to  call  for  his  10 
old  shoes  ;  they  were  easiest  for  his  feet. 


XLVI. 
FRIARS. 

1.  THE  friars  say  they  possess  nothing ;  whose  then  are 
the  lands  they  hold  ?     Not  their  superior's,  he  hath  vowed 
poverty  as  well  as  they.    Whose  then  ?    To  answer  this 
'twas  decreed  they  should  say  they  were  the  pope's.    And 
why  must  the  friars  be  more  perfect  than  the  pope  him 
self? 

2.  If  there  had  been  no  friars,  Christendom  might  have 
continued  quiet,  and  things  remained  at  the  stay. 

If  there  had  been  no  lecturers  [which  succeed  the  friars  20 
in  their  way]  the  Church  of  England  might  have  stood  and 
flourished  at  this  day. 

1.  20.    If  there  had  been  no  lecturers  &c.]     See  note  on  '  Lecturers,' 
sec.  i. 


72  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

XLVII. 
GENEALOGY  OF  CHRIST. 

1.  THEY  that  say,  the  reason  why  Joseph's  pedigree  is 
set  down,  and  not  Mary's,  is,  because  the  descent  from  the 
mother  is  lost,  and  swallowed  up,  say  something,  for  so  it 
was ;  but  yet  if  a  Jewish  woman  married  with  a  Gentile, 
they  only  took  notice  of  the  mother,  not  of  the  father. 
But  they  that  say  they  were  both  of  a  tribe,  say  nothing ; 
for  the  tribes  might  marry  one  with  another,  and  the  law 
against  it  was  only  temporary,  in  the  time  while  Joshua 

10  was  in  dividing  the  land,  lest  the  being  so  long  about  it, 
there  might  be  a  confusion. 

2.  That  Christ  was  the  son  of  Joseph  is  most  exactly 
true.     For  though  he  was  the  Son  of  God,  yet  with  the 
Jews,  if  any  man  kept  a  child,  and  brought  him  up,  and 
called  him  son,  he  was  taken  for  his  son ;  and  his  land  (if 
he  had  any)  was  to  descend  upon  him ;  and  therefore  the 
genealogy  of  Joseph  is  justly  set  down. 


XLVIII. 
GENTLEMEN. 

i.  WHAT  a  gentleman  is,  'tis  hard  with  us  to  define.     In 
20  other  countries  he  is  known  by  his  privileges ;  in  West 
minster-hall  he  is  one  that  is  reputed  one ;  in  the  court  of 
honour,  he  that  hath  arms.    The   king  cannot  make  a 

1.  7.  But  they  that  say  &c.]  This  is  a  little  obscure.  It  means, 
apparently,  that  whether  Joseph  and  Mary  had  been  of  the  same 
tribe,  or  of  different  tribes  (as  they  might  lawfully  have  been),  the 
descent  from  the  mother  would  equally  have  been  '  lost  and  swallowed 
up.'  An  assertion,  therefore,  that  the  pedigree  was  set  down  on  the 
father's  side  because  they  were  both  of  a  tribe  would  miss  the  real 
point. 

1.  8.    the  law  against  if\    Numbers  xxxvi.  8,  9. 


GENEALOGY  OF  CHRIST.- GOLD.  73 

gentleman  of  blood;  [what  have  you  said  ?]  nor  God 
Almighty ;  but  he  can  make  a  gentleman  by  creation.  If 
you  ask  which  is  the  better  of  these  two  ;  civilly,  the  gen 
tleman  of  blood ;  morally  the  gentleman  by  creation  may 
be  the  better ;  for  the  other  may  be  a  debauched  man,  this 
a  person  of  worth. 

2.  Gentlemen  have  ever  been  more  temperate  in  their 
religion  than  the  common  people,  as  having  more  reason, 
the  others  running  in  a  hurry.  In  the  beginning  of  Chris 
tianity  the  fathers  writ  contra  gentes,  and  contra  gentiles,  TO 
they  were  all  one ;  but  after  all  were  Christians,  the  better 
sort  of  people  still  retained  the  name  of  Gentiles,  through 
out  the  four  provinces  of  the  Roman  empire ;  as  gentil- 
homme  in  French,  gentil-huomo  l  in  Italian,  gentil-huombre 
in  Spanish,  and  gentle-man2  in  English:  and  they,  no 
question,  being  persons  of  quality,  kept  up  those  feasts 
which  we  borrow  from  the  Gentiles  ;  as  Christmas,  Candle 
mas,  May-day,  &c.  continuing  what  was  not  directly  against 
Christianity,  which  the  common  people  would  never  have 
endured.  20 


XLIX. 
GOLD. 

THERE  are  two  reasons  given  why  those  words,  Jesus 
autem  transiens  per  medium  eorum  ibat,  were  about  our  old 

1  Gentil-huomo]    gentel-homo,  H.  and  H.  2. 

2  Gentleman,  H.  2]  gentilman,  H. 

1.  22.  There  are  two  reasons  &c.]  The  second  reason  given  here  is 
not  what  Selden  gives  elsewhere.  After  mentioning  the  alchemical 
reason  for  the  inscription,  he  adds — 'alii  opinati  sunt  .  .  .  amulcri 
vicem  obtinuisse,  et  caedi  et  vulneribus  averruncandis.  Certe  verba 
ilia  in  iis  quibus  tortorum  quaestioni  subject!  interdum,  dolori  alle- 
vando  abigendoque,  utuntur  locum  habere  ex  jurisconsultis  aliquot 
scimus.'  Works,  vol.  ii.  p.  1386. 

Camden  mentions  the  story  told  by  the  alchemists ;  but,  with  a 


74  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

gold.  The  one  is,  because  Ripley  the  alchymist,  when  he 
made  gold  in  the  tower,  the  first  time  he  found  it,  he  spoke 
these  words,  per  medium  eorum,  that  is,  per  medium  ignis  et 
sulphuris.  The  other  is,  because  these  words  were  thought 
to  be  a  charm,  and  that  they  did  bind  whatsoever  they  were 
written  upon,  so  that  a  man  could  not  take  it  away.  To 
this  reason  I  rather  incline. 


L. 

HALL. 

THE  hall  was  the  place  where  the  great  lord  did  use  to 
10  eat,  (wherefore  else  were  the  halls  made  so  big  ?)  where  he 

disregard  of  dates,  he  gives  Raymond  Lully  as  the  successful  pro 
jector  in  the  Tower.  He  adds  that  others  say  that  the  text  on  the 
coins  was  only  an  amulet  used  in  that  credulous  warfaring  age  to 
escape  dangers  in  battle.  See  Camden,  Remains,  sub  tit.  '  Money,' 
p.  242  (ed.  7,  London,  1674). 

We  learn,  too,  that  the  rose  nobles  of  other  nations,  as  well  as  of 
ours,  had  these  words  stamped  upon  them.  They  were  used  in 
England  first  by  Edward  III,  and  were  copied  on  the  coins  of  several 
later  reigns.  Sometimes  another  passage  of  Scripture  was  used 
instead  of  them;  as  e.g.  'A  domino  factum  est  istud,  et  est  mirabile 
in  oculis  nostris  ; '  or  '  per  crucem  tuam  salva  nos  Christe  redemptor.' 
See  Archbishop  Sharpe,  Dissertation  on  the  Golden  Coins  of  Eng 
land,  sees.  4  and  6. 

1.  9.  The  hall  was  the  place  &c.]  See  e.  g.  Household  Statutes 
(first  half  of  thirteenth  century),  framed  for  Bishop  Grossetest.  '  Make 
ye  your  own  household  to  sit  in  the  hall,  as  much  as  ye  may.  .  .  And 
sit  ye  ever  in  the  middle  of  the  high  borde  (table)  that  your  face  and 
cheer  be  shown  to  all  men.  And  all  so  much  as  ye  may,  without 
peril  of  sickness  and  weariness,  eat  ye  in  the  hall  before  your  men. 
For  that  shall  be  to  you  profit  and  worship.'  Manners  and  Meals  in 
Olden  Time,  Part  I,  p.  329,  331  (Early  English  Text  Society). 

The  Eltham  Ordinances  for  the  government  of  the  royal  household 
under  Henry  VIII  are  framed  in  view  of  the  King's  dining  in  Hall, 
and  they  give  special  permission  for  private  meals  when  the  King 
does  not  dine  in  the  Hall.  See  chh.  44,  45,  and  52,  pp.  151,  153. 


HALL.  — HELL.  75 

saw  all  his  servants  and  his  tenants  about  him.  He  eat  not 
in  private,  except  in  time  of  sickness ;  when  once  he  be 
came  a  thing  cooped  up,  all  his  greatness  was  spilled. 
Nay,  the  king  himself  used  to  eat  in  the  hall,  and  his  lords 
sat  with  him,  and  then  he  understood  men. 


LI. 
HELL. 

i.  THERE  are  two  texts  for  Christ's  descending  into  hell ; 
the  one,  Psalm  xvi.  the  other,  Acts  ii.  where  the  Bible,  that 

But  that  the  custom  was  ceasing  to  be  observed  appears  from  ch. 
77,  p.  160,  which  gives  rules  which  had  become  necessary  '  by  reason 
of  the  seldom  keeping  of  the  King's  Hall.' 

The  above  are  printed  in  A  Collection  of  Ordinances  for  the 
Government  of  the  Royal  Household  (1790,  4to). 

1.  7.  There  are  two  texts  &c.]  This  is  incorrect.  There  are  other 
texts  which  have  been,  rightly  or  wrongly,  interpreted  to  prove  the 
descent.  Conf.  Ephesians  iv.  9  :  '  Now  that  he  ascended,  what  is  it 
but  that  he  also  descended  first  into  the  lower  parts  of  the  earth  ? ' 
and  i  Peter  iii.  19:  'By  which  also  he  went  and  preached  unto 
the  spirits  in  prison.'  In  the  Forty-two  Articles  of  1552,  the  descent 
into  hell  is  explained  and  confirmed  by  a  reference  to  this  pas 
sage  :  '  Quemadmodum  Christus  pro  nobis  mortuus  est  et  sepultus, 
ita  est  etiam  credendus  ad  inferos  descendisse.  Nam  corpus  usque 
ad  resurrectionem  in  sepulchre  jacuit ;  spiritus  ab  eo  emissus,  cum 
spiritibus  qui  in  carcere  sive  in  inferno  detinebantur  fuit,  illisque 
praedicavit,  quemadmodum  testatur  Petri  locus.'  In  the  Thirty-nine 
Articles  of  1562,  the  Article  on  the  descent  ends  with  the  words  '  ad 
inferos  descendisse,'  and  omits  all  reference  to  the  preaching  to  the 
spirits  in  prison.  At  this  date  the  authorised  version  of  the  Bible 
was  Cranmer's,  or  the  great  Bible  (1539),  in  which  (as  in  Tyndale's 
earlier  version)  the  reading  in  Acts  ii.  27  is  '  thou  wilt  not  leave  my 
soul  in  hell.'  The  Thirty-nine  Articles  were  confirmed  or  recognised 
by  Parliament  in  1571,  at  which  date,  and  up  to  1611,  the  authorised 
version  was  the  'Bishops'  Bible'  (1568).  In  this  version  the  text 
remains  unchanged — '  because  thou  wilt  not  leave  my  soul  in  hell ' ; 
and  in  the  corresponding  passage  in  Psalm  xvi.  10  the  word  '  hell ' 
is  marginally  explained  as  'in  the  state  that  souls  be  after  this  life.' 


76  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

was  in  use  when  the  Thirty-nine  Articles  were  made,  has 
it  (hell).  But  the  Bible  that  was  in  Queen  Elizabeth's  time, 
when  the  Articles  were  confirmed,  reads  it  (grave),  and  so 
it  continued  till  the  new  translation  in  King  James's  time, 
and  then  'tis  hell  again.  But  by  this  we  may  gather  the 
Church  of  England  declined,  as  much  as  they  could,  the 
descent;  otherwise  they  never  would  have  altered  the 
Bible. 

2.  He  descended  into  hell.    This  may  be  the  interpretation 

10  of  it.    He  may  be  dead  and  buried,  then  his  soul  ascended 

into  heaven.   Afterwards  he  descended  again  into  hell,  that 

is,  into  the  grave,  to  fetch  his  body,  and  to  rise  again.   The 

ground  of  this  interpretation  is  taken  from  the  Platonic 

The  text  is  changed  in  the  Geneva  Bible  (1557)  which  reads  '  grave ' 
for  hell.  This  version  was  in  common  private  use,  and  was  most 
favoured  by  the  Puritan  party,  but  it  was  not  authorised  or  appointed 
to  be  read  in  church.  It  does  not  appear,  therefore,  that  the  Church 
of  England  at  any  time  '  altered  the  Bible,'  as  Selden  incorrectly  says. 

1.  13.  the  Platonic  learning}  That  a  metempsychosis  was  a  Platonic 
doctrine  is  certain.  It  appears  in  the  story  of  Er,  the  son  of  Arminius, 
in  Rep.  x.  and  in  the  Phaedrus  248,  249,  where,  in  one  passage,  the 
soul  which  is  to  take  a  new  body  is  said  to  fall  to  the  earth.  So 
among  the  later  Platonists,  Porphyry  speaks  of  ras  ^vxas  elf  yweaiv 
(De  Antro  Nympharum,  sec.  10),  and  again  in  his  'A^opjual 
TO.  vorjrd,  sec.  32.  Conf.  also  Plotinus,  Enneades,  Enn.  4,  lib.  8, 
TTJS  fls  TO.  o-cb/iara  Kadodov  TTJS  "^vx^s,  passim  \  and  especially  in  §  4. 
nTai  ovv  (f)  fax?))  Treo-oCcra,  KOI  npos  ra>  Sftr/iw  ovaa  .  .  .  redd(f)dai  re 
Xeytrat  KUI  eV  (TTr^Xaia)  eiWt. 

But  that  these  views  affected  the  language  of  the  early  Christians, 
and  that  they  understood  the  descent  into  hell  in  Selden's  sense  of 
the  words,  there  is  nothing  to  show,  and  there  is  abundant  evidence 
to  the  contrary.  On  this  subject  the  Greek  and  Latin  fathers  speak 
with  one  voice.  They  understand  Christ's  descent  into  he'll  as  a  fact 
distinct  from  his  burial  and  resurrection.  It  is  a  literal  visit  to  the 
lower  regions  where  the  souls  of  the  dead  were  detained,  and  from 
which  the  souls  of  the  old  prophets  and  saints  were  liberated  at 
Christ's  coming.  Pearson,  in  his  long  and  learned  discussion  on  the 
descent,  puts  the  question,  thus  far,  beyond  all  reasonable  doubt. 
Archbishop  Usher,  writing  on  the  descent,  shows  out  of  Plato  and 
other  philosophers  and  poets,  that  the  word  Hades  is  used  to  signify 


HOLY-DAYS.  77 

learning,  who  held  a  metempsychosis,  and  when  a  soul  did 
descend  from  heaven  to  take  another  body,  they  called  it 
Kardftaa-iv  ets  qbrjv,  taking  a5r/s  for  the  lower  world,  the  state 
of  mortality.  Now  the  first  Christians,  many  of  them,  were 
Platonic  philosophers,  and  no  question  spoke  such  language 
as  then  was  understood  amongst  them.  To  understand  by 
hell,  the  grave,  is  no  tautology,  because  the  creed  first  tells 
what  Christ  suffered,  He  was  crucified,  dead,  and  buried ; 
then  it  tells  us  what  he  did,  He  descended  into  hell,  the 
third  day  he  rose  again,  he  ascended,  &c. 


LIT. 

HOLY-DAYS. 

THEY  say  the  Church  imposes  holy-days.  There's  no 
such  thing,  though  the  number  of  holy-days  is  set  down  in 
some  of  our  Common-prayer  books  1.  Yet  that  has  rela 
tion  to  an  act  of  parliament,  which  forbids  the  keeping  of 
any  other  holy-days.  The  ground  thereof  was  the  multi 
tude  of  holy-days  in  time  of  popery.  But  those  that  are 

1  Books,  H.  2]  book,  H. 

a  general  invisible  future  state  of  the  soul  after  it  is  separated  from 
the  body,  and  he  interprets  the  descent  accordingly.  Conf.  Parr's 
Life  of  Usher,  Appendix  27.  Selden's  interpretation  appears  to  be 
entirely  his  own.  I  can  find  no  other  authority  for  it. 

1.  15.  an  act  of  parliament,  which  forbids  &c.]  This  is  the  5  and  6 
of  Edward  VI,  ch.  3,  which  enacts :  '  that  all  the  days  hereafter 
mentioned  shall  be  kept  and  commanded  to  be  kept  holy-days,  and 
none  other  .  .  .  and  that  none  other  day  shall  be  kept  and  com 
manded  to  be  kept  holy-day,  or  to  abstain  from  lawful  bodily  labour.' 
The  list  given  corresponds  with  that  now  in  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer.  Selden's  remark  must  have  been  made  at  some  date  before 
June  8,  1647,  when  an  Ordinance  was  put  out  by  Parliament  that 
festivals  called  holy-days  were  no  longer  to  be  observed,  any  law, 
statute,  custom  or  canon  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding.  Rush- 
worth,  Collections,  vol.  vi.  p.  548. 


78  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

kept,  are  kept  by  the  custom  of  the  country ;  and  I  hope 
you  will  not  say  the  Church  imposes  that. 


LIII. 
HUMILITY. 

1.  HUMILITY  is  a  virtue  all  preach,  none  practise,  and  yet 
every  body  is  content  to  hear.    The  master  thinks  it  good 
doctrine  for  his  servant,  the  laity  for  the  clergy,  and  the 
clergy  for  the  laity. 

2.  There  is  humilitas  qucedam  in  vitio.    If  a  man  does 
not  take  notice  of  that  excellency  and  perfection  that  is  in 

i  himself,  how  can  he  be  thankful  to  God,  who  is  the  author 
of  all  excellency  and  perfection  ?  Nay,  if  a  man  has  too 
mean  an  opinion  of  himself,  'twill  render  him  unserviceable 
both  to  God  and  man. 

3.  Pride  may  be  allowed  to  this  or  that  degree,  else  a 
man  cannot  keep  up  his  dignity.     In  gluttony T  there  must 
be  eating,  in  drunkenness  there  must  be  drinking;  'tis  not 
the  eating,  nor  'tis  not  the  drinking  that  is  to  be  blamed,  but 
the  excess.     So  in  pride. 


LIV. 
IDOLATRY. 

,     IDOLATRY  is  in  a  man's  own  thought,  not  in  the  opinion  of 
another.     Put  case  I  bow  to  the  altar,  why  am  I  guilty  of 

1  Gluttony,  S.]  gluttons,  H.  and  H.  2. 

1.  21.  Put  case  I  bow  &c.]  This  practice  had  been  attacked  as  idola 
trous  by  Burton,  in  his  Sermon  for  God  and  the  King  (p.  105),  and  had 
been  described  by  Prynne,  in  his  Histrio-mastix  (p.  236),  as  'our 
late  crouching  and  ducking  unto  newly  erected  altars,  a  ceremony 
much  in  use  with  idolatrous  Papists  heretofore,  and  derived  by  them 


HUMILITY.— INVINCIBLE  IGNORANCE.  79 

idolatry  ?  Because  a  stander-by  thinks  so  ?  I  am  sure  I  do 
not  believe  the  altar  to  be  God,  and  the  God  I  worship  may 
be  bowed  to  in  all  places,  and  at  all  times. 


LV. 

JEWS. 

1.  GOD  at  the  first  gave  laws  to  all  mankind,  but  after 
wards  he  gave  peculiar  laws  to  the  Jews,  which  they  only 
were  to  observe.    Just  as  we  have  the  common  law  for  all 
England,  and  yet  you  have  some  corporations  that,  besides 
that,  have  peculiar  laws  and  privileges  to  themselves. 

2.  Talk  what  you  will  of  the  Jews,  that  they  are  cursed,  10 
they  thrive  where'er  they  come  ;  they  are  able  to  oblige  the 
prince  of  their  country  by  lending  him  money;  none  of 
them  beg ;  they  keep  together ;  and  for  their  being  hated, 
my  life  for  yours,  the  Christians  hate  one  another  as  much. 


LVI. 
INVINCIBLE  IGNORANCE. 

Tis  all  one  to  me,  if  I  am  told  of  Christ,  or  some  mystery 
of  Christianity,  if  I  am  not  capable  of  understanding  it,  as 
if  I  am  not  told  at  all,  my  ignorance  is  as  invincible ;  and 
therefore  'tis  vain  to  call  their  ignorance  only  invincible, 
who  never  were  told  of  Christ.  The  trick  of  it  is  to  advance  20 
the  priest,  whilst  the  Church  of  Rome  says  a  man  must  be 
told  of  Christ  by  one  thus  and  thus  ordained. 

from  pagan  practices/  Laud,  in  his  speech  at  the  censure  of  Burton, 
Bastwick  and  Prynne,  justifies  it  at  great  length,  and  substantially  for 
the  same  reasons  as  Selden.  See  Laud's  Works,  vol.  vi.  p.  55  ff.  But 
he  does  not  use  Selden's  phrase  of  bowing  to  the  altar.  What  he 
defends  is  carefully  guarded  as  bowing  towards  the  altar. 


8o  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

LVII. 

IMAGES. 

1.  THE  papists  taking  away  the  second  commandment, 
is  not  haply  so  horrid  a  thing,  nor  so  unreasonable  amongst 
Christians  as  we  make  it.     For  the  Jews,  they  could  make 
no  figure  of  God  but  they  must  commit  idolatry,  because  he 
had  taken  no  shape  ;  but  since  the  assumption  of  our  flesh, 
we  know  what  shape  to  picture  God  in.     Nor  do  I  know 
why  we  may  not  make  his  image,  provided  we  be  sure  what 
it  is :  as  we  say  St.  Luke  took  the  picture  of  the  Virgin 

to  Mary,  and  St.  Veronica  of  our  Saviour.  Otherwise  it  would 
be  no  honour  to  the  king,  to  make  a  picture  and  call  it  the 
king's  picture,  when  'tis  nothing  like  him. 

2.  Though  the  learned  papists  pray  not  to  images,  yet 
'tis  to  be  feared  the  ignorant  do ;  as  appears  by  that  tale  of 
St.  Nicholas  in  Spain.    A  countryman  used  to  offer  daily 
to  St.  Nicholas's  image ;   at  length  by  a  mischance  the 
image  was  broken,  and  a  new  one  made  of  his  own  plum- 
tree  ;  after  that  the  man  forbore.     Being  complained  of  to 
his  Ordinary,  he  answered,  'tis  true,  he  used  to  offer  to  the 

20  old  image,  but  to  the  new  he  could  not  find  in  his  heart 
because  he  knew  it  was  a  piece  of  his  own  plum-tree.  You 
see  what  opinion  this  man  had  of  the  image ;  and  to  this 
tended  the  bowing  of  their  images,  the  twinkling  of  their 
eyes,  the  virgin's  milk,  &c.  Had  they  only  meant  repre 
sentations,  a  picture  would  have  done  it  without  these 

1.  2.  The  papists  taking  away  &c.]  The  papists  do  not  do  this  in 
terms.  They  read  the  second  Commandment  continuously  with  the 
first,  and  as  forming  part  of  the  first.  The  first  Commandment 
they  take  as — '  Thou  shalt  have  none  other  Gods  before  me,  i.  e.  in 
my  presence/  and  they  interpret  the  second  as  enlarging  upon  and 
explaining  this.  See  e.g.  the  Douay  Version— 'Thou  shalt  not  have 
strange  Gods  before  me'  (Latin  Vulgate,  coram  me)— explained  in 
the  notes  to  Haydocke's  edition  of  the  version  as  ='in  my  presence. 
I  shall  not  be  content  to  be  adored  with  idols.' 


IMAGES.  —  IMPERIAL  CONSTITUTIONS.  81 

tricks.  It  may  be  with  us  in  England  they  do  not  wor 
ship  images,  because  living  among  protestants  they  are 
either  laughed  out  of  it,  or  beaten  out  of  it  by  shock  of 
argument. 

3.  'Tis  a  discreet  way  concerning  pictures  in  churches 
to  set  up  no  new,  nor  to  pull  down  no  old. 


LVIII. 

IMPERIAL  CONSTITUTIONS. 

THEY  say  imperial  constitutions  did  only  confirm  the 
canons  of  the  Church  ;  but  that  is  not  so,  for  they  inflicted 
punishment,  which  the  canons  never  did.  Viz*.  If  a  man  10 
converted  a  Christian  to  be  a  Jew,  he  was  to  forfeit  his 
estate,  and  lose  his  life.  In  Valentinian's  l  novels,  'tis  said 
Constat  episcopos  2  forum  legibus  non  habere,  et  judicant 
tantum  de  religione  3. 

1  Valentinian  *s]  Valentine's  MSS.  2  Episcopos,  H.  2]  episcopus,  H. 

3  Religione,  H.  2]  religiones,  H. 


1.  8.    confirm  the  canons  of  the  Church}    Qeo-irifrnfv  rolvw,  rdgiv  vo/ 

eire^eiv  TOVS  dyiovs  €KK\r)o~ia(TTiKovs  Kavovas  TOVS  VTTO  T£>V  dyiwv  Tfo~o~dpci)V 
(Tvv6da>v  fKTedevTas  r)  pc(3aia)6evTas.  .  .  .  Teoz>  yap  7rpoeipr)p,(va)V  dyiav  avvodav  .  .  . 
TOVS  Kavovas  as  vopovs  <pv\aTTop.ev.  Justinian's  Novels,  131,  ch.  i. 

1.  10.  If  a  man  converted  &c.]  Conf.  e.g.  'Judaeus  servum  Chris- 
tianum  nee  comparare  debebit  nee  largitatis  titulo  consequi  .  .  . 
Verum  ceteros,  quos  rectae  religionis  participes  constitutes  in  suo 
censu  nefanda  superstitio  jam  videtur  esse  sortita  .  .  .  sub  hac  lege 
possideat,  ut  eos,  nee  invitos,  nee  volentes,  caeno  propriae  sectae  con- 
fundat:  ita  ut,  si  haec  forma  fuerit  violata,  sceleris  tanti  auctores 
capitali  poena,  prescriptione  comitante,  plectantur.'  Codex  Theodo- 
sianus,  lib.  16,  tit.  9,  sec.  4. 

1.  12.  In  Valentinian's  novels  &c.]  See  the  novels  of  Valentinian 
the  Third,  tit.  34. 


82  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

LIX. 

IMPRISONMENT. 

SIR  Kenelm  Digby  was  several  times  taken  and  let  go 
again,  at  last  imprisoned  in  Winchester  house.  I  can  com 
pare  him  to  nothing,  but  to  a  great  fish  that  we  catch  and 

1.  4.  /  can  compare  him  to  nothing,  but  to  a  great  fish  &c.]  This 
comparison  seems  to  refer  to  Sir  Kenelm  Digby's  bodily  size  and 
bearing.  '  He  was  a  man  of  very  extraordinary  person  and  presence, 
which  drew  the  eyes  of  all  men  upon  him,  which  were  the  more  fixed 
by  a  wonderful  graceful  behaviour,  a  flowing  courtesy  and  civility, 
and  such  a  volubility  of  language  as  surprised  and  delighted ;  and 
though  in  another  man  it  might  have  appeared  to  have  somewhat  of 
affectation,  it  was  marvellous  graceful  in  him,  and  seemed  natural  to 
his  size  and  mould  of  his  person,  to  the  gravity  of  his  motion,  and 
the  tune  of  his  voice  and  delivery.'  Clarendon's  Life,  vol.  i.  p.  38. 
(Oxford  1827.)  '  His  person,'  says  Anthony  a  Wood,  '  was  hand 
some  and  gigantic,  and  nothing  was  wanting  to  make  him  a  complete 
chevalier.'  Athenae,  iii.  689. 

In  1638  Sir  Kenelm  Digby  had  been  induced  by  Queen  Henrietta 
Maria  to  write  a  circular  letter  to  the  Roman  Catholics  of  the  country, 
urging  them  to  contribute  liberally  to  the  King's  expenses  in  the  matter 
of  the  war  with  the  Scotch.  Rushworth,  Collections,  iii.  1327.  In 
January,  1640  (1641),  he  was  called  to  account  for  this  by  the  Parlia 
ment,  and  a  Committee  was  appointed  to  prepare  questions  about 
what  he  and  others  had  done.  Commons  Journals,  ii.  74.  In  March, 
the  two  Houses  presented  a  joint  petition,  praying  that  he  and  certain 
others  be  removed  from  the  Court,  as  popish  recusants,  ii.  106.  In 
May,  1641,  six  members  were  appointed  with  power  to  call  before 
them  Sir  Kenelm  Digby  and  others,  and  to  offer  them  the  Oaths  of 
Allegiance  and  Supremacy,  and  if  they  refuse  to  take  them,  to  give 
orders  that  they  shall  be  proceeded  against  according  to  law,  ii.  158. 
In  June,  1641,  a  peremptory  order  was  made  for  Sir  Kenelm  Digby  to 
attend  the  Committee  for  Recusants  Convict,  ii.  182.  That  he  was,  at 
length,  committed  to  Winchester  House,  appears  by  a  letter,  read  in 
Parliament  from  the  Lord  Mayor  of  London,  concerning  his  committal, 
and  enclosing  his  petition  for  release.  This  petition  the  House 
refused  to  grant.  Journals,  ii.  978.  His  release  was  due  to  the 
intercession  of  the  Queen  Regent  of  France,  as  appears  by  a  letter 
from  the  two  Houses. — '  We  are  commanded  to  make  known  to  your 
Majesty  that,  although  the  religion,  the  past  behaviour,  and  the 
abilities  of  this  gentleman  might  give  just  umbrage  of  his  practising 


IMPRISONMENT.  —  INDEPENDENCY,  83 

let  go  again ;  but  still  he  will  come  to  the  bait ;  at  last 
therefore  we  put  him  into  some  great  pond  for  store. 


LX. 
INCENDIARIES. 

FANCY  to  yourself  a  man  sets  the  city  on  fire  at  Cripple- 
gate,  and  that  fire  continues  by  means  of  others,  till  it  come 
to  Whitefriars,  and  then  he  that  began  it  would  fain  quench 
it ;  does  not  he  deserve  to  be  punished  most  that  first  set 
the  town  on  fire  ?  So  'tis  with  the  incendiaries  of  the  state. 
They  that  first  set  it  on  fire,  [by  monopolies,  forest  busi 
ness,  imprisoning  of  the  parliament-men  3°  Caroti,  &c.j  are  10 
now  become  regenerate,  and  would  fain  quench  the  fire. 
Certainly  they  deserved  most  to  be  punished,  for  being  the 
first  authors  of  our  distractions. 


LXI. 
INDEPENDENCY. 

i.  INDEPENDENCY  is  in  use  at  Amsterdam,  where  forty 
churches  or  congregations  have  nothing  to  do  one  with 
another.  And  'tis,  no  question,  agreeable  to  the  primitive 
times,  before  the  emperor  became  Christian.  For  either 
we  must  say  every  church  governed  itself,  or  else  we  must 

to  the  prejudice  of  the  constitutions  of  this  realm,  yet  nevertheless, 
having  so  great  regard  to  the  recommendation  of  your  Majesty,  they 
have  ordered  him  to  be  discharged.  Biographia  Britannica,  vol.  iii. 
p.  1706,  note  f. 

I  find  no  more  distinct  references  to  what  Wood  terms  his  '  activity 
for  the  King's  cause  at  the  beginning  of  the  civil  wars/  or,  as  Selden 
puts  it, '  his  coming  again  and  again  to  the  bait.' 

1.  3.    Incendiaries^    See  Excursus  B. 

G  2 


84  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

fall  upon  that  old  foolish  rock,  that  St.  Peter  and  his  suc 
cessors  governed  all.  But  when  the  civil  state  became 
Christian  they  appointed  who  should  govern  whom ;  before, 
they  governed  by  agreement  and  consent ;  if  you  will  not 
do  this,  you  shall  come  no  more  amongst  us.  But  both  the 
independent  man  and  the  presbyterian  man  do  equally 
exclude  the  civil  power,  though  after  a  different  manner. 

2.  The  Independents  may  as  well  plead  they  should  not 
be  subject  to  temporal  things,  not  come  before  a  constable, 

10  or  a  justice  of  peace,  as  they  plead  they  should  not  be  sub 
ject  in  spiritual  things,  because  St.  Paul  says,  Is  it  so,  that 
there  is  not  a  wise  man  amongst  you  ? 

3.  The  pope  challenges  all  churches  to  be  under  him. 
The  king  and  the  two  archbishops  challenge  all  the  Church 
of  England  to  be  under  them.     The  presbyterian   man 
divides  the  kingdom  into  as  many  churches  as  there  be 
presbyteries.    And  your  independent  would  have  every 
congregation  l  a  church  by  itself. 

1  Congregation,  H.  2]  congration,  H. 

1.  15.  The  presbyterian  man  divides  the  kingdom  &c.]  This  is  an 
incomplete  account.  See  the  form  of  Presbyterial  Church  Govern 
ment  agreed  upon  by  the  Westminster  Assembly  of  Divines  in 
1645. 

1  Of  Synodical  Assemblies,  the  Scripture  doth  hold  out  another  sort 
of  assemblies,  for  the  government  of  the  Church,  besides  classical  and 
congregational,  all  of  which  we  call  synodical.  Synodical  assemblies 
may  lawfully  be  of  several  sorts,  as  provincial,  national,  and  oecu 
menical. 

'  It  is  lawful  and  agreeable  to  the  word  of  God  that  there  be  a  sub 
ordination  of  congregational,  classical,  provincial,  and  national  assem 
blies  for  the  government  of  the  Church.'  Neal,  Hist,  of  Puritans,  vol.  v. 
app.  ix. 

1.  17.  your  independent  &c.]  The  view  of  the  Independents  as 
stated  by  themselves  was  that  'Every  particular  congregation  of 
Christians  has  an  entire  and  complete  power  and  jurisdiction  over  its 
members,  to  be  exercised  by  the  elders  thereof  within  itself.  Apolo- 
getical  Narrative  of  Independents  (1643),  quoted  by  Neal,  Hist,  of 
Puritans,  vol.  iii.  p.  118. 

Their  main  platform,  says  Fuller  (Church  History,  bk.  xi.),  was 


THINGS  INDIFFERENT.— HUMAN  INVENTION.       85 

LXII. 
THINGS  INDIFFERENT. 

IN  time  of  a  parliament,  when  things  are  under  debate, 
they  are  indifferent ;  but  in  a  church  or  state  settled,  there 
is  nothing  left  indifferent. 


LXIII. 

PUBLIC  INTEREST. 

ALL  might  go  well  in  the  commonwealth,  if  every  one  in 
the  parliament  would  lay  down  his  own  interest,  and  aim 
at  the  general  good.  If  a  man  were  sick,  and  the  whole 
college  of  physicians  should  come  to  him,  and  administer 
severally,  haply  so  long  as  they  observed  the  rules  of  art,  10 
he  might  recover ;  but  if  one  of  them  had  a  great  deal  of 
scamony  by  him,  he  must  put  off  that,  therefore  he  pre 
scribes  scamony ;  another  had  a  great  deal  of  rhubarb,  and 
he  must  put  off  that,  and  therefore  he  prescribes  rhubarb, 
&c.  they  would  certainly  kill  the  man.  We  destroy  the 
commonwealth,  while  we  preserve  our  own  private  interest, 
and  neglect  the  public. 


LXIV. 
HUMAN  INVENTION. 

i.  You  say  there  must  be  no  human  invention  in  the 
church,  nothing  but  the  pure  word.  20 

that  churches  should  not  be  subordinate,  parochial  to  provincial,  pro 
vincial  to  national  (as  daughter  to  mother,  mother  to  grandmother), 
but  co-ordinate,  without  superiority,  except  seniority  of  sisters,  con 
taining  no  powerful  influence  therein. 


86  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

Answer.  If  I  give  any  exposition,  but  what  is  expressed 
in  the  text,  that  is  my  invention :  if  you  give  another  expo 
sition,  that  is  your  invention,  and  both  are  human.  For 
example,  suppose  the  word  [egg]  were  in  the  text ;  I  say, 
'tis  meant  an  hen-egg,  you  say  a  goose-egg;  neither  of 
these  are  expressed,  therefore  they  are  human  invention  ; 
and  I  am  sure  the  newer  the  invention  the  worse;  old 
inventions  are  best. 

2.  If  we  must  admit  nothing  but  what  we  read  in  the 
TO  Bible,  what  will  become  of  the  parliament  ?  For  we  do  not 
read  of  that  there. 


LXV. 

GOD'S  JUDGMENTS. 

WE  cannot  tell  what  is  a  judgment  of  God ;  'tis  presump 
tion  to  take  upon  us  to  know.  In  time  of  plague  we  know 
we  want  health,  and  therefore  we  pray  to  God  to  give  us 
health l ;  in  time  of  war,  we  know  we  want  peace,  and 
therefore  we  pray  to  God  to  send  us  peace.  Commonly  we 
say  a  judgment  falls  upon  a  man  for  something  in  him  we 
cannot  abide.  An  example  we  have  in  King  James,  con- 

1  And  therefore  we  pray  to  God  to  give  us  health,  H.  2]  omitted  in  H. 

1.  13.  We  cannot  tell  what  is  a  judgment  £c.]  Suggested,  possibly, 
by  a  book,  published  in  1636,  under  the  title  of  'A  divine  tragedie 
lately  acted,'  or  'A  collection  of  sundry  memorable  examples  of  God's 
judgments  upon  Sabbath-breakers  and  other  like  libertines  in  their 
unlawfull  sports.'  It  gives  fifty-five  examples  of  some  misfortune  to 
Sabbath-breakers  in  the  course  of  two  years,  and  it  appeals  confi 
dently  to  these  as  proof  of  direct  divine  interposition.  It  ends  with 
an  account  of  the  death  of  Mr.  William  Noy,  closely  following  the 
execution  of  the  Star  Chamber  censure  on  the  '  well  deserving  gen 
tleman,  Mr.  Prynne.'  The  book  has  been  ascribed  to  Prynne,  but  it 
does  not  bear  his  name  or  signature.  It  is  entered  as  Prynne's  in  the 
British  Museum  catalogue,  and  is  so  lettered  on  the  cover. 


GOD'S  JUDGMENTS.  -  JUDGE.  87 

cerning  the  death  of  Henry  the  IVth  of  France ;  one  said 
he  was  killed  for  his  wenching,  another  said  he  was  killed 
for  turning  his  religion.  No,  says  King  James,  (who  could 
not  abide  fighting)  he  was  killed  for  permitting  duels  in  his 
kingdom. 


LXVI. 
JUDGE. 

1.  WE  see  the  pageants  in  Cheapside,  the  lions,  and  the 
elephants,  but  we  do  not  see  the  men  that  carry  them.   We 
see  the  judges  look  big,  look  like  lions,  but  we  do  not  see 
who  moves  them.  10 

2.  Little  things  do  great  works,  when  great  things  will 
not.    If  I  would  take  a  pin  from  the  ground,  a  little  pair  of 
tongs  will  do  it,  when  a  great  pair  will  not.    Go  to  a  judge 
to  do  a  business  for  you  ;  by  no  means,  he  will  not  hear  of 
it ;  but  go  to  some  small  servant  about  him,  and  he  will 
dispatch  it  according  to  your  heart's  desire. 

3.  There  could  be  no  mischief  done  in  the  commonwealth 
without  a  judge.    Though  there  be  false  dice  brought  in  at 
the  groom-porter's,  and  cheating  offered,  yet  unless  he  allow 
the  cheating,  and  judge  the  dice  to  be  good,  there  may  be  20 
hopes  of  fair  play. 

1.  17.  There  could  be  no  mischief  &c.]  See  note  on  'The  King,' 
sec.  6. 

1.  19.  groom-porter]  'An  officer  of  the  royal  household,  whose 
business  is  to  see  the  king's  lodging  furnished  with  tables,  chairs, 
stools  and  firing :  as  also  to  provide  cards,  dice,  &c.,  and  to  decide 
disputes  arising  at  cards,  dice,  bowling,  &c.'  Quoted  by  Nares  (Glos 
sary,  sub  voce)  from  Chamb.  Diet.  Nares  adds  that  'formerly  he 
was  allowed  to  keep  an  open  gambling  table  at  Christmas.  .  .  .  He  is 
said  to  have  succeeded  to  the  office  of  the  master  of  the  revels,  then 
disused.' 


88  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

LXVII. 
JUGGLING. 

'Tis  not  juggling  that  is  to  be  blamed,  but  much  juggling, 
for  the  world  cannot  be  governed  without  it.  All  your 
rhetorick,  and  all  your  elenchs  in  logic,  come  within  the 
compass  of  juggling. 


LXVIII. 
JURISDICTION. 

1.  THERE'S  no  such  thing  as  spiritual  jurisdiction;  all  is 
civil,  the  church's  is  the  same  with  the  lord  mayor's.    Sup 
pose  a  Christian  came  into  a  pagan  country,  how  can  you 
fancy  he  shall  have  power  there  ?    He  finds  fault  with  the 
gods  of  the  country.    Well,  they  will  put  him  to  death  for 
it.     Then  he  is  a  martyr ;  what  follows  ?    Does  that  argue 
he  has  any  spiritual  jurisdiction  ?    If  the  clergy  say  the 
church  ought  to  be  governed  thus,  and  thus,  by  the  word 
of  God,  that  is  doctrine  all,  that  is  not  discipline. 

2.  The  pope,  he  challenges  jurisdiction  over  all ;  the 
bishops,  they  pretend  to  it  as  well  as  he ;  the  presbyterians, 
they  would  have  it  to  themselves ;  but  over  whom  is  all 
this  ?    The  poor  layman. 


LXIX. 
JUS  DIVINUM. 

1.  ALL  things  are  held  byjusdivinum,  either  immediately 
or  mediately. 

2.  Nothing  has  lost  the  pope  so  much  in  his  supremacy, 
as  not  acknowledging  what  princes  gave  him.    'Tis  a  scorn 


JUGGLING. -KING.  89 

upon  the  civil  power,  and  an  unthankfulness  in  the  priest. 
But  the  church  runs  to  jus  divinum,  lest  if  they  should 
acknowledge  what  they  have,  they  have  by  positive  law,  it 
might  be  as  well  taken  from  them,  as  given  to  them. 


LXX. 

KING. 

1.  A  KING  is  a  thing  men  have  made  for  their  own 
sakes,  for  quietness'  sake.    Just  as  in  a  family  one  man  is 
appointed  to  buy  the  meat.     If  every  man  should  buy,  or 
if  there  were  many  buyers,  they  would  never  agree  ;  one 
would  buy  what  the  other  liked  not,  or  what  the  other  had  10 
bought  before,  so  there  would  be  a  confusion.     But  that 
charge  being  committed  to  one,  he  according  to  his  discre 
tion  pleases  all.     If  they  have  not  what  they  would  have 
one  day,  they  shall  have  it  the  next,  or  something  as  good. 

2.  The  word  king  directs   our  eyes.     Suppose  it  had 
been  consul  or  dictator.    To  think  all  kings  alike,  is  the 
same  folly,  as  if  a  consul  of  Aleppo  or  Smyrna,  should 
claim  to  himself  the  same  power  that  a  consul  at  Rome 
had.    What,  am  not  I  consul  ?    Or  a  duke  of  England 
should  think  himself  like  the  duke  of  Florence.     Nor  can  20 
it  be  imagined  that  the  word  /Sao-iAei/?  did  signify  a  king 


1.  15.  directs  our  eyes.]  This  seems  to  mean,  the  word  catches  our 
eyes  and  suggests  the  notion  that  it  bears  everywhere  the  same 
sense. 

This  and  the  next  clause  seem  directed  against  the  Constitutions 
and  Canons  Ecclesiastical  of  1640,  framed  by  the  Convocations  of 
Canterbury  and  of  York,  in  which  the  most  high  and  sacred  order  of 
Kings  is  said  to  be  '  of  divine  right,  being  the  ordinance  of  God 
himself,  founded  in  the  prime  laws  of  nature,  and  clearly  established 
by  express  texts  both  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments.'  Wilkins, 
Concilia,  iv.  545. 


90  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

the  same  in  Greece,  as  the  Hebrew  word  *fe  did  with  the 
Jews.  Besides,  let  divines  in  their  pulpits  say  what  they 
will,  they  in  their  practice  deny  that  all  is  the  king's. 
They  sue  him,  and  so  does  all  the  nation,  whereof  they 
are  a  part.  What  matter  is  it  then,  what  they  preach  or 
talk  in  the  schools  ? 

3.  Kings  are  all  individuals,  this  or  that  king ;  there  is 
no  species  of  kings. 

4.  A  king  that  claims  privileges  in  his  own  kingdom, 
10  because  they  have  them  in  another,  is  just  as  a  cook,  that 

claims  fees  in  one  lord's  house  because  they  are  allowed 
in  another.  If  the  master  of  the  house  will  yield  them, 
well  and  good. 

5.  The  text  [Render  unto  Caesar  the  things  that  are 
Caesar's]  makes  as   much  against  kings  as  for  them ;  for 
it  says  plainly  that  some  things  are  not  Caesar's.     But 
divines  make  choice  of  it,  first  in  flattery,  and  then  be 
cause  of  the  other  part  adjoined  to  it  [Render  unto  God 
the   things    that   are   God's],    where    they   bring  in   the 

2°  Church. 

6.  A  king  outed   of  his   country,  that  takes  as  much 
upon  him  as  he  did  at  home,  in  his  own  court,  is  as  if 
a  man  and  I  being  upon   different  ground,  I    used1  to 
lift  up  my  voice  to  him,  that  he  might  hear  me,  at  length 
should  come  down  to  me  and  then  expect  I  should  speak 
as  loud  to  him  as  I  did  before. 

1  As  if  a  man   and  I  being  upon  &c.,  S.     As  if  a  man  on  high,  and  I 

different  ground,  I  used,  &c.,  H.  2]  as  if  being  upon  the  ground  used,  &c.  Early 

a  man  and  I  being  upon  the  ground,  printed  editions.     No  one  of  all  these 

used,  &c.,  H.    As  if  a  man  upon  a  tree,  is  quite  satisfactory.     I  have  chosen 

and  I  being  upon  the   ground  used,  what  seems  the  least  faulty. 

1.  2.  let  divines  in  their  pulpits  £c.]  See,  e.g.,  Dr.  Manwaring's  two 
Sermons  on  the  King's  prerogative,  in  which  he  insists  that  the 
King's  power  is  not  bounded  by  law;  that  it  is  the  duty  of  his 
subjects  to  obey  his  illegal  commands  ;  and  that  if  they  are  deprived 
of  property  in  their  goods  they  have  no  choice  but  to  submit.  Fuller, 
Church  History,  century  xvii,  bk.  xi.  sees.  61,  62,  63,  in  ann.  1628. 


KING  OF  ENGLAND.  91 

LXXI. 

KING  OF  ENGLAND. 

1.  THE  king  can  do  no  wrong :  that  is,  no  process  can 
be  granted  against  him,  you  can  have  no  remedy  against 
him.    What  must  be  done  then  ?     Petition  him,  and  the 
king  writes  upon  the  petition  Soit  droit  fait,  and  sends  it 
to  the  chancery,  and  then  the  business   is  heard.     His 
confessor  will  not  tell  him  he  can  do  no  wrong. 

2.  There's  a  great  deal  of  difference  between  head  of 

1.  2.  The  king  can  do  no  wrong]  Explained  by  Blackstone  as 
meaning  only  '  that  in  the  first  place,  whatever  may  be  amiss  in  the 
conduct  of  public  affairs  is  not  chargeable  personally  on  the  king ; 
nor  is  he,  but  his  ministers,  accountable  for  it  to  the  people :  and 
secondly,  that  the  prerogative  of  the  Crown  extends  not  to  do  any 
injury.'  Commentaries,  bk.  iii.  ch.  17,  sec.  i.  Selden's  remark  deals 
only  with  one  incident  of  the  maxim,  and  guards,  in  the  last  clause, 
against  one  possible  misinterpretation  of  it. 

1.  8.  There's  a  great  deal  of  difference  £c.]  By  26  Henry  VIII,  cap.  i. 
it  is  declared  and  enacted  that  the  King's  Majesty  is  the  only  supreme 
head  in  erthe  of  the  Church  of  England.  This  Act  was  confirmed, 
with  penalties,  by  i  Edward  VI,  cap.  12. 

In  '  our  Canons,'  i.e.  in  the  Constitutions  and  Canons  Ecclesiastical 
of  1640,  sec.  i,  Concerning  the  Regal  Power,  the  words  used  are  '  The 
most  high  and  sacred  order  of  Kings  is  of  divine  right.  ...  A 
supreme  power  is  given  to  this  most  excellent  order  by  God  himself 
in  the  Scriptures,  which  is  that  kings  should  rule  and  command  in 
their  several  dominions  all  persons  of  what  rank  and  estate  soever, 
whether  ecclesiastical  or  civil. .  .  . 

'  The  care  of  God's  church  is  so  committed  to  Kings  in  the  scripture 
that  they  are  commended  when  the  church  keeps  the  right  way, 
and  taxed  when  it  runs  amiss,  and  therefore  her  government  belongs 
in  chief  unto  Kings.'  Wilkins,  Concilia,  iv.  545. 

The  difference  of  which  Selden  speaks  is  that  the  King,  as  head 
of  the  Church,  is  the  fountain  or  original  of  all  spiritual  authority  in 
his  dominions,  in  the  full  sense  in  which  he  is  the  fountain  of  honour 
and  the  fountain  of  law ;  while  the  words  of  the  Canon  mean  no 
more  than  that  the  Church  and  its  ecclesiastical  rulers  are  subject 
to  the  civil  power.  This  latter  is  all  that  was  claimed  by  Elizabeth, 
and  all  that  was  expressed  in  Article  37.  On  the  other  hand,  every 
Bishop  in  his  Oath  of  Homage,  taken  when  he  obtains  the  tern- 


92  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

the  church,  and  supreme  governor,  as  our  canons  call  the 
king.  Conceive  it  thus;  There  is  in  the  kingdom  of  England 
a  college  of  physicians,  the  king  is  supreme  governor 
of  these,  because  they  live  under  him,  but  not  head  of  them, 
nor  president  of  the  college,  nor  the  best  physician. 

3.  After  the  dissolution  of  the  abbeys,  they  did  much 
advance  the  king's  supremacy,  for  they  only  cared   to 
exclude  the  pope :  hence  have  we  had  several  translations 
of  the  Bible  put  upon  us.     But  now  we  must  look  to  it, 
otherwise  the  king  may  put  upon   us  what  religion  he 
pleases. 

4.  'Twas  the  old  way  when  the  king  of  England  had  his 
house,  there  were  canons  to  sing  service  in  his  chapel : 
so  at  Westminster,  in   St.  Stephen's   chapel,  (where   the 
House  of  Commons  sits)  from  which  canons  the  street 
Canon-row  has  its  name,  because  they  lived  there  ;    and 
he  had  also  the  abbot  and  his  monks,  and  all  these  the 
king's  house. 

5.  The  three  estates  are  the  lords  temporal,  the  bishops 

poralities  of  his  see,  acknowledges  '  that  I  hold  the  said  Bishopric, 
as  well  the  spiritualities  as  the  temporalities  thereof,  only  of  your 
Majesty.'  This  appears  to  be  a  survival  of  the  earlier  view. 

1. 12.  'Twas  the  old  way  &c.]  On  the  King's  Chapel  Establishment 
see  Excursus  C. 

1. 19.  The  three  estates  are  &c.]  Who  formed  the  three  estates  was  one 
of  the  disputed  questions  of  the  time.  See,  e.g.,  a  speech  by  Bagshaw 
(Feb.  9, 1640) :  '  (It  was  said)  that  episcopacy  was  a  third  estate  in  Par 
liament,  and  therefore  the  King  and  Parliament  could  not  be  without 
them  ;  this  I  utterly  deny,  for  there  are  three  estates  without  them,  as 
namely  the  King,  who  is  the  first  estate ;  the  Lords  Temporal  is  the 
second  ;  and  the  Commons  the  third.  Nalson,  Collections,  i.  762. 

Nalson  quotes,  on  the  other  hand,  from  the  Parliamentary  Roll, 
i  Richard  III,  'at  the  request  and  by  the  assent  of  the  three  estates  of 
the  realm,  that  is  to  say  the  Lords  Spiritual  and  Temporal  and  the 
Commons  of  this  land  assembled  in  this  present  Parliament,'  &c., 
i.  764.  See,  also,  a  proclamation  by  Queen  Elizabeth  (1588)  which 
speaks  of  '  the  estate  of  the  prelacy,  being  one  of  the  three  ancient 
estates  of  this  realm  under  her  Highness.'  Wilkins,  Concilia, 
iv.  340. 


KING  OF  ENGLAND.  93 

are  the  clergy,  and  the  commons.  The  king  is  not  one  of 
the  three  estates,  as  some  would  have  it,  [take  heed  of 
that],  for  then  if  two  agree,  the  third  is  involved ;  but  he 
is  king  of  the  three  estates. 

6.  The  king  has  a  seal  in  every  court ;  and  though  the 
great  seal  be  called  sigillum  Angliae}  the  great  seal  of 
England,  yet  'tis  not  because  'tis  the  kingdom's  seal,  and 
not  the  king's,  but  to  distinguish  it  from  sigillum  Hiberniae, 
sigillum  Scotiae. 

7.  The  court  of  England  is  much  altered.    At  a  solemn  10 
dancing,  first  you  had  the  grave  measures,  then  the  coran- 
toes,  and  the  galliards,  and  all  this  is  kept  up  with  cere 
mony ;  at  length  they  fall  to  Trench-more1,  and  so  to  the 
cushion  dance,  and  then  all  the  company  dance,  lord  and 
groom,  lady  and  kitchen-maid,  no  distinction.     So  in  our 
court  in  Queen  Elizabeth's  time,  gravity  and  state  was 
kept  up;  in  King  James's  time  things  were  pretty  well; 

1  Trenchmore}  Frenchmore,  MSS. 

Nalson,  in  his  remarks  on  Lord  Say  and  Seal's  speech  (1641) 
against  Bishops,  points  out,  as  Selden  does,  the  consequence  which 
would  follow  from  counting  the  King  as  one  of  the  three  estates.  The 
opinion,  he  says,  that  the  Bishops  are  not  one  of  the  three  estates,  in 
Parliament,  has  been  deservedly  exploded  by  all  persons  of  sense 
and  honour  '  except  such  as  would  therefore  have  the  King  to  be  the 
third  estate,  that  so  by  bringing  in  a  co-ordinancy  of  power,  they  may 
the  better  accomplish  their  anti-monarchical  designs,  or  at  least  reduce 
the  ancient  and  imperial  Crown  of  these  realms  to  the  condition  of  a 
Venetian  seigniory.'  Collections,  ii.  269. 

1.  13.  Trench-more}  A  kind  of  lively  dance,  in  triple  time,  to  which 
it  was  usual  to  dance  in  a  rough  and  boisterous  manner.  Nares, 
Glossary. 

The  reading  in  the  MSS.  is  '  Frenchmore,'  but  there  is  no  dance 
so  named,  while  '  Trenchmore,'  the  reading  in  the  early  printed 
editions,  is,  as  Nares  shows,  a  name  in  common  use. 

1.  14.  cushion  dance}  '  A  dance  of  a  rather  free  character,  used 
chiefly,  it  would  appear,  at  weddings.'  Its  character  is  distinctly 
shown  by  a  passage  which  Nares  quotes  from  Taylor  (1630) : — *  There 
are  many  pretty  provocatory  dances,  as  the  kissing  dance,  the  cushion 
dance,  the  shaking  of  the  sheets,  and  such  like.'  Nares,  Glossary. 


94  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

but  in  King  Charles's  time,  there  has  been  nothing  but 
Trench-more  and  the  cushion  dance,  omnium  gatherum, 
tolly  polly,  hoyte  cum  toyte. 


LXXII. 
THE  KING. 

1.  JTis  hard  to  make   an  accommodation   betwixt  the 
king  and  the  parliament.     If  you  and  I  fell  out  about 
money,  you  said   I  owed  you  twenty  pounds,  I   said   I 
owed  you  but  ten  pounds,  it  may  be  a  third  party  allow 
ing  me  20  marks,  might  make  us  friends.     But  if  I  said, 

i  o  I  owed  you  twenty  pounds  of  silver,  and  you  said  I  owed 
you  twenty  pounds  of  diamonds,  which  is  a  sum  innu 
merable,  'tis  impossible  we  should  ever  agree;  this  is 
the  case. 

2.  The  king  using  the  House  of  Commons,  as  he  did 
in  Mr.  Pym  and  his  company;  that  is,  charging  them  with 
treason,  because   they  charged1  my  lord   of  Canterbury 
and  Sir  George  Ratcliffe,  it  was  just  as  much  logic  as  the 
boy,  that  would  have  lain  with  his  grandmother,  used  to 
his  father  :  You  lay  with  my  mother,  why  should  not  I  lie 

20  with  your's  ? 

3.  There  is  not  the  same  reason  for  the  king's  accusing 
men   of  treason,  and   carrying  them   away,  as   there   is 
for  the  houses  themselves,  because  they  accuse  one   of 
themselves.    For  every  one  that  is  accused,  is  either  a 
peer  or  a  commoner ;  and  he  that  is  accused  has  his  con 
sent  going  along  with  them ;  but  if  the  king  accuses,  there 
is  nothing  of  this  in  it. 

4.  The  king  is  equally  abused  now  as  before ;  then  they 
flattered  him,  and  made  him  do  ill  things,  now  they  would 

30  force  him  against  his  conscience.  If  a  physician  should 
tell  me  that  every  thing  I  had  a  mind  to  was  good  for 

1  Because  they  charged]  '  because '  omitted  in  MSS. 


THE  KING.  95 

me,  though  in  truth  'twas  poison,  he  abused  me ;  and  he 
abuses  me  as  much,  that  would  force  me  to  take  something 
whether  I  will  or  no. 

5.  The  king,  so  long  as  he  is  our  king,  may  do  with  his 
officers  what  he  pleases ;  as  the  master  of  the  house  may 
turn  away  all  his  servants,  and  take  whom  he  please. 

6.  The  king's  oath  is  not  security  enough  for  our  pro 
perty,  for  he  swears  to  govern  according  to  law  ;  now  the 
judges  they  interpret  the  law ;   and  what  judges  can  be 
made  to  do  we  know. 

1.  9.  what  judges  can  be  made  to  do  we  know.}  Selden  had  good 
reason  to  know  this.  He  was  one  of  the  members  committed  to  prison 
after  Charles'  third  Parliament,  having  been  refused  bail  by  the 
judges  unless  he  would  find  sureties  for  his  future  good  behaviour. 
This  he  and  the  others  rightly  and  manfully  refused  to  do,  and  were 
remanded  to  the  Tower.  Whitelock,  Memorials,  pp.  13,  14. 

Again,  in  1635  the  King  was  advised  by  the  Lord  Chief  Justice 
Finch  and  others  to  require  the  opinion  of  his  judges  (on  ship-money), 
which  he  did,  stating  the  case  in  a  letter  to  them. 

'After  much  solicitation  by  the  Chief  Justice  Finch,  promising  prefer 
ment  to  some,  and  highly  threatening  others  whom  he  found  doubting 
(as  themselves  reported  to  me)  he  got  from  them  in  answer  to  the 
King's  letter  and  case,  their  opinion  .  .  .  that  when  .  .  .  the  whole 
kingdom  is  in  danger,  your  Majesty  may  by  writ  command  all  your 
subjects  to  furnish  ships  with  men,  victuals  and  ammunition,  and 
may  compel  the  doing  thereof.  And  that  in  such  case  your  Majesty 
is  the  sole  judge  both  of  the  dangers  and  when  and  how  the  same 
is  to  be  prevented  and  avoided.  This  opinion  was  signed  by  twelve 
judges.'  Whitelock,  Memorials,  p.  25. 

Clarendon  remarks  on  this  that  '  The  damage  and  mischief  cannot 
be  expressed  that  the  Crown  and  State  sustained  by  the  deserved 
reproach  and  infamy  that  attended  the  judges,  by  being  made  use  of 
in  this  and  other  like  acts  of  power.'  Men  heard  the  payment  of 
ship-money  'demanded  in  a  court  of  law  as  a  right,  and  found  it, 
by  sworn  judges  of  the  law,  adjudged  so  upon  such  grounds  and 
reasons  as  every  stander-by  was  able  to  swear  was  not  law.'  He 
traces  the  disregard  of  law  afterwards  as  due  very  largely  '  to  the 
irreverence  and  scorn  the  judges  were  justly  in.'  History,  pp. 
108,  109. 

But  the  day  of  reckoning  was  at  hand.  In  1640,  Judge  Berkley, 
one  of  the  twelve,  was  impeached  by  the  Commons  for  his  opinion 


96  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

7.  The  king  and  the  parliament  now  falling  out,  are  just 
as  when  there  is  foul  play  offered  betwixt  gamesters ;  one 
snatches  the  other's  stake,  they  seize  what  they  can  of  one 
another's.    'Tis  not  to  be  asked  whether  it  belongs  not  to 
the  king  to  do  this  or  that :  before,  when  there  was  fair 
play,  it  did,  but  now  they  will  do  both  what  is  most  con 
venient  for  their  own  safety.     If  two  fall  to  scuffling,  one 
tears  the  other's  band,  the  other  tears  his ;  when  they 
were  friends  they  were  quiet,  and  did1  no  such  thing;  they 

10  let  one  another's  bands  alone. 

8.  The  king  calling  his   friends   from   the  parliament, 
because  he  had  use  of  them  at  Oxford,  is  as  if  a  man 
had  use  of  a  little  piece  of  wood,  and  he  runs  down  into 

1  They  ivere  quiet,  and  did,  H.  2]  and  'and'  is  written  over  the  original 
were  quiet  and  did,  H.  The  second  '  they.' 

in  favour  of  ship-money,  and  was  taken  from  his  seat  to  prison  by 
black-rod  '  which,'  says  Whitelock,  '  struck  a  great  terror  in  the  rest 
of  his  brethren.'  Memorials,  p.  40.  Their  turn  came  next,  p.  47. 

1.  n.  The  king  calling  his  friends  &c.]  In  1643  the  King  .  .  . 
summoned  all  the  members  of  both  Houses  of  Parliament  (except 
only  such  as,  having  command  in  His  Majesty's  armies,  could  not  be 
absent  from  their  charges)  to  attend  upon  His  Majesty  at  Oxford, 
upon  a  day  fixed  in  January  next.  Clarendon,  Hist.  ii.  622. 

Thither,  accordingly,  the  King's  friends  went,  and  a  Parliament  at 
Oxford  was  opened  in  due  form.  Meanwhile  work  of  a  different  kind 
was  in  progress  elsewhere ;  so  that  the  Earl  of  Essex,  in  reply  to  a 
long  letter  from  the  absentees,  written  in  the  interest  of  peace  and 
assuring  him  of  the  King's  gracious  purposes  and  general  good- will  to 
his  subjects,  was  able  to  enclose  with  his  curt  answer  a  copy  of  'a 
national  covenant  solemnly  entered  into  by  both  the  kingdoms  of 
England  and  Scotland,  and  a  declaration  passed  by  them  both  together 
with  another  declaration  by  the  kingdom  of  Scotland.'  Clarendon, 
Hist.  ii.  666. 

These  documents,  the  effect  of  which  was  to  bind  the  signatories 
to  keep  firm  in  their  armed  resistance  to  the  King,  are  given  by 
Clarendon — the  first  at  full  length,  the  others  (passed  and  published 
about  the  very  time  that  the  overture  for  peace  came  from  Oxford) 
in  substance ;  pp.  560,  667,  ff. 

So  true  did  Selden's  words  prove,  that — 'when  his  friends  are 
absent,  the  King  will  be  lost.' 


KNIGHT'S  SERVICE.  — LAND.  97 

the  cellar,  and  takes  the  spiggot,  in  the  meantime  all  the 
beer  runs  about  the  house.  When  his  friends  are  absent, 
the  king  will  be  lost. 


LXXIII. 

KNIGHT'S  SERVICE. 

KNIGHT'S  service  in  earnest  means  nothing,  for  the  lords 
are  bound  to  wait  upon  the  king  when  he  goes  to  war  with 
a  foreign  enemy,  with,  it  may  be,  one  man  and  one  horse ; 
and  he  that  does  not,  is  to  be  rated  so  much  as  shall  seem 
good  to  the  next  parliament.  And  what  will  that  be  ?  So 
'tis  for  a  private  man  that  holds  of  a  gentleman.  10 


LXXIV. 
LAND. 

1.  WHEN  men  did  let  their  lands  under  foot,  the  tenants 
would  fight  for  their  landlords,  so  that  way  they  had  their 
retribution ;  but  now  they  will  do  nothing  for  them ;  nay, 
be  the  first,  if  but  a  constable  bid  them,  that  shall  lay  the 
landlord  by  the  heels ;  and  therefore  'tis  vanity  and  folly 
not  to  take  the  full  value. 

2.  Allodium  is  a  law-word  contrary  to  feudum,  and  it 
signifies  land  that  holds  of  nobody.     So  regna  allodiata 
are  kingdoms  that  are  not  held  in  fee  of  any  body.    We  i 
have  no  such  lands  in  England.    'Tis  a  true  proposition ; 
all  the  land  in  England  is  held,  either  immediately  or 
mediately,  of  the  king. 

1. 12.  underfoot]  i.  e.  for  less  than  their  value.  See  Bacon,  Essay 
41,  Of  Usury  :  <  they  would  be  forced  to  sell  their  means,  be  it  lands 
or  goods,  far  under  foot' 

H 


98  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

LXXV. 

LANGUAGE. 

1.  To  a  living  tongue  new  words  may  be  added,  but  not 
to  a  dead  tongue,  as  Latin,  Greek,  Hebrew,  &c. 

2.  Latimer  is  the  corruption  of  latiner,  it  signifies  he 
that  interprets  Latin ;  and  though  he  interpreted  French, 
Spanish,  or  Italian,  he  was  called  the  king's  latimer,  that 
is,  the  king's  interpreter. 

3.  If  you  look  upon  the  language  spoken  in  the  Saxon 
time,  and  the  language  spoken  now,  you  will  find  the  differ- 

ioence  to  be  just  as  if  a  man  had  a  cloak  that  he  wore  plain 
in  queen  Elizabeth's  days,  and  since  has  put  in  here  a  piece 
of  red,  and  there  a  piece  of  blue,  here  a  piece  of  green,  and 
there  a  piece  of  orange-tawny.  We  borrow  words  from 
the  French,  Italian,  Latin,  as  every  pedantic  man  pleases. 

4.  We  have  more  words  than  notions ;  half-a-dozen  words 
for  the  same  thing.     Sometimes  we  put  a  new  signification 
to  an  old  word,  as  when  we  call  a  piece,  a  gun.    The  word 
gun  was  in  use  in  England  for  an  engine  to  cast  a  thing 

1.  4.  Latimer}  sometimes  spelt  Latiner  or  Latinier,  has  the  different 
senses  of  interpreter,  herald,  and  secretary,  all  based  on  the  original 
sense— one  who  knows  several  languages,  and  who  is  thus  qualified 
to  act  in  any  one  of  the  above  three  capacities.  See  Warton,  Hist,  of 
English  Poetry,  vol.  i.  p.  65,  text  and  note  (ed.  1840,  in  3  vols.),  where 
numerous  instances  are  given  of  its  use  by  early  English  and  French 
writers. 

1.  17.     The  word  gun,  &c.]     Conf. : 

'Theo  othre  into  the  wallis  stygh  (climb) 
And  the  kynges  men  with  gonnes  sleygh.' 

King  Alisaunder,  pt.  i.  chap.  12, 1. 3268. 

The  date  of  this  poem  is  very  early  in  the  fourteenth  century  and 
therefore  before  gunpowder  was  in  use.  See  Warton,  Hist,  of  English 
Poetry,  sec.  6.  Weber's  note  on  the  passage  is  :— 

'  As  to  the  word  gonne,  we  have  here  perhaps  the  earliest  use  of  it 
that  can  now  be  adduced,  and  it  certainly  signifies  a  machine  for 
expelling  balls  of  some  kind.  ...  A  gun  might  have  originally  been 
a  machine  of  the  catapult  kind ;  and  on  the  adoption  of  powder,  having 


LANGUAGE.  —  LAW.  99 

from  a  man,  long  before  there  was  any  gunpowder  found 
out. 

5.  Words  must  be  fitted  to  a  man's  mouth.  'Twas  well 
said  of  the  fellow  that  was  to  make  a  speech  for  my  lord 
mayor ;  he  desired  to  take  measure  of  his  lordship's  mouth. 


LXXVI. 
LAW. 

1.  A  MAN  may  plead  not  guilty,  and  yet  tell  no  lie;  for 
by  the  law  no  man  is  bound  to  accuse  himself:  so  that 
when  I  say,  Not  guilty,  the  meaning  is,  as  if  I  should  say 
by  way  of  paraphrase,  I  am  not  so  guilty  as  to  tell  you ;  if  10 
you  will  bring  me  to  trial,  and  have  me  punished  for  this 
you  lay  to  my  charge,  prove  it  against  me. 

2.  Ignorance  of  the  law  excuses  no  man ;  not  that  all 
men  know  the  law,  but  because  'tis  an  excuse  every  man 
will  plead,  and  no  man  can  tell  how  to  confute  him. 

3.  The  king  of  Spain  was  outlawed  in  Westminster-hall, 

changed  its  form,  might  still  retain  its  name.'    Metrical  Romances,  vol. 
iii.  p.  306  (Edinburgh,  1810). 

See  also  Chaucer,  in  his  description  of  a  battle  between  Antony  and 
Augustus : — 

'With  grisly  soune  out  gooth  the  grete  gonne, 
And  hertely  they  hurtelen  al  attones, 
And  fro  the  toppe  downe  cometh  the  grete  stones.' 

Legend  of  Good  Women.  Legenda  Cleopatrie,  1.  58. 
This  may,  of  course,  be  an  anachronism,  as  the  use  of  gunpowder 
was  known  to  Chaucer  and  is  referred  to  by  him  elsewhere.  But  the 
general  drift  of  the  passage  makes  for  the  earlier  sense  of  the  word/ 
That  after  the  invention  of  gunpowder  the  word  soon  passed  to  the 
sense  which  it  now  bears,  appears  from  a  passage  in  Grafton's 
Chronicle  in  ann.  1380  :  '  In  this  time,  as  saith  Polidore  in  his  boke  De 
Inventoribus  rerum,  gonnes  were  first  in  use,  which  were  invented  by 
one  of  Germany.  But,  saith  he,  lest  he  should  be  cursed  for  ever  that 
was  the  author  of  this  invention,  therefore  his  name  is  hidden  and  not 
known.'  Chronicle,  p.  429  (London,  1809). 

H  2 


ioo  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

I  being  of  counsel  against  him.  A  merchant  had  recovered 
costs  against  him  in  a  suit,  which  because  it  could  not  be 
got,  we  advised  to  have  him  outlawed  for  his  not  appearing, 
and  so  he  was.  As  soon  as  Gondomar  heard  that,  he 
presently  sent  the  money;  by  reason,  if  his  master  had 
stood  outlawed,  he  could  not  have  had  the  benefit  of  the 
law ;  which  would  have  been  very  prejudicial,  there  being 
then  many  suits  depending  betwixt  the  king  of  Spain  and 
our  English  merchants. 

10     4.  Every  law  is   a  contract  betwixt  the  king  and  the 

people,  and  therefore  to  be  kept.    An  hundred  men  may 

owe  me  a  hundred  pounds,  as  well  as  one  man,  and  shall 

they  not  pay  me  because  they  are  stronger  than  I  ? 

Objection.  Oh !  but  they  lose  all  if  they  keep  that  law. 

Answer.  Let  them  look  to  the  making  of  their  bargains. 

If  I  sell  my  lands,  and  when  I  have  done,  one  comes  and 

tells  me  I  have  nothing  else  to  keep  me,  I  and  my  wife  and 

children  must  starve,  if  I  part  with  my  land :  must  I  not 

therefore  let  them  have  my  land  that  have  bought  it,  and 

20  paid  for  it  ? 

5.  The  parliament  may  declare  law,  as  well  as  any  inferior 
court  may,  viz*,  the  king's  bench.  In  this  or  that  particular 
case  the  king's  bench  will  declare  unto  you  what  the  law  is  ; 
but  that  binds  nobody  but  whom  that  case  concerns :  so 
the  highest  court,  the  parliament,  may  do,  but  not  declare 
law,  [that  is]  make  law,  that  was  never  heard  of  before. 

1.  25.  but  not  declare  law  £c.]  In  a  Declaration  or  Remonstrance 
of  the  Lords  and  Commons  (May,  1642),  an  uncontrolled  power  of 
declaring  law  as  they  please  is  claimed  for  the  Parliament  in  direct 
terms.  See,  *  If  the  question  be,  whether  that  be  law  which  the 
Lords  and  Commons  have  once  declared  to  be  so,  who  shall  be  the 
Judge  ?  Not  his  Majesty  ;  for  the  King  judgeth  not  of  matters  of  law 
but  by  his  courts,  and  his  courts,  though  sitting  by  his  authority, 
expect  not  his  assent  in  matters  of  law.  Nor  any  other  courts,  for 
they  cannot  judge  in  that  case  because  they  are  inferior,  no  appeal 
lying  to  them  from  Parliament,  the  judgment  whereof  is,  in  the  eye  of 
the  law,  the  King's  judgment  in  his  highest  court,  though  the  King  in 


LAW  OF  NATURE.  lor 

LXXVII. 
LAW  OF  NATURE. 

I  CANNOT  fancy  to  myself  what  the  law  of  nature  means, 
but  the  law  of  God.  How  should  I  know  I  ought  not  to 
steal,  I  ought  not  to  commit  adultery,  unless  somebody  had 
told  me  so  ?  Surely  'tis  because  I  have  been  told  so.  JTis 
not  because  I  think  I  ought  not  to  do  them,  nor  because 
you  think  I  ought  not ;  if  so,  our  minds  might  change : 
whence  then  comes  the  restraint  ?  From  a  higher  power ; 
nothing  else  can  bind.  I  cannot  bind  myself,  for  I  may 
untie  myself  again ;  nor  an  equal  cannot  bind  me,  for  we  10 
may  untie  one  another.  It  must  be  a  superior,  even  God 
Almighty.  If  two  of  us  make  a  bargain,  why  should  either 

his  person  be  neither  present  nor  assenting  thereto.'  Rushworth, 
Collections,  iv.  698. 

This  can  hardly  be  distinguished  from  a  claim  to  do  what  Selden 
terms  '  make  law  that  was  never  heard  of  before.'  Selden's  restric 
tion  applies,  of  course,  to  Parliament  sitting  in  its  judicial,  not  in  its 
legislative  capacity.  See  '  Power,  State,'  sec.  8,  where  he  lays  it  down 
that  '  the  Parliament  of  England  has  no  arbitrary  power  in  point  of 
Judicature,  but  in  point  of  making  law.' 

1.2.  /  cannot  fancy  to  myself  &c.]  This  is  Selden's  position  in 
his  treatise  De  Jure  Naturali,  &c.,  apud  Ebraeos.  He  there  treats  the 
Law  of  Nature  as  identical  with  certain  precepts  handed  down  by 
Noah  to  his  descendants.  These  precepts  were  of  Divine  origin,  com 
municated  by  God  to  Adam,  and  by  Adam  to  Noah.  The  same  theory 
will  be  found  in  Gratian's  work  on  the  Canon  Law  (written  about  1150) 
known  as  the  Decretum  Gratiani,  and  long  an  accepted  authority  for 
the  subject  of  which  it  treats.  But  it  appears  there  in  a  different  form 
and  without  the  laboured  proofs  which  Selden  accumulates  from 
Jewish  traditional  sources.  See  *  Humanum  genus  duobus  regitur, 
naturali  videlicet  jure  et  moribus.  Jus  naturae  est,  quod  in  lege  et 
evangelic  continetur,  quo  quisque  jubetur  alii  facere  quod  sibi  vult 
fieri,  et  prohibetur  alii  inferre  quod  sibi  nolit  fieri.  Unde  Christus 
in  Evangelio  :  "  Omnia  quaecunque  vultis  ut  faciant  vobis  homines, 
et  vos,  eadem  facite  illis.  Haec  est  enim  lex  et  prophetae." 

'  Hinc  Isodorus  in  V  libro  Etymologiarum  [c.  2]  ait.  Omnes  leges 
aut  divinae  sunt  aut  humanae.  Divinae  natura,  humanae  moribus 
constant.'  Corpus  Juris  Canonici.  Friedberg,  vol.  i.  p.  I  (ed.  2, 1879). 


102  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

of  us  stand  to  it  ?  What  need  you  care  what  you  say,  or 
what  need  I  care  what  I  say  ?  Certainly  because  there  is 
something  about  me  that  tells  me  fides  est  servanda,  and  if 
we  after  alter  our  minds,  and  make  a  new  bargain,  there's 
fides  servanda  there  too. 


LXXVIII. 

LEARNING. 

i.  No  man  is  the  wiser  for  his  learning;  it  may  admin 
ister  matter  to  work  in,  or  objects  to  work  upon,  but  wit 
and  wisdom  are  born  with  a  man. 

10  2.  Most  men's  learning  is  nothing  but  history  dully 
taken  up.  If  I  quote  Thomas  Aquinas  for  some  tenet,  and 
believe  it  because  the  schoolmen  say  so,  that's  but  history. 
Few  men  make  themselves  masters  of  the  things  they  write 
or  speak. 

3.  The  Jesuits  and  the  lawyers  of  France,  and  the  Low 
Countrymen,  have  engrossed  all  learning.    The  rest  of  the 
world  make  nothing  but  homilies. 

4.  'Tis    observable,    that    in    Athens   where    the    arts 
flourished,  they  were  governed  by  a  democracy  ;  learning 

20  made  them  think  themselves  as  wise  as  anybody,  and  they 
would  govern  as  well  as  others  ;  and  they  spake,  as  it  were 
by  way  of  contempt,  that  in  the  east  and  in  the  north  they 
had  kings.  And  why  ?  Because  the  most  part  of  them  fol 
lowed  their  business  ;  and  if  some  man  had  made  himself 
wiser  than  the  rest,  he  governed  them,  and  they  willingly 
submitted  to  him.  Aristotle  makes  the  observation.  And  as 


1.  26.  Aristotle  makes  the  observation}  See  Uapa  ravrrjv  8' 
fldos,  ofai  Trap*  cviois  fieri  /3a<7iXeiai  T&V  /3ap/3apa>i/.  ^E^ouo-i  8*  avrai  rfjv 
dvvafjLiv  Tracrai  TrapaTrAj/OHai/  TvpavviKrj,  fieri  d'  op.o)s  Kara  v6p.ov  Kal  irarptKai'  dia 
yap  TO  8ovAiKa>repoi  eivai  TO  fj8r)  (pixrei  ol  pcv  /3apj3apoi  TO>V  'E\\f]vo)v,  of  df  TTfpl 
TTJV  'Acriav  TU>V  irepl  rfjv  Evpo)7rrjv,  vTro/zeVoixn  rrjv  dfffiroTiicqv  apx^v  ovdev 
.  —  Politics,  iii.  14.  6. 


LEARNING.  —  LECTURERS.  103 

in  Athens,  the  philosophers  made  the  people  knowing,  and 
therefore  they  thought  themselves  wise  enough  to  govern, 
so  does  preaching  with  us,  and  that  makes  us  affect  a 
democracy ;  for  upon  these  two  grounds  we  all  would  be 
governors ;  either  because  we  think  ourselves  as  wise  as 
the  best,  or  because  we  think  ourselves  the  elect,  and  have 
the  spirit,  and  the  rest  a  company  of  reprobates  that  belong 
to  the  devil. 


LXXIX. 

LECTURERS. 

i.  LECTURERS  do  in  a  parish  church  what  the  friars  did  10 
heretofore ;    get  away  not  only  the   affections,  but  the 
bounty,  that  should  be  bestowed  upon  the  minister. 

Kai  8ta  TOUT'  itrcoy  ej3a(ri\evovTO  TrpoTepov,  on  cnrdviov  rfv  fvpfiv  avdpas  iro\v 
ftiafpfpovras  Kar'  dpfrrjv,  aXXcos  re  Kai  TOTC  piKpas  olKovvras  noXeis.  "En  5'  OTT' 
evepycvias  Ka6i(TTa<rav  rovs  /Sao-iXets,  OTTfp  fcrriv  epyov  T£>V  dyad&v  dvdpaiv. 
'ETTCI  8e  trwejSatj/e  yiyveadat  TroXXovs  6p,otovs  Trpbs  dpfTrjv,  OVKCTI  VTrepfvov  aXX' 
etfrovv  KOIVOV  ri,  Kai  noXirfiav  KaBlffTacrav. — iii.  14.  II. 

He  shows  elsewhere  how  at  Athens  successive  popular  leaders  and 
demagogues  wo-Trep  TVpdvvat  TO>  drjpto  xaPLC°fJ-€VOL  Tnv  rroXiTfiav  fls  rfjv  vvv 
drjfjLOKpaTiav  KaTearrjcrav. — ii.  12.  4  and  5. 

1.  10.  Lecturers  do  in  a  parish  church  &c.]  In  the  early  part  of 
Charles's  reign,  the  lecturers  were  under  the  control  of  the  bishops, 
and  we  have  frequent  proof  of  the  trouble  which  they  caused,  and  of 
the  pains  taken  by  Laud  and  by  other  bishops  to  keep  a  tight  hand 
upon  them,  and  to  see  that  they  did  not  abuse  the  somewhat  anomalous 
position  which  they  occupied  as  licensed  trespassers  on  another  man's 
ground.  By  the  parliamentary  party  they  were  regarded  with  great 
favour,  and  were,  so  to  say,  established  by  an  Order  of  the  House 
(Sept.  6, 1641)  '  that  it  shall  be  lawful  for  the  Parishioners  of  any  Parish 
in  the  Kingdom  of  England  or  Dominion  of  Wales,  to  set  up  a  lecture, 
and  to  maintain  an  orthodox  minister  at  their  own  charge,  to  preach 
every  Lord's  day  where  there  is  no  preaching,  and  to  preach  one  day 
in  every  week  where  there  is  no  weekly  lecture.3 

'  Thus  (says  Nalson)  did  they  set  up  a  spiritual  Militia  of  those 
lecturers  who  were  to  marshall  their  troops  .  .  .  neither  parsons, 


io4  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

2.  Lecturers  get  a  great  deal  of  money,  because  they 
preach  the  people  tame  [as  a  man  watches  a  hawk]  and 
then  they  do  what  they  list  with  them. 

3.  The  lecture   in   Black-friars,   performed  by   officers 
of  the  army,  tradesmen,  and  ministers,  is  as  if  a  great 
man  should  make  a  feast,  and  he  would  have  his  cook 
dress  one  dish,  and  his  coachman  another,  his  porter  a 
third,  &c. 

vicars,  nor  curates,  but  like  the  order  of  the  Friers  Predicants  among 
the  Papists,  who  run  about  tickling  the  people's  ears  with  stories  of 
legends  and  miracles,  in  the  meantime  picking  their  pockets,  which 
were  the  very  faculties  of  these  men.'  Nalson,  Collections,  ii.  447,  8. 

1.  2.    as  a  man  watches  a  hawk]    i.  e.  forces  it  to  watch ;  keeps  it 
without  sleep.     For  this  obsolete  use  of  the  word,  conf.: 
'Another  way  I  have  to  man  my  haggard, 
To  make  her  come  and  know  her  keeper's  call, 
That  is  to  watch  her,  as  we  watch  these  kites 
That  bate  and  beat  and  will  not  be  obedient  .  .  . 
Last  night  she  slept  not,  nor  to-night  she  shall  not,'  &c. 

Taming  of  the  Shrew,  iv.  sc.  i. 
'my  lord  shall  never  rest, 
I  '11  watch  him  tame.'     Othello,  iii.  sc.  3. 

This  is  still  a  known  method  by  which  wild  hawks  are  tamed  :  see 
'  I  have  trained  haggards  or  wild  hawks  perfectly  in  three  weeks. 
This  is  done  by  keeping  them  awake  at  night  and  during  the  day, 
until  tame.'  Corballis,  Forty-five  Years  of  Sport.  Falconry,  p.  463. 

1.  4.  The  lecture  in  Black-friars  &c.]  By  1647,  after  a  good  deal 
of  alarm  had  been  caused  to  the  Presbyterian  party  by  the  grow 
ing  influence  of  the  Independents,  and  after  several  efforts  had  been 
made  to  put  down  their  unlicensed  preaching  in  the  army  and  else 
where,  '  liberty  of  conscience  was  now  become  the  great  charter ;  and 
men  who  were  inspired,  preached  and  prayed  when  and  where  they 
would.  Cromwell  himself  was  the  greatest  preacher  ;  and  most  of  the 
officers  of  the  army,  and  many  common  soldiers,  shewed  their  gifts 
that  way.'  Clarendon,  Hist.  iii.  175. 

Walker,  in  his  History  of  Independency,  gives  a  specimen  of  a 
common  soldier's  sermon,  preached  in  1649 ;  and  tells  how,  on  the 
Sunday  after  Easter  day,  six  preachers  militant  at  Whitehall  tired  the 
patience  of  their  hearers,  until  at  last  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  called  up 
Oliver  Cromwell,  who  spent  an  hour  in  prayer  and  an  hour  and  a  half 
in  a  sermon.  Part  ii.  pp.  152,  153  (ed.  of  1660). 


LIBELS.  -  LORDS  BEFORE  THE  PARLIAMENT.     105 

LXXX. 

LIBELS. 

THOUGH  some  make  slight  of  libels,  yet  you  may  see  by 
them  how  the  wind  sits.  As  take  a  straw  and  throw  it  up 
into  the  air,  you  shall  see  by  that  which  way  the  wind  is, 
which  you  shall  not  do  by  casting  up  a  stone.  More  solid 
things  do  not  shew  the  complexion  of  the  times  so  well  as 
ballads  and  libels. 


LXXXI. 

LITURGY. 

1.  THERE  is  no  church  without  a  liturgy,  nor  indeed  can 
there  be  conveniently,  as  there  is  no  school  without 
grammar.      One  scholar  may  be  taught  otherwise  upon 
the  stock  of  his  acumen,  but  not  a  whole  school.     One  or 
two  that  are  piously  disposed,  may  serve  themselves  their 
own  way,  but  hardly  a  whole  nation. 

2.  To  know  what  was  generally  believed  in  all  ages,  the 
way  is   to   consult   the  liturgies,  not  any  private   man's 
writing.    As  if  you  would  know  how  the  Church  of  Eng 
land  serves  God,  go  to  the  Common-prayer  book,  consult 
not  this,  or  that  man.    Besides,  liturgies  never  compliment1, 
nor  use  high   expressions.     The  fathers  oft-times  speak  20 
oratoriously. 


LXXXII. 

LORDS  BEFORE  THE  PARLIAMENT. 

i.  GREAT  lords,  by  reason  of  their  flatterers,  are  the  first 
that  know  their  own  virtues,  and  the  last  that  know  their 

1   Compliment]  complement,  MSS. 


io6  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

own  vices.  Some  of  them  are  ashamed  upwards,  because 
their  ancestors  were  too  great.  Others  are  ashamed 
downwards,  because  they  are  too  mean. 

2.  The  prior  of  St.  John  of  Jerusalem  is  said  to  be 
primus  baro  Anglice,  the  first  baron  of  England ;  because 
being  last  of  the  spiritual  barons,  he  chose  to  be  first  of 
the  temporal.     He  was  a  kind  of  an  otter,  a  knight  half 
spiritual,  and  half  temporal. 

3.  Question.    Whether  is  every  baron  a  baron  of  some 
10  place  ? 

Answer.  'Tis  according  to  his  patent.  Of  late  years 
they  have  been  made  baron  of  some  place,  but  anciently 
not,  called  only  by  their  sirname,  or  the  sirname  of  some 
family  into  which  they  have  been  married. 

4.  The  making  of  new  lords  lessens  all  the  rest.     JTis 
in  the  business  of  lords  as  'twas  with  St.  Nicholas's  image: 
the  countryman,  you  know,  could  not  find  in  his  heart1  to 
adore  the  new  image,  made  of  his  own  plum-tree,  though 
he  had  formerly  worshipped  the  old  one.     The  lords  that 

20  are  ancient  we  honour,  because  we  know  not  whence  they 
were ;  but  the  new  ones  we  slight,  because  we  know  their 
beginning. 

5.  For  the  Irish  lords  here  to  take  upon  them  in  Eng- 

1  In  his  heart,  H.  2]  in  his  own  heart,  H. 

1.4,    The  prior  of  St.  John  £c.]     See  Excursus  D. 

1.  ii.  'Tis  according  to  his  patent  &LC.~\  See  Selden's  Titles  of  Honour, 
Part  ii.-.ch.  5,  sec.  28,  where  the  whole  subject  is  discussed  at  length, 
and  illustrations  are  given  of  the  earlier  and  later  forms  of  patents  of 
nobility.  Works,  iii.  774. 

1.  23.  For  the  Irish  lords  here  &c.]  In  1626  a  petition  was  addressed 
to  the  King,  complaining  that  Scotch  and  Irish  Lords,  presuming  on 
a  precedence  which  had  been  granted  them  by  courtesy,  *  do  by  reason 
of  some  late  created  dignities  in  those  kingdoms  of  Scotland  and 
Ireland,  claim  precedency  of  the  peers  of  this  realm,  which  tends 
both  to  the  disservice  of  your  Majesty  and  these  realms,  and  to  the 
great  disparagement  of  the  English  nobility.  .  .  . 

'  We  therefore  humbly  beseech  your  Majesty  that  .  .  .  some  course 
may  be  taken  ...  so  as  the  inconvenience  to  your  Majesty  may  be 


LORDS  IN  THE  PARLIAMENT.  107 

land,  is  as  if  the  cook  in  the  friars l  should  come  to  my  lady 
Kent's  kitchen,  and  take  upon  him  to  roast  the  meat  there, 
because  he  is  a  cook  in  another  place. 


LXXXIII. 
LORDS  IN  THE  PARLIAMENT. 

i.  THE  lords'  giving  protections  is  a  scorn  upon  them. 
A  protection  means  nothing  actively,  but  passively.  He 

1  In  the  friars,  H.  original  reading,  *  friars'  restored  in  the  margin  in  a 
with  '  fayrs '  written  over  it,  and  with  different  hand]  faires,  H.  2 ;  fayers,  S. 

prevented,  and  the  prejudice  and  disparagement  of  the  Peers  and 
nobility  of  this  kingdom  be  redressed.'  Rushworth,  Collections,  i.  233. 

Among  the  reasons  given  in  support  of  the  petition  is  a  statement 
that  these  Scotch  and  Irish  Lords,  whatever  titles  they  bear,  are  '  in 
the  eye  of  the  Law  no  more  than  mere  Plebeians.' 

1.  i.  cook  in  the  friars]  After  the  death  of  the  Earl  of  Kent,  Selden 
lived  with  the  Countess  Dowager,  generally  at  her  house  in  Whitefriars. 
The  obtrusive  '  cook  in  the  Friars '  may  be  understood  therefore  as 
the  cook  from  some  neighbour's  house.  The  var.  lee.  *  fair '  or  '  fairs ' 
seems  to  have  been  put  in  by  some  one  who  did  not  bear  in  mind 
where  Selden  had  been  domiciled. 

1.  5.  The  lords'  giving  protections  &c.]  The  effect  of  a  protection  was 
that  the  person  holding  it  could  not  be  arrested  for  debt.  It  was  right 
fully  given  to  a  servant  of  a  member  of  either  House,  and  was  sought 
and  obtained  and  used  by  many  persons  who  had  no  rightful  claim  to  it, 
and  who  used  it  to  evade  payment  of  their  just  debts. 

In  1641  a  petition  was  delivered  to  the  Commons  by  divers  citizens 
of  London,  against  the  abuses  of  Parliamentary  protections,  alleging 
that  if  there  were  not  some  speedy  order  for  the  calling  in  or  regu 
lating  the  same,  they  would  occasion  the  undoing  of  many  families. 
Rushworth,  Collections,  iv.  279. 

It  appears  from  the  Lords'  Journals  that  this  petition  was  addressed 
to  both  Houses,  and  was  considered  by  both.  A  few  days  afterwards 
a  Committee  of  the  House  sat,  and  concluded  that  divers  protections 
should  be  annulled,  some  being  surreptitiously  obtained,  others  pro 
cured  by  persons  of  ability,  on  purpose  to  defeat  their  creditors,  iv.  282. 
This  abuse  of  protections  was  felt  by  London  tradesmen  as  a  greater 
grievance  than  ship-money,  iv.  396. 


io8  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

that  is  a  servant  to  a  parliament-man  is  thereby  protected. 
What  a  scorn  is  it  to  a  person  of  honour  to  put  his  hand 
and  seal  to  two  lies  at  once,  that  such  a  man  is  my  servant, 
and  employed  by  me  ;  when  haply  he  never  saw  the  man 
in  his  life,  nor  before  never  heard  of  him ! 

2.  The  lords'  protesting  is  foolish.  To  protest  is  pro 
perly  to  save  to  a  man's  self  some  right.  But  to  protest 
as  the  lords  protest,  when  they  themselves  are  involved, 
'tis  no  more  than  if  I  should  go  into  Smithfield,  and  sell 
10  my  horse,  and  take  the  money ;  and  yet  when  I  have  your 
money,  and  you  my  horse,  I  should  protest  this  horse  is 
mine,  because  I  love  the  horse,  or  I  do  not  know  why 
I  do  protest,  because  my  opinion  is  contrary  to  the  rest. 
Ridiculous!  when  they  say  the  bishops  anciently  did 

1.6.  The  lords'  protesting  is  foolish}.  The  first  formal  protest  of  the 
Lords  was  on  Sept.  9,  1641,  against  a  resolution  of  the  House  for 
printing  and  publishing  a  former  order  concerning  Divine  Service, 
while  a  question  was  pending  as  to  a  conference  between  the  two 
Houses  on  the  subject.  Six  lords  protested,  and  their  protest  of  dis- 
assent  to  the  vote  was  entered  on  the  Journals  of  the  House.  Rogers, 
Protests  of  the  Lords,  vol.  i.  p.  7. 

There  were  two  more  protests  in  that  year,  and  several  in  the  year 
following.  Rogers  defends  the  practice  as  being,  at  that  time,  a 
courageous  avowal  of  sympathy  with  the  Parliamentary  party.  He 
remarks,  further,  that  under  the  old  rules  of  the  House  of  Lords,  the 
division  lists  were  entered  on  the  Journals,  but  that  in  1641  this  had 
ceased  to  be  done,  so  that  a  formal  protest  of  dissent  was  then  the 
only  method  by  which  an  adverse  vote  could  be  recorded. 

1. 14.  when  they  say  the  bishops  anciently  did  protest  &c.]  This  perhaps 
refers  to  a  speech  which  had  been  made  by  Hyde  (better  known  as 
Lord  Clarendon)  in  defence  of  Geoffrey  Palmer.  After  the  vote  of 
the  Commons  in  favour  of  the  Remonstrance  of  1641,  and  when  the 
motion  before  the  House  was  that  the  Remonstrance  should  be 
printed,  Palmer,  one  of  the  minority,  had,  with  others,  claimed  a 
right  to  protest,  in  the  event  of  the  motion  being  carried.  He  was 
called  to  account  for  this  as  a  breach  of  privilege,  and  in  the  course  of 
the  debate  on  the  matter  Hyde  said  :  '  He  was  not  old  enough  to  know 
the  ancient  customs  of  that  House;  but  that  he  well  knew  it  was  a 
very  ancient  custom  in  the  House  of  Peers,  and  leave  was  never  there 
denied  to  any  man  who  asked  that  he  might  protest,  and  enter  his 


MARRIAGE.  — MARRIAGE  OF  COUSIN-GERMANS.    109 

protest,  it  was  only  dissenting,  and  that  in  the  case  of  the 
pope. 


LXXXIV. 

MARRIAGE. 

1.  OF  all  actions  of  a  man's  life,  his  marriage  does  least 
concern  other  people;  yet  of  all  actions  of  our  life,  'tis 
most  meddled  with  by  other  people. 

2.  Marriage  is  nothing  but  a  civil  contract.    'Tis  true 
'tis  an  ordinance  of  God  ;  so  is  every  other  contract ;  God 
commands  me  to  keep  it,  when  I  have  made  it. 

3.  Marriage  is  a  desperate  thing.    The  frogs  in  ^Esop  10 
were  extreme  wise,  they  had  a  great  mind  to  some  water, 
but  they  would  not  leap  into  the  well,  because  they  could 
not  get  out  again. 

4.  We  single  out  particulars,   and  apply  God's  pro 
vidence  to  them.     Thus  when  two  are  married,  and  have 
undone  one  another,  they  cry  it  was  God's  providence 
we  should  come  together,  when  God's  providence  does 
equally  concur  to  everything. 


LXXXV. 

MARRIAGE  OF  COUSIN-GERMANS. 

SOME  men  forbear  to  marry  cousin-germans  out  of  this  20 
kind  of  scruple  of  conscience,   because   'twas   unlawful 

dissent  against  any  judgment  of  the  House  to  which  he  would  not  be 
understood  to  have  given  his  consent.'     Clarendon,  Hist.  vol.  i.  489. 

1.  21.  because  'twas  unlawful  before  the  Reformation  £c.]  The  more 
ancient  prohibition  of  the  Canon  Law  was  to  the  seventh  generation : 
'  De  affinitate  consanguinitatis  per  gradus  cognationis,  placuit  usque  ad 
septimam  generationem  observari.  And  the  same  was  the  law  of  the 
Church  of  England  .  .  .  But  in  the  4th  Council  of  Lateran,  which  was 
held  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  1215,  the  prohibition  was  reduced  to  the 
fourth  degree  .  .  .  which  limitation  was  also  the  rule  of  the  Church  of 


no  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

before  the  Reformation,  and  is  still  in  the  Church  of  Rome. 
And  so  by  reason  their  grandfather,  or  their  great  grand 
father  did  not  do  it,  upon  that  old  score  they  think  they 
ought  not  to  do  it ;  as  some  men  forbear  flesh  upon  Friday, 
not  reflecting  upon  the  statute,  which  with  us  makes  it  un 
lawful,  but  out  of  an  old  score,  because  the  Church  of 
Rome  forbids  it,  and  their  forefathers  always  forbore  flesh 
upon  that  day.  Others  forbear  it  out  of  a  natural  consider 
ation,  because  it  is  observed  (for  example)  in  beasts,  if 

10  two  couple  of  a  near  kin,  the  breed  proves  not  so  good. 
The  same  observation  they  make  in  plants  and  trees,  which 
degenerate  being  grafted  upon  the  same  stock.  And  'tis 
also  farther  observed,  those  matches  between  cousin- 
germans  seldom  prove  fortunate.  But  for  the  lawfulness, 
there  is  no  colour  but  cousin-germans  in  England  may 
marry,  both  by  the  law  of  God  and  man  :  for  with  us  we 
have  reduced  all  the  degrees  of  marriage  to  those  in  the 
Levitical  law,  and  'tis  plain  there's  nothing  against  it.  As 
for  that  that  is  said,  cousin-germans  once  removed  may  not 

20  marry,  and  therefore,  being  a  further  degree  may  not,  'tis 
presumed  a  nearer  should  not  *,  no  man  can  tell  what  it 
means. 


LXXXVI. 

MEASURE  OF  THINGS. 

i.  WE  measure  from  ourselves,  and  as  things  are  for  our 
use  and  purpose,  so  we  approve  them.     Bring  a  pear  to 

1  And  therefore  being  a  further  degree      is  inserted  after  '  being.'   The  rest  is  as 
may  not,  tis  presumed  a  nearer  should       in  S. 
not,  S.]  omitted  in  H.     In  H.  2  '  it  is ' 

England ;  as  appears,  not  only  by  this  Statute  (i.e.  by  32  Henry  VIII, 
cap.  38,  declaring  as  a  new  rule  that  all  marriages  are  lawful  if  beyond 
the  Levitical  degrees)  but  also  by  the  frequent  dispensations  for  the 
fourth  degree,  and  no  further,  which  we  meet  with  in  our  ecclesiastical 
records,  as  granted  here  by  special  authority  from  the  see  of  Rome.' 
Gibson,  Codex,  p.  411. 


MEASURE  OF  THINGS.— DIFFERENCE  OF  MEN.    in 

the  table  that  is  rotten,  we  cry  it  down,  'tis  naught ;  but 
bring  a  medlar  that  is  rotten,  and  'tis  a  fine  thing ;  and  yet 
I  warrant  you,  the  pear  thinks  as  well  of  itself  as  the  medlar 
does. 

2.  We  measure  the  excellency  of  other  men,  by  some 
excellency  we  conceive  to  be  in  ourselves.    Nash,  a  poet 
poor  enough  (as  poets  use  to  be),  seeing  an  alderman  with 
his  gold  chain,  upon  his  great  horse,  said  by  way  of  scorn  to 
one  of  his  companions,  Do  you  see  yon  fellow,  how  goodly, 
how  big  he  looks  ?  why  that  fellow  cannot  make  a  blank  10 
verse. 

3.  Nay,  we  measure  the  excellency  of  God  from  our 
selves.    We  measure  his  goodness,  his  justice,  his  wisdom, 
by  something  we  call  just,  good,  or  wise  in  ourselves ;  and 
in  so  doing,  we  judge  proportionably  to  the  country-fellow 
in  the  play,  who  said,  If  he  were  a  king,  he  would  live  like 
a  lord,  and  have  peas  and  bacon  every  day,  and  a  whip  that 
cried  slash. 


LXXXVII. 

DIFFERENCE  OF  MEN. 

THE  difference  of  men  is  very  great.  You  would  scarce  20 
think  them  to  be  of  the  same  species,  and  yet  it  consists 
more  in  the  affection  than  in  the  intellect.  For  as  in 
the  strength  of  body,  two  men  shall  be  of  an  equal 
strength,  yet  one  shall  appear  stronger  than  the  other, 
because  he  exercises,  and  puts  forth  his  strength;  the 
other  will  not  stir  nor  strain  himself.  So  'tis  in  the 
strength  of  the  brain ;  the  one  endeavours,  and  strains, 
and  labours,  and  studies ;  the  other  sits  still,  and  is  idle, 
and  takes  no  pains,  and  therefore  he  appears  so  much 
the  inferior.  3° 


ii2  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

LXXXVIII. 
MINISTER  DIVINE. 

1.  THE  imposition  of  hands  upon  the  minister,  when  all 
is  done,  will  be  nothing  but  a  designation  of  a  person  to 
this  or  that  office  or  employment  in  the  church.    'Tis  a 
ridiculous  phrase  that  of  the  canonists,  conferre  ordines. 
'Tis  cooptare  aliquem  in  ordinem,  to  make  a  man  one  of  us 
one  of  our  number,  one  of  our  order.     So  Cicero  would 
understand  what  I  said,  it  being  a  phrase  borrowed  from 
the  Latins,  and  to  be  understood  proportionably  to  what 

10  was  amongst  them. 

2.  Those  words  you  now  use   in   making  a  minister, 
Receive  the  Holy  Ghost,  were   used  among  the  Jews  in 

1.  5.  conferre  ordines.}  This  is  the  phrase  used  by  Aquinas 
passim.  Conf.  e.g.  Summa  Theolog.  Supplem.  pt.  iii.  quaest.  34, 
art.  3. 

1.  12.  were  used  among  the  Jews  &c.]  This  seems  to  have  been 
somewhat  loosely  reported.  Selden,  in  his  In  Eutychii  Origines 
Commentarius,  treats  at  length  of  the  process  by  which  judges,  and 
elders,  and  chief  doctors  of  the  law,  were  appointed  among  the  Jews. 
'  Quisquis  in  potestatem  judiciariam  seu  causarum  rite  cognoscendarum 
facultatem  evehendus  erat,  is  per  manuum  impositionem,  verbis 
insuper  de  creatione  conceptis,  dignitatem  earn  regulariter  adipisce- 
batur;  adeo  ut  dein  dignus  seu  idoneus  haberetur  qui  in  synedria, 
sive  vigintitriumviralia  sive  septuagintauniusvirale  cooptari  legitime 
posset,  ibique  judiciis  prseesse.'  Works,  vol.  ii.  p.  436. 

He  does  not  say  that  the  words  '  receive  the  Holy  Ghost '  were  any 
part  of  the  ceremony,  but  only  that  it  was  believed  that  the  Holy 
Spirit  rested  on  those  who  had  been  thus  duly  appointed.  '  Internus 
ordinationis  effectus  habebatur  eis  ejusmodi,  ut  Spiritus  Sanctus  .... 
super  ordinatos  quiesceret.  De  LXX  Senioribus  Mosi  ejusmodi 
ordinatione  adscitis,  et  de  eis  qui  seculis  sequentibus  rite  ordina- 
bantur,  aiunt  Et  quievit  super  eos  Majestas  divina,  quam  et  Spiritum 
Sanctum  vocitant.'  p.  438. 

Alting,  like  Selden,  traces  the  custom  from  very  early  days,  from 
the  appointment  by  Moses  of  the  seventy  elders,  and  from  the 
appointment  of  Joshua  as  Moses'  successor.  Conf.  '  Tertius  (ritus) 
est  manus  impositio  ....  unde  tota  promotionis  solennitas  .  .  .  . 


MINISTER  DIVINE.  113 

making  of  a  lawyer  ;  from  thence  we  have  them  ;  which  is 
a  villainous  key  to  something;  as  if  you  would  have  some 
other  kind  of  prefecture,  than  a  mayoralty,  and  yet  keep 
the  same  ceremony  that  was  used  in  making  the  mayor. 

3.  A  priest  has  no  such  thing  as  an  indelible  character. 
What  difference  do  you  find  betwixt  him  and  another  man 
after  ordination  ?  Only  he  is  made  a  priest  (as  I  said)  by 
designation  ;  as  a  lawyer  is  called  to  the  bar,  then  made  a 


-m  appellari  consuevit.'    Historia  promotionum  Academicarum 
apud  Hebraeos  (1652),  p.  108. 

In  an  earlier  part  of  the  treatise,  speaking  of  Joshua's  appointment 
per  impositionem  manus,  he  adds  '  Atque  hie  notandum  venit  Sym- 
bolum  secundum  in  Magistrorum  promotionibus  adhibitum,  x€tP0^€(T'-a^ 
ritus,  a  Deo  ipso,  si  non  usurpatus  in  Mosis  inauguratione,  saltern 
huic  praescriptus.'  p.  82. 

But  there  is  no  mention  by  Alting  of  the  use  of  the  words,  '  receive 
the  Holy  Ghost,'  fully  and  particularly  as  he  describes  every  detail  of 
the  ceremony  in  use.  Nor  do  the  words  in  the  text,  '  in  making  of  a 
lawyer,'  adequately  express  the  rank  and  authority  conferred.  That 
the  imposition  of  hands  was  copied  by  the  Christians  from  the  old 
Jewish  rite  Selden  does  say,  and  this  is  probably  what  he  ought  here 
to  have  been  reported  as  saying.  Works,  ii.  p.  439. 

1.  5.  an  indelible  character.]  Aquinas  insists  on  the  indelible  char 
acter  of  orders  of  all  ranks,  of  the  minor  not  less  than  of  the  priestly. 
Summa  Theolog.  Supplem.  pt.  iii.  quaest.  35,  art.  2. 

'If  anyone  saith  that  in  the  three  Sacraments,  Baptism  to  wit, 
Confirmation,  and  Order,  there  is  not  imprinted  in  the  soul  a  char 
acter,  that  is,  a  certain  spiritual  and  indelible  sign  ...  let  him  be 
anathema.'  Session  vii.  Of  the  Sacraments,  Canon  ix.  Canons,  &c., 
of  the  Council  of  Trent. 

'  Forasmuch  as  in  the  Sacrament  of  Order,  a  character  is  imprinted 
which  can  neither  be  effaced  nor  taken  away;  the  holy  Synod 
condemns  the  opinion  of  those  who  assert  that  those  who  have  once 
been  rightly  ordained  can  again  become  Laymen.'  Session  xxiii.  ch.  4. 

On  the  other  hand,  Bingham,  a  very  safe  authority,  quotes  Calvin 
as  saying  that  the  indelibility  of  orders  '  was  a  fable,  first  invented  in 
the  schools  of  the  ignorant  monks,  and  that  the  ancients  were 
altogether  strangers  to  it  :  and  that  it  had  more  of  the  nature  of  a 
magical  enchantment  than  of  the  sound  doctrine  of  the  Gospel  in  it,' 
&c.  Bingham  himself  concludes  against  it  as  a  Romish  superstition. 
The  whole  subject  is  gone  into  very  fully  in  Part  ii.  of  his  Discussion 
on  lay-baptism.  Bingham,  Works,  vol.  ix.  p.  150  ff. 

I 


ii4  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

Serjeant.  All  men  that  would  get  power  over  others,  make 
themselves  as  unlike  them  as  they  can ;  upon  the  same 
ground  the  priests  made  themselves  unlike  the  laity. 

4.  A  minister  when  he  is  made,  is  materia  prima,  apt  for 
any  form  the  state  will  put  upon  him ;  but  of  himself  he  can 
do  nothing.     Like  a  doctor  of  law  in  the  university ;  he 
has  a  great  deal  of  law  in  him,  but  cannot  use  it  till  he 
be  made    somebody's   chancellor :    or  like   a  physician, 
before  he  be  received  into  a  house,  he  can  give  nobody 

10 physic;  indeed  after  the  master  of  the  house  has  given 
him  charge  of  his  servants,  then  he  may.  Or  like  a  suf 
fragan,  that  could  do  nothing  but  give  orders,  and  yet 
he  was  a  bishop1. 

5.  A  minister  should  preach  according  to  the  articles  of 
religion  established  in  the  church  where  he  lives.     To  be 
a  civil  lawyer,  let  a  man  read  Justinian,  and  the  body  of  law, 
to  conform  his  brain  to  that  way ;  but  when  he  comes  to 
practise,  he  must  make  use  of  it  so  far  as  it  concerns  the 
law  received  in  his  own  country.     To  be  a  physician,  let 

20 a  man  read  Galen  and  Hippocrates;  but  when  he  practises, 
he  must  apply  his  medicines  according  to  the  temper  of 
those  men's  bodies  with  whom  he  lives,  and  have  respect 
to  the  heat  and  cold  of  the  climate ;  otherwise  that  which 
in  Pergamus  (where  Galen  lived)  was  physic,  in  our  cold 
climate  may  be  poison.  So  to  be  a  divine,  let  him  read  the 
whole  body  of  divinity,  the  fathers  and  the  schoolmen; 
but  when  he  comes  to  practise,  he  must  use  it  and  apply 
it  according  to  those  grounds  and  articles  of  religion  that 
are  established  in  the  church,  and  this  with  sense. 

30     6.  There  be  four  things  a  minister  should  be  at ;  the  con- 

1  He  ivas  a  bishop]  he  was  no  Bishop,  MSS. 

1.  12.  and  yet  he  was  a  bishop]  The  reading  in  the  MSS.  and  in 
the  early  printed  editions  is  'he  was  no  Bishop.'  This  spoils  the 
argument  and  is  untrue  in  fact.  See  '  Bishops  before  the  Parliament,' 
sec.  i. 


MINISTER  DIVINE.  115 

cionary  part,  ecclesiastical  story,  school  divinity,  and  the 
casuists. 

(1)  In  the  concionary  part,  he  must  read  all  the  chief 
fathers,  both  Latin  and  Greek,  wholly ;  St.  Austin,  St. 
Ambrose,  St.  Chrysostom,  both  the  Gregories,  and  l  Ter- 
tullian,  Clemens  Alexandrinus,  and  Epiphanius,  which  last 
have  more  learning  in  them  than  all  the  rest,  and  write 
freely. 

(2)  For  ecclesiastical  story,  let  him  read  Baronius,  with 
the  Magdeburgenses,  and  be  his  own  judge ;  the  one  being  10 
extremely  for  the  papists,  the  other  extremely  for  the  pro- 
testants. 

(3)  For  school  divinity,  let  him  get  Cavellus's2  edition  of 
Scotus  or  Mayro3,  where  there  be  quotations  that  direct 
you  to  every  schoolman,  where  such  and  such  questions 
are  handled.    Without  school  divinity,   a  divine   knows 
nothing  logically,  nor  will  be  able  to  satisfy  a  rational  man 
out  of  the  pulpit. 

(4)  The  study  of  the  casuists  must  follow  the  study  of  the 
schoolmen,  because  the  division  of  their  cases  is  according  20 
to  their  divinity ;  otherwise  he  that  begins  with  them  will 
know  little,  as  he  that  begins  with  the  study  of  the  reports 


1  The    Gregories    and   H.     2]     the  2  Cavellus]  Javellus,  MSS. 

Gregories,  &c.,  H.  3  Mayro]  Mayco,  MSS. 


1.  13.  Cavellus — Mqyro]  The  reading  of  the  MSS.  and  of  the  early 
editions  is  'Javellus'  and  'Mayco,'  which  (as  Mr.  Singer  has  pointed 
out)  must  be  incorrect.  Some  of  Dims  Scotus'  writings  were  edited 
in  1620  by  Hugo  Cavellus  (i.e.  Mac  Caghwell)  a  Roman  Catholic 
Archbishop  of  Armagh.  In  1639  there  was  a  complete  edition  of 
Duns  Scotus  published  with  variorum  notes,  in  which  H.  Cavellus  is 
one  of  several  commentators  cited. 

Mayro,  or  Franciscus  de  Mayronis,  a  voluminous  ecclesiastical 
writer,  belongs  to  the  first  half  of  the  fourteenth  century.  He  was  a 
disciple  of  Duns  Scotus,  and  was  known  among  the  Franciscans  as 
Doctor  Illuminatus.  A  complete  list  of  his  writings  will  be  found  in 
Wadding's  Scriptores  Ordinis  Minorum. 

I  3 


n6  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

and  cases  in  the  common  law,  will  thereby  know  little  of 
the  law.  Casuists  may  be  of  admirable  use,  if  discreetly 
dealt  with,  though  among  them  you  shall  have  many  leaves 
together  very  impertinent.  A  case  well  decided  would 
stick  by  a  man,  they  would  remember  it  whether  they  will 
or  no,  whereas  a  quaint  exposition  dies  in  the  birth.  The 
main  thing  is  to  know  where  to  search ;  for  talk  they  what 
they  will  of  vast  memories,  no  man  will  presume  upon  his 
own  memory  for  anything  he  means  to  write  or  speak  in 
10  public. 

7.  Go  and  teach  all  nations.      This  was   said   to  all 
Christians  that  then  were,  before  the  distinction  of  clergy 
and  laity ;  there  have  been  since  men  designed  to  preach 
only  by  the  state,  as  some  men  are  designed  to  study  the 
law,  others  to  study  physic.     When  the  Lord's  Supper 
was  instituted,  there  were  none  present  but  the  disciples. 
Shall  none  then  but  ministers  receive  ? 

8.  There   is   all  the  reason  you   should   believe  your 
minister,  unless  you  have  studied  divinity  as  well  as  he, 

20  or  more  than  he. 

9.  'Tis  a  foolish  thing  to  say,  a  minister  must  not  meddle 
with  secular  matters,  because  his  own  profession  will  take 
up  the  whole  man.     May  he  not  eat,  or  drink,  or  walk,  or 
learn  to  sing  ?    The  meaning  of  that  is,  he  must  seriously 
intend  his  calling. 

10.  Ministers  with  the  papists  [that  is,  their  priests]  have 
much  respect ;  with  the  puritans  they  have  much,  and  that 
upon  the  same  ground,  they  pretend  to  come  both  of  them 
immediately  from  Christ;  but  with  the  protestants  they 

30  have  very  little  ;  the  reason  whereof  is,— in  the  beginning 
of  the  Reformation  they  were  glad  to  get  such  to  take 
livings  as  they  could  procure  by  any  invitations,  things  of 

1.  25.     intend]    i.  e.  give  his  mind  to. 

1.  32.    things  of  pitiful  condition]     Archbishop  Parker,  in  a  letter  to 
the  Bishop  of  London,  written  circa  1560,  says  that  owing  to  the 


MINISTER  DIVINE.  117 

pitiful  condition.  The  nobility  and  gentry  would  not  suffer 
their  sons  or  kindred  to  meddle  with  the  church,  and  there 
fore  at  this  day,  when  they  see  a  parson,  they  think  him 
to  be  such  a  thing  still,  and  there  they  will  keep  him,  and 
use  him  accordingly ;  if  he  be  a  gentleman  born,  that  is 
singled  out,  and  he  is  used  the  more  respectively. 

ii.  That  the  protestant  minister  is  least  regarded, 
appears  by  the  old  story  of  the  keeper  of  the  Clink.  He 
had  priests  of  several  sorts  sent  unto  him ;  as  they  came 
in,  he  asked  them  who  they  were ;  who  are  you  ?  to  the  10 
first.  I  am  a  priest  of  the  Church  of  Rome.  You  are 
welcome,  quoth  the  keeper,  there  are  those  will  take  care 
of  you.  And  who  are  you  ?  A  silenced  minister.  You  are 
welcome  too,  I  shall  fare  the  better  for  you.  And  who  are 
you  ?  A  minister  of  the  Church  of  England.  O  God  help 
me  (quoth  the  keeper)  I  shall  get  nothing  by  you,  I  am 
sure  you  may  lie  and  starve,  and  rot,  before  anybody  will 
look  after  you. 

great  want  of  ministers,  the  bishops  had  '  heretofore  admitted  into  the 
ministry  sundry  artificers  and  others  not  traded  and  brought  up  in 
learning ;  and  as  it  happened  in  a  multitude  some  that  were  of  base 
occupations.' 

These  men  are  termed  '  very  offensive  to  the  people ;  yea,  and  to 
the  wise  of  this  realm  ;  they  were  thought  to  do  a  great  deal  more 
hurt  than  good  ;  the  Gospel  thereby  sustaining  slander.'  Strype,  Life 
of  Parker,  bk.  ii.  ch.  iv. 

Even  in  Selden's  day,  the  clergy  were  a  mixed  multitude,  some  of 
them  (according  to  Sir  Edward  Deering)  *  so  poor  that  they  cannot 
attend  their  ministry  but  are  fain  to  keep  schools,  nay  alehouses  some 
of  them.'  Nalson,  Collections,  vol.  i.  760. 

1.  8.  the  Clink}  The  clink,  according  to  Stow,  was  a  prison, 
adjoining  the  Bishop  of  Winchester's  House  in  Southwark,  used  in 
old  time  for  such  as  should  brabble,  fray,  or  break  the  peace.  Survey 
of  London,  bk.  iv.  p.  8  (ed.  of  1720,  2  vols.  folio). 

For  the  use  to  which  it  was  put  afterwards,  see  Foxe  (Acts  and 
Monuments),  who  says  that  Bishops  Hooper  and  Rogers,  after  being 
questioned  by  the  Bishop  of  Winchester,  were  '  carried  to  the  Clink, 
a  prison  not  far  from  the  Bishop  of  Winchester's  house.'  Vol.  vi. 
p.  650,  and  again,  p.  691  (8  vols.  1849). 


n8  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

12.  Methinks  'tis  an  ignorant  thing  for  a  churchman  to 
call  himself  the  minister  of  Christ,  because  St.  Paul,  or  the 
Apostles  called  themselves  so.  If  one  of  them  had  a  voice 
from  heaven,  as  St.  Paul  had,  I  will  grant  he  is  a  minister 
of  Christ,  and  I  will  call  him  so  too.  Must  they  take  upon 
them  as  the  Apostles  did  ?  Can  they  do  as  the  Apostles 
could  ?  The  Apostles  had  a  mark  to  be  known  by,  spoke 
tongues,  cured  diseases,  trod  upon  serpents,  &c.  Can  they 
do  this  ?  If  a  gentleman  tell  me  he  will  send  his  man  to 
10  me,  and  I  did  not  know  his  man,  but  he  gave  me  this  mark 
to  know  him  by,  he  should  bring  in  his  hand  a  rich  jewel ; 
if  a  fellow  came  to  me  with  a  pebble-stone,  had  I  any  reason 
to  believe  that  he  was  the  gentleman's  man  ? 


LXXXIX. 

MONEY. 

1.  MONEY  makes  a  man  laugh.    A  blind  fiddler  playing 
to   a  company,  and   playing  but  scurvily,  the  company 
laughed  at  him  ;  his  boy  that  led  him,  perceiving  it,  cried, 
Father,  let  us  be  gone,  they  do  nothing  but  laugh  at  you. 
Hold  thy  peace,  boy,  says  the  fiddler,  we  shall  have  their 

20  money  presently,  and  then  we  will  laugh  at  them. 

2.  Euclid  was  beaten   in   Boccaline,   for  teaching  his 

1.  21.  Euclid  was  beaten,  £c.]  See  Boccalini,  I  Ragguagli  di 
Parnasso  (Advertisements  from  Parnassus),  Century  II.  Advert.  3 ; 
p.  201  in  the  Earl  of  Monmouth's  translation. 

The  book  is  a  curious  medley.  The  scene  is  laid  at  Apollo's  court 
on  Parnassus— a  great  central  Academy,  at  which  news  arrives,  from 
time  to  time,  of  all  dates,  and  from  all  quarters  of  the  world  (as  e.  g. 
in  the  text),  and  where  various  characters,  ancient  and  modern,  poets, 
philosophers,  politicians,  and  historians,  come  up  to  be  judged  and 
have  their  proper  rank  assigned  to  them.  It  is  a  court  of  universal 
reference,  open  perpetually  to  hear  complaints  and  to  settle  literary 
disputes.  Sentence  is  given  sometimes  by  Apollo  in  person,  some 
times  by  his  deputies.  See  also  'War,'  sec.  n  and  note. 


MONEY.  -  MORAL  HONESTY.         119 

scholars  a  mathematical  figure  in  his  schools,  whereby  he 
shewed  that  all  the  lives  both  of  princes  and  private  men 
tended  to  one  centre,  con  gentilezza  handsomely  to  get 
money  out  of  other  men's  pockets,  and  put  it  into  their 
own. 

3.  The  pope  used  heretofore  to  send  the  princes  of 
Christendom  to  fight  against  the  Turk ;   but  prince  and 
pope  finely  juggled  together ;   the  moneys  were  raised, 
and  some  men  went  out  to  the  holy  war,  but  commonly 
after  they  had  got  the  money,  the  Turk  was  pretty  quiet,  10 
and  the  prince  and  the  pope  shared  it  betwixt  them. 

4.  In  all  times  the  princes  in  England  have  done  some 
thing  illegally,  to  get  money.   But  then  came  a  parliament, 
and  all  was  well ;   the  people  and  the  prince  kissed  and 
were  friends,  and  so  things  were  quiet  for  a  while.    After 
wards  there  was  another  trick  found  out  to  get  money, 
and  after  they  had  got  it,  another  parliament  was  called  to 
set  all  right,  &c.     But  now  they  have  so  outrun  the  con 
stable 


XC. 

MORAL  HONESTY.  20 

THEY  that  cry  down  moral  honesty,  cry  down  that  which 
is  a  great  part  of  religion,  my  duty  towards  God,  and  my 
duty  toward  man.  What  care  I  to  see  a  man  run  after 
a  sermon,  if  he  cozen  and  cheat  me  as  soon  as  he  comes 
home  ?  On  the  other  side,  morality  must  not  be  without 
religion,  for  if  so,  it  may  change,  as  I  see  convenience. 
Religion  must  govern  it.  He  that  has  not  religion  to 
govern  his  morality,  is  not  a  dram  better  than  my  mastiff- 
dog  ;  so  long  as  you  stroke  him,  and  please  him,  and  do 
not  pinch  him,  he  will  play  with  you  as  finely  as  may  be,  3° 
he's  a  very  good  moral  mastiff;  but  if  you  hurt  him,  he 
will  fly  in  your  face,  and  tear  out  your  throat. 


120  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

XCI. 

MORTGAGE. 

IN  case  I  receive  a  £1000,  and  mortgage  as  much  land  as 
is  worth  £2000  to  you,  if  I  do  not  pay  the  money  at  such 
a  day.  I  fail ;  whether  you  may  take  my  land  and  keep  it 
in  point  of  conscience? 

Answer.  If  you  had  my  land  as  a  security  only  for  your 
money,  then  you  are  not  to  keep  it ;  but  if  we  bargained  so, 
that  if  I  did  not  repay  your  ,£1000,  my  land  should  go  for 
it,  be  it  what  it  will,  no  doubt  you  may  with  a  safe 
10 conscience  keep  it;  for  in  these  things  all  the  obligation 
is,  servare  fidem. 


XCII. 

NUMBER. 

ALL  those  mysterious  things  they  observe  in  numbers, 
come  to  nothing,  upon  this  very  ground ;  because  number 
in  itself  is  nothing,  has  nothing  to  do  with  nature,  but  is 
merely  of  human  imposition,  a  mere  sound.  For  example, 
when  I  cry  one  o'clock,  two  o'clock,  three  o'clock,  that  is 
but  man's  division  of  time,  the  time  itself  goes  on ;  and  it 
had  been  all  one  in  nature,  if  those  hours  had  been  called 
209,  10,  and  ii.  So  when  they  say  the  seventh  son  is 
fortunate,  it  means  nothing;  for  if  you  count  from  the 
seventh  backwards,  then  the  first  is  the  seventh ;  and  why 
is  not  he  likewise  fortunate  ? 

1.  14.  number  in  itself  is  nothing}  Numbering,  Hobbes  says,  is  an 
act  of  the  mind ;  and  by  division  of  space  or  of  time  '  I  do  not  mean 
the  severing  or  pulling  asunder  of  one  space  or  time  from  another 
(for  does  any  man  think  that  one  hemisphere  may  be  separated  from 
the  other  hemisphere,  or  the  first  hour  from  the  second?),  but 
diversity  of  consideration.'  Hobbes,  Computation  or  Logic,  pt.  ii. 
ch.  7,  sees.  3  and  5. 


MORTGAGE.  — OATHS.  121 

XCIII. 
OATHS. 

1.  SWEARING  was  another  thing  with  the  Jews  than  with 
us,  because  they  might  not  pronounce  the  name  of  the 
Lord  Jehovah. 

2.  There  is  no  oath  scarcely,  but  we  swear  to  things  we 
are  ignorant  of:  for  example,  the  oath  of  supremacy  :  how 
many  know  how  the  king  is  king  ?  what  are  his  right  and 
prerogative  ?    So  how  many  know  what  are  the  privileges 
of  the  parliament,  and  the  liberty  of  the  subject,  when  they 
take  the  protestation  ?    But  the  meaning  is,  they  will  defend  *° 
them  when  they  know  them.    As  if  I  should  swear  I  would 
take  part  with  all  that  wear  red  ribbons  in  their  hats ;  it 
may  be  I  do  not  know  which  colour  is  red ;  but  when  I  do 
know,  and  see  a  red  ribbon  in  a  man's  hat,  then  will  I  take 
his  part. 

3.  I  cannot  conceive  how  an  oath  is  imposed,  where 
there  is  a  parity,  viz*,  in  the  House  of  Commons ;  they  are 
all  pares  inter  se,  only  one  brings  a  paper,  and  shews  it  the 
rest,  they  look  upon  it,  and  in  their  own  sense  take  it. 
Now  they  are  but  pares  to  me,  who  am  one  of  the  house 1, 20 
for  I  do  not  acknowledge  myself  their  subject;  if  I  did, 
then,  no  question,  I  was  bound  by  oath  of  their  imposing. 
JTis  to  me  but  reading  a  paper  in  my  own  sense. 

4.  There  is  a  great  difference  between  an  assertory  oath 

1  One  of  the  house]  none  of  the  house,  MSS. 

1.  9.  when  they  take  the  protestation]  The  form  of  oath  agreed  upon, 
and  taken  by  the  members  of  the  House  of  Commons,  was  as  follows  : 
'  I,  A.  B.,  do,  in  the  Presence  of  Almighty  God,  promise,  vow,  and 
protest,  to  maintain  and  defend  ....  the  Power  and  Privileges  of 
Parliament,  the  lawful  rights  and  liberties  of  the  Subject,  and  every 
person  that  maketh  this  protestation,  in  whatsoever  he  shall  do  in  the 
lawful  pursuance  of  the  same'  (May  3,  1641).  Commons  Journals, 
ii.  132. 


122  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

and  a  promissory  oath.  An  assertory  oath  is  made  to  man 
before  God,  and  I  must  swear  so,  as  man  may  know  what 
I  mean.  But  a  promissory  oath  is  made  to  God  only,  and 
I  am  sure  he  knows  my  meaning.  So  in  the  new  oath  it 
runs  [Whereas  I  believe  in  my  conscience,  &c.  /  will  assist 
thus  and  thus] ;  that  whereas  gives  me  an  outloose,  for  if 
I  do  not  believe  so,  for  aught  I  know,  I  swear  not  at  all. 

5.  In  a  promissory  oath,  the  mind  I  am  in  is  a  good  inter 
pretation  ;  for  if  there  be  enough  happened  to  change  my 

10  mind,  I  do  not  know  why  I  should  not.  If  I  promise  to  go 
to  Oxford  tomorrow,  and  mean  it  when  I  say  it,  and  after 
wards  it  appears  to  me  that  'twill  be  my  undoing,  will  you 
say  I  have  broken  my  promise  if  I  stay  at  home  ?  Certainly 
I  must  not  go. 

6.  The  Jews  had  this  way  with  them  concerning  a  pro 
missory  oath  or  vow ;  if  one  of  them  had  vowed  a  vow, 
which  afterwards  appeared  to  him  to  be  very  prejudicial, 
by  reason  of  something  he  either  did  not  foresee,  or  did 
not  think  of,  when  he  made  his  vow ;  if  he  made  it  known 

20  to  three  of  his  countrymen,  they  had  power  to  absolve  him, 
though  he  could  not  absolve  himself;  and  that  they  picked 
out  of  some  words  of  the  text.  Perjury  has  only  to  do 

1.  3.  a  promissory  oath  is  made  to  God  only}  There  seems  no 
reason  for  this  limitation,  nor  does  it  agree  with  what  Selden  says 
elsewhere.  See  'All  oaths  are  either  promissory  or  assentatory 
(assertatory  ?) ;  the  first  being  that  which  binds  to  a  future  perform 
ance  of  trust ;  the  second  that  which  is  taken  for  the  discovery  of  a 
past  or  present  truth.  The  first  kind  they  ....  used  in  taking  the 
oath  of  all  the  Barons  for  the  maintenance  of  the  great  charter,'  &c. 
&c.  Works,  iii.  p.  1533. 

The  statement  in  the  text  must  be  understood,  therefore,  as  part 
and  parcel  of  the  argument  in  sec.  3,  which,  so  helped  out,  seems  to 
run  thus— that  since  the  oaths  imposed  by  Parliament  are  promis 
sory  oaths,  and  since  only  a  superior  can  rightfully  impose  such  oaths 
or  can  give  his  own  sense  to  them,  it  follows  that  any  member  of  Par 
liament  taking  a  Parliamentary  promissory  oath,  takes  it  to  God  only, 
and  in  any  non-natural  sense  which  he  himself  chooses  mentally  to 
put  upon  it. 


ORACLES.  123 

with  an  assertory  oath,  and  no  man  was  punished  for  per 
jury  by  man's  law  till  Queen  Elizabeth's  time ;  'twas  left  to 
God  as  a  sin  against  him.  The  reason  was,  because  'twas 
so  hard  a  thing  to  prove  a  man  perjured;  I  might  mis 
understand  him,  and  he  swears  as  he  thought l. 

7.  When  men  ask  me  whether  they  may  take  it  in  their 
own  sense,  'tis  to  me,  as  if  they  should  ask  whether  they 
may  go  to  such  a  place  with  their  own  legs.     I  would  fain 
know  how  they  can  go  otherwise. 

8.  If  the  ministers  that  are  in  sequestered  livings  will  10 
not  take  the  engagement,  threaten  to  turn  them  out  and 
put  in  the  old  ones,  and  then  I'll  warrant  you  they  will 
quickly  take  it.    A  gentleman  having  been  rambling  two  or 
three  days,  at  length  came  home,  and  being  abed  with  his 
wife,  would  fain  have  been  at  something  that  she  was  un 
willing  to,  and  instead  of  complying,  fell  to  chiding  him  for 
his  being  abroad  so  long :  Well,  says  he,  if  you  will  not, 
call   up   Sue   (his  wife's   chambermaid) ;    upon   that  she 
yielded  presently. 

9.  Now  oaths  are  so  frequent,  they  should  be  taken  like  20 
pills,  swallowed  whole :  if  you  chew  them  you  will  find  them 
bitter :  if  you  think  what  you  swear,  'twill  hardly  go  down. 


XCIV. 
ORACLES. 

ORACLES  ceased  presently  after  Christ,  as  soon  as  nobody 
believed  them.  Just  as  we  have  no  fortune-tellers,  nor 

1  As  he  thought,  H.  2]  as  the  thought,  H. 

1.  i.  no  man  was  punished  for  perjury  till  Queen  Elizabeths  time] 
This  was  by  5  Eliz.  ch.  9,  sec.  2.  Earlier  statutes  had  dealt  only  with 
the  suborning  of  false  witnesses,  and  had  left  the  false  witnesses 
themselves  untouched. 


i24  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

wise  men,  when  nobody  cares  for  them.  Sometime  you 
have  a  season  of  them,  when  people  believe  them ;  and 
neither  of  these,  I  conceive,  wrought  by  the  devil. 


XCV. 

OPINION. 

1.  OPINION  and  affection  extremely  differ.     I  may  affect 
a  woman  best,  but  it  does  not  follow  I  must  think  her  the 
handsomest  woman  in  the  world.     I  love  apples  best  of 
any  fruit ;  it  does  not  follow  that  I  must  think  apples  to  be 
the  best  of  fruit.    Opinion  is  something  wherein  I  go  about 

10  to  give  reason  why  all  the  world  should  think  as  I  think, 
Affection  is  a  thing  wherein  I  only  look  after  the  pleasing 
of  myself. 

2.  'Twas  a  good  fancy  of  an  old  Platonic  :  the  gods  which 
are  above  men,  had  something  whereof  man  did  partake, 
[an  intellect,  knowledge]  and  the  gods  kept  on  their  course 
quietly.    The  beasts,  which  are  below  men,  had  something 
whereof  man   did   partake   [sense,  and  growth]  and  the 
beasts  lived  quietly  in  their  way ;  but  man  had  something 
in  him,  whereof  neither  gods  nor  beasts  did  partake,  which 

1.  13.  'Twas  a  good  fancy  £c.]  This  bears  some  resemblance  to  a 
passage  in  the  Phaedrus  (p.  247-249),  in  which  the  Gods  are  described 
as  borne  aloft  by  winged  horses  of  pure  and  noble  breed,  and  as  thus 
keeping  steadily  in  their  course  and  in  the  possession  of  true  know 
ledge.  Other  souls,  whose  horses  are  unequally  yoked,  one  noble  and 
the  other  ignoble,  cannot  easily  follow  the  upward  movement  of  the 
Gods,  but  are  troubled  and  confused  by  the  wild  tricks  of  the  ignoble 
horse ;  and  if  they  are  thrown  out  of  their  course,  and  fall  to  earth, 
they  suffer  many  disadvantages  and  are  fed  with  opinion  (rpo^fj  dogaarrj 
Xp&vTai)  in  the  place  of  true  knowledge.  If  Selden's  reference  is  to 
some  later  Platonist,  this  must  have  been  the  original  which  he  had 
in  mind.  It  is  one  out  of  many  variations  on  the  regular  Platonic 
theme  of  the  distinction  between  real  and  phenomenal  existence  and 
between  the  faculties  by  which  they  are  severally  known. 


OPINION.  —  PARITY.  125 

gave  him  all  the  trouble,  and  made  all  the  confusion  we 
see  in  the  world ;  and  that  is  opinion. 

3.  Tis  a  foolish  thing  for  me  to  be  brought  off  from  an 
opinion  in  a  thing  neither  of  us  know,  but  are  led  only 
by  some  cobweb-stuff;  as  in  such  a  case  as  this,  Utrum 
angeli  invicem  colloquantur  ?     If  I  forsake  my  side  in  such 
a  case,  I  shew  myself  wonderfully  light,  or  infinitely  com 
plying,  flattering  the  other  party.    But  if  I  be  in  a  business 
of  nature,  and  hold  an  opinion  one  way,  and  some  man's 
experience  has  found  out  the  contrary,  I  may  with  a  safe  10 
reputation  give  up  my  side. 

4.  Tis  a  vain  thing  to  talk  of  an  heretic,  for  a  man  for 
his  heart  can  think  no  otherwise  than  he  does  think.     In 
the  primitive  times  there  were  several  opinions ;  nothing 
scarce   but  some   or  other  held :   one   of  these  opinions 
being  embraced  by  some  prince,  and  received   into  his 
kingdom,   the   rest  were  condemned   as  heresies1;    and 
his  religion,  which  was  but  one  of  the  several  opinions 
first,  is  said  to  be  orthodox  and  to  have  continued  ever 
since  the  Apostles.  20 


XCVI. 
PARITY. 

THIS  is  the  juggling  trick  of  parity ;  they  would  have 
nobody  above  them,  but  they  do  not  tell  you  they  would 
have  nobody  under  them. 

1  Heresies,  H.  2]  heretics,  H. 

1.  5.  Utrum  angeli  invicem  colloquantur?']  This  is  a  point  which 
Aquinas  discusses  at  length,  and  on  which  he  concludes  in  the 
affirmative.  Summa  Theolog.  pt.  i.  quaest.  107,  art.  i  and  2. 

1.  21.  parity]  A  term,  in  general  use,  for  a  form  of  Church  govern 
ment  by  a  body  of  Presbyters  or  elders  and  lay  assessors  all  equal  in 
power,  as  opposed  to  Church  government  by  bishops.  It  is  so  ex- 


126  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

XCVIL 

PARLIAMENT. 

T.  ALL  are  involved  in  a  parliament.  There  was  a  time 
when  all  men  had  their  voice  in  choosing  knights.  About 
Henry  the  Sixth  they  found  the  inconvenience;  so  one 
parliament  made  a  law,  that  only  he  that  had  forty  shillings 
per  annum  should  give  his  voice,  they  under  should  be 
excluded.  They  made  the  law  who  had  the  voices  of  all,  as 
well  under  forty  shillings  as  above ;  and  thus  it  continues 
at  this  day.  All  consent  civilly  in  a  parliament ;  women 
10  are  involved  in  the  men,  children  in  those  of  perfect  age, 
those  that  are  under  forty  shillings  a  year  in  those  that 
have  forty  shillings  a  year,  those  of  forty  shillings  in  the 
knights. 

2.  All  things  are  brought  to  the  parliament,  little  to  the 
courts  of  justice  ;  just  as  in  a  room  where  there  is  a  ban 
quet  presented,  if  there  be  persons  of  quality  there,  the 
people  must  expect,  and  stay  till  the  great  ones  have  done. 

plained,  e.g.  by  Laud,  in  his  sermon  before  Charles'  second  Parliament : 
'  I  know  there  are  some  that  think  the  Church  is  not  yet  far  enough 
beside  the  cushion ;  that  their  seats  are  too  easy  yet  and  too  high  too. 
A  parity  they  would  have  ;  no  bishop,  no  governor,  but  a  parochial 
consistory,  and  that  should  be  lay  enough  too.  Well,  first,  this  parity 
was  never  left  to  the  Church  by  Christ.  He  left  Apostles,  and  disciples 
under  them.  No  parity.  It  was  never  in  use  with  the  Church  since 
Christ ;  no  Church  ever,  anywhere,  till  this  last  age,  without  a  bishop. 
.  .  .  And  there  is  not  a  man  that  is  for  parity — all  fellows  in  the  Church 
— but  he  is  not  for  monarchy  in  the  State.'  Laud's  Works,  vol.  i. 
pp.  82,  83. 

1.  4.  so  one  parliament  made  a  law  £c.]  The  Act  8  Henry  VI,  ch.  7, 
recites  that  elections  of  knights  of  shires  have  been  made  by  large  and 
excessive  numbers  of  persons  of  small  substance,  and  that  riots  and 
disturbances  are  likely  thence  to  arise.  It  enacts,  accordingly,  that 
knights  of  shires  to  come  to  Parliament  be  chosen  by  residents  in  the 
shire  having  free  land  or  tenement  worth  at  least  a  clear  forty  shillings 
by  the  year. 

By  10  Henry  VI,  ch.  2,  it  is  further  expressly  said  that  the  qualifying 
estate  must  be  a  freehold. 


PARLIAMENT.  127 

3.  The  parliament  in  flying  upon  several  men,  and  then 
letting  them  alone,  does  as  a  hawk  that  flies  a  covey  of 
partridges,  and  when  she  has   flown  them  a  good  way, 
grows  weary  and  takes  a  tree ;  then  the  falconer  lures  her 
down,  and  takes  her  to  his  fist ;  on  they  go  again,  hei  ret  ; 
up  springs  another  covey;  away  goes  the  hawk,  and  as 
she  did  before,  takes  another  tree,  &c. 

4.  Dissentions1  in  parliament  may  at  length  come  to  a 
good  end,  though  first  there  be  a  deal  of  do,  and  a  great 
deal  of  noise,  which  mad  wild  folks  make ;  just  as   in  10 
brewing  of  wrest-beer,  there  is  a  great  deal  of  business 
in  grinding  the  malt,  and  that  spoils  any  man's  clothes 
that  comes  near  it ;  then  it  must  be  mashed  ;  then  comes 

a  fellow  in  and  drinks  off  the  wort,  and  he's  drunk  ;  then 
they  keep  a  huge  quarter  when  they  carry  it  into  the 
cellar,  and  a  twelvemonth  after  'tis  delicate  fine  beer. 

5.  It  must  necessarily  be  that  our  distempers  must  be 
worse  than  they  were  in  the  beginning  of  the  parliament. 
If  a  physician  comes  to  a  sick  man  he  lets  him  blood,  it 
may  be  he  scarifies  him,  cups  him,  puts  him  into  a  great  20 
disorder,  before  he  makes  him  well ;  and  if  he  be  sent 
for  to  cure  an  ague,  and  he  finds  his  patient  has  many 
diseases,  a  dropsy,  and  a  palsy,  he  applies  remedies  to 
them  all,  which  makes  the  cure  the  longer,  and  the  dearer  : 
this  is  the  case. 

6.  The  parliament  men  are  as  great  princes  as  any  in  the 
world,  when  whatever  they  please  is  privilege  of  parlia 
ment  ;  no  man  must  know  the  number  of  their  privileges, 
and  whatsoever  they  dislike  is  breach  of  privilege.     The 

1  Dissentions.  H.  2,  written  above  the  line]  dissenters,  H.  and  S. 

1.  14.    drinks  off  the  wort]  i.  e.  drinks  some  from  the  wort. 

1.  15.  they  keep  a  huge  quarter}  i.  e.  they  make  a  great  noise  or 
disturbance.  See  Halliwell,  Glossary  of  Archaic  Words ;  sub  voce 
i  Quarter.' 

1.  29.  breach  of  privilege}  Clarendon  remarks,  with  instances,  on 
the  extent  to  which  this  claim  was  made,  and  condemns,  as  Selden 


128  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

duke  of  Venice  is  no  more  than  the  speaker  of  the  house  of 
commons ;  but  the  senate  at  Venice  are  not  so  much  as 
our  parliament  men,  nor  have  they  that  power  over  the 
people,  who  yet  exercise  the  greatest  tyranny  that  is  any 
where.  In  plain  truth,  breach  of  privilege  is  only  the 
actual  taking  away  of  a  member  of  the  house;  the  rest 
are  offences  against  the  house.  For  example,  to  take  out 
process  against  a  parliament  man,  or  the  like. 

7.  The  parliament  party,  if  the  law  be  for  them,  they  call 
10  for  law ;  if  it  be  against  them,  they  will  go  to  a  parliamen 
tary  way :  if  law  be  for  them l,  then  for  law  again :  like  him 

1  If  law  be  for  then-i]  if  no  law  be  for  them,  MSS. 

does,  the  notion  '  that  their  being  judges  of  their  privileges  should 
qualify  them  to  make  new  privileges,  or  that  their  judgment  should 
create  them  such.'  This  he  terms  '  a  doctrine  never  before  now  (i.  e. 
before  1641)  heard  of.'  Hist.  vol.  i.  618-620. 

1.  9.  if  the  law  be  for  them  &c.]  This  seems  to  refer  to  the  pro 
ceedings  at  the  trial  of  the  Earl  of  Strafford.  As  Clarendon  tells  the 
story,  his  accusers  began  in  due  form  of  law,  and  when  there  were 
difficulties  in  the  way  of  obtaining  a  conviction,  they  then  resolved  to 
proceed  by  attainder.  Later,  when  the  Bill  of  Attainder  had  been 
sent  up  to  the  Lords,  and  his  accusers  had  promised  'to  give  their 
Lordships  satisfaction  in  the  matter  of  law,'  Mr.  Solicitor  St.  John, 
speaking  on  behalf  of  the  Commons,  urged  inter  alia,  '  That,  in  that 
way  of  bill,  private  satisfaction  to  each  man's  conscience  was  sufficient, 
although  no  evidence  had  been  given  in  at  all,  and  as  to  pressing  the 
law,  he  said,  it  was  true  we  give  law  to  hares  and  deer  because  they 
are  beasts  of  chase,  but  it  was  never  accounted  either  cruelty  or  foul 
play  to  knock  foxes  and  wolves  on  the  head  as  they  can  be  found, 
because  they  are  beasts  of  prey.'  Clarendon,  Hist.  i.  337  if. 

St.  John's  speech,  as  Nalson  relates  it,  points  no  less  clearly  to  a 
'  Parliamentary  way '  of  overriding  the  law  :  '  My  Lords,  in  judgment 
of  greatest  moment,  there  are  but  two  ways  for  satisfying  those  that 
are  to  give  them,  either  the  lex  lata,  the  law  already  established,  or 
else  the  use  of  the  same  power  for  making  new  laws,  whereby  the  old 
at  first  received  life.  .  .  .  The  same  law  gives  power  to  the  Parliament 
to  make  new  laws,  that  enables  the  inferior  court  to  judge  according 
to  the  old.  . .  .  What  hath  been  said  is,  because  that  this  proceeding  of 
the  Commons  by  way  of  Bill  implies  the  use  of  the  meer  legislative 
power,  in  respect  new  laws  are  for  the  most  part  passed  by  Bill.' 
Nalson,  Collections,  ii.  162. 


PARSON.  129 

that  first  called  for  sack  to  heat  him ;  then  small  drink  to 
cool  his  sack ;  then  sack  again  to  heat  his  small  drink. 

8.  The  parliament  party  do  not  play  fair  play,  in  sitting 
up  till  two  of  the  clock  in  the  morning,  to  vote  something 
they  have  a  mind  to.  'Tis  like  a  crafty  gamester  that 
makes  the  company  drunk  and  then  cheats  them  of  their 
money.  Young  men  and  infirm  men  go  away.  Besides, 
a  man  is  not  there  to  persuade  other  men  to  be  of  his 
mind,  but  to  speak  his  own  heart ;  and  if  it  be  liked— so  : 
if  not,  there's  an  end. 


XCVIII. 
PARSON. 

i.  THOUGH  we  write  [parson]  differently,  yet  'tis  but 
person;  that  is  the  individual  person  set  apart  for  the 
service  of  such  a  church,  and  'tis  in  Latin  persona,  and  per- 
sonatus  is  a  parsonage.  Indeed  with  the  canon  lawyers, 
personatus  is  any  dignity  or  preferment  in  the  church. 

1.3.  in  sitting  up  till  two  of  the  clock]  This  was  done  in  the  debate 
on  the  Remonstrance  (1641).  The  Remonstrance  was  carried  shortly 
after  midnight  by  159  to  148  votes.  Then  came  a  new  debate  whether 
the  Remonstrance  should  be  printed,  and  it  was  finally  resolved  that  it 
was  not  to  be  printed  without  the  particular  order  of  the  House.  The 
attempt  to  introduce  a  further  restriction  that  it  was  not  to  be  '  printed 
or  published'  did  not  succeed,  the  adverse  votes  being  124  to  101. 
The  House  rose  at  two  in  the  morning.  See  Cobbett's  Parliamentary 
History,  and  Forster's  Grand  Remonstrance,  §§17  and  18.  The 
Commons  Journals,  ii.  322,  record  the  debates  and  their  result,  but  say 
nothing  about  the  hour  at  which  a  division  was  taken  or  at  which  the 
House  rose.  Clarendon's  account  is  exact  as  to  the  hours.  Hist.  i.  485. 

1.  12.  yet  'tis  but  person}  '  Those  words  universae  personae  regni,  I 
interpret  all  Abbots,  Conventual  Priors,  and  the  like  .  . .  which  yet  time 
and  use  with  us  hath  long  since  confined  only  to  the  Rectors  of  Parish- 
churches.'  Selden,  Titles  of  Honour,  ii.  5,  sec.  20 ;  Works,  iii.  732. 

1.  14.  personatus  is  a  parsonage}  '  Personatus  et  dignitas  vere  sup- 
ponunt  pro  eodem ;  licet  in  aliquibus  locis  rectores  ecclesiarum 

K 


130  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

2.  There  never  was  a  merry  world  since  the  fairies 
left  dancing,  and  the  parson  left  conjuring.  The  opinion 
of  the  latter  kept  thieves  in  awe,  and  did  as  much  good 
in  a  country  as  a  justice  of  peace. 


XCIX. 

PATIENCE. 

PATIENCE   is   the   chiefest  fruit   of  study.     A  man   by 

striving   to   make   himself  a   different    thing  from   other 

men  by  much  reading,  gains  this  chiefest  good,  that  in 

all  fortunes  he  hath  something  to  entertain  and  comfort 

10  himself  withal. 


C. 

PEACE. 

1.  KING  James  was  pictured  going  gently  down  a  pair 
of  stairs,  and  upon  every  step  was  written  peace,  peace, 
peace;  the  wisest  way  for  men  in  these  times  is  to  say 
nothing. 

2.  When  a   country-wench    cannot  get   her  butter  to 
come,  she   says  the   witch    is  in   her   churn.     We  have 
been  churning  for  peace   a  good  while,   and   'twill   not 
come  ;  surely  the  witch  is  in  it. 

20  3.  Though  we  had  peace,  yet  'twill  be  a  great  while 
ere  things  be  settled :  though  the  wind  lie,  yet  after  a 
storm  the  sea  will  work  a  great  while. 

vocantur  Personae  et  sic  habent  personatum  non  tamen  dignitatem.' 
Ducange,  Glossary,  Personatus  ;  and  see  Selden,  iii.  732. 

That  parson  and  person  were  once  used  indifferently,  appears  from 
e.  g.  '  An  Acte  that  no  parson  or  psons  shall  susteyne  any  prejudice 
by  means  of  the  attaynder  of  the  Lord  Cardinall.'  21  Henry  VIII,  cap. 
25.  So,  too,  in  i  Edward  VI,  cap.  12,  sec.  5. 


PATIENCE  —PEOPLE.  131 

CI. 

PENANCE. 

PENANCE  is  only  the  punishment  inflicted,  not  peni 
tence,  which  is  the  right  word;  a  man  comes  not  to  do 
penance,  because  he  repents  him  of  his  sin,  but  because 
he  is  compelled  to  it ;  he  curses  him,  and  could  kill  him 
that  sends  him  thither.  The  old  canons  wisely  enjoined 
three  years'  penance,  sometimes  more ;  because  in  that 
time  a  man  got  a  habit  of  virtue,  and  so  committed  that 
sin  no  more,  for  which  he  did  penance. 


OIL 

PEOPLE.  10 

i.  THERE  is  not  anything  in  the  world  so  much  abused 
as  this  sentence,  Salus  populi  suprema  lex  esto ;  for  we 
apply  it,  as  if  we  ought  to  forsake  the  known  law  when 
it  may  be  most  for  the  advantage  of  the  people,  when  it 
means  no  such  thing.  For  first,  'tis  not  salus  populi  su 
prema  lex  est,  but  esto,  it  being  one  of  the  laws  of  the 
twelve  tables;  and  after  divers  laws  made,  some  for  pun 
ishment,  some  for  reward,  then  follows  this,  salus  populi 
suprema  lex  esto;  that  is,  in  all  the  laws  you  make,  have 
a  special  eye  to  the  good  of  the  people ;  and  then  what  20 
does  this  concern  the  way  they  now  go? 

1.  2.  penitence,  which  is  the  right  word}  This  probably  refers  to 
the  English  version  of  Article  33,  in  which  the  original  Latin  '  donee 
per  poenitentiam  publice  reconciliatus  fuerit,'  is  wrongly  rendered  by 
'  until  he  be  openly  reconciled  by  penance.'  Penitence  would  clearly 
be  '  the  right  word '  here. 

1.  16.  it  being  one  of  the  laws  of  the  twelve  tables']  The  words,  as 
Selden  states  them,  occur  in  Cicero  de  Leg.  iii.  3,  sec.  8 ;  but,  like  the 
other  laws  in  the  treatise,  they  are  said  not  to  be  quoted  from  the 
twelve  tables ;  ii.  7,  sec.  18. 

K  2 


132  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

2.  Objection.  He  that  makes  one,  is  greater  than  he  that 
is  made ;  the  people  make  the  king ;  ergo,  &c. 

Answer.  This  does  not  hold.  For  if  I  have  £1000  per 
annum,  and  give  it  you,  and  leave  myself  ne'er  a  penny, 
I  made  you ;  but  when  you  have  my  land,  you  are  greater 
than  I.  The  parish  make  the  constable,  and  when  the 
constable  is  made,  he  governs  the  parish.  The  answer  to 
all  these  doubts  is,  Have  you  agreed  so?  If  you  have, 
then  it  must  remain  till  you  have  altered  it. 


cm. 

10  PHILOSOPHY. 

WHEN  men  comfort  themselves  with  philosophy,  'tis  not 
because  they  have  got  two  or  three  sentences,  but  because 
they  have  digested  those  sentences,  and  made  them  their 
own.  So,  upon  the  matter,  philosophy  is  nothing  but 
discretion. 


CIV. 
PLEASURE. 

i.  PLEASURE  is  nothing  else  but  the  intermission  of  pain, 
the  enjoying  of  something  I  am  in  great  trouble  for  till 
I  have  it. 

1.  14.  upon  the  matter]  i.e.  in  strict  fact,  really.  See  'Subsidies,' 
sec.  i,  and  :  '  It  was  upon  the  matter  an  appeal  to  the  people,  and  to 
infuse  jealousies  into  their  minds.'  Clarendon,  Hist.  i.  485.  '  So  that 
upon  the  matter,  in  a  great  wit,  deformity  is  an  advantage  to  rising.' 
Bacon,  Essay  44,  Of  Deformity. 

1.  17.  Pleasure  is  nothing  else  &c.]  This  agrees  with  one  of  the 
accounts  of  pleasure  which  Aristotle  criticises  in  the  7th  Book  of  the 


PHILOSOPHY.  —  PLEASURE.  133 

2.  'Tis  a  wrong  way  to  proportion   other  men's  plea 
sures  to  ourselves.    'Tis  like  a  child's  using  a  little  bird, 
[O  poor  bird,  thou  shalt  sleep  with  me]  so  lays  it  in  his 
bosom,  and  stifles  it  with  his  hot  breath ;  the  bird  had 
rather  be  in  the  cold  air :  and  yet  too  'tis  the  most  pleas 
ing  flattery,  to  like  what  others  like. 

3.  'Tis  most  undoubtedly  true,  that  all  men  are  equally 
given  to  their  pleasure ;  only  thus,  one  man's  pleasure  lies 
one  way,  and  another's  another.     Pleasures  are  all  alike, 
simply  considered  in  themselves.     He  that  hunts,  or  he  10- 
that  governs  the  Commonwealth,  they  both  please  them 
selves   alike,  only  we   commend   that,  whereby  we  our 
selves  receive  some  benefit ;  as  if  a  man  place  his  delight 
in  things  that  tend  to  the  common  good.     He  that  takes 
pleasure  to  hear  sermons,  enjoys  himself  as  much  as  he 
that  hears  plays ;  and  could  he  that  loves  plays  endeavour 
to  love  sermons,  possibly  he  might  bring  himself  to  it  as 
well  as  to  any  other  pleasure.     At  first  it  might  seem 
harsh   and   tedious,   but  afterwards  'twould   be  pleasing 
and  delightful.     So  it  falls  out  in  that  which  is  the  great  20 
pleasure  of  some  men,  tobacco ;  at  first  they  could  not 
abide  it,  and  now  they  cannot  be  without  it. 

4.  While  you  are  upon  earth   enjoy  the  good   things 
that  are  here,  (to  that  end  were  they  given)  and  be  not 
melancholy,   and   wish   yourself   in    heaven.     If   a    king 
should  give  you  the  keeping  of  a  castle,  with  all  things 
belonging  to  it,  orchards,  gardens,  &c.  and  bid  you  use 

Nicomachean  Ethics,  and  which  he  proves  to  be  incomplete  by 
showing  that  there  are  some  kinds  of  pleasure  to  which  it  does 

not  apply.  Conf.  "Ert  tVel  TOV  ayadov  TO  fj.ev  evepyfia  TO  d'  e£tp,  Kara 
au/i/SejS^Kos  at  Ka6io~Tao~ai  els  TTJV  (pvo~i<r)v  e£tv  ^Seiai  flow.  '"Eort  §'  17  eWpyeia 
(V  TCUS  CTTiOvfjiiais  TIJS  vrroXvirov  egecos  KOI  (frixreas,  eVei  KOI  aj/eu  \inrr]s  Kal 
CTTiOvfiias  flalv  fjSovai,  olov  al  TOV  6eo)pflv  eWpycuu,  TTJS  <piWa>p  OVK  evdeovs 

ov<rrjs Ato  K(ii  ov  KoX&s  %Xfl  T^  diGflqTrjv  ytvecriv  (fodvai  elvai  Tr]V  fjdovrjv, 

aXXa  /iaXXoj/    XGKTCOV  evepyeiav  Tijs  /caret    (f>vo~iv  e^ewy,  aVri   de  TOV   alo~dr)Tr}V 

Eth.  Nicom.  vii.  13  (12),  sec.  2  and  3. 


134  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

them,  withal  promise  you  after1  twenty  years  to  remove 
you  to  the  court,  and  to  make  you  a  privy  councillor ;  if 
you  should  neglect  your  castle,  and  refuse  to  eat  of  those 
fruits,  and  sit  down,  and  whine,  and  wish  that  I  was  a 
privy  councillor,  do  you  think  the  king  would  be  pleased 
with  you  ? 

5.  Pleasures  of  meat,  drink,  clothes,  &c.  are  forbidden 
those  that  know  not  how  to  use  them ;  just  as  nurses  cry, 
pah !  when  they  see  a  knife  in  a  child's  hand ;  they  will 
to  never  say  any  thing  to  a  man. 


CV. 

POETRY. 

1.  OVID  was  not  only  a  fine  poet,  but,  as  a  man  may  speak, 
a  great  canon  lawyer,  as  appears  in  his  Fasti,  where  we 
have  more  of  the  festivals  of  the  old  Romans  than  any 
where  else  :  'tis  pity  the  rest  were  lost. 

2.  There  is  no  reason  plays  should  be  in  verse,  either  in 
blank  or  rhyme ;  only  the  poet  has  to  say  for  himself,  that 
he  makes  something  like  that  which  somebody  made  before 
him.     The  old  poets  had  no  other  reason  but  this,  their 

20  verse  was  sung  to  music,  otherwise  it  had  been  a  senseless 
^thing  to  have  fettered  up  themselves. 

3.  I  never  converted  but  two,  the  one  was  Mr.  Crashaw 
from  writing  against  plays,  by  telling  him  a  way  how  to 
understand  that  place,  of  putting  on  women's  apparel,  which 

1  Promise  you  after]  promise  you  that  after,  H.  and  H.  2.  In  S.  so 
originally,  with  '  that '  deleted. 

1.  24.  that  place,  of  putting  on  women's  apparel]  Deuteron.  xxii.  5. 
This  text  is  explained  by  Selden,  after  Moses  Maimonides,  as  intended 
to  forbid  certain  magical  or  idolatrous  rites,  in  the  course  of  which 
females  appeared  in  male  dress,  males  in  female  dress,  and  as  having 
no  reference,  therefore,  to  the  representation  on  the  stage  of  female 


POETRY.  135 

has  nothing  to  do  with  the  business  [as  neither  has  it,  that 
the  fathers  speak  against  plays  in  their  time,  with  reason 
enough,  for  they  had  real  idolatries  mixed  with  their  plays, 
having  three  altars  perpetually  upon  the  stage].  The  other 
was  a  doctor  of  divinity,  from  preaching  against  painting, 
which  simply  in  itself  is  no  more  hurtful  than  putting  on 
my  clothes,  or  doing  anything  to  make  myself  like  other 
folks,  that  I  may  not  be  odious  or  offensive  to  the  com 
pany.  Indeed  if  I  do  it  with  an  ill  attention  it  alters  the 
case.  So,  if  I  put  on  my  gloves  with  an  intention  to  do  10 
a  mischief,  I  am  a  villain. 

4.  Tis  a  fine  thing  for  children  to  learn  to  make  verse, 
but  when  they  come  to  be  men  they  must  speak  like  other 
men,  or  else  they  will  be  laughed  at.     'Tis  ridiculous  to 
speak,  or  write,  or  preach  in  verse.     As  'tis  good  to  learn 
to  dance,  a  man  may  learn  his  leg,  learn  to  go  handsomely; 
but  'tis  ridiculous  for  him  to  dance  when  he  should  go. 

5.  'Tis  ridiculous  for  a  lord  to  print  verses  ;  'tis  well 
enough  to  make  'em  to  please  himself,  but  to  make  them 
public  is  foolish.     If  a  man  in  a  private  chamber  twirls  his  20 
bandstring,  or  plays  with  a  rush  to  please  himself,  'tis  well 

characters  by  male  actors.  See  Works,  ii.  p.  365,  De  Venere  Syriaca  ; 
and  p.  1690,  where  Selden  discusses  it  at  length  in  a  letter  to  Ben 
Jonson.  The  text  was  used  by  Tertullian  (e.  g.  De  Spectaculis,  cap. 
23)  and  by  Cyprian  (Epist.  61,  sec.  i)  in  the  sense  which  Selden  dis 
allows  ;  and  Prynne,  in  his  Histrio-mastix,  quotes  and  endorses  both 
these  authorities,  and  adds  reasons  of  his  own  against  the  practice 
which  they  and  he  condemn.  See,  especially,  p.  208  if.  (in  the  small 
4to.  ed.  of  1633).  It  is  clear  that  the  objections  to  the  practice  do 
not  depend  only  on  what  the  text  in  question  may  or  may  not  mean. 
1.  i.  as  neither  has  it,  that  the  fathers  £c.]  The  objections  urged 
against  stage-plays  by  the  fathers  were  on  account  of  their  indecency 
even  more  than  of  their  idolatry,  and  were  continued  as  forcibly  as 
ever  at  a  time  when  the  idolatry  had  ceased.  See  Bingham,  Chris 
tian  Antiquities,  bk.  XI.  ch.  v.  §§  6  and  9;  and,  especially,  bk.  XVI. 
ch.  xi.  §  12.  Prynne,  in  his  Histrio-mastix,  quotes  numerous  pas 
sages  from  the  fathers  in  condemnation  of  stage-plays,  some  of  which 
are  clearly  open  to  Selden's  remark,  while  others  are  not. 


136  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

enough  ;  but  if  he  should  go  into  Fleet-street,  and  sit  upon 
a  stall,  and  twirl  a  bandstring,  or  play  with  a  rush,  then  all 
the  boys  in  the  street  would  laugh  at  him. 

6.  Verse  proves  nothing  but  the  quantity  of  syllables ; 
they  are  not  meant  for  logic. 


CVI. 

POPE. 

1.  A  POPE'S  bull  and  a  pope's  brief  differ  very  much,  as 
with  us  the  great  seal  and  the  privy  seal,  the  bull  being  the 
highest  authority  the  pope  can  give ;  the  brief  is  of  less. 

10  The  bull  has  a  leaden  seal  upon  silk,  hanging  upon  the 
instrument ;  the  brief  has  sub  annulo  piscatoris  upon  the 
side. 

2.  He  was  a  wise  pope,  that  when  one  that  used  to  be 
merry  with  him,  before  he  was  advanced  to  the  popedom, 
refrained  afterwards  to  come  at  him,  (presuming  he  was 
busy  in  governing  the  Christian  world)  the  pope  sends  for 
him,  bids  him  come  again,  And  [says  he]  we  will  be  merry 
as  we  were  before ;  for  thou  little  thinkest  what  a  little 
foolery  governs  the  whole  world. 

20  3.  The  pope  in  sending  relics  to  princes,  does  as  wenches 
do  by  their  wassail  at  new  year's  tide ;  they  present  you 
with  a  cup,  and  you  must  drink  of  a  slabby  stuff;  but  the 
meaning  is,  you  must  give  them  moneys,  ten  times  more 
than  it  is  worth. 

4.  The  pope  is  infallible  where  he  has  power  to  com 
mand;  that  is  where   he  must  be  obeyed;   so  is  every 
supreme  power  and  prince.     They  that  stretch  this   in 
fallibility  further,  do  but  they  know  not  what. 

5.  When  a  protestant  and  a  papist  dispute,  they  talk  like 
30  two  madmen,  because  they  do  not  agree  upon  their  prin 
ciples.    The  only  way  is  to  destroy  the  pope's  power ;  for 


POPE.  137 

if  he  has  power  to  command  me,  'tis  not  my  alleging  reasons 
to  the  contrary  can  keep  me  from  obeying :  for  example,  if 
a  constable  command  me  to  wear  a  green  suit  to-morrow, 
and  has  power  to  make  me,  'tis  not  my  alleging  a  hundred 
reasons  of  the  foolery  of  it,  can  excuse  me  from  doing  it. 

6.  There  was  a  time  when  the  pope  had  power  here  in 
England,  and  there  was  excellent  use  made  of  it ;  for  'twas 
only  to  serve  turns,  as  might  be  manifested  out  of  the 
records  of  the  kingdom,  which  divines  know  little  of.     If 
the  king  did  not  like  what  the  pope  would  have,  he  would  10 
forbid  his  legate  to  land  upon  his  grounds.     So  that  the 
power  was  truly  in  the  king,  though  suffered  in  the  pope. 
But  now  the  temporal  and  the  spiritual  power  (spiritual  so 
called  because  ordained  to  a  spiritual  end)  spring  both  from 
one  fountain  ;  they  are  like  two  twists  that — 

7.  The  protestants  in  France  bear  office  in  the  state, 
because    though    their    religion    be    different,   yet    they 
acknowledge  no  other  king  but  the  king  of  France.     The 
papists  in  England  they  must  have  a  king  of  their  own, 

a  pope,  that  must  do  something  in  our  king's  kingdom; 20 
therefore  there  is  no  reason  they  should  enjoy  the  same 
privileges. 

8.  Amsterdam  admits  of  all  religions  but  papists,  and 
'tis  upon  the  same  account.     The  papists  where'er  they 
live,  have  another  king  at  Rome ;  all  other  religions  are 
subject  to  the  present  state,  and  have  no  prince  elsewhere. 

9.  The  papists  call  our  religion  a  parliamentary  religion, 
but  there  was  once,  I  am   sure,  a   parliamentary  pope. 
Pope  Urban  was  made  in  England  by  act  of  parliament, 
against  pope  Clement.     The  act  is  not  in  the  book  ofs<> 

1.  15.  they  are  like  two  twists  that — ]  We  may  perhaps  add  here — 
'  are  spun  out  of  the  same  stuff.'  If  the  metaphor  of  the  one  fountain 
is  to  be  continued,  some  other  words  must  be  used.  The  early  printed 
editions  read  '  they  are  like  to  twist  that/  an  unmeaning  remark  here. 

1.  30.  the  act  is  not  in  the  book  of  statutes}  It  is  given  in  the  folio 
edition  of  the  Statutes  (1816),  in  the  original  Norman  French,  and 


138  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

statutes,  either  because  he  that  compiled  the  book,  would 
not  have  the  name  of  the  pope  there,  or  else  he  would  not 
let  it  appear  that  they  meddled  with  any  such  thing,  but 
'tis  upon  the  rolls. 

10.  When  our  clergy  preach  against  the  pope,  and  the 
Church  of  Rome,  they  preach  against  themselves ;  and 
crying  down  their  pride,  their  power,  and  their  riches, 
have  made  themselves  poor  and  contemptible  enough ; 
they  did  it  at  first 1  to  please  their  prince,  not  considering 
10  what  would  follow.  Just  as  if  a  man  were  to  go  a  journey, 

1  They  did  it  at  first]  altered  in  H.  a  reading  which  stands  in  S.,  and  in 
and  H.  2  from  '  they  dedicate  first,' —  the  early  printed  editions. 

translated.  A  few  words  in  the  following  extract  have  been  changed 
where  the  translation  does  not  quite  agree  with  the  original  text : 

'  Because  our  Sovereign  Lord  the  King  hath  perceived,  as  well  by 
Letters  Patent  newly  come  from  certain  Cardinals,  rebels  against  our 
Holy  Father  Urban  now  Pope,  as  otherwise  by  common  fame,  that 
division  and  discord  was  betwixt  our  said  Holy  Father  and  the  said 
Cardinals,  which  afforced  them  with  all  their  power  to  depose  our  said 
Holy  Father  from  the  state  papal,  ....  our  Sovereign  Lord  the  King 
caused  the  said  letters  to  be  showed  to  the  Prelates,  Lords,  and  other 
great  men  of  the  realm  being  at  the  said  Parliament  ....  and  it  was 
pronounced  and  published  by  the  said  Prelates,  by  great  and  notable 
reasons  there  showed  in  the  full  Parliament,  ....  that  the  said  Urban 
was  duly  chosen  Pope,  and  that  so  he  is  and  ought  to  be  true  Pope, 
and  ought  to  be  accepted  and  obeyed  as  Pope  and  chief  of  Holy 
Church.  And  this  to  be  done  all  the  Prelates,  Lords  and  Commons 
in  the  said  Parliament  do  accord.'  2  Richard  II,  stat.  i,  ch.  7. 

It  appears  from  Walsingham's  History  that  the  interference  of  the 
English  Parliament  had  been  expressly  sought  by  both  parties  to  the 
dispute. 

1  Ad  idem  Parliamentum  venerunt  solemnes  ex  Italia  papales  nuntii 
....  declarantes  injurias  et  damna  quae  idem  dominus  Papa  pertulit 
insolentia  apostatarum  cardinalium,  qui  nitebantur  eundem  cum  uni- 
versa  Ecclesia  subvertere  et  infirmare.  Venerunt  et  nuntii  eorumdem 
cardinalium  ....  allegantes  fortiter  pro  iisdem.  Sed  Domino  Deo 
avente,  qui  cuncta  juste  disponit,  repulsi  sunt  apostatici,  et  admissi 
Papales,  promissumque  subsidium  Domino  Papae.'  Thomas  Walsing- 
ham,  Hist.  Angl.  p.  216,  as  printed  in  Camden's  Anglica,  Normannica, 
&c.,  Script.  (Francfort,  1603). 


POPERY.  139 

and  seeing  at  his  first  setting  forth  the  way  clean,  ventures 
forth  in  his  slippers,  not  considering  the  dirt  and  the 
sloughs  that  are  a  little  further  off,  or  how  suddenly  the 
weather  may  change. 


CVII. 
POPERY. 

1.  THE  demanding  a  noble  for  a  dead  body  passing 
through  a  town,  came  from  hence.     In  time  of  popery, 
they  carried  the  dead  body  into  the  church,  where  the 
priest  said  dirges  ;  and  twenty  dirges  at  fourpence  a-piece 
come J  to  a  noble ;    but  now  'tis  forbidden  by  an  order  10 
from   my  lord  marshal,   the  heralds   carry2  his  warrant 
about  them. 

2.  We   charge    the    prelatical   clergy  with   popery   to 
make  them  odious,  though  we  know  they  are  guilty  of  no 
such  thing :  just  as  heretofore  they  called  images  mam- 
mets,  and  the  adoration  of  images  mammetry;   that   is 
Mahomets  and  Mahometry,  odious  names ;  when  all  the 
world  knows  the  Turks  are   forbidden  images  by  their 
religion. 

1  Come,  H.  2]  comes,  H.  2  Carry,  H.  2]  carrying,  H. 

1.  10.  but  now  'tis  forbidden  &c.]  That  it  continued  or  was  revived 
after  Selden's  day  appears  from  the  register  of  St.  Clement's  parish, 
Oxford  :  'The  Earl  of  Conway  being  carried  through  the  parish  in  a 
hearse,  and  the  minister  of  St.  Clement's  appearing  in  his  surplice  to 
offer  burial,  he  received  for  the  same  65.  &d.  The  same  he  received 
for  Sir  Lionel  (Leoline  ?)  Jenkins,  whose  corpse  was  brought  through 
the  parish,  and  interred  in  Jesus  College  Chapel.'  See  Peshall's 
Wood's  City  of  Oxford,  p.  284  (1773,  4to).  The  first  and  only  Earl  of 
Conway  died  without  issue  in  1683.  Sir  Leoline  Jenkins  died  in 
1685,  and  was  buried  in  Jesus  College  Chapel.  I  am  indebted  to 
Mr.  C.  H.  O.  Daniel  for  the  above  reference. 


i4o  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

CVIII. 

POWER.    STATE. 

1.  THERE  is  no  stretching  of  power.     'Tis  a  good  rule, 
eat  within  your  stomach,  act  within  your  commission. 

2.  They  that  govern  most,  make  least  noise.     You  see 
when  they  row  in  a  barge,  they  that  do  the   drudgery 
work,  slash,  and  puff,  and  sweat;  but  he  that  governs 
sits  quietly  at  the  stern,  and  scarce  is  seen  to  stir. 

3.  Syllables  govern  the  world. 

4.  All  power  is  of  God  means  no  more  than  fides  est 
\oservanda.     When  St.  Paul  said  this,  the  people  had  made 

Nero  emperor.  They  agreed,  he  to  protect,  they  to  obey. 
Then  God  comes  in,  and  casts  a  hook  upon  them,  keep 
your  faith ;  then  comes  in  all  power  is  of  God.  Never 
king  dropped  out  of  the  clouds.  God  did  not  make  a 
new  emperor,  as  the  king  makes  a  justice  of  peace. 

5.  Christ  himself  was   a  great   observer   of  the   civil 
power,  and  did  many  things  only  justifiable  because  the 
state  required  it1,  which  were  things  merely  temporary 
for  the  time  that   state  stood ;  but  divines  make   use  of 

20  them  to  gain  power  to  themselves ;  as,  for  example,  that 
of  Die  ecdesice,  Tell  the  church;  there  was  then  a  San 
hedrim,  a  court  to  tell  it  to,  and  therefore  they  would 
have  it  so  now. 

6.  Divines  ought  to  do  no  more  than  what  the   state 
permits.     Before  the  state  became  Christian,  they  made 
their  own  laws,  and  those  that  did  not  observe  them,  they 
excommunicated,  [naughty  men]   they  suffered   them   to 

1  Required  it,  H.  2]  required,  H. 

1.  8.  Syllables  govern  the  world]  Conf.  '  Considerare  debemus 
quod  verba  habent  maximam  potestatem ;  et  omnia  miracula  facta 
a  principio  mundi  fere  facta  sunt  per  verba.  Et  opus  animae  rationalis 
precipuum  est  verbum.'  R.  Bacon,  Opus  Tertium,  cap.  26  (p.  96, 
Brewer's  ed.). 


POWER.    STATE.  141 

come  no  more  amongst  them.  But  if  they  would  come 
amongst  them,  could  they  hinder  them?  By  what  law? 
By  what  power?  They  were  still  subject  unto  the  state, 
which  was  heathen.  Nothing  better  expresses  the  con 
dition  of  the  Christians  in  those  times,  than  one  of  the 
meetings  you  have  in  London,  of  men  of  the  same  coun 
try,  of  Sussex-men,  or  Bedfordshire-men;  they  appoint 
their  meeting,  and  they  agree,  and  make  laws  amongst 
themselves  \he  that  is  not  there  shall  pay  double,  fyc.],  and 
if  any  one  mis-behave  himself,  they  shut  him  out  of  their  10 
company;  but  can  they  recover  a  forfeiture  made  con 
cerning  their  meeting  by  any  law  ?  Have  they  any  power 
to  compel  one  to  pay?  But  afterwards  when  the  state 
became  Christian,  all  the  power  was  in  them,  and  they  gave 
the  church  as  much,  or  as  little  as  they  pleased ;  took 
away  when  they  pleased,  and  added  when  they  pleased. 

7.  The  church  is  not  only  subject  to  the  civil  power 
with   us   that   are  protestants,  but  also  in   Spain,  if  the 
church  does  excommunicate  a  man  for  what  it  should  not, 
the  civil  power  will  take  him  out  of  their  hands.     So  in  20 
France,  the  bishop  of  Angers  altered  something  in  the 

1.  19.  but  also  in  Spain]  Selden,  in  his  treatise  De  Synedriis 
veterum  Ebraeorum,  offers  full  proof  of  the  supremacy  of  the  Civil 
Power  in  France  and  Spain  as  well  as  in  England.  See  Works,  i. 
975  ff.  In  the  Preuves  des  Libertez  de  PEglise  Gallicane,  a 
work  to  which  Selden  refers  as  a  leading  authority,  there  are  nu 
merous  instances  given  in  which  French  excommunications,  illegally 
pronounced,  have  been  annulled  by  the  civil  power,  or  in  which  their 
authors  have  been  forced  to  revoke  them.  See  ch.  vi.  p.  92  ff., 
and  the  Traitez  des  droits  et  libertez  de  1'Eglise  Gallicane  (a  com 
panion  volume  to  the  Preuves),  in  which  the  subject  is  discussed 
at  length  by  several  writers. 

1.22.  the  bishop  of  Angers  £c.]  This  was  in  1602.  See  'Arrest 
de  la  Cour  donne  en  1'audience,  sur  1'appel  comme  d'abus  du  change- 
ment  du  Breviaire  d'Anjou,  ordonne  par  1'Evesque  d' Angers  en 
1'Eglise  de  la  Trinite  audit  Angers,  de  Pinjonction  par  luy  faite  d'user 
de  celui  du  Concile  de  Trente.' 

The  case  was  heard  on  complaint  by  the  Canons  and  Chaplains  of 
the  Church,  and  the  decree  of  the  Court,  as  entered  on  the  Registres 


142  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

Breviary;  they  complained  to  the  parliament  at  Paris, 
that  made  him  alter  it  again,  with  a  comme  d'abus l. 

8.  The  parliament  of  England  has  no  arbitrary  power 
in  point  of  judicature,  but  in  point  of  making  law. 

9.  If  the  prince  be  servus  natura,  of  a  servile  base  spirit, 
and  the  subjects  liberi,  free  and  ingenuous,  often-times 
they  depose   their  prince,  and  govern   themselves.     On 
the  contrary,  if  the  people  be  servi  natura,  and  some  one 
amongst  them  of  an  ingenuous 2  free  spirit,  he  makes  him- 

10  self  king  of  the  rest ;  and  this  is  the  cause  of  all  changes 
in  state,  commonwealths  into  monarchies,  and  monarchies 
into  commonwealths. 

10.  In  a  troubled  state  we  must  do  as  in  foul  weather 
upon    the  Thames,    not   think  to   cut   directly  through ; 
so,  the  boat  may  be  quickly  full  of  water ;  but  rise  and 
fall  as  the  waves   do,   give    as    much   as    conveniently 
we  can. 

1  Comme  cFabus]  the  MSS.  and  2  Ingenuous]  H.  reads  free  and  in- 
printed  editions  go  wild  here ;  comine  genious,  but  gives  '  ingenuous  '  a  line 
abuse,  H.,  come  abuse,  H.  2,  com  e  or  two  afterwards.  The  words  are 
abuse,  S.,  comme  abuse,  ist  and  2nd  confused  here  and  elsewhere  in  the 
editions.  MSS. 

de  Parlement,  was  '  La  Cour  ....  ordonne  que  le  service  divin 
ordinaire  en  Feglise  de  la  Trinite  soit  continue ;  et  a  fait  et  fait 
inhibitions  et  defenses  audit  Evesque  d'innover  aucune  chose  en 
1'exercise  et  celebration  du  service  divin  aux  eglises  de  son  diocese 
sans  Fauthorite  du  Roi.'  Preuves  des  Libertez  de  FEglise  Gallicane, 
ch.  xxxi.  p.  842. 

The  chapter  is  headed  '  Que  le  changement  des  Missels  et  Brevi- 
aires  des  Eglises  particulieres  de  France,  ne  se  peut  faire  sans  ordre 
et  permission  du  Roy.'  It  gives  several  instances  in  which  an 
attempted  change  had  been  annulled. 

1.  2.  with  a  comme  d'abus.]  The  appeal  from  the  spiritual  to  the 
temporal  power  is  known  as  Vappel  comme  d'abus :  the  person  pleading 
it  is  described  as  appellant  comme  d'abus.  Preuves  des  Libertez, 
p.  104  and  passim. 


PRAYER.  143 

CIX. 

PRAYER. 

1.  IF  I  were  a  minister,  I  should  think  myself  most  in 
my  office,  reading  of  prayers,  and  dispensing  the  sacra 
ments  ;  and  'tis  ill  done  to   put  one  to    officiate  in  the 
Church,  whose  person  is  contemptible  out  of  it.    Should 
a  great  lady  that  was  invited  to  be  a  gossip,  in  her  place 
send  her  kitchen-maid,  'twould  be  ill  taken ;  yet  she  is 
a  woman  as  well  as  she;  let  her  send  her  gentle-woman 
at  least. 

2.  You  shall  pray,  is  the  right  way,  because  according  10 
as  the  Church  is  settled,  no  man  may  make  a  prayer  in 
public  of  his  own  head. 

3.  Tis  not  the  original  Common-prayer  Book.    Why, 
shew  me  an  original  Bible,  or  an  original  Magna  Charta. 

4.  Admit  the  preacher  prays  by  the  spirit,  yet  that  very 
prayer  is  common-prayer  to  the  people ;  they  are  tied  as 
much  to  his  words,  as  in  saying  Almighty  and  most  mer 
ciful  Father.     Is  it  then  unlawful  in  the  minister,  but  not 
unlawful  in  the  people  ? 

5.  There  were  some  mathematicians,  that  could  with  one  20 
fetch  of  their  pen  make  an  exact  circle,  and  with  the  next 
touch,  point  out  the  centre ;  is  it  therefore  reasonable  to 
banish  all  use  of  the  compasses  ?    Set  forms  are  a  pair  of 
compasses. 

6.  God  hath  given  gifts  unto  men.    General  texts  prove 
nothing :  let  him  shew  me  John,  William,  or  Thomas  in 
the  text,  and  then  I  will  believe  him.     If  a  man  has  a 
voluble  tongue,  we  say,  he  hath  the  gift  of  prayer.     His 
gift  is  to  pray  long,  that  I  see ;  but  does  he  pray  better  ? 

7.  We  take  care  what  we  speak  to  men,  but  to  God  we  30 
may  say  any  thing. 

8.  The  people  must  not  think  a  thought  towards  God, 


144  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

but  as  their  pastors  will  put  it  into  their  mouths.    They 
will  make  right  sheep  of  us. 

9.  The  English  priests  would  do  that  in  English,  which 
the  Romish  do  in  Latin,  keep  the  people  in  ignorance  ;  but 
some  of  the  people  out-do  them  at  their  own  game. 

10.  Prayer  should  be  short,  without  giving  God  Almighty 
reasons  why  he  should  grant  this,  or  that ;  he  knows  best 
what  is  good  for  us.     If  your  boy  should  ask  you  a  suit  of 
clothes,  and  give  you  reasons  (otherwise  he  cannot  wait 

10  upon  you,  he  cannot  go  abroad  but  he  shall  discredit  you) 
would  you  endure  it  ?  You  know  it  better  than  he  ;  let  him 
ask  a  suit  of  clothes. 

11.  If  a  servant  that  has  been  fed  with  good  beef,  goes 
into  that  part  of  England  where  salmon  is  plenty,  at  first  he 
is  pleased  with  his  salmon,  and  despises  his  beef;  but  after 
he  has  been  there  awhile,  he  grows  weary  of  his  salmon, 
and  wishes  for  his  good  beef  again.    We  have  awhile  been 
much  taken  with  this  praying  by  the  spirit,  but  in  time  we 
may  grow  weary  of  it,  and  wish  for  our  Common-prayer. 

20  12.  'Tis  hoped  we  may  be  cured  of  our  extemporary 
prayers,  the  same  way  the  grocer's  boy  is  cured  of  his 
eating  plums,  when  we  have  had  our  bellies  full  of  them. 


CX. 

PREACHING. 

i.  NOTHING  is  more  mis-taken  than  that  speech,  preach  the 
gospel ;  for  'tis  not  to  make  long  harangues,  as  they  do 
now-a-days,  but  to  tell  the  news  of  Christ's  coming  into  the 

1.  23.  Preachingl\  There  are  frequent  instances  of  a  demand  for 
'  preaching  ministers,'  and  of  complaints  that  ministers  do  not  preach 
often  enough,  and  that  some,  bishops  especially,  do  not  preach  at  all. 
See,  e.g.  a  formal  complaint  in  the  House  of  Commons  that  there 
was  a  deficiency  of  preaching  ministers,  a  matter  which  was  thought 


PREACHING.  145 

world  ;  and  when  that  is  done,  or  where  'tis  known  already, 
the  preacher's  work  is  done. 

2.  Preaching,  in  the  first  sense  of  the  word,  ceased  as 
soon  as  ever  the  gospels  were  written. 

3.  When  the  preacher  says,  this  is  the  meaning  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  in  such  a  place,  in  sense  he  can  mean  no  more 
but  this ;  that  is,  I  by  studying  of  the  place,  by  comparing 
one  place  with  another,  by  weighing  what  goes  before, 
and  what  comes  after,  think  this  is  the  meaning  of  the 
Holy  Ghost;  and  for  shortness  of  expression  I  say,  theio 
Holy  Ghost  says  thus,  or  this  is  the  meaning  of  the  Spirit 
of  God.     So  the  judge  speaks  concerning  the  king's  pro 
clamation,  this  is  the  intention  of  the  king ;  not  that  the  king 
has  any  other  way  declared  his  intention  to  the  judge,  but 
the  judge  examining  the   contents   of  the  proclamation, 
gathers  by  the  purport  of  the  words  the  king's  intention, 
and  then  for  shortness  of  expression  says,  this  is  the  king's 
intention. 

4.  Nothing  is  text  but  as  it  was  spoken  in  the  Bible,  and 
meant  there  for  person  and  place ;  the  rest  is  application,  20 
which  a  discreet  man  may  do  well ;  but  'tis  his  scripture, 
not  the  Holy  Ghost's. 

5.  Preaching  by  the  spirit,  as  they  call  it,  is  most  es 
teemed  by  the  common  people,  because  they  cannot  abide 
art  or  learning,  which  they  have  not  been  bred  up  in.   Just 
as  in  the  business  of  fencing ;  if  one  country  fellow  amongst 
the  rest,  has  been  at  school,  the  rest  will  undervalue  his 
skill,  or  tell  him  he  wants  valour  [You  come  with  your 
school-tricks :  there's  Dick  Butcher  has  ten  times  more 
mettle  in  him].     So  they  say  to  the  preachers,  You  come  30 
with  your  school-learning:  there's  such  a  one   has  the 
spirit. 

so  important  and  so  pressing  that  a  Committee  of  the  House  was 
appointed  to  enquire  about  and  to  find  a  remedy  for  it.  Commons 
Journals,  ii.  p.  54.  See  also  note  on  '  Lecturers,'  p.  103. 

L 


i46  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

6.  The  tone  in  preaching  does  much  in  working  on  the 
people's  affections.     If  a  man   should   make  love  in  an 
ordinary  tone,  his  mistress  would  not  regard  him:  and 
therefore  he  must  whine.     If  a  man  should  cry  fire,  or 
murder,  in  an  ordinary  voice,  nobody  would  come  out  to 
help  him. 

7.  Preachers  will  bring  any  thing  into  the  text.    The 
young  masters  of  arts  preached  against  non-residency  in 
the  university ;  whereupon  the  heads  made  an  order,  that 

jo  no  man  should  meddle  with  any  thing  but  what  was  in  his 
text.  The  next  day  one  preached  upon  these  words, 
Abraham  begat  Isaac  ;  when  he  had  gone  a  good  way,  at 
last  he  observed,  that  Abraham  was  resident,  for  if  he  had 
been  non-resident,  he  could  never  have  begot  Isaac ;  and 
so  fell  foul  upon  the  non-residents. 

8.  I  could  never  tell  what  often  preaching  meant,  after  a 
church  is  settled,  and  we  know  what  is  to  be  done :  'tis  just 
as  if  a  husbandman  should  once  tell  his  servants  what  they 
are  to  do,  when  to  sow,  when  to  reap ;  and  afterwards  one 

23  should  come  and  tell  them  twice  or  thrice  a  day  what  they 
know  already ;  You  must  sow  your  wheat  in  October,  you 
must  reap  your  wheat  in  August,  &c. 

9.  The  main  argument  why  they  would  have  two  sermons 
a  day,  is,  because  they  have  two  meals  a  day ;  the  soul 
must  be  fed  as  well  as  the  body.    But  I  may  as  well  argue, 
I  ought  to  have  two  noses,  because  I  have  two  eyes ;  or 
two  mouths,  because  I  have  two  ears.    What  have  meals 
and  sermons  to  do  one  with  another  ? 

10.  The  things  between  God  and  man  are  but  a  few, 
30 and  those,  forsooth,  we  must  be  told  often  of;   but  the 

things  between  man  and  man  are  many;  those  I  hear 
not  of  above  twice  a  year,  at  the  assizes,  or  once  a 
quarter  at  a  sessions;  but  few  come  then,  nor  does  the 
minister  ever  exhort  the  people  to  go  at  these  times 
to  learn  their  duty  towards  their  neighbour.  Often 


PREACHING.  147 

preaching  is,  sure,  to  keep  the  minister  in  countenance, 
that  he  may  have  something  to  do. 

11.  In  preaching,  they  say  more  to  raise  men  to  love 
virtue  than  men  can  possibly  perform,  to  make  them  do 
their  best :  as  if  you  would  teach  a  man  to  throw  the  bar ; 
to  make  him  put  out  his  strength,  you  bid  him  throw  further 
than  'tis  possible  for  him,  or  any  man  else:  throw  over 
yonder  house. 

12.  In  preaching,  they  do  by  men  as  writers  of  romances 
do  by  their  chief  knights,  bring  them  into  many  dangers,  10 
but  still  fetch  them  off:  so  they  put  men  in  fear  of  hell,  but 
at  last  they  bring  them  to  heaven. 

13.  Preachers  say,  Do  as  I  say,  not  as  I  do.     But  if  the 
physician  had  the  same  disease  upon  him  that  I  have,  and 
he  should  bid  me  do  one   thing,  and  himself  do   quite 
another,  could  I  believe  him  ? 

14.  Preaching  the  same  sermon  to  all  sorts  of  people,  is 
as  if  a  school-master  should  read  the  same  lesson  to  his 
several  forms :  if  he  read  amo,  amas,  amavi,  the  highest 
form  laugh  at  him  ;  the  younger  admire  him.     So  it  is  in  20 
preaching  to  a  mixed  auditory. 

Question.  But  it  cannot  be  otherwise ;  the  parish  cannot 
be  divided  into  several  forms  :  what  must  the  preacher  then 
do  in  discretion  ? 

Answer.  Why  then  let  him  use  some  expressions  by 
which  this  or  that  condition  of  people  may  know  such 
doctrine  does  more  especially  concern  them;  it  being  so 
delivered  that  the  wisest  may  be  content  to  hear  it.  For  if 
he  delivers  it  all  together,  and  leaves  it  to  them  to  single 
out  what  belongs  to  themselves  (which  is  the  usual  way)  30 
'tis  as  if  a  man  would  bestow  gifts  upon  children  of  several 
ages,  two  years  old,  four  years  old,  ten  years  old,  &c.,  and 
there  he  brings  tops,  pins,  points,  ribbands,  and  casts  them 
all  in  a  heap  together  upon  a  table  before  them :  though 
the  boy  of  ten  years  old  can  tell  how  to  choose  his  top,  yet 

L  3 


148  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

the  child  of  two  years  old,  that  should  have  a  ribband,  takes 
a  pin,  and  the  pin  ere  he  be  aware  pricks  his  fingers,  and 
then  all's  out  of  order,  &c.  Preaching,  for  the  most  part, 
is  the  glory  of  the  preacher,  to  shew  himself  a  fine  man. 
Catechising  would  be  more  beneficial. 

15.  Use  the  best  arguments  to  persuade,  though  but 
few  understand ;  for  the  ignorant  will  sooner  believe  the 
judicious  of  the  parish,  than  the  preacher  himself;  and 
they  teach  when  they  dissipate  what  he  has  said,  and  be- 

10  lieve  it  the  sooner,  confirmed  by  men  of  their  own  side  ; 
for  betwixt  the  laity  and  the  clergy  there  is,  as  it  were,  a 
continual  driving  of  a  bargain ;  something  the  clergy  would 
still  have  us  be  at,  and  therefore  many  things  are  heard 
at  first  from  the  preacher  with  suspicion  [they  are  afraid 
of  some  ends]  which  are  easily  assented  to,  when  they 
have  it  from  one  of  themselves.  Tis  with  a  sermon  as  'tis 
with  a  play ;  many  come  to  see  it,  which  do  not  under 
stand  it ;  and  yet  hearing  it  cried  up  by  one,  whose  judg 
ment  they  cast  themselves  upon,  and  of  power  with  them, 

20  they  swear  and  will  die  in  it,  that  'tis  a  very  good  play,  which 
they  would  not  have  done  if  the  priest  himself  had  told 
them  so.  As  in  a  great  school,  'tis  not  the  master  that 
teaches  all ;  the  monitor  does  a  great  deal  of  work ;  it 
may  be  the  boys  are  afraid  to  see  their  master:  so  in  a 
parish  'tis  not  the  minister  does  all ;  the  greater  neigh 
bours  teach  the  lesser,  the  master  of  the  house  teaches 
his  servant,  &c. 

16.  First  in  your   sermons   use  your   logic,  and  then 
your  rhetoric.     Rhetoric  without  logic  is  like  a  tree  with 

30 leaves  and  blossoms,  but  no  root;  yet  I  confess  more  are 
taken  with  rhetoric  than  logic,  because  they  are  catched 
with  a  free  expression,  when  they  understand  not  reason. 
Logic  must  be  natural,  or  'tis  not  at  all :  your  rhetoric 
figures  may  be  learned.  That  rhetoric  is  best  which  is 
most  seasonable  and  most  catching.  An  instance  we 


PREDESTINATION.  149 

have  in  that  old  blunt  commander  at  Cadiz,  who  shewed 
himself  a  good  orator,  being  to  say  something  to  his 
soldiers  (which  he  was  not  used  to  do)  he  made  them  a 
speech  to  this  purpose:  What  a  shame  will  it  be,  you 
Englishmen,  that  feed  upon  good  beef  and  brewess,  to  let 
those  rascally  Spaniards  beat  you,  that  eat  nothing  but 
oranges  and  lemons :  and  so  put  more  courage  into  his 
men  than  he  could  have  done  with  a  more  learned  oration. 
Rhetoric  is  either  very  good,  or  stark  naught :  there's  no 
medium  in  rhetoric.  If  I  am  not  fully  persuaded,  I  laugh  10 
at  the  orator. 

17.  Tis  good  to  preach  the  same  thing  again,  for  that's 
the  way  to  have   it  learned.     You  see  a  bird,  by  often 
whistling  to,  learns  a  tune,   and  a  month   after  records 
to  herself. 

18.  Tis  a  hard  case  a  minister  should  be  turned  out  of 
his  living  for  something  they  inform  he  should  say  in  his 
pulpit.     We  can  no  more  know  what  a  minister  said  in 
his  sermon l  by  two  or  three  words  picked  out  of  it,  than 
we  can  tell  what  tune  a  musician  played  last  upon  the  20 
lute,  by  two  or  three  single  notes. 


CXI. 

PREDESTINATION. 

1.  Is  a  point  inaccessible,  out  of  our  reach  ;    we  can 
make  no  notion  of  it,  'tis  so  full  of  intricacy,  so  full  of 
contradiction ;    'tis  in  good  earnest,  as  we  state  it,  half  a 
dozen  bulls  one  upon  another. 

2.  They  that  talk  nothing  but  predestination,  and  will 
not  proceed  in  the  way  of  heaven  till  they  be  satisfied  in 
that  point,  do  as  if  a  man  would  not  come  to  London, 

1  His  sermon]  his  sermons,   H.  and  H.  2. 


i5o  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

unless  at  his  first  step  he  might  set  his  foot  upon  the  top 
of  Paul's. 

3.  Doctor  Prideaux  in  his  lectures,  several  days  used 
arguments  to  prove  predestination  ;  at  last  tells  his  auditory 
they  are  damned  if  they  do  not  believe  it ;  doing  herein 
just  as  school-boys ;  when  one  of  them  has  got  an  apple, 

1.  4.  at  last  tells  his  auditory  &c.]  This  is  not  quite  so.  Dr. 
Prideaux  gave  a  series  of  nine  lectures  on  Romans  ix.  10,  n,  12. 
The  first  three  treat  of  predestination,  and  several  of  the  others  touch 
upon  it.  In  none  of  these  does  he  tell  his  auditory  that  they  are 
damned  that  do  not  believe  it.  But  in  the  last  lecture  of  the  series, 
against  the  Roman  Catholics,  he  is  provoked  by  their  assertion  that 
he  himself,  as  a  Protestant,  must  be  damned,  and  he  retorts  accord 
ingly,  with  some  warmth  of  expression,  that  the  fate  in  question  is 
much  more  likely  to  be  theirs. 

His  imaginary  opponent  has  been  arguing  (Dr.  Prideaux,  it  will 
be  seen,  conducts  both  sides  of  the  dispute)  as  a  point  in  favour  of 
the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  '  Fatentur  Protestantes  sub  Papismo 
quam  plurimos  salutem  consequi.  At  Papistae  damnatos  pronuntiant 
omnes  Protestantes.'  Dr.  Prideaux  rejoins, '  Respondeo.  Hoc  ipsum 
arguit  Protestantes  non  tantum  Religionis  puritate,  sed  charitate 
etiam  esse  adversariis  superiores,  qui  distinguunt  tamen  inter  se- 
ductores  et  seductos,  et  inter  seductos  rursus  in  simplicitate  cordium, 
ante  Lutheri  reformationem,  et  obstinates  sequentis  seculi,  qui  moniti 
ad  obortam  lucem  claudunt  oculos.  Nam  ut  de  istis  dictat  charitas  ut 
speremus  optima ;  ita  de  hisce  nihil  possumus  praeter  horrenda 
polliceri,  quamdiu  characterem  Bestiae  in  frontibus  aut  dextris  prae- 
ferunt.  Inter  sordes  autem  istas,  ista  quae  summo  cum  periculo 
expectetur  salus,  non  ipsorum  additamentis  sed  iis  quae  nobis  habent 
communia  fundamentis,  est  attribuenda.'  Lectures  by  John  Prideaux 
(Bishop  of  Worcester),  p.  143  (ed.  3,  1648). 

It  seems  probable  from  '  Church  of  Rome,'  sec.  2,  that  Selden  may 
have  had  this  passage  in  his  mind. 

Prideaux's  first  lecture  on  predestination  ends,  not  with  damnatory 
threats,  but  with  a  defence  of  the  doctrine  of  reprobation,  attacking 
no  one  in  particular,  and  proceeding  somewhat  after  the  fashion  of 
Rabbi  Busy  with  the  puppet.  'Si  cui  haec  sententia  de  absoluta 
reprobatione  videatur  asperior,  possem  respondere  cum  Augustino. 
....  Hoc  scio,  neminem  contra  istam  praedestinationem,  quam 
secundum  Scripturas  sanctas  defendimus,  nisi  errando  disputare 
posse.'  p.  14.  But  he  does  not  press  this,  and  it  cannot  be  the 
passage  to  which  Selden  is  referring. 


PREFERMENT.  151 

or  something  the  rest  have  a  mind  to,  they  use  all  the 
arguments  they  can  to  get  some  of  it  from  him  [I  gave  you 
some  th'  other  day :  you  shall  have  some  with  me  another 
time];  when  they  cannot  prevail,  they  tell  him  he  is  a 
jackanapes,  a  rogue,  and  a  rascal. 


CXII. 

PREFERMENT. 

1.  WHEN  you  would  have  a  child  go  to  such  a  place, 
and  you  find  him  unwilling,  you  tell  him  he  shall  ride  a 
cock-horse,  and  then  he  will  go  presently :  so  do  those 
that  govern  the  state  deal  by  men,  to  work  them  to  their  10 
ends ;  they  tell  them  they  shall  be  advanced  to  such  or 
such  a  place,  and  then  they  will  do  any  thing  they  will 
have  them. 

2.  A  great  place  strangely  qualifies.    John   Read  was 
in  the  right  [groom  of  the  chamber  to  my  lord  of  Kent]. 
Attorney  Noy  being  dead,  some  were  saying,  How  will  the 
king  do  for  a  fit  man  ?    Why,  any  man,  says  John  Read, 
may  execute  the  place.     I  warrant  (says  my  lord)  thou 
thinkest  thou  understandest  enough  to  perform  it.     Yes, 
quoth  John,  let  the  king  make  me  Attorney,  and  I  would  20 
fain  see  that  man  that  durst  tell  me,  there's  anything  I 
understand  not. 

3.  When  the  pageants  are  a  coming,  there's  great  thrust 
ing  and  riding  upon  one  another's  backs,  to  look  out  at  the 
windows ;  stay  a  little  and  they  will  come  just  to  you,  you 
may  see  them  quietly.     So  'tis  when  a  new  statesman  or 
officer  is  chosen ;  there's  great  expectation  and  listening 
who  it  should  be;  stay  but  awhile,  and  you  shall  know 
quietly. 

4.  Missing  preferment  makes  the  presbyters  fall   foul  30 


i52  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

upon  the  bishops.  Men  that  are  in  hopes  and  in  the  way 
of  rising,  keep  in  the  channel,  but  they  that  have  none, 
seek  new  ways.  JTis  so  amongst  lawyers;  he  that  has 
the  judge's  ear  will  be  very  observant  of  the  way  of  the 
court ;  but  he  that  has  no  regard  will  be  flying  out. 

5.  My  lord  Digby  having  spoken  something  in  the 
House  of  Commons,  for  which  they  would  have  ques 
tioned  him,  was  presently  called  to  the  upper  house.  He 
did  by  the  parliament  as  an  ape  when  he  has  done  some 
10 waggery;  his  master  spies  him,  and  looks  for  his  whip, 
but  before  he  can  come  at  him,  whip  says  he  to  the  top  of 
the  house. 

1.  6.  My  lord  Digby  &c.]  Lord  Digby,  who  had  been  one  of  the 
accusers  of  the  Earl  of  Strafford,  afterwards,  just  before  the  final 
vote,  spoke  strongly  in  his  favour,  declaring  that  he  did,  with  a  clear 
conscience,  wash  his  hands  of  that  man's  blood,  and  protesting :  *  that 
my  vote  goes  not  to  the  taking  of  the  Earl  of  Strafford's  life.'  Excep 
tion  was  taken  to  this  speech  at  the  time  when  it  was  made  (April, 
1641) :  the  speech  afterwards,  by  order  of  the  House,  was  burnt  by 
the  hand  of  the  common  hangman.  Nalson,  Collections,  ii.  160. 

Clarendon  adds  that  when  Lord  Digby  was  questioned  in  the 
House  about  his  speech,  he  defended  himself  so  well,  and  so  much 
to  the  disadvantage  of  those  who  were  concerned,  that  from  that  time 
they  prosecuted  him  with  an  implacable  rage  and  uncharitableness 
upon  all  occasions.  Hist.  i.  359. 

Clarendon's  further  account  of  his  call  to  the  Upper  House  and  of 
the  reasons  for  it,  will  throw  some  light  on  this.  He  had  made  private 
and  secret  offers  of  his  service  to  the  King,  and  the  King  being 
satisfied  both  in  the  discoveries  he  had  made  of  what  had  passed, 
and  in  his  professions  for  the  future,  called  him  by  writ  to  the  House 
of  Peers,  from  which  time  forward  he  did  visibly  advance  the  King's 
service,  i.  534,  535. 

Forster  thinks  that  Selden's  image,  of  the  ape  who  has  done  some 
waggery,  may  have  been  suggested  by  the  apish  tricks  of  Lord 
Digby's  younger  brother,  member  for  Milborn  Port.  This  young  gentle 
man  had  perched  himself  upon  a  ladder  in  the  House  of  Commons, 
and  was  called  to  by  the  Speaker  and  ordered  to  come  down  and  not 
sit  on  the  ladder  as  if  he  were  going  to  be  hanged.  This  happened 
on  the  day  when  his  brother  would  have  been  expelled  the  House, 
if  the  King's  letters  patent  had  not  issued  the  night  before  calling 
him  to  the  Lords.  Forster,  The  Grand  Remonstrance,  p.  279. 


PR^EMUNIRE.  153 

6.  Some  of  the  parliament  were  discontented  that  they 
wanted  places  at  court  which  others  had  got;  but  when 
they  had  them  once,  then  they  were  quiet.  Just  as  at  a 
christening,  some  that  get  no  sugar-plums,  when  the  rest 
have,  mutter  and  grumble;  presently  the  wench  comes 
again  with  her  basket  of  sugar-plums,  and  then  they 
catch  and  scramble,  and  when  they  have  got  them,  you 
hear  no  more  of  them. 


CXIII. 
PR^EMUNIRE. 

THERE  can  be  no  prcemunire.  A  prcemunire  (so  called  10 
from  the  word  prcemunire  facias]  was  when  a  man  laid  an 
action  in  an  ecclesiastical  court,  for  which  he  could  have 
remedy  in  any  of  the  king's  courts ;  that  is,  in  the  courts 
of  common  law ;  by  reason  the  ecclesiastical  courts  before 
Henry  the  8th  were  subordinate  to  the  pope,  and  so  it  was 

1.  10.  There  can  be  no  prcemunire}  This  statement,  as  reported,  is 
wider  than  the  facts  warrant ;  and  as  the  rest  of  the  chapter  shows,  is 
wider  than  Selden  meant  it  to  be.  He  is  probably  arguing  against 
Coke's  opinion  that  a  suitor  in  an  ecclesiastical  court  might  still  incur 
the  penalties  of  a  praemunire.  The  first  Statute  of  Praemunire,  that 
of  27  Edward  III  (A.  D.  1353),  headed  '  Statutum  contra  adnullatores 
judiciorum  curiae  Regis,3  enacts  that  all  subjects  suing  in  a  foreign 
court  for  matters  cognizable  in  the  King's  court,  or  questioning  else 
where  the  judgments  of  the  King's  court,  shall  have  warning  to 
answer  for  such  contempt,  and  on  non-appearance  shall  be  outlawed, 
forfeit  their  land  and  goods  and  be  imprisoned.  This  Act  was 
repeated  in  more  stringent  form  by  38  Edward  III  (1363-4),  but  the 
offence  against  which  the  two  Acts  were  directed  was  substantially 
the  same,  and  it  was  one  which,  as  Selden  points  out,  had  become 
impossible  in  his  time.  But  a  praemunire  there  still  was,  for  several 
other  named  offences,  to  which  the  old  penalties  of  a  praemunire  had 
been  attached  in  express  words.  See  Blackstone's  Comm.  Bk.  IV. 
ch.  viii. 


154  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

contra  coronam  et  dignitatem  regis  ;  but  now  the  ecclesias 
tical  courts  are  equally  subordinate  to  the  king.  Therefore 
it  cannot  be  contra  coronam  et  dignitatem  regis,  and  so  no 
prcemunire. 


CXIV. 

PREROGATIVE. 

1.  PREROGATIVE  is  something  that  can  be  told  what  it  is, 
not  something  that  has  no  name.    Just  as  you  see  the 
archbishop  has  his  prerogative  court,  but  we  know  what  is 
done  in  that  court.     So  the  king's  prerogative  is  not  his 

10  will,  or  what  divines  make  it,  a  power  to  do  what  he  lists. 

2.  The  king's  prerogative  ;  that  is,  the  king's  law.     For 
example,  if  you  ask  if  a  patron  may  present  to  a  living 
after  six  months  by  law?    I    answer,  No.      If  you  ask 
whether  the  king  may  ?     I  answer  he  may  by  his  preroga 
tive  ;  that  is,  by  the  law  that  concerns  him  in  that  case. 


cxv. 

PRESBYTERY. 

i.  THEY  that  would  bring  in  a  new  government,  would 
very  fain  persuade  us  they  meet  it  in  antiquity ;  thus  they 

1.  13.  If  you  ask  whether  the  king  may  &c.]  In  a  case  decided 
2  James  I,  it  was  held  that  the  King,  as  to  the  advowson,  hath  no 
greater  privilege  than  another  person.  This  judgment  was  reversed 
two  years  afterwards  on  the  ground  that  the  King  had  special  privilege. 
Croke,  Reports,  vol.  ii.  pp.  54,  123. 

This  later  decision  seems  to  be  based  on  the  general  principle 
that  'in  the  King  can  be  no  negligence  or  laches,  and  therefore  no 
delay  will  bar  his  right.  Nullum  tempus  occurrit  regi  has  been  the 
standing  maxim  upon  all  occasions.'  Blackstone,  Comm.  Bk.  I. 
ch.  vii. 


PREROGATIVE.- PRESBYTERY.  155 

interpret  presbyters,  when  they  meet  the  word  in  the 
fathers.  Other  professions  likewise  pretend  to  antiquity. 
The  alchymist  will  find  his  art  in  Virgil's  aureus  ramus, 
and  he  that  delights  in  optics,  will  find  them  in  Tacitus. 
When  Caesar  came  into  England  they  would  persuade  us 
they  had  perspective  glasses,  by  which  he  could  discover 
what  they  were  doing  upon  the  land ;  because  it  is  said, 
positts  speculis :  the  meaning  is,  his  watch  or  his  sentinel 
discovered  this  and  this  unto  him. 

1.  3.    Virgil's  aureus  ramus]     Aeneid,  vi.  136-148. 

Robertus  Vallensis,  in  his  De  Veritate  et  Antiquitate  Artis  Chemicae 
(Paris,  1561,  the  book  is  not  paged),  quotes  this  passage,  together  with 
some  others  from  Virgil,  as  if  it  proved  or  illustrated  something  in  his 
alchemical  art,  but  he  gives  no  precise  interpretation  to  it. 

Borrichius,  writing  a  little  before  Selden's  day,  says  of  the  lines : 
?  Haec  de  materia  chemici  magisterii  fudisse  cumaeam  vatem  opinio 
est  variorum,  quos  inter  Robertus  Vallensis,  Glauberus,  aliique ;  nee 
inficiendum  sub  illo  fabulae  involucre  arcanum  sensum  delitescere, 
forsan  Virgilio  ipsi,  qui  ex  alio  haec  mutuatus  est,  incognitum.'  The 
golden  bough  reminds  him  of  a  passage  in  Acosta  (Hist.  Nat.  lib.  iv. 
cap.  i),  in  which  the  veins  of  metal  are  compared  to  the  boughs  of 
plants,  in  their  form  and  in  the  manner  of  their  growth.  De  Ortu  et 
Progressu  Chemicae,  p.  101. 

Wedel,  a  later  writer,  mentions  and  approves  the  alchemical  inter 
pretation  of  the  lines :  '  Majori  fide  et  applausu  ad  se  nos  vocant 
chimicorum  filii,  qui  suum  faciunt  hunc  locum.  Hos  inter  praecipuus 
Robertus  Wallensis  ....  quern  secuti  hinc  non  pauci  alii.  Instar 
omnium  sit  Borrichius,  chimicae  decus  summum.'  See  Georgii 
Wolffgangi  Wedelii  propempticum  inaugurale  de  aureo  ramo 
Virgilii. 

1.  5.  When  Caesar  came  into  England  £c.]  See  'Possunt  sic  figurari 
perspicua  ut  longissime  posita  appareant  propinquissima  ....  Sic 
enim  aestimatur  Julius  Caesar  super  littus  maris  in  Galliis,  deprehen- 
disse  per  ingentia  specula  dispositionem  et  situm  castrorum  et 
civitatum  Britanniae  majoris.'  R.  Bacon,  Epistola  de  secretis  operibus 
artis  et  naturae,  cap.  5,  Brewer's  edition  of  Bacon's  Opera  inedita. 
And  again : '  Sic  enim  Julius  Caesar,  quando  voluit  Angliam  expugnare, 
repertur  maxima  specula  erexisse,  ut  a  Gallicano  littore  dispositionem 
civitatum  et  castrorum  Angliae  praevideret.'  R.  Bacon,  Opus  Majus, 
pars  v.  p.  357. 

1.  8.  positis  speculis}  There  is  some  difficulty  about  these  words. 
As  the  text  stands,  Selden  quotes  them  as  having  been  misinterpreted 


156  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

2.  Presbyters  have  the  greatest  power  of  any  clergy  iri 
the  world,  and  gull  the  laity  most :    for  example,  admit 
there  be  twelve  laymen  to  six  presbyters,  the  six  shall 
govern  the  rest  as  they  please.     First,  because  they  are 
constant,  and  the  others  come  in  like  churchwardens  in 
their  turns,  which  is  a  huge  advantage.     Men  will  give 
way  to  those  that  have  been  there  before  them.    Next,  the 
laymen  have  other  professions  to  follow ;  the  presbyters 
make  it  their  sole  business ;  and  besides  too,  they  learn 

10 and  study  the  art  of  persuading;  some  of  Geneva  have 
confessed  as  much. 

3.  The  presbyter,  with  his  elders  about  him,  is  like  a 
young  tree  fenced  about  with  three  or  four  stakes ;  the 
stakes  defend  it,  and  hold  it  up;  but  the  tree  only  prospers 
and  flourishes ;  it  may  be  some  willow-stake  may  bear  a 
leaf  or  two,  but  it  comes  to  nothing.   Lay-elders  are  stakes, 
the  presbyter  the  tree  that  flourishes. 

4.  When  the  queries  were  sent  to  the  assembly  con- 
by  Roger  Bacon,  or  by  some  other  writer,  and  he  then  adds  what  he 
considers  to  be  their  true  sense.     But  the  words  do  not  occur  in  any 
history  of  Caesar's  invasion  that  I  have  seen,  and  I  have  searched  for 
them  with  some  care.    Nor  do  they  seem  to  admit  of  the  sense  which 
Selden  is  reported  as  putting  upon  them.     I  think  it  likely  that  there 
has  been  some  error  in  the  report,  and  that  the  words  in  question  are 
a  free  rendering  of  what  Roger  Bacon  himself  says,  and  that  the  rest 
of  the  clause  ought  to  appear  as  Selden's  own  statement  of  the  real 
facts  of  the  case,  not  as  his  interpretation  of  what  '  positis  speculis' 
means. 

1.  18.  When  the  queries  were  sent  &c.]  The  power  of  the  Presbytery 
to  pass  sentence  of  excommunication  had  been  limited  by  the  final 
appeal  which  the  Parliament  allowed  to  a  body  of  lay  commissioners 
of  its  own  appointment.  The  Westminster  Assembly  of  Divines 
petitioned  against  this  appeal,  and  claimed  jure  divino  a  right  to  un 
controlled  spiritual  jurisdiction.  The  Parliament  in  reply  sent  them 
a  number  of  very  searching  queries,  drawn  up  by  a  Committee  of  the 
House,  touching  the  point  of  jus  divinum,  and  demanding  exact 
scriptural  proofs  for  it  (see  Excursus  E).  The  Assembly,  however, 
had  no  scriptural  proofs  ready,  and  they  were  in  a  great  fright  to 
know  what  to  do.  They  held  a  consultation,  they  proclaimed  a  fast, 


PRIESTS  OF  ROME.  157 

cerning  the  jus  divinum  of  presbytery,  their  asking  time  to 
answer  them,  was  a  satire  upon  themselves.  For  if  it  were 
to  be  seen  in  the  text,  they  might  quickly  turn  to  the  place 
and  shew  us  it.  Their  delaying  to  answer  makes  us  think 
there's  no  such  thing  there.  They  do  just  as  you  have 
seen  a  fellow  do  at  a  tavern  reckoning,  when  he  should 
come  to  pay  his  share ;  he  puts  his  hands  into  his  pockets, 
and  keeps  a  grabling  and  a  fumbling  and  shaking,  at  last 
tells  you  he  has  left  his  money  at  home;  when  all  the 
company  knew  at  first  he  had  no  money  there ;  for  every  10 
man  can  quickly  find  his  own  money. 


CXVI. 

PRIESTS  OF  ROME. 

i.  THE  reason  of  the  statute  against  priests,  was  this ;  in 
the  beginning  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  there  was  a  statute 

and  appointed  committees  of  their  own  body  to  prepare  an  answer. 
When  the  questions  came  before  the  committees,  first  the  Inde 
pendents  withdrew,  then  the  Erastians  entered  their  dissent  from  the 
answer  proposed  to  question  i,  and  at  length  a  form  of  words  was 
agreed  upon  by  a  majority  vote.  The  rest  of  the  questions  were 
discussed  from  May  till  late  in  July,  but  the  answers,  if  any,  were 
never  sent  to  Parliament,  and  the  matter  practically  dropped,  as  far 
as  the  Assembly  had  to  do  with  it.  Neal,  Hist,  of  Puritans,  iii.  253 
and  278.  See  Appendix,  Excursus  E. 

1.  14.  in  the  beginning  of  Queen  Elizabeth  &c.]  The  statutes,  of 
which  Selden  speaks,  strengthen  and  grow  precise  as  they  proceed. 
By  i  Elizabeth,  ch.  i,  sec.  27,  penalties  are  fixed  on  those  who 
maintain  or  depend  or  endeavour  to  advance  any  foreign  authority  in 
the  Queen's  dominions.  To  do  this  is  made  high  treason  on  the  third 
offence.  Then,  5  Elizabeth,  ch.  i,  sec.  2  enacts  more  particularly 
that  any  person  maintaining  the  authority  of  the  Bishop  of  Rome,  in 
any  part  of  the  Queen's  dominions,  shall  come  under  the  pains,  &c., 
of  the  statute  of  provisions  and  prsemunire  ;  and  shall  on  the  second 
offence  (sees.  10  and  n)  be  guilty  of  high  treason.  Next,  13  Eliza 
beth,  ch.  2  declares  that,  notwithstanding  the  above  statute,  divers 


i58  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

made,  that  he  that  drew  men  from  their  civil  obedience 
was  a  traitor.  It  happened  this  was  done  in  privacies  and 
confessions,  when  there  could  be  no  proof;  therefore 
they  made  another  act,  that  for  a  priest  to  be  in  England 
was  treason,  because  they  presumed  that  was  his  business 
here,  to  fetch  men  off  from  their  allegiance. 

2.  When  Queen  Elizabeth  died,  and  king  James  came 
in,    an    Irish  priest  does  thus   express  it :   Elizabethd  in 
orcum  detrusa,  successit  Jacobus,  alter  hcereticus. 

10     You  will  ask  why  they  do  use  such  language  in  their 
church  ? 

Answer.  Why  does  the  nurse  tell  the  child  of  raw-head 
and  bloody-bones  ?  To  keep  it  in  awe. 

3.  The   queen-mother   and   count   Rosset   are   to   the 
priests  and  Jesuits  like  the  honey-pot  to  the  flies. 

seditious  and  very  evil-disposed  people  have  procured  bulls  and 
writings  from  the  Bishop  of  Rome  to  absolve  all  those  that  will  be 
content  to  forsake  their  due  obedience  to  the  Queen ;  and  enacts  that 
such  people  shall  be  deemed  and  adjudged  high  traitors  to  the  Queen 
and  the  realm  and  shall  be  punished  by  death  and  forfeiture.  Then, 
23  Elizabeth,  ch.  i  makes  it  treason  for  any  one  to  withdraw  any 
or  to  be  himself  withdrawn  to  the  Romish  religion.  Lastly,  27  Eliza 
beth,  ch.  2  declares  that  divers  Jesuits,  seminary  priests  and  other 
priests  have  come  to  this  country  for  the  purpose  of  withdrawing 
men  from  their  due  obedience  to  her  Majesty;  and  enacts  that  all 
such  persons  are  to  leave  the  country,  and  that  if  being  natural  born 
subjects  of  the  Queen,  they  are  found  here  or  come  here,  they  shall 
suffer  the  penalties  of  high  treason. 

1.  14.  The  queen-mother  and  count  Rosset  &c.]  i.  e.  Mary  de  Medici, 
the  French  Queen-mother,  who  had  sought  a  refuge  at  the  English 
Court.  In  May  1641  the  Commons  resolved  to  suggest  to  the 
King — 'That  her  Majesty  be  moved  to  depart  this  kingdom,  the 
rather  for  the  quieting  of  those  jealousies  in  the  hearts  of  his  Majesty's 
well-affected  subjects,  occasioned  by  some  ill  instruments  about  the 
Queen's  person,  by  the  flowing  of  priests  and  papists  to  her  house,' 
&c.,  &c.  House  of  Commons'  Journals,  ii.  149. 

Hobbes,  in  the  Behemoth  (pt.  ii.  beginning"),  after  speaking  of  the 
belief,  encouraged  by  the  Parliamentary  party,  that  it  was  the  King's 
purpose  to  introduce  popery,  goes  on  to  say  that — '  the  colour  they 
had  for  this  slander  was,  first  that  there  was  one  Rosetti,  resident,  at 


PROPHECIES.— PROVERBS.  159 

4.  The  priests  of  Rome  aim  but  at  two  things,  to  get 
power  from  the  king,  and  money  from  the  subject. 

5.  When  the  priests  come  into  a  family,  they  do  as  a 
man  that  would  set  fire  on  a  house  :  he  does  not  put  fire 
to  the  brick-wall,  but  thrusts  it  into  the  thatch.    They 
work  upon  the  women  and  let  the  men  alone. 

6.  For  a  priest  to  turn  a  man  when  he  lies  a  dying,  is 
just  like  one  that  has  a  long  time  solicited  a  woman,  and 
cannot  obtain  his  end;   at  length  makes  her  drunk,  and 
so  lies  with  her. 


CXVII. 

PROPHECIES. 

DREAMS  and  prophecies  do  thus  much  good ;  they  make 
a  man  go  on  with  boldness  and  courage,  upon  a  danger  or 
a  mistress ;  if  he  obtain,  he  attributes  much  to  them  ;  if  he 
miscarries,  he  thinks  no  more  of  them,  or  is  no  more 
thought  of  himself. 


CXVIII. 
PROVERBS. 

THE  proverbs  of  several  nations  were  much  studied  by 
bishop  Andrews ;  and  the  reason  he  gave  was,  because  by 

and  a  little  before  that  time,  from  the  Pope,  with  the  Queen  .... 
Also  the  resort  of  English  Catholics  to  the  Queen's  chapel,  gave 
them  colour  to  blame  the  Queen  herself,  not  only  for  that,  but 
also  for  all  the  favours  that  had  been  shown  to  the  Catholics.' 

See  also  a  letter  from  Secretary  Windebank  to  the  King  (Sep.  7, 1640). 
'  I  most  humbly  beseech  your  Majesty  to  give  me  leave  to  propose 
your  writing  to  the  Queen  that  Rosetti  may  be  advised  to  retire  into 
France,  or  some  other  foreign  part,  for  awhile,  and  that  the  Capuchins 
may  likewise  disperse,'  &c.  Clarendon's  State  Papers,  vol.  ii.  p.  113. 


160  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

them  he  knew  the  minds  of  several  nations,  which  is  a 
brave  thing  :  as  we  count  him  a  wise  man  that  knows  the 
minds  and  insides  of  men,  which  is  done  by  knowing  what 
is  habitual  to  them.  Proverbs  are  habitual  to  a  nation 
being  transmitted  from  father  to  son. 


CXIX. 

QUESTION. 

WHEN  a  doubt  is  propounded,  you  must  learn  to  dis 
tinguish,  and  shew  wherein  a  thing  holds,  and  wherein 
it  does  not  hold.  Aye,  or  no  *,  never  answered  any  ques- 
10  tion.  The  not  distinguishing  where  things  should  be  dis 
tinguished,  and  the  not  confounding,  where  things  should 
be  confounded,  is  the  cause  of  all  the  mistakes  in  the 
world. 


cxx. 

REASON. 

1.  IN  giving  reasons,  men  commonly  do  with  us  as  the 
woman  does  with  her  child ;    when  she  goes  to  market 
about  her  business,  she  tells  it  she  goes  to  buy  it  a  fine 
thing,  to  buy  it  a  cake,  or  some  plums.     They  give  us 
such  reasons  as  they  think  we  will  be  catched  withal,  but 

20  never  let  us  know  the  truth. 

2.  When  the  schoolmen  talk  of  recta  ratio  in  morals, 

1  Aye  or  no]  I  or  no,  MSS. 

1.  21.  When  the  schoolmen  talk  &c.]  Selden  follows  here  the  same 
line  of  thought  as  when  he  says  that  the  Law  of  Nature  means  only 
the  Law  of  God  (p.  101).  He  urges,  in  effect,  that  moral  rules  must  be 
based  on  positive  law,  human  or  divine,  and  that  without  this  they 
have  no  sanction  or  meaning. 


QUESTION.  —  RELIGION.  161 

either  they  understand  reason,  as  'tis  governed  by 
a  command  from  above;  or  else  they  say  no  more  than 
a  woman,  when  she  says  a  thing  is  so,  because  it  is  so ; 
that  is,  her  reason  persuades  her  it  is  so.  The  other 
acception  has  sense  in  it.  As  take  a  law  of  the  land,  I 
must  not  depopulate;  my  reason  tells  me  so.  Why? 
because  if  I  do,  I  incur  the  detriment. 

3.  The  reason  of  a  thing  is  not  to  be  enquired  after,  till 
you  are  sure  the  thing  itself  is  so.  We  commonly  are  at 
what's  the  reason  of  it  ?  before  we  are  sure  of  the  thing.  10 
It  was  an  excellent  question  of  my  lady  Cotton,  when  Sir 
Robert  Cotton  was  magnifying  of  a  shoe,  which  was  Moses's 
or  Noah's,  and  wondering  at  the  strange  shape  and  fashion 
of  it :  But,  Mr.  Cotton,  says  she,  are  you  sure  it  is  a  shoe  ? 


CXXI. 

RELIGION. 

1.  KING  James  said  to  the  fly,  Have  I  three  kingdoms, 
and  thou  must  needs  fly  into  my  eye  ?   Is  there  not  enough 
to  meddle  withal  upon  the  stage,  or  in  love,  or  at  the  table, 
but  religion  ? 

2.  Religion  amongst  men  appears  to  me  like  the  learning  20 
they  got  at  school.     Some  men  forget  all,  others  spend 
upon  the  stock,  and  some  improve  it.    So  some  men  forget 
all  the  religion  that  was  taught  them  when  they  were  young, 
others  spend  upon  that  stock,  and  some  improve  it. 

3.  Religion  is  like  the   fashion;   one   man  wears   his 
doublet  slashed,  another  laced,  another  plain ;  but  every 
man  has  a  doublet :  so  every  man  has  his  religion.    We 
differ  about  the  trimming. 

4.  Men  say  they  are  of  the  same  religion  for  quietness' 
sake ;  but  if  the  matter  were  well  examined,  you  would  30 

M 


162  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

scarce  find  three  anywhere  of  the  same  religion  in  all 
points. 

5.  Every  religion  is  a  getting  religion;   for  though  I 
myself  get  nothing,  I  am  subordinate  to  them  that  do.    So 
you  may  find  a  lawyer  in  the  Temple  that  gets  little  for  the 
present ;  but  he  is  fitting  himself  to  be  in  time  one  of  those 
great  ones  that  do  get. 

6.  Alteration  of  religion  is  dangerous,  because  we  know 
not  where  it  will  stay ;  it  is  like  a  millstone  that  lies  upon 

10  the  top  of  a  pair  of  stairs ;  'tis  hard  to  remove  it,  but  if  it 
once  be  thrust  off  the  first  stair,  it  never  stays  till  it  comes 
to  the  bottom. 

7.  Question.  Whether  is   the   church    or  the  scripture 
judge  of  religion  ? 

Answer.  In  truth  neither,  but  the  state.  I  am  troubled 
with  a  boil ;  I  call  a  company  of  surgeons  about  me  ;  one 
prescribes  one  thing,  another  another ;  I  single  out  some 
thing  I  like,  and  ask  you  that  stand  by,  and  are  no  surgeon, 
what  you  think  of  it :  you  like  it  too ;  you  and  I  are  the 
aojudges  of  the  plaister,  and  we  bid  them  prepare  it,  and 
there's  an  end.  Thus  'tis  in  religion  ;  the  protestants  say 
they  will  be  judged  by  the  scripture ;  the  papists  they  say 
so  too ;  but  that  cannot  speak.  A  judge  is  no  judge,  except 
he  can  both  speak  and  command  execution :  but  the  truth 
is,  they  never  intend  to  agree.  No  doubt  the  pope,  where 
he  is  supreme,  is  to  be  judge;  if  he  says  we  in  England 
ought  to  be  subject  to  him,  then  he  must  draw  his  sword 
and  make  it  good. 

8.  By  the  law  was  the  Manual  received  in  the  church 

1. 29.  the  Manual]  was  one  of  the  many  service-books  in  use  before 
the  Reformation.  See  e.  g.  a  decree  of  a  synod  at  Exeter  (1287),  giving 
a  list  of  books  with  which  every  church  was  to  be  furnished,  viz. 
missale  bonum,  gradale,  troparium,  manuale  bonum,  legenda,  anti- 
phonale,  psalteria,  ordinale,  venitare  ympnare,  collectare.  Wilkins, 
Concilia,  ii.  139. 

The  manual  contained  the  offices  and  rites  and  ceremonies  which 


RELIGION.  163 

before  the  Reformation.  Not  by  the  civil  law,  that  had 
nothing  to  do  with  it;  nor  by  the  canon  law,  for. that 
Manual  that  was  here,  was  not  in  France,  nor  in  Spain ; 
but  by  custom,  which  is  the  common  law  of  England  ;  and 
custom  is  but  the  elder  brother  to  a  parliament ;  and  so  it 
will  fall  out  to  be  nothing  that  the  papists  say ;  that  ours  is 
a  parliamentary  religion,  by  reason  the  service-book  was 
established  by  act  of  parliament,  and  never  any  service- 
book  was  so  before.  That  will  be  nothing  that  the  pope 
sent  the  Manual.  'Twas  ours,  because  the  state  received  10 
it.  The  state  still  makes  the  religion,  and  receives  into  it, 
what  will  best  agree  with  it.  Why  are  the  Venetians 
Roman  Catholics  ?  Because  the  state  likes  the  religion. 
All  the  world  knows  they  care  not  three-pence  for  the  pope. 
The  Council  of  Trent  is  not  admitted  at  this  day  in  France. 

9.  Papist.  Where  was  your  religion  before  Luther,  an 
hundred  years  ago  ? 

Protestant.  Where  was  America  an  hundred  or  six-score 
years  ago?  Our  religion  was  where  the  rest  of  the  Christian 
Church  was.  20 

Papist.  Our  religion  continued  ever  since  the  Apostles, 
and  therefore  'tis  the  better. 

Protestant.  So  did  ours.  That  there  was  an  interruption 
in  it,  will  fall  out  to  be  nothing ;  no  more  than  if  another 
earl  should  tell  one  of  the  earls  of  Kent;  He  is  a  better 
earl  than  he,  because  there  was  one  or  two  of  the  family  of 

a  parish  priest  in  the  discharge  of  his  ordinary  duties  would  be  called 
upon  to  perform,  and  a  variety  of  other  offices  less  frequently  needed. 
Maskell,  in  the  preface  to  his  Monumenta  Ritualia,  ch.  v,  gives  a 
copy  of  the  table  of  contents  of  the  manual  according  to  the  Salisbury 
use.  They  were  not  quite  the  same  as  those  in  use  elsewhere,  but 
the  claim  and  belief  of  Roman  Catholic  writers  is  that  together  with 
the  other  devotional  books  in  public  use,  they  represent,  substantially 
and  very  closely,  the  forms  which  Augustine  received  from  Pope 
Gregory,  when  he  set  out  on  his  English  mission. 

Selden  appears  to  use  the  word  'manual'  here  as  equivalent  to 
service-book  of  every  kind. 

M  2 


164  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

Kent  did  not  take  the  title  upon  them ;  yet  all  that  while 
they  were  really  earls;  and  afterwards  a  great  prince 
declared  them  to  be  earls  of  Kent,  as  he  that  made  the 
other  family  an  earl. 

10.  Disputes  in  religion  will  never  be  ended,  because 
there  wants  a  measure  by  which  the  business  should  be 
decided.  The  Puritan  would  be  judged  by  the  word  of 
God :  if  he  would  speak  clearly,  he  means  himself,  but  that 
he  is  ashamed  to  say  so ;  and  he  would  have  me  believe 
10  him  before  a  whole  church,  that  have  read  the  word  of  God 
as  well  as  he.  One  says  one  thing,  and  another  another ; 
and  there  is,  I  say,  no  measure  to  end  the  controversy. 
'Tis  just  as  if  two  men  were  at  bowls,  and  both  judged  by 
the  eye :  one  says  'tis  his  cast,  the  other  says  'tis  my  cast  ; 
and  having  no  measure,  the  difference  is  eternal.  Ben 
Jonson  satirically  expressed  the  vain  disputes  of  divines 
by  Rabbi  Busy  disputing  with  a  puppet  in  his  Bartholomew 

1.  2.  a  great  prince]  so  in  MSS.  and  early  editions.  Some  later 
editions  read  'as  great  a  prince.' 

1.  17.  Rabbi  Busy  disputing  &c.]  The  dispute  referred  to  is 
between  Rabbi  Busy  and  a  puppet  belonging  to  Lanthorn  Leather- 
head,  see  Barthol.  Fair,  Act  v.  sc.  3.  There  are  various  readings  of 
the  text  of  the  Table  Talk.  The  Harleian  MS.  690,  gives—'  Inigo 
Lanthorne  disputing  with  a  puppet  in  Bartholomew  Fair.'  The  Sloane 
MS.  2513  reads,  'in  his  Bartholomew  Fair,'  but  otherwise  agrees  with 
Harleian  690.  The  early  printed  editions  read — '  Inigo  Lanthorne 
disputing  with  his  puppet  in  a  Bartholomew  Fair.'  The  reading 
which  I  have  followed — that  of  Harleian  MS.  1315 — is  the  only  one 
which  is  not  obviously  incorrect.  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  the 
original  reading  may  have  been  '  Rabbi  Busy  disputing  with  Inigo 
Lanthorne  his  puppet,  in  his  (sc.  Ben  Jonson's)  Bartholomew  Fair,' 
and  that  this  has  been  cut  down  and  changed  into  the  various  forms 
given  above.  Inigo  Lanthorne  is  of  course  a  half-way  name  between 
Lanthorne  Leatherhead  and  Inigo  Jones,  who  is  assumed  to  have 
been  satirized  by  Jonson  under  the  name  of  Lanthorne  Leatherhead. 
Ben  Jonson  and  Inigo  Jones  were  for  many  years  fellow-workers 
for  the  stage,  Jonson  contributing  the  words  of  the  masque  or  play, 
and  Jones  undertaking  the  scenery  and  stage-properties.  This  un 
equal  partnership  lasted  for  more  than  ten  years  after  Bartholomew 
Fair  was  brought  out  (1614).  How  sharply  they  quarrelled  afterwards, 


RELIGION.  165 

fair.  It  is  so :  it  is  not  so :  it  is  so :  it  is  not  so ;  crying  thus 
one  to  another  a  quarter  of  an  hour  together. 

11.  In  matters  of  religion,  to  be  ruled  by  one  that  writes 
against  his  adversary,  and  throws  all  the  dirt  he  can  in  his 
face,  is,  as  if  in  point  of  good  manners  a  man  should  be 
governed  by  one  whom  he  sees  at  cuffs  with  another,  and 
thereupon  thinks  himself  bound  to  give  the  next  man  he 
meets  a  box  on  the  ear. 

12.  It  is  to  no  purpose  to  labour  to  reconcile  religions, 
when  the  interest  of  princes  will  not  suffer  it.     'Tis  well  ifio 
they  would  be  reconciled  so  far,  that  they  should  not  cut 
one  another's  throats. 

13.  There  is  all  the  reason  in  the  world  divines  should 
not  be  suffered  to  go  a  hair's  breadth  beyond  their  bounds, 
for  fear  of  breeding  confusion,  since  there  now  be  so  many 
religions  on  foot.     The  matter  was  not  so  narrowly  to  be 
looked  after  when  there  was  but  one  religion  in  Christen 
dom  ;  the  rest  would  cry  him  down  for  an  heretic,  and  there 
was  nobody  to  side  with  him. 

14.  We  look  after  religion,  as  the  butcher  did  after  his  20 
knife,  when  he  had  it  in  his  mouth. 

15.  Religion  is  made  a  juggler's  paper;  now 'tis  a  horse, 
now  'tis  a  lanthorn,  now  'tis  a  boat,  now  'tis  a  man.     To 
serve  ends,  religion  is  turned  into  all  shapes. 

16.  Some  men's  pretending  religion,  is  like  the  roaring 
boys'  way  of  challenges  :  (their  reputation  is  dear,  it  cannot 

and  what  a  mean  opinion  Ben  Jonson  had  of  his  old  partner,  may  be 
seen  from  inter  alia  his  '  Expostulation  with  Inigo  Jones '  and  his 
verses  ( To  Inigo  Marquis-would-be,'  in  which  Inigo  Jones  is  held  up 
to  ridicule  as  a  mere  stage-property-man  and  puppet-play  presenter 
and  would-be  poet,  very  much  as  Lanthorn  Leatherhead  is  shown  in 
Bartholomew  Fair.  The  resemblance  between  the  two,  as  Ben  Jonson 
has  drawn  them,  is  certain  ;  their  intended  identification  is  almost 
certain.  Selden  knew  Ben  Jonson  intimately,  and  if  the  words  '  Inigo 
Lanthorne'  ever  came  from  Selden's  mouth,  the  proof  may  be 
regarded  as  complete. 

1.  25.   like  the  roaring  boys  &c.]    In  Overbury's  Characters, '  A  roaring 


166  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

stand  with  the  honour  of  a  gentleman  :)  when,  God  knows, 
they  have  neither  reputation  nor  honour  about  them. 

17.  Pretending  religion  and  the  law  of  God,  is  to  set  all 
things  loose.    When  a  man  has  no  mind  to  do  something 
he  ought  to  do  by  his  contract  with  man,  then  he  gets  a 
text,  and  interprets  it  as  he  pleases,  and  so  thinks  to  get 
loose. 

18.  We  talk  much  of  settling  religion.     Religion  is  well 
enough  settled  already,  if  we  would  let  it  alone.    Methinks 

10  we  might  look  after,  &c. 

19.  If  men  should   say  they  took  arms   for  anything 

Boy '  is  represented  as  a  bullying  cheating  fellow.  *  He  sends  chal 
lenges  by  word  of  mouth  ;  for  he  protests  (as  he  is  a  gentleman  and 
brother  of  the  sword)  he  can  neither  read  nor  write  ....  Soldier 
he  is  none,  for  he  cannot  distinguish  between  onion-seed  and  gun 
powder  :  if  he  has  worn  it  in  his  hollow  tooth  for  the  tooth-ache,  and 
so  come  to  the  knowledge  of  it,  that's  all.'  Overbury,  Miscell.  Works, 
p.  173  (ed.  1756). 

In  the  old  play,  Amends  for  Ladies,  Act  iii.  sc.  4,  Whorebang, 
Bots,  Tearchaps,  and  Spillblood  appear  as  '  Roarers,'  i.  e.  as  noisy, 
cowardly  bullies.  Hazlitt's  Old  English  Plays,  vol.  xi. 

In  the  Dramatis  Personae  of  Bartholomew  Fair,  Val.  Cutting  is 
described  as  a  Roarer  or  Bully. 

His  honour,  his  reputation,  are  words  frequently  in  Bobadil's 
mouth  (Every  man  in  his  Humour). 

1.  ii.  If  men  should  say  &c.]  A  care  for  religion  was  a  chief  reason 
alleged  in  the  Declaration  of  the  Kingdom  of  Scotland  to  justify  their 
expedition  into  England  in  1643.  They  said  *  It  was  most  necessary 
that  every  one,  against  all  doubting,  should  be  persuaded  in  his  mind 
....  of  the  goodness  of  the  cause  maintained  by  him ;  which  they 
said  was  no  other  than  the  good  of  religion  in  England,  and  the 
deliverance  of  their  brethren  out  of  the  depths  of  affliction  ;  the  pre 
servation  of  their  own  religion,  and  of  themselves  from  the  extremity 
of  misery.'  They  trusted,  therefore,  *  that  the  Lord  would  save  them 
from  the  curse  of  Meroz,  who  came  not  to  help  the  Lord  against  the 
mighty.'  There  is  much  more  to  the  same  effect  in  this  Declaration, 
and  in  a  joint  Declaration  put  out  at  the  same  time  in  the  name  of  both 
kingdoms,  England  and  Scotland.  *  Their  confidence  was  in  God 
Almighty,  the  Lord  of  Hosts  ...  It  was  his  own  truth  and  cause 
which  they  maintained  against  the  heresy,  superstition,  and  tyranny 
of  Anti- Christ :  the  glory  of  his  name,  the  exaltation  of  the  kingdom 


NON-RESIDENCY.  167 

but  religion,  they  might  be  beaten  out  of  it  by  reason  ;  out 
of  that  they  never  can,  for  they  will  not  believe  you  what 
ever  you  say. 

20.  The  very  arcanum  of  pretending  religion  in  all  wars 
is,  that  something  may  be  found  out  in  which  all  men 
may  have  interest.  In  this  the  groom  has  as  much 
interest  as  the  lord.  Were  it  for  land,  one  has  one  thou 
sand  acres,  and  the  other  but  one ;  he  would  not  venture 
so  far,  as  he  that  has  a  thousand.  But  religion  is  equal  to 
both.  Had  all  men  land  alike,  by  a  lex  agraria,  then  all  10 
men  would  say  they  fought  for  land. 


CXXII. 

NON-RESIDENCY. 

i.  THE  people  thought  they  had  a  great  victory  over  the 
clergy,  when  in  Henry  Sth's1  time  they  got  their  bill  passed, 
that  a  clergyman  should  have  but  two  livings ;  before,  a 
man  might  have  twenty  or  thirty ;  'twas  but  getting  a  dis 
pensation  from  the  pope's  limitor,  or  gatherer  of  the  Peter- 

1  Henry  Sth's,  H.  2]  H.  8th's  in  H. 

of  his  Son,  and  the  preservation  of  his  church,  was  their  aim,  and  the 
end  which  they  had  before  their  eyes.'  Clarendon,  Hist.  ii.  667  ff. 

1.  4.  The  very  arcanum  &c.]  '  The  great  pretences  (in  an  alleged 
design  against  episcopacy  and  monarchy)  were  liberty,  property  and 
religion ;  for,  as  Mr.  Hambden,  one  of  the  principal  grandees  of  the 
faction,  told  a  private  friend,  without  that  they  could  not  draw  the 
people  to  assist  them.'  Nalson,  Collections,  ii.  234. 

1.  15.  that  a  clergyman  should  have  &c.]  The  Act  against  pluralities 
(21  Henry  VIII,  ch.  13)  enacts  that  if  a  clerk,  holding  a  living  worth 
£8  a  year,  takes  another  cure,  his  original  living  becomes  ipso  facto 
void.  But  there  are  numerous  exceptions  to  this  rule.  Vested  rights 
are  respected  in  the  case  of  actual  holders  of  not  more  than  four  cures  ; 
and  certain  named  classes  and  orders  are  allowed  for  the  future  to 
hold,  some  three,  some  two  cures. 


i68  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

pence,  which  was  as  easily  got,  as  now  you  may  have  a 
licence  to  eat  flesh. 

2.  As  soon  as  a  minister  is  made,  he  hath  power  to  preach 
all  over  the  world ;  but  the  civil  power  restrains  him ;  he 
cannot  preach  in  this  parish  or  in  that ;  there  is  one  already 
appointed.  Now  if  the  state  allows  him  two  livings,  then 
he  has  two  places  where  he  may  exercise  his  function,  and 
so  has  the  more  power  to  do  his  office,  which  he  might  do 
every  where  if  he  were  not  restrained. 


CXXIII. 
10  RETALIATION. 

An  eye  for  an  eye,  and  a  tooth  for  a  tooth.  That  does  not 
mean,  that  if  I  put  out  another  man's  eye,  therefore  I  must 
lose  one  of  my  own,  (for  what  is  he  the  better  for  that  ?) 
though  this  be  commonly  received ;  but  it  means,  that 
I  shall  give  him  what  satisfaction  an  eye  shall  be  judged 
to  be  worth. 


CXXIV. 

REVERENCE. 

7Tis  sometimes  unreasonable  to  look  after  respect  and 
reverence,  either  from  a  man's  own  servants,  or  from  other 
20  inferiors.  A  great  lord  and  a  gentleman  talking  together, 
there  came  a  boy  by,  leading  a  calf  with  both  his  hands ; 
says  the  lord  to  the  gentleman,  You  shall  see  me  make  the 
boy  let  go  his  calf;  with  that  he  came  towards  him,  thinking 

1.  3.    As  soon  as  a  minister  is  made  &c.]     See  *  Minister  Divine/ 
sec.  4. 


RETALIATION.  — SABBATH.  169 

the  boy  would  have  put  off  his  hat,  but  the  boy  took  no 
notice  of  him.  The  lord  seeing  that,  Sirrah,  says  he,  do 
not  you  know  me,  that  you  use  no  reverence  ?  Yes,  says 
the  boy,  if  your  lordship  will  hold  my  calf,  I  will  put  off 
my  hat. 


cxxv. 

SABBATH. 

WHY  should  I  think  all  the  fourth  commandment  be 
longs  to  me,  when  all  the  fifth  does  not  ?  What  land  will 

1.  7.  Why  should  I  think  £c.]  The  right  way  of  keeping  Sunday 
was  among  the  standing  points  of  dispute  between  High  and  Low 
Church,  between  the  Anglican  party  and  the  Puritans.  Selden,  who 
belonged  to  neither  side,  follows  his  usual  rule — 7r<?pi  iravrbs  rf]v  e\ev- 
Bepiav,  and  pronounces  against  strict  Sabbath  observances.  The 
controversy  had  become  marked  towards  the  latter  part  of  Queen 
Elizabeth's  reign,  when  Sunday,  which  used  to  be  the  regular  day 
for  games,  dances  and  sports,  began  to  be  kept  more  precisely.  The 
governing  clergy  exclaimed  against  the  change.  Archbishop  Whitgift 
and  Chief  Justice  Popham  did  what  they  could  to  put  down  current 
Sabbatarian  writings,  and  declared  that  the  Sabbath  doctrine  agreed 
neither  with  the  teaching  of  the  Church  nor  with  the  laws  and  orders 
of  the  kingdom.  In  1618,  James  put  out  his  declaration  concerning 
lawful  sports  to  be  used  on  Sundays  after  divine  service ;  and  in  1635 
it  was  ratified  and  republished  by  Charles,  at  Laud's  instigation,  and 
encouragement  was  given  to  May  Games,  Whitsun  Ales,  and  the  like. 
But  with  the  rise  of  the  Presbyterian  party,  all  this  was  changed. 
On  March  5,  1641,  Dr.  Bray  was  sent  for  to  the  bar  of  the  House  of 
Lords  for  having  licensed  Dr.  Pocklington's  books,  called  Sunday  no 
Sabbath  and  Altare  Christianum,  and  he  acknowledged  his  offence 
and  expressed  regret  for  it.  The  obnoxious  books  were  ordered 
to  be  publicly  burned.  On  May  5,  1643,  it  was  ordered  by  the  Lords 
and  Commons  in  Parliament  that  the  book,  concerning  the  enjoining 
and  tolerating  sports  on  the  Lord's  day,  be  forthwith  burned  by  the 
hand  of  the  common  hangman  in  Cheapside  and  other  usual  places. 
That  this  was  in  agreement  with  the  popular  sentiment  of  the  day  is 
clear  from  Baxter's  statement,  that  the  publication  of  this  book  by  the 
Bishops  was  one  of  the  reasons  why  '  serious  godly  people  had  been 
alienated  from  them,  and  had  thought  that  they  concurred  with  the 
profane.'  Laud's  share  in  publishing  this  book  and  in  punishing 


170  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

the  Lord  give  me  for  honouring  my  father?  It  was 
spoken  to  the  Jews  with  reference  to  the  land  of  Canaan  ; 
but  the  meaning  is,  if  I  honour  my  parents,  God  will  also 
bless  me.  We  read  the  commandments  in  the  church- 
service,  as  we  do  David's  Psalms ;  not  that  all  there 
concerns  us,  but  a  great  deal  of  them  does. 


CXXVI. 

SACRAMENT. 

1.  CHRIST    suffered  Judas    to    take    the    communion. 
Those  ministers  that  keep  their  parishioners  from  it,  be- 

10  cause  they  will  not  do  as  they  will  have  them,  revenge, 
rather  than  reform. 

2.  No  man  living  can  tell  whether  I  am  fit  to  receive 
the  sacrament ;  for  though  I  were  fit  the  day  before,  when 
he  examined  me,  at  least  appeared  so  to  him,  yet  how  can 
he  tell  what  sin  I  have  committed  that  night,  or  the  next 
morning,  or  what  impious  atheistical  thoughts  I  may  have 
about  me,  when  I  am  approaching  to  the  very  table  ? 


CXXVII. 

SALVATION. 

WE  may  best  understand  the  meaning  of  wrrjpta,  salva- 

2otwn,  from  the  Jews,  to  whom  the  Saviour  was  promised. 

They  held  that  themselves  should  have  the  chief  place  of 

happiness  in  the  other  world ;  but  the  gentiles  that  were 

ministers  for  not  reading  it  in  church,  was  among  the  charges  brought 
against  him  at  his  trial.  See  Rushworth,  Collections,  ii.  193,  iv.  207, 
v.  317.  Fuller,  Hist,  of  Church,  xvii.  xi.  32.  Baxter's  Life,  p.  33. 
Laud's  Works,  iv.  251-3. 


SACRAMENT.  — SIMONY.  171 

good  men,  should  likewise  have  their  portion  of  bliss  there 
too.  Now  by  Christ  the  partition-wall  is  broken  down, 
and  the  gentiles  that  believe  in  him,  are  admitted  to  the 
same  place  of  bliss  with  the  Jews.  And  why  then  should 
not  that  portion  of  happiness  still  remain  to  them  who  do 
not  believe  in  Christ,  so  they  be  morally  good  ?  This  is 
a  charitable  opinion. 


CXXVIII. 

SHIP-MONEY. 

1.  MR.  NOY  brought  in  ship-money  first  for  maritime 
towns;   but  that  was  like  putting  in  a  little  auger,  that™ 
afterwards  you  may  put  in  a  greater.     He  that  pulls  down 
the  first  brick,  does  the  main  work,  afterwards  'tis  easy  to 
pull  down  the  wall. 

2.  They  that  at  first  would  not  pay  ship-money,  till  it 
was  decided,  did  like  brave  men,  though  perhaps  they  did 
no  good  by  the  trial ;  but  they  that  stand  out  since,  and 
suffer  themselves  to  be  distrained,  never  questioning  those 
that  do  it,  do  pitifully ;  for  so  they  only  pay  twice  as  much 
as  they  should. 


CXXIX. 

SIMONY. 
THE  name  of  simony  was  begot  in  the  canon  law :   the 

1.  9.  Mr.  Noy  brought  in  &c.]  '  The  King  required  a  loan  of  money 
and  sent  to  London  and  the  port  towns  to  furnish  ships  for  guard  of 
the  sea.  Noy,  his  attorney,  a  great  antiquary,  had  much  to  do  in  this 
business  of  ship-money.'  Whitelock's  Memorials,  p.  7,  in  ann.  1626. 

Next,  '  by  advice  of  his  privy  council  and  council  learned,  the  King 
requires  ship-money.  The  writ  for  it  was  at  first  but  to  maritime 
towns  and  counties ;  but  that  not  sufficing,  other  writs  were  issued 
out  to  all  counties  to  levy  ship-money.'  Ib.,  p.  22,  in  ann.  1634. 


i;a  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

first  statute  against  it  was  in  Queen  Elizabeth's  time. 
Since  the  reformation  simony  has  been  frequent :  one 
reason  why  it  was  not  practised  in  time  of  popery,  was  the 
pope's  provisions :  no  man  was  sure  to  bestow  his  own 
benefice. 


cxxx. 

STATE. 

IN  a  troubled  state  save  as  much  of  your  own  as  you 
can.  A  dog  had  been  at  market  to  buy  a  shoulder  of 
mutton ;  coming  home,  he  met  two  dogs  by  the  way,  that 
10  quarrelled  with  him ;  he  laid  down  his  shoulder  of  mutton, 
and  fell  to  fighting  with  one  of  them ;  in  the  meantime  the 
other  dog  fell  to  eating  his  mutton ;  he  seeing  that,  left 
the  dog  he  was  fighting  with,  and  fell  upon  him  that  was 
eating ;  then  the  other  dog  fell  to  eat ;  when  he  perceived 
there  was  no  remedy,  but  which  of  them  soever  he  was 
fighting  withal,  his  mutton  was  in  danger,  he  thought  he 
would  save  as  much  of  it  as  he  could;  and  thereupon 
gave  over  fighting,  and  fell  to  eating  himself. 

1.  i.  the  first  statute  against  it  &c.]  This  was  31  Elizabeth,  ch.  6, 
sees.  4  and  5,  which  declares  void  all  simoniacal  presentations  to 
benefices  :  and  enacts,  further,  that  in  case  of  simony,  the  presenta 
tion  devolves  to  the  crown,  and  that  both  parties  to  the  transaction 
incur  a  fine  of  double  the  yearly  value  of  the  benefice. 

1.  2.  one  reason  why  &c.]  That  the  Pope  used  to  present  to 
benefices  in  this  country  appears  by,  e.  g.,  the  Statutes  passed  to 
forbid  it.  The  Statute  of  Provisors,  25  Edward  III,  enacts  that  if  the 
Pope  tries  to  appoint,  the  King  shall  present,  and  counterclaimants 
to  the  King's  presentment  are  made  liable  to  fine  and  imprisonment. 
So  in  1 6  Richard  II,  the  Pope  is  said  to  have  proposed  inter  alia  to 
translate  prelates  out  of  the  realm,  or  from  one  living  to  another. 
All  procuring  such  translations  are  put  out  of  the  King's  protection, 
forfeit  lands  and  goods,  and  are  brought  to  answer  for  it  under  former 
statutes. 


STATE.  -  SUPERSTITION.  173 

CXXXI. 

SUBSIDIES. 

1.  HERETOFORE  the  parliament  was  wary  what  subsidies 
they  gave  to  the  king,  because  they  had  no  accounts  ;  but 
now  they  care  not  how  much  they  give  of  the  subjects' 
money,  because  they  give  it  with  one  hand  and  receive  it 
with  the  other ;  and  so  upon  the  matter  give  it  themselves. 
In  the  meantime  what  a  case  the  subjects  of  England  are 
in!     If  the  men  they  have  sent  to  the  parliament  mis 
behave  themselves,  they  cannot  help  it,  because  the  par 
liament  is  eternal.  10 

2.  A  subsidy  was  counted   the   fifth   part  of  a  man's 
estate,  and  so  fifty  subsidies  is  five  and  forty  times  more 
than  a  man  is  worth. 


CXXXII. 

SUPERSTITION. 
i.  THEY  that  are  against  superstition,  oftentimes  run 

1.  3.  but  now  they  care  not  £c.]  This  change  was  one  of  the  first 
acts  of  the  second  Parliament  of  1640.  When  they  raised  money  they 
did  not  follow  what  had  been  the  usual  way,  of  giving  it  immediately 
to  the  King,  to  be  paid  into  the  exchequer,  but  provided  for  its  pay 
ment  into  the  hands  of  members  of  the  House,  named  by  them,  who 
were  to  take  care  to  discharge  all  public  engagements.  The  King 
allowed  the  first  money  bill  to  pass  with  the  names  of  Commissioners 
inserted  in  it,  who  were  to  receive  and  dispense  the  money;  and 
from  that  time  there  was  no  bill  passed  for  the  raising  of  money,  but 
it  was  disposed  of  in  like  manner,  so  that  none  of  it  could  be  applied 
to  the  King's  use,  or  by  his  direction.  Clarendon,  Hist.  vol.  i. 
pp.  321-2  and  678. 

1.  6.  upon  the  matter]  i.  e.  in  strict  fact :  really.  See  '  Philosophy ' 
and  note. 


174  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

into  it  on  the  wrong  side.     If  I  will  wear  all  colours  but 
black,  then  am  I  superstitious  in  not  wearing  black. 

2.  They  pretend  not  to   abide  the  cross,  because  'tis 
superstitious ;  for  my  part  I  will  believe  them,  when  I  see 
them  throw  away  their  money  out  of  their  pockets,  and 
not  till  then. 

3.  If  there  be  any  superstition  truly  and  properly  so 
called,  'tis  their  observing  the  sabbath  after  the  Jewish 
manner. 


CXXXIII. 

>  SYNOD.    ASSEMBLY. 

i.  WE  have  had  no  national  synod  since  the  kingdom 
hath  been  settled,  as  now  it  is,  only  provincial ;  and  there 

1.  4.  when  I  see  them  throw  away  their  money  &c.]  '  The  Parlia 
ment's  gold  coins  are  just  like  their  silver  ones,  viz.  on  one  side  two 
shields  with  the  cross  and  harp.'  Abp.  Sharpe,  Dissertation  on  the 
Golden  Coins  of  England,  sec.  6. 

The  cross  was  a  common  impress  on  earlier  English  coins. 

1.  7.     If  there  be  any  &c.]     See  '  Sabbath '  and  note. 

1.  n.  We  have  had  no  national  synod  &c.]  The  London  ministers, 
in  their  petitions  in  1641,  prayed  the  Houses  of  Parliament  to  be 
mediators  to  his  Majesty  for  a  free  Synod.  Neal,  Hist,  of  Puritans, 
iii.  43.  The  Commons  accordingly  included  this  among  the  requests 
in  the  grand  Remonstrance  of  December  i,  1641 : — 'We  desire  that 
there  may  be  a  general  synod  of  the  most  grave,  pious,  learned,  and 
judicious  divines  of  this  island,  assisted  with  some  from  foreign  parts 
professing  the  same  religion  with  us,  who  may  consider  of  all  things 
necessary  for  the  peace  and  good  government  of  the  church.'  Rush- 
worth,  iv.  450. 

Selden's  objections  to  the  calling  so  many  divines  together,  and  to 
the  forming  of  a  Synod  to  do  work  which  could  be  done  by  the  exist 
ing  Convocation,  seem  to  have  been  directed  against  this  request. 
It  was  not  granted  by  the  King ;  but  the  Commons  finally  took  the 
matter  into  their  own  hands,  and  summoned,  in  1643,  the  Westmin 
ster  Assembly  of  Divines  to  advise  with  Parliament  on  the  points  for 
which  a  general  Synod  had  been  prayed  for.  But  it  was  not  sum- 


SYNOD.    ASSEMBLY.  175 

will  be  this  inconveniency,  to  call  so  many  divines  to 
gether  ;  it  will  be  to  put  power  in  their  hands,  who  are  too 
apt  to  usurp  it,  as  if  the  laity  were  bound  by  their  deter 
minations.  No ;  let  the  laity  consult  with  the  divines  on 
all  sides,  hear  what  they  say,  and  make  themselves  masters 
of  their  reasons;  as  they  do  by  any  other  profession,  when 
they  have  a  difference  before  them.  For  example,  gold 
smiths  ;  they  enquire  of  them,  if  such  a  jewel  be  of  such  a 
value,  and  such  a  stone  of  such  a  value ;  hear  them,  and 
then,  being  rational  men,  judge  themselves.  10 

2.  Why  should  you  have  a  synod,  when  you  have  a 
convocation  already,  which  is  a  synod  ?    Would  you  have 
a  superfetation  of  another  synod?    The  clergy  of  Eng 
land,  when  they  cast  off  the  pope,  submitted  themselves 
to  the  civil  power,  and   so   have   continued;   but  these 
challenge  to  be  jure  divino,  and  so  to  be  above  the  civil 
power :  these  challenge  power  to  call  before  their  presby 
teries  all  persons  for  all  sins  directly  against  the  law  of 
God,  as  proved  to  be  sins  by  necessary  consequence.     If 
you  would    buy  gloves,  send   for  a  glover  or  two,  not20 
Glovers'  hall :   consult  with  some  divines,  not  send   for 

a  body. 

3.  There  must  be  some  laymen  in  the  synod,  to  over- 

moned  under  the  name  of  a  Synod,  indeed  it  was  expressly  claimed 
for  it  that  it  was  not  a  national  Synod  or  representative  body  of  the 
clergy,  but  only  a  body  to  deliberate  on  matters  submitted  to  it  by 
the  House.  Neal,  Hist,  of  Puritans,  iii.  43,  44,  49. 

On  the  claim  of  the  Presbyterian  clergy  of  this  body  { to  be  jure 
divino,  and  so  above  the  civil  power/  see  note  on  '  Presbytery,'  sec.  4. 

1.  23.  There  must  be  some  laymen  &c.]  This  takes  us  to  a  time,  at 
or  about  1643,  when  the  constitution  of  the  Assembly  of  Divines  had 
not  been  finally  settled,  and  when  its  name  had  not  yet  been  fixed. 
The  next  section  shows  that  the  point  insisted  upon  in  sec.  3  had 
been  so  determined  when  the  Assembly  actually  met.  The  Ordinance 
(June,  1643)  is  termed  :  'an  ordinance  for  the  calling  of  an  assembly  of 
learned  and  godly  divines  and  others ' ;  but  in  the  ordinance  itself  the 
assembly  is  said  to  be  :  '  of  learned,  godly,  and  judicious  divines.' 


176  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

look  the  clergy,  lest  they  spoil  the  civil  work.  Just  as 
when  the  good  woman  puts  a  cat  into  the  milk-house  to 
kill  a  mouse;  she  sends  her  maid  to  look  after  the  cat, 
lest  the  cat  should  eat  up  the  cream. 

4.  In  the  ordinance  for  the  assembly,  the  lords  and  com 
mons  go  under  the  names  of  learned,  godly,  and  judicious 
divines ;  there  is  no  difference  put  betwixt  them,  and  the 
ministers  in  the  context. 

5.  It  is  not  unusual  in  the  assembly  to  revoke  their  votes, 
10  by  reason  they  make  such  haste,  but  'tis  that  will  make 

them  scorned.  You  never  heard  of  a  council  revoked  an 
act  of  its  own  making.  They  have  been  wary  of  that,  to 
keep  up  their  infallibility ;  if  they  did  anything,  they  took 
away  the  whole  council ;  and  yet  we  would  be  thought  as 
infallible  as  anybody.  It  is  not  enough  to  say,  the  House 
of  Commons  revokes  their  votes,  for  theirs  are  but  civil 
truths,  which  they  by  agreement  create,  and  uncreate, 
as  they  please ;  but  the  truths  the  synod  deals  in  are 
divine ;  and  when  they  have  voted  a  thing,  if  it  be  then 

20 true,  'twas  true  before,  not  true  because  they  voted  it; 
nor  does  it  cease  to  be  true,  because  they  vote  it  other 
wise. 

6:  Subscribing  in  a  synod,  or  to  the  articles  of  a  synod, 
is  no  such  terrible  thing  as  they  make  it ;  because,  if  I  am 
of  a  synod,  'tis  agreed,  either  tacitly  or  expressly,  that  which 
the  major  part  determines,  the  rest  are  involved  in  ;  and 
therefore  I  subscribe,  though  my  own  private  opinion  be 
otherwise;  and  upon  the  same  ground,  I  may  without 
scruple  subscribe  to  what  these  have  determined,  whom 

30!  sent,  though  my  private  opinion  be  otherwise;  having 
respect  to  that  which  is  the  ground  of  all  assemblies,  The 
major  part  carries  it. 

Selden,  who  was  a  member  of  the  assembly,  must  have  been  a  little 
amused  to  find  himself  included  in  the  description.  Rushworth, 
v.  337- 


THANKSGIVING.— TITHES.  177 

CXXXIV. 

THANKSGIVING. 

AT  first  we  gave  thanks  for  every  victory  as  soon  as  e'er 
'twas  obtained ;  but  since  we  have  had  many,  now  we  can 
stay  a  good  while.  We  are  just  like  a  child ;  give  him  a 
plum,  he  makes  his  leg ;  give  him  a  second  plum,  he  makes 
another  leg :  at  last  when  his  belly  is  full,  he  forgets  what 
he  ought  to  do ;  then  his  nurse,  or  somebody  else  that 
stands  by  him,  puts  him  in  mind  of  his  duty,  Where's  your 
leg? 


cxxxv. 

TITHES.  i 

i.  TITHES  are  more  paid  in  kind  in  England,  than  in  all 
Italy  and  France.  In  France  they  have  had  impropriations 
a  long  time ;  we  had  none  in  England  till  Henry  the  8th. 

1.  13.  we  had  none  in  England}  They  were,  Selden  shows,  not 
common  in  England  till  Henry  VIII,  but  he  mentions  them  as  occa 
sionally  found.  Conf.  '  Although  in  other  states  these  infeodations  or 
conveyances  of  the  perpetual  right  of  tythes  to  laymen  be  very 
ancient  and  frequent  also,  yet  no  such  certain  and  obvious  testimony 
of  their  antiquity  is  in  the  monuments  of  England  as  can  enough 
assure  us  that  they  were  before  the  statute  of  dissolutions  in  any 
common  use  here.  But  some  were,  and,  for  ought  appears  in  the 
practice  of  the  time,  many  more  might  equally  have  been.  ...  In 
sum  then  we  may  affirm  that  some  such  ancient  infeodations  have 
been  in  England  as  in  other  states.'  Works,  iii.  1274  if. 

'  Neither  hath  the  canon  law  wrought  otherwise  in  Italy,  but  that 
there  also  particular  customs,  as  well  of  non  decimando  as  in  the 
modus,  are  frequent.  Multis  Italiae  locis,  says  Cajetan,  contingit  ex 
consuetudine  that  nothing  at  all  is  paid.  And  so  is  the  practice  there 
for  the  most  part  at  this  day,  the  parish  priests  being  sufficiently 
maintained  by  manse  and  glebe,  and  the  revenues  that  are  in  some 
places  paid  as  according  to  a  modus'  iii.  1174. 

*  In  that  state  (sc.  France),  against  the  whole  course  of  the  canon  law 
in  this  kind,  they  have,  what  by  reason  of  ancient  infeodations  still 
continuing,  what  through  customs,  allowed  divers  lands  to  be  not  at 

N 


178  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

2.  To  make  an  impropriation,  there  was  to  be  the  consent 
of  the  incumbent,  the  patron,  and  the  king ;  and  then  'twas 
confirmed  by  the  pope :  without  all  this  the  pope  could 
make  no  impropriation. 

3.  Or  what  if  the  pope  gave  the  tithes  to  any  man,  must 
they  therefore  be  taken  away?    If  the  pope  gives  me  a 
jewel,  will  you  therefore  take  it  from  me  ? 

4.  Abraham    paid  tithes   to    Melchizedec  ;   what  then  ? 
'Twas  very  well  done  of  him  :  it  does  not  follow  therefore 

10  that  I  must  pay  tithes,  no  more  than  I  am  bound  to  imitate 
any  other  action  of  Abraham's. 

5.  'Tis  ridiculous  to  say,  the  tithes  are  God's  part,  and 

all  subject  to  any  tythes  payable  to  the  Church.  For  their  infeoda- 
tions  .  .  are  to  this  day  remaining,  and  are  conveyed  and  descend  as 
other  lay  inheritances.  .  .  .  Those  infeodations  of  tythes  are  there 
very  frequent,  and  in  very  many  parishes  the  tythes  are  taken  only 
by  laymen.'  iii.  1169. 

'  J'oseray  encor  mettre  entre  les  privileges,  mais  non  Ecclesiastiques, 
le  droict  de  tenir  dixmes  en  fief  par  gens  pur  laics.  Ce  qu'on  ne  peut 
nier  avoir  prins  son  origine  d'une  licence  et  abuz  commence  soubs 
Charles  Martel,  Maire  du  Palais,  et  continue  principalement  soubs  les 
Rois  de  sa  race.'  Pithou,  printed  in  Libertez  de  PEglise  Gallicane, 
vol.  i.  p.  19. 

1.  2.  then  'twas  confirmed  by  the  pope}  The  consent  of  the  provin 
cial  primate  was  anciently  needed  for  the  alienation  of  Church 
property.  See  ;  Placuit  etiam  ut  rem  ecclesiae  nemo  vendat,  Quod  si 
aliqua  necessitas  cogit,  hanc  insinuendam  esse  primati  provinciae 
ipsius,  ut  cum  statute  numero  episcoporum,  utrum  faciendum  sit 
arbitretur.'  Canon  of  the  5th  Council  of  Carthage,  quoted  by  Bingham, 
Christian  Antiquities,  Bk.  V.  ch.  vi.  sec.  7. 

In  pre-Reformation  days,  when  the  Pope  had  an  admitted  primacy 
in  the  Western  Church,  this  right  of  final  judgment  naturally  devolved 
on  him.  That  he  could  not  move  in  the  matter  by  his  own  mere  will 
was  effectually  settled  in  this  county  by  the  Statutes  of  Provisors. 

1.  12.  'Tis  ridiculous  to  say,  &c.]  Selden's  view  is  not  that  of  the 
sacerdotal  champions  of  the  Romish  or  of  the  English  Church.  See 
e.g.  Decrees  of  Pope  Boniface  I,  sec.  3  :  *  Nulli  liceat  ignorare  quod 
omne  quod  domino  consecratur  ...  ad  jus  pertinet  sacerdotum.'  Labbe, 
Conciliorum  Collectio,  vol.  iv.  p.  397;  and  Laud's  argument  to  prove 
that  the  payment  of  tithes  to  the  ministers  under  the  Gospel  is  due 
jure  divino.  Laud,  Works,  vi.  159. 


TITHES.  179 

therefore  the  clergy  must  have  them :  why,  so  they  are  if 
the  layman  has  them.  'Tis  as  if  one  of  my  Lady  Kent's 
maids  should  be  sweeping  this  room,  and  another  of  them 
should  come  and  take  away  the  broom,  and  tell  for  a  reason, 
why  she  should  part  with  it ;  'Tis  my  lady's  broom  :  as  if 
it  were  not  my  lady's  broom,  which  of  them  soever  had  it. 

6.  They  consulted  in  Oxford  where  they  might  find  the 
best  arguments  for  their  tithes,  setting  aside  the  jus  divinum; 
they  were  advised  to  my  History  of  Tithes,  a  book  so  much 
cried  down  by  them  formerly  (in  which,  I  dare  boldly  say,  10 

1.  9.  they  were  advised  to  my  History  of  Tithes]  by  Gerard  Lang- 
baine,  Provost  of  Queen's,  who  wrote  the  letter  to  which  Selden  here 
refers : 

*HOND.  SIR, 

'  Upon  occasion  of  the  businesse  of  Tythes  now  under  considera 
tion,  some  whom  it  more  nearly  concerns,  have  been  pleased  to 
enquire  of  me  what  might  be  said  as  to  the  civil  right  of  them  ;  to 
whom  I  was  not  able  to  give  any  better  direction  than  by  sending 
them  to  yowr  History.  Happily  it  may  seem  strange  to  them ;  yet 
I  am  not  out  of  hopes  but  that  work  (like  Pelias  hasta)  which  was 
lookt  upon  as  a  piece  that  struck  deepest  against  the  divine,  will 
afford  the  strongest  arguments  for  the  civil  right :  and  if  that  be  made 
the  issue,  I  do  not  despair  of  the  cause.  .  .  . 

GER.  LANGBAINE. 

Queen's  Coll.,  Oxon., 

22  Aug.  1653.' 
—  Leland's  Collectanea,  Hearne,  vol.  v.  p.  291  (ed.  1770). 

1. 9.  a  book  so  much  cried  down  by  them  formerly]  Selden's 
History  of  Tythes  was  published  in  1617,  and  roused  the  anger  of 
the  whole  clerical  party,  mainly  by  its  treatment  of  the  tithe  as  a 
matter  of  variable  civil  right,  and  not  as  due  to  the  clergy  jure  divino. 
So  strong  was  the  feeling  against  Selden  that  he  found  it  necessary, 
in  order  to  escape  being  called  before  the  Court  of  High  Commission 
— if  indeed  he  did  escape,  which  Dr.  Tillesley  denies— to  express  in 
writing  his  sense  of  the  error  which  he  had  committed  in  publishing 
his  History,  and  his  grief  that  he  had  thereby  incurred  the  King's 
displeasure  and  that  of  the  bishops  and  lay  officials  to  whom  his 
'  retractation'  was  addressed.  The  History  was  vehemently  attacked 
in  print  by  champions  of  the  jure  divino  right,  a  right  which  Selden 
had  ignored  but  had  not  denied,  his  end  and  purpose  being  '  to  leave 
that  question  of  divine  right  to  divines,  to  whom  it  properly  pertains.' 

N  % 


i8o  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

there  are  more  arguments  for  them  than  are  extant  together 
anywhere) :  upon  this,  one  writ  me  word,  that  my  history 
of  tithes  was  now  become  like  Pelias  hasta  \  to  wound  and 
to  heal.  I  told  him  in  my  answer,  I  thought  I  could  fit  him 
with  a  better  instance.  'Twas  possible  it  might  undergo 

1  Pelias  hasta]  Peleus's  hasta,  MSS. 

These  numerous  attacks  Selden  was  for  the  time  forced  to  suffer  in 
silence,  for  King  James  had  told  him  that  he  would  put  him  in  prison 
if  he  or  any  of  his  friends  made  any  answer  to  them.  But  as  he 
insists,  when  he  was  at  length  able  to  reply  to  Dr.  Tillesley's 
'  Animadversions,'  he  had  been  careful  in  making  his  submission  to 
retract  nothing.  '  I  was  and  am,'  he  says,  '  sorry  that  I  published  it, 
and  that  I  so  gave  occasion  to  others  to  abuse  my  history,  by  their 
false  application  of  some  arguments.'  A  full  account  of  the  whole 
matter  will  be  found  in  Works,  vol.  i.  Vita  Authoris,  p.  v-viii.  See 
also  vol.  iii.  pp.  1370,  1394  and  1452  ff. 

1.  3.     like  Pelias  hasta} 

'  Vulnus  in  Herculeo  quae  quondam  fecerat  hoste, 
Vulneris  auxilium  Pelias  hasta  tulit.' 

Ovid,  Remedium  Amoris,  47. 

1.4.  I  could  fit  him  with  a  better  instance}  See  '  Ante  annos  scilicet 
ccclx,  aut  circiter  .  .  .  prorsus  damnati  sunt  ejusdem  libri  illi  (sc. 
Aristotelis  physices  et  metaphysices  libri)  ut  Christianismo  nimis 
dissoni ;  quod  a  Rogero  Bachone  Franciscano,  qui  paulo  post  id 
tempus  floruit  philosophus  et  mathematicus  summus,  didici. . . .  Theo- 
logi,  inquit,  Parisiis,  et  episcopus,  et  omnes  sapientes  jam  ab  annis 
circiter  quadraginta  damnaverunt  et  excommunicaverunt  libros 
naturales  et  metaphysicae  Aristotelis, qui  nunc  ab  omnibus  recipiuntur. 
Et  alibi  idem— Scimus  enim  quod  temporibus  nostris  Parisiis  diu  fuit 
contradictum  philosophiae  naturali  et  metaphysicae  Aristotelis  per 
Avicennam  et  Averroym  expositis,  et  ob  densam  ignorantiam  fuere 
libri  eorum  excommunicati,  et  utentes  eis,  per  tempora  satis  longa.' 
De  Jure  Naturali  et  Gentium,  lib.  i.  cap.  2  ;  Works,  i.  pp.  98  and  947. 

The  former  of  these  passages  occurs  in  Roger  Bacon's  Opus  Ter- 
tium,  p.  28  (Brewer's  ed.  1859),  the  latter  in  the  Opus  Majus,  cap.  9, 
p.  14.  The  Opus  Tertium  was  written  in  1267,  as  Bacon  expressly 
states  (p.  278).  The  sentence  of  excommunication,  therefore,  must 
have  been  about  1227,  and  could  not  have  been  pronounced  by 
*  Stephen,  Bishop  of  Paris,'  who  did  not  become  bishop  until  1268,  i.  e. 
a  year  after  the  Opus  Tertium  was  written,  and  some  forty  years 
after  the  sentence.  See  Ecclesia  Parisiensis,  in  Sainte  Marthe's  Gallia 
Christiana,  vol.  vii.  p.  108. 

Bishop  Stephen's  name  must  have  been  introduced  through  some 


TRADE.  181 

the  same  fate  that  Aristotle,  Avicen,  and  Averroes  did  in 
France,  some  five  hundred  years  ago,  which  was  excom 
municated  by  Stephen,  bishop  of  Paris,  (by  that  very 
name,  excommunicated,)  because  that  kind  of  learning  puz 
zled  and  troubled l  their  divinity :  but  finding  themselves 
at  a  loss,  some  forty  years  after  (which  is  much  about  the 
time  since  I  writ  my  history),  they  were  called  in  again, 
and  so  have  continued  ever  since. 


CXXXVI. 

TRADE. 

i.  THERE  is  no  prince  in  Christendom  but  is  directly 
a  tradesman,  though  in  another  way  than  an  ordinary 
tradesman.  For  the  purpose,  I  have  a  man ;  I  bid  him 
lay  out  twent}^  shillings  in  such  a  commodity ;  but  I  tell 

1   Troubled,  H.  2]  trouble,  H. 

confusion  on  the  part  of  Selden's  reporter,  Milward.  The  controversy 
in  which  Stephen  figures  had  to  do  with  the  nature  and  origin  of  the 
higher  form  of  intelligence,  Aristotle's  vovs  TTOITJTIKOS,  Roger  Bacon's 
intellectus  agens.  The  authority  of  Aristotle  and  of  his  Arabian  com 
mentators,  Avicenna,  Averroes,  and  others,  had  been  used,  not 
unfairly,  to  support  the  theory  that  this  intelligence  was  no  constituent 
part  of  each  human  mind,  but  that  it  was  of  a  divine  nature,  infused 
into  the  mind,  and  the  same  in  all  minds,  being  a  pre-existent  entity 
distinct  from  the  human  faculties  properly  so  called,  and  quickening 
them  to  the  discovery  of  truth.  This,  which  had  long  been  the 
accepted  view,  began  to  be  called  in  question  in  the  thirteenth 
century,  and  was  publicly  condemned  at  Paris  by  Bishop  Stephen  in 
1270.  The  objections  made  to  it,  and  the  terms  of  compromise  by 
which  the  dispute  was  finally  adjusted,  are  very  fully  set  down  in 
Selden's  De  Jure  Naturali  et  Gentium,  lib.  i.  cap.  9  (Works,  i.  154- 

157). 

It  is  clear,  from  Langbaine's  letter,  that  the  discourse  reported  in 
the  text  must  have  been  towards  the  close  of  1653  or  in  1654,  the  year 
of  Selden's  death. 


182  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

him  for  every  shilling  he  lays  out  I  will  have  a  penny :  I 
trade  as  well  as  he.   This  every  prince  does  in  his  customs. 

2.  That  which  a  man  is  bred  up  in,  he  thinks  no  cheat 
ing  ;  as  your  tradesman  thinks  not  so  of  his  profession, 
but  calls  it  a  mystery.     Whereas  if  you  would  teach  a 
mercer  some  other  way  to  make  his  silks  heavy  than  what 
he  has  been  used  to,  he  would  peradventure  think  that 
to  be  cheating. 

3.  Every  tradesman  professes  to  cheat  me,  that  asks  for 
10  his  commodity  twice  as  much  as  'tis  worth. 


CXXXVII. 

TRADITION. 

SAY  what  you  will  against  tradition,  we  know  the  sig 
nification  of  words  by  nothing  but  tradition.  You  will 
say  the  Scripture  was  written  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  but  do 
you  understand  that  language 'twas  writ  in?  No.  Then 
for  example,  take  these  words,  In  principio  erat  verbum. 
How  do  you  know  those  words  signify,  In  the  beginning 
was  the  word,  but  by  tradition,  because  somebody  has  told 
you  so  ? 


CXXXVIII. 

TRANSUBSTANTIATION. 

1.  THE  fathers  using  to  speak  rhetorically,  brought  up 
transubstantiation :   as    if    because    'tis    commonly   said, 
amicus  est  alter  idem,  one  should  go  about  to  prove  that 
a  man  and  his  friend  are  all  one.    That  opinion  is  only 
rhetoric  turned  into  logic. 

2.  There  is  no  greater  argument  (though  not  used)  against 
transubstantiation,  than  the  Apostles,  at  their  first  council, 


TRADITION.  —  TRIAL.  183 

forbidding  blood  and  suffocation.  Would  they  forbid  blood, 
and  yet  enjoin  the  eating  of  blood  too  ? 

3.  The  best  way  for  a  pious  man l  is  to  address  himself 
to  the  sacrament  with  that  reverence  and  devotion,  as  if 
Christ  were  really  there  present. 


CXXXIX. 

TRAITOR. 

'Tis  not  seasonable  to  call  a  man  traitor,  who  has  an 
army  at  his  heels.  One  with  an  army  is  a  gallant  man.  My 
Lady  Cotton  was  in  the  right,  when  she  laughed  at  the 
Duchess  of  Richmond  for  taking  such  state  upon  her,  when  10 
she  could  command  no  forces.  She  a  duchess !  there  is  in 
Flanders  a  duchess  indeed ;  meaning  the  arch-duchess. 


CXL. 

TRIAL. 

1.  TRIALS  are  one  of  these  three  ways  ;  by  confession  ; 
or  by  demurrer,  that  is,  confessing  the  fact,  but  denying 
it  to  be  that  wherewith  a  man  is  charged ;   for  example, 
denying  it  to  be  treason,  if  a  man  be  charged  with  treason  : 
or  by  a  jury. 

2.  Ordalium  was  a  trial,  and  was  either  by  going  over 

1    The  best  way  for  a  pious  man,  &c.]  with  heading  '  Transubstantiation  '  to 

This    section    appears    in    H.    under  which  subject  it  seems  more  properly 

heading    '  Sacrament.'       In    H.    2,    it  to  belong, 
appears  as  an  appendix   to  the    MS. 

1.  19.  Ordalium  was  a  trial]  There  were  several  forms  of  the 
ordeal.  In  the  aquae  frigidae  judicium — una  ex  purgationibus  vul- 
garibus  quas  judicia  Dei  appellabant— the  suspected  or  accused 
person  was  plunged  into  deep  water ;  if  he  swam  he  was  held  guilty, 
if  he  sank  innocent.  In  the  aquae  ferventis  judicium,  the  accused  had 


184  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

nine  red  hot  ploughshares,  (as  in  the  case  of  Queen  Emma, 
accused  for  lying  with  the  bishop  of  Winchester,  over  which 
she  being  led  blindfold,  and  having  passed  all  her  irons, 
asked  when  she  should  come  to  her  trial ;)  or  'twas  by 
taking  a  red  hot  coulter  in  a  man's  hand,  and  carrying 
it  so  many  steps,  and  then  casting  it  from  him.  As  soon 
as  this  was  done,  the  feet  or  the  hands  were  to  be  bound 
up,  and  certain  charms  to  be  said,  and  a  day  or  two  after  to 
be  opened ;  if  the  parts  were  whole,  the  party  was  judged 
10  to  be  innocent ;  and  so  on  the  contrary. 

3.  The  rack  is  used  nowhere  as  in  England.  In  other 
countries  'tis  used  in  judicature,  when  there  is  a  semiplena 
probatio,  a  half  proof  against  a  man ;  then  to  see  if  they 
can  make  it  full,  they  rack  him  if  he  will  not  confess.  But 
here  in  England  they  take  a  man  and  rack  him,  I  do  not 

to  plunge  his  bare  hand  and  arm  into  boiling  water.  Of  the  same 
kind  was  the  judgment  by  hot  iron,  to  which  Selden  here  refers. 
See  Ducange,  Gloss.,  under  Aquae  and  Ferrum  Candens. 

Muratori  adds,  under  'Judicium  ferri  candentis,'  the  passing  blind 
fold  over  hot  ploughshares,  and  a  further  form  known  as  the  judicium 
crucis,  in  which  the  accused  had  to  stand  with  his  arms  held  out  in 
the  form  of  a  cross,  while  a  chapter  in  the  Bible  or  some  of  the 
Psalms  were  read.  If  he  could  maintain  the  posture  he  was  pro 
nounced  innocent,  if  he  gave  way  he  was  guilty.  See  Muratori, 
Antiq.  Ital.  Dissert.  38,  p.  611  ff. 

1.  i.  as  in  the  case  of  Queen  Emma]  The  account  of  Queen 
Emma's  trial  is  given,  as  in  the  text,  in  Fabyan's  Chronicle,  pp.  224-5 
(Ellis's  ed.  1811).  The  ordeal,  as  might  be  assumed,  was  under  the 
management  of  her  episcopal  friends.  The  Archbishop,  Robert, 
who  had  declared  against  her,  was  not  present. 

1.  14.  But  here  in  England  they  take  a  man  &c.]  The  infliction  of 
torture  was  certainly  against  the  English  common  law  and  against 
the  Magna  Charta,  but  it  was  no  less  certainly  of  regular  and  frequent 
occurrence.  As  to  its  illegality,  we  have,  e.  g.,  the  statement  of  Chief 
Justice  Fortescue,  quoted  and  endorsed  by  Coke,  and  we  have  the 
declared  opinion  of  the  judges  in  Felton's  case  (November,  1628) : 
'  That  he  ought  not  by  the  law  to  be  tortured  by  the  rack,  for  no 
such  punishment  is  known  or  allowed  by  our  law.'  'And  yet'  (says 
Jardine,  in  his  Reading  on  the  use  of  torture  in  England)  *  it  is  an 
historical  fact  that,  anterior  to  the  Commonwealth,  torture  was 


TRINITY.  185 

know  why,  nor  when  ;  not  in  time  of  judicature,  but  when 
somebody  bids. 

4.  Some  men  before  they  come  to  their  trial,  are  cozened 
to  confess  upon  examination,  upon  this  trick.  They  are 
made  to  believe  somebody  has  confessed  before  them ; 
and  then  they  think  it  a  piece  of  honour  to  be  clear  and 
ingenuous T,  and  that  destroys  them. 


CXLI. 

TRINITY. 

THE  Second  Person  is  made  of  a  piece  of  bread  by  the 
Papist;  the  Third  Person  is  made  of  his  own  frenzy,  malice,  10 
ignorance  and  folly,  by  the  Roundhead.  To  all  these  the 
spirit  is  intituled2.  One  the  baker  makes,  the  other  the 
cobbler ;  and  betwixt  these  two,  I  think  the  First  Person 
is  sufficiently  abused. 

1  Ingenuous]  ingenious,  MSS.  2  Intituled,  H.  2]  intitled,  H. 

always  used,  as  a  matter  of  course,  in  all  grave  accusations,  at  the 
mere  discretion  of  the  King  and  the  Privy  Council,  and  uncontrolled 
by  any  law  besides  the  prerogative  of  the  sovereign.'  He  traces  the 
practice  from  Henry  VIIPs  reign  down  to  May  1640,  Archer's  case, 
which  is  (he  says)  'the  last  recorded  instance  of  the  infliction  of 
torture  in  England,  and  as  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  discover  the  last 
instance  of  its  occurrence.'  Jardine  holds  that,  though  not  lawful  by 
the  common  law,  it  was  lawful  as  an  act  of  prerogative,  a  power 
superior  to  the  laws  and  able  to  suspend  the  laws ;  but  it  may  be 
fairly  questioned  whether  this  strain  of  prerogative  over  law  can  be 
allowed  to  have  been  lawful  in  any  sense.  See  '  Prerogative,'  sec.  i. 
It  is  curious  to  find  Grotius  and  other  foreign  jurists  praising  the 
law  of  England  for  its  singular  humanity  in  conducting  criminal  pro 
ceedings  without  the  use  of  torture,  and  devising  ingenious  reasons 
to  account  for  it ;  while  Selden,  well  acquainted  with  the  facts,  com 
pares  English  practice  disadvantageously  with  that  of  other  countries 
— an  opinion  which  Jardine  confirms  by  contrasting  in  detail  the 
arbitrary  and  uncontrolled  licence  of  the  English  method  with  the 
limitations  and  definite  rules  which  prevailed  in  countries  whose 
code  was  based  on  the  Roman  law.  Reading,  £c.,  p.  67. 


186  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

CXLII. 
TRUTH. 

1.  THE  Aristotelians    say,   all    truth   is    contained    in 
Aristotle,  in  one  place  or  another.     Galileo  makes  Sim- 
plicius  say  so,  but  shews  the  absurdity  of  that  speech, 
by  answering,  that  all  truth  is  contained  in  a  lesser  com 
pass,  viz*,  in  the  alphabet.    Aristotle  is  not  blamed  for  mis 
taking  sometimes,  but  Aristotelians  for  maintaining  those 
mistakes.    They  should  acknowledge  the  good  they  have 
from  him,    and   leave    him  when    he   is    in    the   wrong. 

10  There    never  breathed   that   person   to  whom    mankind 
was  more  beholden. 

2.  The  way  to   find  out  the  truth  is   by  others'  mis- 
takings  :  for  if  I  was  to  go  to  such  a  place,  and  one  had 
gone  before  me  on  the  right  hand,  and  he  was  out ;  an 
other  had  gone  on  the  left  hand,  and  he  was  out;   this 
would  direct  me  to  keep  the  middle  way,  that  peradven- 
ture  would  bring  me  to  the  place  I  intended  to  go. 

1.  3.  Galileo  makes  Simplicius  say  so,  &c.]  The  passage  occurs  in 
the  second  of  a  series  of  imaginary  conversations  on  mathematical 
and  physical  science,  between  Salviati  and  Sagredo,  the  spokesmen 
for  modern  science,  and  Simplicius,  the  Aristotelian  commentator. 
Simplicius  asserts  that,  with  the  aid  of  the  syllogistic  method,  the 
man  who  can  make  a  proper  use  of  Aristotle's  writings  '  sapra  cavar 
da'  suoi  libri  le  dimostrazioni  di  ogni  scibile,  perche  in  essi  e  ogni 
cosa.' 

Sagredo  replies,  banteringly,  '  Ma,  Signer  Simplicio  mio  .  .  .  questo 
che  voi,  e  gli  altri  filosofi  bravi,  farete  con  i  testi  d'Aristotile,  faro  io 
con  i  versi  di  Virgilio,  o  di  Ovidio.  .  .  .  Ma  che  dico  io  di  Virgilio,  o  di 
altro  poeta  ?  io  ho  un  libretto  assai  piu  breve  di  Aristotile  e  d'Ovidio, 
nel  quale  si  contengono  tutte  le  scienze  .  .  .  e  questo  e  1'  alfabeto ;  e 
non  e  dubbio  che  quello,  che  sapra  ben  accoppiare  e  ordinare  questa 
e  quella  vocale  con  quelle  consonanti  o  con  quell'  altre,  ne  cavera  le 
risposte  verissime  a  tutti  i  dubbj,  e  ne  trarra  gli  insegnamenti  di 
tutte  le  scienze  e  di  tutte  le  arti.'  Opere  di  Galilei,  vol.  xi.  p.  266 
(Classici  Italiani,  Milan,  1808-1811,  in  13  vols.). 


TRUTH.  -  UNIVERSITY.  187 

3.  In  troubled  water  you  can  scarce  see  your  face ;  or 
see  it  very  little,  till  the  water  be  quiet  and  stand  still. 
So  in  troubled  times  you  can  see  little  truth.  When 
times  are  quiet  and  settled,  then  truth  appears. 


CXLIII. 

UNIVERSITY. 

1.  THE  best  argument  why  Oxford  should  have  prece 
dence  of  Cambridge,  is  the  act  of  parliament,  by  which 
Oxford  is  made  a  body ;  made  what  it  is ;  and  Cambridge 
is  made  what  it  is ;  and  in  that  act  it  takes  place.    Besides, 
Oxford  has  the  best  monuments  to  show. 

2.  'Twas  well  said  of  one,  hearing  of  a  history  lecture 
to  be  founded  in  the  university;  Would  to  God,  says  he, 
they  would  erect  a  lecture  of  discretion  there,  this  would 
do  more  good  an  hundred  times. 

3.  He  that  comes  from  the  university  to  govern  the  state, 

1.  6.  The  best  argument  why  Oxford  &c.]  This  question  of  prece 
dence  was  raised  in  the  House  of  Commons  in  January,  1640-1,  when 
'  the  Bill  of  four  subsidies  for  the  relief  of  the  King's  army  and  the 
northern  counties  having  been  drawn  by  a  Committee,  Cambridge 
was  placed  before  Oxford  in  the  same.'  This  gave  rise  to  a  hot  and 
prolonged  debate.  Sir  Simonds  D'Ewes  spoke  at  length  in  favour  of 
giving  Cambridge  the  precedence,  on  the  ground  that  Cambridge  was 
a  renowned  city  before  Oxford,  and  a  nursery  of  learning  before 
Oxford,  so  that  Cambridge  was  in  all  respects  the  elder  sister.  So 
sharp  was  the  contention  that  on  that  day  '  the  House  came  not  to  a 
final  determination  in  the  reading  of  the  Bill.'  See,  Two  Speeches 
by  Sir  S.  D'Ewes  (printed  in  1642),  and  Nalson,  Collections,  i.  703. 

1.  7.  the  act  of  parliament  &c.]  This  is  13  Elizabeth,  ch.  29,  'An 
Act  concerning  the  incorporations  of  the  Universities  of  Oxford 
and  Cambridge,'  in  which  Oxford  is  named  before  Cambridge  in 
several  places.  Once  only,  towards  the  end  of  the  Act,  we  have  'the 
said  Universities  of  Cambridge  and  Oxford.' 


i88  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

before  he  is  acquainted  with  the  men  and  manners  of  the 
place,  does  just  as  if  he  should  come  into  the  presence  all 
dirty,  with  his  boots  on,  his  riding-coat,  and  his  hat  all 
daubed.  They  may  serve  him  well  enough  in  the  way, 
but  when  he  comes  to  court,  he  must  conform  to  the 
place. 


CXLIV. 

VOWS. 

Question.  Suppose  a  man  find  by  his  own  inclination 
he  has  no  mind  to  marry,  may  he  not  then  vow  chastity  ? 
10  Answer.  If  he  does,  what  a  fine  thing  has  he  done  ? 
'Tis  as  if  a  man  did  not  love  cheese ;  and  then  he  would 
vow  to  God  Almighty  never  to  eat  cheese.  He  that  vows 
can  mean  no  more  in  sense  than  this;  to  do  his  utmost 
endeavour  to  keep  his  vow. 


CXLV. 

USURY. 

1.  THE  Jews  were  forbidden  to  take  use  one  of  another, 
but  they  were  not  forbidden  to  take  it  of  other  nations. 
That  being  so,  I  see  no  reason  why  I  may  not  as  well  take 
use  for  my  money  as  rent  for  my  house.     'Tis  a  vain  thing 

20  to  say,  money  begets  not  money ;    for  that  no  doubt  it 
does  1. 

2.  Would  it  not  look  oddly  to  a  stranger,  that  should 

1  No  doubt  it  does,  H.  2]  no  doubt  is  does,  H. 


VOWS.  -  PIOUS  USES.  189 

come  into  this  land,  and  hear  in  our  pulpits  usury  preached 
against;  and  yet  the  law  allow  it?  Many  men  use  it, 
perhaps  some  churchmen  themselves.  No  bishop  nor 
ecclesiastical  judge,  that  pretends  power  to  punish  other 
faults,  dares  punish,  or  at  least  does  punish,  any  man  for 
doing  it. 


CXLVI. 

PIOUS  USES. 

THE  ground  of  the  ordinary's  taking  part  of  a  man's 
estate,  who  died  without  a  will,  to  pious  uses,  was  this  ;  to 
give  it  somebody  to  pray  that  his  soul  might  be  delivered  10 
out  of  purgatory.  Now  the  pious  uses  come  into  his  own 
pocket.  'Twas  well  expressed  by  John  o'  Fowls  in  the 
play,  who  acted  the  priest ;  one  that  was  to  be  hanged, 
being  brought  to  the  ladder,  would  fain  have  given  some 
thing  to  the  poor ;  he  feels  for  his  purse,  (which  John 
o'  Fowls  had  picked  out  of  his  pocket  a  little  before)  miss 
ing  it,  cries  out,  he  had  lost  his  purse  now  he  intended  to 
have  given  something  to  the  poor :  John  o'  Fowls  bid 
him  be  pacified,  for  the  poor  had  it  already. 

1.  12.  'Twas  well  expressed  &c.]  The  same  incident  occurs  in  the 
following,  which  is  probably  the  passage  which  Selden  had  in 
mind  : — 

'  Malheureux  (pinioned  and  led  out  to  execution) : 
My  endless  peace  is  made ;  and  to  the  poor — 
My  purse,  my  purse  ! ' 
Cocledemoy  (who  has  just  picked  Malheureux'  pocket]  : 

Ay,  sir ;  and  it  shall  please  you,  the  poor  has  your  purse  already.' 
— Marston,  Dutch  Courtezan,  Act  v.  sc.  3  (vol  ii.  p.  98  in  Bullen's  ed. 
of  Marston's  works). 

I  am  indebted  to  Mr.  P.  A.  Daniel  for  this  reference. 


190  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

CXLVIL 

WAR. 

1.  Do  not  undervalue  an  enemy  by  whom  you  have  been 
worsted.    When  our  countrymen  came  home  from  fight 
ing  against  the  Saracens,  and  were  beaten  by  them,  they 
pictured  them  with  huge,  big,  terrible  faces,  (as  you  still 
see  the  sign  of  the  Saracen's  head  is)  when  in  truth  they 
were  like  other  men.     But  this    they  did  to   save  their 
own  credits. 

2.  Martial  law  in  general,  means  nothing  but  the  martial 
10  law  of  this  or  that  place ;  with  us  'tis  to  be  used  in  fervore 

belli,  in  the  face  of  the  enemy,  not  in  time  of  peace ;  then 
they  can  take  away  neither  limb  nor  life.  The  commanders 
need  not  complain  for  want  of  it,  because  our  ancestors 
have  done  gallant  things  without  it. 

1.  ii.  In  the  face  of  the  enemy,  not  in  time  of  peace]  The  billeting  of 
great  companies  of  soldiers  and  mariners,  and  the  appointment  of 
special  commissioners  to  deal  summarily,  *  as  is  agreeable  to  martial 
law,'  with  them  or  with  other  dissolute  persons  joining  with  them  to 
commit  murder,  robbery,  felony,  mutiny,  or  other  outrage  or  mis 
demeanour,  are  among  the  grievances  set  down  in  the  '  Petition  of 
Right '  of  1628.  The  result  of  them  is  said  to  have  been  the  illegal 
execution  of  some  persons  by  the  commissioners,  and  the  escape  of 
'sundry  grievous  offenders,'  against  whom  the  judges  refused  to 
proceed  '  upon  pretence  that  the  said  offenders  were  punishable  only 
by  martial  law,'  £c.  Somers,  Historical  Tracts,  vol.  iv.  pp.  118,  119. 

There  are  several  speeches  of  Selden's  on  this  matter,  in  which  he 
argues  and  brings  proof  that  in  time  of  peace  there  can  be  no  martial 
law  ;  that  wherever  the  sheriff  in  the  county  can  execute  the  king's 
writs,  there  it  is  time  of  peace,  though  in  other  parts  there  be  war ; 
that  in  time  of  peace,  so  defined,  soldiers  are  under  the  common  law; 
and  that  martial  law,  where  it  legitimately  exists,  is  not  the  abroga 
tion  of  law  but  proceeds  by  settled  rules.  Works,  iii.  1986  ff. 

The  subject  was  fully  discussed  in  Parliament  by  several  other 
speakers,  and  the  proclamation  of  martial  law  in  time  of  peace  was 
condemned  as  unconstitutional  and  illegal.  Rushworth,  Collections, 
vol.  iii.  Appendix,  p.  76. 


WAR.  191 

3.  Question.  Whether  may  subjects  take  up  arms  against 
their  prince  ? 

Answer.  Conceive  it  thus ;  here  lies  a  shilling  betwixt 
you  and  me ;  tenpence  of  the  shilling  is  yours,  twopence  is 
mine  by  agreement :  I  am  as  much  king  of  my  twopence, 
as  you  of  your  tenpence  :  if  you  therefore  go  about  to  take 
away  my  twopence,  I  will  defend  it ;  for  there  you  and 
I  are  equal,  both  princes. 

4.  Or  thus ;  two  supreme  princes  meet ;  one  says  to  the 
other,  Give  me  your  land ;  if  you  will  not,  I  will  take  it  10 
from  you :  the  other,  because  he  thinks  himself  too  weak 
to  resist  him,  tells  him,  Of  nine  parts  I  will  give  you  three, 
so  I  may  quietly  enjoy  the  rest,  and  I  will  become  your 
tributary.     Afterwards  the  prince  comes  to  exact  six  parts, 
and  leaves  but  three ;  the  contract  then  is  broken,  and  they 
are  in  parity  again. 

5.  To  know  what  obedience  is  due  to  the  prince,  you 
must  look  into  the  contract  betwixt  him  and  his  people  ;  as 
if  you  would  know  what  rent  is  due  from  the  tenant  to  the 
landlord,  you  must  look  into  the  lease.    Where  the  contract  20 
is  broken,  and  there  is  no  third  person  to  judge,  then  the 
decision  is  by  arms.    And  this  is  the  case  between  the 
prince  and  the  subject. 

1.  i.  Whether  may  subjects  &c.]  The  right  of  subjects  to  take  up 
arms  against  their  Prince  was  a  natural  subject  of  discussion  in 
Selden's  day.  The  clergy  pronounced  against  it.  The  new  Canons 
of  1640,  put  out  by  the  two  Synods  and  accepted  and  endorsed  by  the 
King,  speak  very  decidedly  about  it.  'For  subjects  to  bear  arms 
against  their  Kings,  offensive  or  defensive,  upon  any  pretence  what 
soever,  is  at  least  to  resist  the  powers  which  are  ordained  of  God ; 
and  though  they  do  not  invade,  but  only  resist,  St.  Paul  tells  them 
plainly,  they  shall  receive  to  themselves  damnation.'  Constitutions 
and  Canons  Ecclesiastical,  sec.  i.  Wilkins,  Concilia,  iv.  545. 

It  was  one  of  the  charges  against  Archbishop  Laud  that  he  had 
ordered  the  clergy  to  preach  in  the  above  sense  four  times  in  the  year. 
This  order  appears  in  the  preface  to  the  first  Canon,  and  the  doctrine 
thus  approved  is  defended  at  length  in  Laud's  own  history  of  his 
troubles  and  trial.  Conf.  Laud's  Works,  vol.  iii.  pp.  366-370. 


192  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

6.  Question.  What  law  is  there  to  take  up  arms  against 
the  prince,  in  case  he  break  his  covenant  ? 

Answer.  Though  there  be  no  written  law  for  it,  yet  there 
is  custom,  which  is  the  best  law  of  the  kingdom ;  for  in 
England  they  have  always  done  it.  There  is  nothing 
expressed  between  the  king  of  England  and  the  king  of 
France,  that  if  either  invades  the  other's  territory,  the 
other  shall  take  up  arms  against  him  ;  and  yet  they  do  it 
upon  such  an  occasion. 

10  7.  'Tis  all  one  to  be  plundered  by  a  troop  of  horse,  or  to 
have  a  man's  goods  taken  from  him  by  an  order  from  the 
Council-table.  To  him  that  dies,  'tis  all  one  whether  it  be 
by  a  penny  halter,  or  a  silk  garter ;  yet  I  confess  the  silk 
garter  pleases  more ;  and,  like  trouts,  we  love  to  be  tickled 
to  death. 

8.  The  soldiers   say  they  fight  for  honour;  when  the 
truth  is  they  have  their  honour  in  their  pocket.    And  they 
mean  the  same  thing   that  pretend  to  fight  for  religion. 
Just  as  a  parson  goes   to  law  with  his  parishioners,  he 

20  says,  for  the  good  of  his  successor,  that  the  church  may 
not  lose  its  right ;  when  the  meaning  is  to  get  the  tithe 
into  his  own  pocket. 

9.  We  govern  this  war  as  an  unskilful  man  does  a  cast 
ing-net  ;  if  he  has  not  the  right  trick  to  cast  the  net  off  of 
his  shoulder,  the  leads  will  pull  him  into  the  river.     I  am 
afraid  we  shall  pull  ourselves  into  destruction. 

10.  We  look  after  the  particulars  of  a  battle,  because  we 
live  in  the  very  time  of  the  war.     Whereas  of  battles  past, 
we  hear  nothing  but  the  number  slain.     Just  so  for  the 

30  death  of  a  man  ;  when  he  is  sick,  we  talk  how  he  slept  this 
night,  and  that  night ;  what  he  eat,  and  what  he  drank :  but 
when  he  is  dead,  we  only  say,  he  died  of  a  fever,  or  name 
his  disease  ;  and  there's  an  end. 

n.  Boccaline  has  this  passage  of  soldiers;  they  came  to 

1.  34.     Boccaline  has  this  passage  £c.]     This  is  not  quite  correct. 


WAR.  193 

Apollo  to  have  their  profession  made  the  eighth l  liberal 
science,  which  he  granted.  As  soon  as  it  was  noised  up 
and  down,  in  came  the  butchers,  and  they  desired  their 
profession  might  be  made  the  ninth :  for,  say  they,  the 
soldiers  have  this  honour  for  killing  of  men  ;  now  we  kill 
as  well  as  they;  but  we  kill  beasts  for  the  preserving  of 
men,  and  why  should  not  we  have  honour  likewise  done 
us  ?  Apollo  could  not  answer  their  reasons,  so  he  reversed 
his  sentence,  and  made  the  soldier's  trade  a  mystery,  as  the 
butcher's  is.  i 

1  The  eighth']  the  eigth,  H.  and  H.  2. 

The  passage  is  as  follows :— '  The  precedency  between  Arms  and 
Learning  is  still  obstinately  disputed  on  both  sides,  between  the 
Literati  and  Military  men  in  Parnassus.  And  it  was  resolved  in  the 
last  Ruota  that  the  question  should  be  argued  if  at  least  the  name  of 
Science  and  Discipline  might  be  attributed  to  the  exercise  of  war. 
.  .  .  The  business  was  very  subtilly  canvassed  and  argued,  and  the 
Court  seemed  wholly  to  incline  to  the  Literati ;  but  the  Princes  used 
such  forcible  arguments,  as  it  was  resolved  that  military  men  in  their 
exercise  of  war  might  use  the  honourable  names  of  science  and 
discipline.  The  Literati  were  much  displeased  at  this  decision  .  .  . 
when  unexpectedly  all  the  Butchers  of  the  world  were  seen  to  appear 
in  Parnassus  ;  ...  all  besmeared  with  blood,  with  hatchets  and  long 
knives  in  their  hands.  . .  .  Apollo,  that  he  might  know  what  they 
meant,  sent  some  Deputies  to  them.  To  whom  those  butchers  stoutly 
said,  that  hearing  that  the  Court  had  decided  that  the  art  of  sacking 
and  firing  of  cities,  of  cutting  their  inhabitants  in  pieces  .  .  .  and  of 
calling  with  sword  in  hand,  mine  thine,  should  be  termed  a  science 
and  discipline,  they  also,  who  did  not  profess  the  killing  of  men  .  .  . 
but  the  killing  of  calves  and  muttons  to  feed  men  withal,  demanded 
that  their  art  might  be  honoured  by  the  same  illustrious  names.  .  .  . 
The  same  Signori  Auditori  di  ruota,  when  they  saw  the  butchers 
appear  in  the  Palace,  and  heard  their  demand,  they  were  aware 
of  the  injustice  which  but  a  little  before  they  had  done  to  all  the 
Virtuosi  by  their  decision ;  wherefore  they  again  propounded  the 
same  question,  and  unanimously  agreed,  that  the  mysterie  of  War, 
though  it  were  sometimes  necessary,  was  notwithstanding  so  cruel 
and  so  inhumane,  as  it  was  impossible  to  honest  it  with  civil  terms.' 
Boccalini,  Advertisements  from  Parnassus,  Century  i.  Advert.  75. 
Trans,  by  Henry,  Earl  of  Monmouth,  p.  143. 


i94  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

CXLVIII. 
WIFE. 

1.  HE  that  has  a  handsome  wife,  by  other  men  is  thought 
happy;  'tis  a  pleasure  to  look  upon  her,  and  be  in  her 
company ;  but  the  husband  is  cloyed  with  her.    We  are 
never  content  with  what  we  have. 

2.  You   shall  see  a  monkey  sometime  that   has   been 
playing  up  and  down  the  garden,  at  length  leap  up  to  the 
top  of  the  wall,  but  his  clog  hangs  a  great  way  below  on 
this  side :  the  bishop's  wife  is  like  that  monkey's  clog ; 

jo  himself  is  got  up  very  high,  takes  place  of  temporal  barons ; 
but  his  wife  comes  a  great  way  behind. 

3.  'Tis  reason  a  man  that  will  have  a  wife  should  be  at 
the  charge  of  all  her  trinkets,  and  pay  all  the  scores  she 
sets  on  him.    He  that  will  keep  a  monkey,  'tis  fit  he  should 
pay  for  the  glasses  she  breaks. 


CXLIX. 

WISDOM. 

1.  A  WISE  man  should  never  resolve  upon  anything,  at 
least  never  let  the  world  know  his  resolution ;  for  if  he 
cannot  arrive  at  that,  he  is  shamed.    How  many  things  did 

20  the  king  resolve  in  his  declaration  concerning  Scotland, 
never  to  do,  and  yet  did  them  all  ?  A  man  must  do  accord 
ing  to  accidents  and  emergences. 

2.  Never  tell  your  resolution  before-hand  ;  but  when  the 
cast  is  thrown,  play  it  as  well  as  you  can  to  win  the  game 
you  are  at.    'Tis  but  folly  to  study  how  to  play  size-ace, 
when  you  know  not  whether  you  shall  throw  it  or  no. 

3.  Wise  men  say  nothing  in  dangerous  times.   The  lion, 


WIFE.  — WIT.  195 

you  know,  called  the  sheep,  to  ask  her  if  his  breath  smelt ; 
she  said,  Aye1;  he  bit  off  her  head  for  a  fool.  He  called 
the  wolf,  and  asked  him ;  he  said,  No ;  he  tore  him  in  pieces 
for  a  flatterer.  At  last  he  called  the  fox,  and  asked  him ; 
Truly  he  had  got  a  cold,  and  could  not  smell.  King  James 
was  pictured,  &c. 


CL. 

WITCHES. 

THE  law  against  witches  does  not  prove  that  there  be 
any ;  but  it  punishes  the  malice  of  those  people  that  use 
such  means  to  take  away  men's  lives.  If  one  should  pro- 10 
fess  that  by  turning  his  hat  thrice,  and  crying  buz,  he  could 
take  away  a  man's  life  (though  in  truth  he  could  do  nothing), 
yet  this  were  a  just  law  made  by  the  state,  that  whosoever 
should  turn  his  hat  thrice,  and  cry  buz,  with  an  intention  to 
take  away  a  man's  life,  shall  be  put  to  death. 


CLI. 
WIT. 

1.  WIT  and  wisdom  differ;  wit  is  upon  the  sudden  turn, 
wisdom  is  in  bringing  about  ends. 

2.  Nature  must  be   the  ground-work  of  wit  and   art ; 
otherwise  whatever  is  done  will  prove  but  jack-pudding's  20 
work. 

3.  Wit  must  grow  like  fingers ;    if  it  be   taken   from 
others,  'tis  like  plums  stuck  upon  blackthorn ;  there  they 
are  for  awhile,  but  they  come  to  nothing. 

4.  He  that  will  give  himself  to  all  manner  of  ways  to  get 

1  Aye]  I,  MSS. 
O  2 


196  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

money  may  be  rich ;  so  he  that  will  let  fly  all  he  knows  or 
thinks,  may  by  chance  be  sarcastically  witty.  Honesty 
sometimes  keeps  a  man  from  being  rich ;  and  civility  from 
being  witty. 

5.  Women  ought  not  to  know  their  own  wit,  because 
then  they  will  still  be  shewing  it,  and  so  spoil  it ;  like  a 
child  that  will  be  continually  shewing  its  fine  new  coat, 
till  at  length  it  all  bedaubs  it  with  its  pah  hands. 

6.  Fine  wits  destroy  themselves  with  their  own  plots,  in 
10  meddling  with  great  affairs  of  state.     They  commonly  do 

as  the  ape  that  saw  the  gunner  put  bullets  in  the  cannon, 
and  was  pleased  with  it,  and  he  would  be  doing  so  too  ;  at 
last  he  puts  himself  into  the  piece,  and  so  both  ape  and 
bullet  were  shot  away  together. 


CLII. 
WOMEN. 

1.  Let  the  woman l  have  power  on  her  head,  because  of  the 
angels.     The  reason  of  the  words,  because  of  the  angels,  is 
this;  the  Greek  Church  held  an  opinion  that  the  angels 
fell  in  love  with  women  ;  an  opinion  grounded  upon  that 

20  in  Genesis  vi,  The  sons  of  God  saw  the  daughters  of 
men  that  they  were  fair.  This  fancy  St.  Paul  discreetly 
catches,  and  uses  it  as  an  argument  to  persuade  them  to 
modesty. 

2.  The  grant  of  a  place  is  not  good  by  the  canon  law 
before  a  man  be  dead ;  upon  this  ground,  that  some  mis 
chief  might  be  plotted  against  him  in  present  possession, 
by  poisoning  or  some  other  way.     Upon  the  same  reason 
a  contract  made  with  a  woman  during  her  husband's  life, 
was  not  valid. 

1  Let  the  woman,  H.  2  and  S.]  Let  the  women,  H. 


WOMEN.  — YEAR.  197 

3.  Men  are  not  troubled  to  hear  a  man  dispraised,  be 
cause  they  know,  though  he  be  naught,  there's  worth  in 
others.     But  women  are  mightily  troubled  to  hear  any  of 
them  spoken  against,  as  if  the  sex  itself  were  guilty  of 
some  unworthiness. 

4.  Women  and  princes  must  both  trust  somebody ;  and 
they  are  happy  or  unhappy,  according  to  the  desert  of 
those  under  whose  hands  they  fall.     If  a  man  knows  how 
to  manage  the  favour  of  a  lady,  her  honour  is  safe ;  and 
so  is  a  prince. 


CLIII. 

YEAR. 

i.  IT  was  the  manner  of  the  Jews  (if  the  year  did  not 
fall  out  right,  but  that  it  was  dirty  for  the  people  to  come 
up  to  Jerusalem  at  the  passover,  or  that  their  corn  was 
not  ripe  for  their  first-fruits)  to  intercalate  a  month,  and 
so  to  have,  as  it  were,  two  Februaries ;  thrusting  up  the 
year  still  higher,  March  into  April's  place,  April  into  May's 
place,  &c.  Whereupon  it  is  impossible  for  us  to  know 
when  our  Saviour  was  born,  or  when  he  died. 

1.  18.  Whereupon  it  is  impossible  for  us  &c.]  Selden,  in  his  review 
of  the  4th  ch.  of  his  book  on  Tithes,  says  :— 'The  learned  know  that 
until  about  cccc  years  after  Christ .  .  .  that  day  (sc.  Dec.  25,  as  the  day 
of  the  Nativity)  was  not  settled,  but  variously  observed  in  the  Eastern 
Church.  .  .  .  And  S.  Chrysostom  then  learned  the  time  of  the  25th  of 
December  (which  yet  most  think  not  to  be  the  exact  time)  from  the 
Western  or  Latin  Church.'  Works,  iii.  1314. 

This  passage  gave  great  offence  to  King  James  ;  and  Selden,  after 
several  interviews  with  the  King,  wrote  at  his  command  a  further 
tract  on  the  subject.  In  this,  after  discussing  the  authorities  at  length, 
he  concludes  on  a  balance  of  evidence,  '  It  rests  that  we  resolve  on  it 
(sc.  on  the  25th  of  December  being  the  correct  day)  upon  as  certain 
and  clear  a  truth  of  tradition,  as  by  rational  inference,  by  express 
testimony  of  the  ancients,  by  common  and  continual  practice  of 


198  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

2.  The  year  is  either  the  year  of  the  moon,  or  the  year 
of  the  sun ;  there  is  not  above  eleven  days'  difference. 
Our  moveable  feasts   are  according  to  the  year  of  the 
moon  ;   else  they  should  be  fixed. 

3.  Though  they  reckon  ten  days  sooner  beyond  sea,  yet 
it  does  not  follow  their  spring  is  sooner  than  ours;  we 
keep  the  same  time  in  natural  things,  and  their  ten  days 
sooner,  and  our  ten  days  later  in  those  things,  mean  the 
self-same  time;  just  as  twelve  sous  in  French,  are  ten- 

10  pence  in  English. 

4.  The  lengthening  of  days  is  not  suddenly  perceived, 
till  they  are  grown  a  pretty  deal  longer ;  because  the  sun, 
though  it  be  in  a  circle,  yet  it  seems  for  a  while  to  go  in 
a  right  line.      For  take  a  segment  of  a  great  circle  espe 
cially,  and  you  shall  doubt  whether  it  be  straight1  or  no. 
But  when  the  sun  is  got  past  that  line,  then  you  presently 
perceive  the  days  lengthened.     Thus  it  is  in  the  winter 
and  summer  solstice  ;  which  is  indeed  the  true  reason  of 
them. 

20     5.  The  eclipse  of  the  sun  is,  when  it  is  new  moon  ;  the 
eclipse  of  the  moon,  when  it  is  full.    They  say  Dionysius 

1  Be  straight,  H.  2]  be  not  straight,  H.  and  S. 

several  churches,  and  by  accurate  inquiry,  may  be  discovered.' 
Works,  iii.  1450. 

The  remark  in  the  Table  Talk  shows  that  this  forced  retractation 
was  not  seriously  made. 

1.  ii.  The  lengthening  of  days  &c.]  The  sense  of  this  passage  is  not 
clear.  Selden's  meaning  perhaps  is  that  in  winter  so  small  a  part  of 
the  sun's  orbit  is  visible  above  the  horizon,  that  the  sun  appears  to 
the  eye  to  be  travelling  in  a  right  line.  In  the  much  larger  summer 
orbit,  the  curvature  is  distinctly  seen.  But  that  the  lengthening  of  the 
days  is  on  this  account  suddenly  perceived,  does  not  seem  to  follow. 
It  is  likely  enough  that  the  passage  has  been  incorrectly  reported. 

1.  21.  They  say  Dionysius  &c.]  The  story  is  found  in  a  letter 
written  as  from  Dionysius  the  Areopagite  to  Polycarp,  Bishop  of 
Smyrna.  It  says  that  he  and  the  Sophist  Apollophanes  were  to 
gether  at  Heliopolis  at  the  time  of  the  Crucifixion,  and  that  they  then 


ZEALOTS.  199 

was  converted  by  the  eclipse  that  happened  at  our  Saviour's 
death,  because  it  was  neither  of  these,  and  so  could  not  be 
natural. 


CLIV. 
ZEALOTS. 

ONE  would  wonder  Christ  should  whip  the  buyers  and 
sellers  out  of  the  temple,  and  nobody  offer  to  resist  him, 
considering  what  opinion  they  had  of  him ;  but  the  reason 
was,  they  had  a  law,  that  whosoever  did  profane  sanditatem 
Dei,  aut  templi,  the  holiness  of  God,  or  the  temple,  before 
ten  persons,  it  was  lawful  for  any  of  them  to  kill  him,  or  10 
to  do  any  thing  on  this  side  killing  him,  as  whipping  him, 
or  the  like.  And  hence  it  was,  that  when  one  struck  our 
Saviour  before  a  judge,  (where  it  was  not  lawful  to  strike, 

and  there  observed  the  moon  pass  in  an  unaccountable  way  over  the 
face  of  the  sun,  and  so  remain  from  the  sixth  hour  until  the  evening. 
Apollophanes,  he  remarks,  must  know  that  such  an  event  as  this, 
happening  out  of  the  ordinary  course  of  nature,  must  have  been  due 
to  direct  divine  interposition.  Indeed,  Apollophanes  himself  had 
admitted  this,  for  at  the  time  of  the  eclipse  he  said  to  Dionysius  that 
what  they  saw  must  be  the  consequence  of  matters  which  concerned 
the  Gods  (detW  a/zot/3m  Trpayjuaro)!/).  The  actual  conversion  of  Diony 
sius  is  ascribed  to  the  preaching  of  St.  Paul  at  Athens,  Acts  xvii.  34. 
The  unseasonable  eclipse  is  referred  to  by  Dionysius  in  his  letter  as 
supplying  an  argument  which  Polycarp  is  to  press  on  the  scoffing 
sophist  Apollophanes.  The  result  is  said  to  have  been  that  Apollo 
phanes  too  became  a  Christian.  See  S.  Dionysii  Epistola  7,  in  vol.  iii. 
of  Migne's  Patrologiae  Cursus  Completus,  Series  Graeca,  and  Epistola 
n,  extant  only  in  Latin  and  marked  by  Migne  as  spurious — as  indeed 
the  rest  of  the  writings  ascribed  to  Dionysius  commonly  are. 

1.  7.  the  reason  was,  they  had  a  law  &c.]  Selden,  in  his  De  Jure 
Naturali,  refers  at  length  to  this  law,  and  to  its  enforcement  by  the 
Zealots.  He  gives,  among  instances  of  its  being  put  in  force,  the 
well-known  case  of  Phineas,  and  the  case  of  Mattathias  who,  in 
flamed  with  zeal,  slew  a  Jew  who  was  about,  in  the  sight  of  all,  to  oft'er 
sacrifice  on  a  pagan  altar  (i  Maccabees,  ch.  ii.  23-26).  The  stoning  of 
Stephen,  and  the  oath  taken  against  Paul's  life,  are  other  instances  in 
point.  See  Works,  i.  456  ff. 


200  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

as  it  is  not  with  us  at  this  day),  he  only  replied,  If  I 
have  spoken  evil,  bear  witness  of  the  evil ;  but  if  well, 
why  smitest  thou  me?  He  says  nothing  against  their 
smiting  him,  in  case  he  had  been  guilty  of  speaking  evil, 
that  is,  blasphemy,  and  they  could  have  proved  it  against 
him.  They  that  put  this  law  in  execution  were  called 
zealots  ;  but  afterwards  they  committed  many  villanies. 

1.  7.  afterwards  they  committed  many  villanies\  See  Josephus, 
Wars  of  the  Jews,  bk.  iv.  chs.  4,  5,  6,  7,  for  an  account  of  the  whole 
sale  murders  and  robberies  which  they  committed  during  the  great 
war  with  the  Romans. 


APPENDIX 


EXCURSUS  A. 

EXCOMMUNICATION  :   p.  66. 
Note  on  sec.  4.     The  evidence  for  this  is  found  in  a  rescript,  &c. 

CONSTANTINE  in  this  rescript  states  it  as  law,  that  in  every 
cause  the  judgment  pronounced  by  bishops  is  to  hold  good 
absolutely  and  without  appeal,  that  either  of  two  disputants  may 
carry  the  case  to  the  bishop's  court,  whether  his  opponent 
wishes  it  or  not ;  and  further,  that  the  evidence  of  any  one 
bishop  is  to  be  accepted  as  final,  and  that  when  a  bishop  has 
given  his  testimony,  no  other  witness  is  to  be  heard. 

That  there  is  fraud  or  error  attaching  to  this  rescript  seems 
certain,  for  it  is  found  inserted  in  the  later  Codex  Theodosianus, 
which  contains  laws  wholly  inconsistent  with  it.  These  show 
that  if  it  was  written  by  Constantine — and  this  is  a  disputed 
point — the  law  which  it  recites  must  have  been  abrogated  some 
fifty  years  before  the  Codex  Theodosianus  was  compiled. 
Sirmondi,  however,  includes  it  in  his  Appendix  Codicis  Theo- 
dosiani.  Selden,  here  and  in  his  treatise  De  Synedriis  Veterum 
Ebraeorum  (Works,  i.  956),  accepts  it  as  Constantine's,  but  he 
insists  that  it  was  fraudulently  inserted  in  the  Codex  Theodo 
sianus,  of  which  it  could  not  possibly  have  formed  part.  See 
Works,  ii.  830  and  1067.  Godefroy,  in  his  edition  of  the  Codex, 
prints  it  under  the  heading,  Extravagans  seu  subdititius  titulus 
de  Episcopali  Judicio,  and  he  gives  reasons  (endorsed  by 
Gibbon,  Decline  and  Fall,  ch.  xx.  sec.  4,  note)  for  rejecting  it 
as  an  entire  forgery,  vol.  vi.  303-308  (ed.  1665  fol.).  Haenel 
does  not  include  it  in  his  edition  of  the  Codex,  but  he  prints  it 
at  the  end  of  his  volume  as  forming  part  of  Sirmondi's 


202  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

Appendix,  and  he  prefaces  the  Appendix  with  a  discussion  of 
his  own,  concluding  in  favour  of  the  rescript  as  the  genuine 
work  of  Constantine,  but  rejecting  it  from  the  Theodosian  Code. 
He  adds  also  a  list  of  the  various  authorities  who  may  be  con 
sulted  on  the  above  points. 

The  rescript  runs  thus :  '  Sanximus  namque,  sicut  edicti 
nostri  forma  declarat,  sententias  episcoporum,  quolibet  genere 
latas,  .  .  .  inviolatas  semper  incorruptasque  servari,  scilicet  ut 
pro  sanctis  semper  ac  venerabilibus  habeatur  quicquid  episco 
porum  fuerit  sententia  terminatum.  .  .  .  Quicunque  itaque  litem 
habens,  sive  possessor  sive  petitor  erit; .  .  .  judicium  eligit  sacro- 
sanctae  legis  antistitis,  illico  sine  aliqua  dubitatione,  etiamsi  alia 
pars  refragatur,  ad  episcopum  cum  sermone  litigantium  dirigatur. 
.  .  .  Omnes  itaque  causae,  quae  vel  praetorio  jure  vel  civili 
tractantur,  episcoporum  sententiis  terminatae,  perpetuo  stabili- 
tatis  jure  firmentur,  nee  liceat  ulterius  retractari  negotium,  quod 
episcoporum  sententia  deciderit.  Testimonium  etiam,  ab  uno 
licet  episcopo  perhibitum,  omnes  judices  indubitanter  accipiant, 
nee  alius  audiatur  cum  testimonium  episcopi  a  qualibet  parte 
fuerit  repromissum/  Constitutiones  Sirmondi,  Appendix,  cap.  i. 
On  the  other  hand,  conf.  e.g.  a  law  of  Arcadius  and  Honorius, 
which  was  certainly  part  of  the  Codex :  '  Quoties  de  religione 
agitur,  episcopos  convenit  agitare ;  ceteras  vero  causas,  quae  ad 
ordinaries  cognitores,  vel  ad  usum  publici  juris  pertinent,  legibus 
oportet  audiri.'  Codex,  lib.  xvi,  tit.  xi.  sec.  i. 

The  Novels  of  Valentinian  III,  of  later  date  than  the  Codex, 
are  not  less  conclusive.  'Constat  episcopos  forum  legibus  non 
habere,  nee  de  aliis  causis  (secundum  Arcadii  et  Honorii  divalia 
constituta)  praeter  religionem  posse  judicare.'  Tit.  xxxiv. 


EXCURSUS   B. 

INCENDIARIES  I   p.  83. 

1.  9.  They  that  first  set  it  on  fire  &c.]  The  King's  chief 
advisers  in  the  matters  which  brought  about  the  conflict  with 
the  Parliamentary  party  were,  or  were  assumed  to  have  been, 
the  Duke  of  Buckingham,  the  High  Treasurer,  Sir  Richard 
Weston,  the  Earl  of  Strafford,  and  Archbishop  Laud.  It  is 


EXCURSUS   B.  203 

not  clear  to  what  time  Selden  is  referring,  when  he  says  that 
they  had  now  '  become  regenerate ' ;  it  is  perhaps  to  the  early 
part  of  the  second  Parliament  of  1640,  when  the  punishment  of 
Strafford  and  Laud  had  already  been  taken  in  hand,  and  when 
it  was  clear  that  the  Commons  were  in  no  temper  to  be  trifled 
with.  The  Duke  of  Buckingham  and  Sir  Richard  Weston  were 
both  dead — unregenerate  in  Selden's  sense  of  the  word.  On 
the  death  of  the  High  Treasurer,  Laud  had  been  made  one  of 
the  Commissioners  of  the  Treasury  and  Revenue,  which  (says 
Clarendon)  he  had  reason  to  be  sorry  for,  because  it  engaged 
him  in  civil  business  and  matters  of  state,  wherein  he  had  little 
experience  and  which  he  had  hitherto  avoided.  Hist.  vol.  i. 
152. 

It  appears,  however,  from  Whitelock's  Memorials,  that  he 
had  long  before  this  been  credited  with  interfering  in  matters  of 
state.  On  the  imprisonment  of  the  members  (3tio  Caroli),  '  the 
people  were  discontented.  Libels  were  cast  abroad  especially 
against  Bishop  Laud,  and  Weston  the  Treasurer.  .  .  .  My  father 
(i.  e.  Justice  Whitelock)  said  that  if  Bishop  Laud  went  on  in  his 
way,  he  would  kindle  a  flame  in  the  nation/  p.  13.  The  charge 
of  being  an  incendiary  is  urged  again  in  1640,  by  the  same 
authority,  on  general  and  on  special  grounds.  '  He  (Laud) 
was  more  busy  in  temporal  affairs  and  matters  of  state  than  his 
predecessors  of  later  times  had  been.  My  father,  who  was 
anciently  and  thoroughly  acquainted  with  him  and  knew  his  dis 
position,  would  say,  "He  was  too  full  of  fire,  though  a  just  and 
good  man  ;  and  that  his  want  of  experience  in  state  matters,  and 
his  too  much  zeal  for  the  Church,  and  heat,  would  set  this 
nation  on  fire." 

'  By  his  council  chiefly  (as  it  was  fathered  upon  him)  the 
Parliament  being  dissolved/  &c.  Whitelocke,  Memorials,  p.  34. 

Curiously,  too,  in  the  same  year,  we  find  the  term  '  incendiary ' 
used  about  him  by  the  Scotch  Commissioners,  and  a  charge 
brought  by  them  in  the  Upper  House  in  proof  of  it.  Laud's 
Works,  iii.  238. 

1.  9.  Monopolies]  How  numerous  these  monopolies  had 
been  will  appear  from  the  King's  proclamation  (April  15,  1639) 
revoking  some  of  them.  See  also  Sir  John  Culpeper's  speech 
in  the  Parliament  which  met  on  November  3,  1640  :  1 1  have  but 
one  grievance  more  to  offer  unto  you,  but  this  one  comprizeth 


204  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

many.  It  is  a  nest  of  wasps  or  swarm  of  vermin  which  have 
overcrept  the  land.  I  mean  the  monopolies  and  polers  of  the 
people ;  these,  like  the  frogs  of  Egypt,  have  gotten  possession 
of  our  dwellings,  and  we  have  scarce  a  room  free  from  them. 
They  sup  in  our  cup.  They  dip  in  our  dish.  They  sit  by  our 
fire.  We  find  them  in  the  Dye-fat,  Wash-bowl,  and  Powdring- 
tub.  They  share  with  the  butler  in  his  box.  They  have  marked 
and  sealed  us  from  head  to  foot.  Mr.  Speaker,  they  will  not 
bate  us  a  pin.  We  may  not  buy  our  own  cloaths  without  their 
brokage.  These  are  the  leeches  that  have  sucked  the  common 
wealth  so  hard  that  it  is  almost  become  hectical/  &c.  Rush- 
worth,  Collections,  ii.  915-917. 

Clarendon,  like  Selden,  traces  the  troubles  of  his  day  to  the 
arbitrary  and  unwise  proceedings  in  the  early  years  of  Charles's 
reign.  '  And  here  I  cannot  but  let  myself  loose  to  say  that  no 
man  can  shew  me  a  source  from  whence  those  waters  of  bitter 
ness  we  now  taste  have  more  probably  flowed,  than  from  these 
unreasonable,  unskilful,  and  precipitate  dissolutions  of  Parlia 
ments  .  .  .  And  whoever  considers  the  acts  of  power  and  injustice 
of  some  of  the  ministers  in  those  intervals  of  parliament,  will 
not  be  much  scandalized  at  the  warmth  and  vivacity  of  those 
meetings/  Clarendon,  Hist.  vol.  i.  p.  6. 

These  points,  with  many  others,  are  referred  to  in  the 
'  Remonstrance '  of  1641.  They  reproached  his  Majesty  .  .  . 
'with  the  enlargements  of  forests,  and  compositions  thereupon ; 
the  ingrossing  gunpowder  and  suffering  none  to  buy  it  without 
licence  ;  with  all  the  most  odious  monopolies  of  soap,  wine,  salt, 
leather,  sea-coal  and  the  rest/  They  remembered  'the  dissolu 
tion  of  the  Parliament  in  the  fourth  year  of  his  reign  .  .  .  the 
imprisoning  divers  members  of  that  Parliament  after  the  disso 
lution,  and  detaining  them  close  prisoners  for  words  spoken  in 
Parliament;  sentencing  and  fining  them  for  those  words/ 
Clarendon,  Hist.  i.  492,  493. 

1.  9.  forest  business]  This  was  the  extortion  in  1630  and 
subsequent  years  of  large  sums  of  money  on  account  of  alleged 
encroachments  on  the  royal  forests,  although  the  lands  thus 
reclaimed  for  the  King  had  been  held  without  dispute  under  an 
adverse  title  dating  back  for  three  or  four  centuries.  In  1630, 
Clarendon  says,  '  the  old  laws  of  the  forest  were  revived,  by 
which  not  only  great  fines  were  imposed,  but  great  annual  rents 


EXCURSUS  C.  205 

intended  and  like  to  be  settled  by  way  of  contract,  which  burden 
lighted  most  upon  persons  of  quality  and  honour,  who  thought 
themselves  above  ordinary  oppressions,  and  were  therefore 
likely  to  remember  it  with  more  sharpness/  Clarendon,  Hist, 
i.  105. 

This  grievance  was  finally  put  an  end  to  by  the  Act  of  1640, 
'  that  from  henceforth  the  Meets,  Meers,  Limits,  and  Bounds  of 
all  and  every  the  Forests  shall  be  adjudged  and  taken  to  extend 
no  further  respectively  than  the  Meets,  Meers,  Limits,  and 
Bounds  in  the  several  counties  respectively,  wherein  the  said 
Forests  were  commonly  known,  reputed,  used,  or  taken,  in  the 
2oth  year  of  the  reign  of  the  late  king  James  and  not  beyond,  &c.' 
Rushworth,  Collections,  iii.  1386. 

1.  10.  parliament  men  3°  Caroli]  Whitelocke  in  his  Memorials 
for  this  year  speaks  of  'Warrants  of  the  Council  issued  for  Hollis, 
Selden,  Robert,  Elliot,  and  other  Parliament  men  to  appear 
before  them ;  Hollis,  Curriton,  Elliot,  and  Valentine  appeared, 
and  refusing  to  answer  out  of  Parliament,  they  were  committed 
close  prisoners  to  the  Tower,  and  a  Proclamation  for  appre 
hending  others  went  out,  and  some  of  their  studies  were  sealed 
up.  All  the  judges  were  contented  that  the  prisoners  should  be 
bailed,  but  they  must  also  find  sureties  for  their  good  behaviour. 
This,  at  Selden's  instance,  they  refuse  to  do,  and  are  remanded 
to  the  Tower.'  Memorials,  pp.  13  and  14. 


EXCURSUS   C. 

THE    KINOES    CHAPEL    ESTABLISHMENT  I   p.  92.  SCC.  4. 

1. 12.  '  Twas  the  old  way  &c.]  In  the  Ordinances  for  the  Govern 
ment  of  the  Royal  Household  (1790,  4°),  there  are  frequent 
references  to  the  King's  Chapel  establishment.  In  the  household 
of  Henry  VI  it  consisted  of  i  dean,  20  chaplains  and  clerks,  and 
7  children,  p.  17.  In  the  Liber  Niger  Domus  Regis  Edw.  IV, 
the  duties,  &c.  of  the  dean,  chaplains,  yeomen  and  children  of 
the  chapel  are  set  out,  pp.  49,  50.  The  whole  subject  is 
treated  at  length  in  the  Ordinances  made  at  Eltham  in  1526. 
'The  King's  pleasure  is  that  at  all  times  when  his  Highness 
shall  lie  in  his  castle  of  Windsor,  his  Manors  of  Bewlye,  Rich- 


206  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

mond,  and  Hampton  Court,  Greenwich,  Eltham  or  Woodstock, 
his  hall  shall  be  ordinarily  kept  and  continued,  and  at  all 
such  times  of  keeping  the  said  hall,  the  King's  noble  chapel  to 
be  kept  in  the  same  place.  Nevertheless,  forasmuch  as  ...  it 
would  not  only  be  a  great  annoyance,  but  also  excessive  labour, 
travell,  charge  and  pain,  to  have  the  King's  whole  chapel  con 
tinually  attendant  upon  his  person  .  .  .  specially  in  riding 
journeys  and  progresses  it  is  ...  ordained  that  the  master  of  the 
children,  and  six  men  with  some  officers  of  the  vestry,  shall  give 
their  continual  attendance  in  the  King's  court  .  .  .  for  which 
purpose  no  great  carriage  either  of  vestments  or  books  shall  be 
required/  p.  160.  See,  too,  Jebb,  Choral  Service  of  the  Church 
(1843),  pp.  147,  148. 

1.  14.  In  St.  Stephen's  Chapel  &c.]  On  the  6th  of  August, 
1348,  22  Edward  III,  that  King,  by  his  royal  charter  recited, 
'  that  a  spacious  chapel,  situate  within  the  palace  of  Westmin 
ster,  in  honour  of  St.  Stephen,  protomartyr,  had  been  nobly 
begun  by  his  progenitors  and  had  been  completed  at  his  own 
expense — which  he  appointed  to  be  collegiate ;  and  that  there 
should  be  established  therein  a  dean,  twelve  secular  canons, 
with  the  same  number  of  vicars  and  other  sufficient  ministers, 
to  celebrate  divine  service  for  the  King,  his  progenitors  and 
successors  for  ever.'  A  statement  follows  of  the  endowments 
successively  granted  to  the  above-named  dean,  canons,  and 
college.  '  Canon  Row,  since  by  corruption  called  Channel 
Row,  belonged  also  to  the  said  dean  and  canons,  where  they 
had  sometimes  lodged.'  This  college  was  suppressed  and 
surrendered  in  i  Edward  VI.  The  chapel  was  soon  afterwards 
fitted  up  for  the  meeting  of  the  House  of  Commons,  which  had 
before  usually  assembled  in  the  Chapter  House  of  the  Abbey  of 
Westminster.  Dugdale,  Monasticon,  vi.  1348-49.  The  chapel 
was  burnt  in  the  fire  of  1835. 


EXCURSUS   D. 

LORDS    BEFORE    THE    PARLIAMENT  :   p.  106.  SCC.  2. 

1.  4.     The  Prior  of  St.  John  &c.]     '  The  Lord  Prior   here  ' 
(i.e.  of  the  Hospital  of  St.  John  of  Jerusalem  near  Clerkenwell) 


EXCURSUS   D.  207 

'  had  precedence  of  all  the  lay  barons  in  Parliament,  and  chief 
power  over  all  the  Preceptories  and  lesser  Houses  of  this  order 
throughout  England/  Dugdale,  Monasticon,  vi.  799. 

In  Camden's  Britannia  (Cough's  trans.),  the  list  of  abbots  who 
were  barons  of  Parliament  ends  with  'the  Prior  of  St.  John  of 
Jerusalem,  commonly  called  Grand  Master  of  the  Knights  of 
St.  John,  and  claiming  to  be  the  first  baron  of  England.'  Intro 
duction,  cap.  on  Orders  in  England. 

In  the  sixteenth  century,  this  claim  had  certainly  been 
admitted.  In  the  Journals  of  the  House  of  Lords,  giving  a  list 
of  the  Lords  present  at  each  Parliament  in  the  reign  of  Henry 
VIII,  the  Prior  of  St.  John  of  Jerusalem  appears  always  among 
the  temporal  peers,  immediately  after  the  Earls  and  higher 
nobles,  and  above  the  Barons.  This  order  is  invariably 
observed  down  to  1536,  the  date  at  which  the  Priory  was  sup 
pressed,  after  which  the  Prior's  name  disappears  from  the  lists. 
In  1556  (4  &  5  Phil,  and  Mary)  it  reappears  in  its  old  place,  the 
Priory  having  been  restored  by  the  Queen,  and  it  finally  dis 
appears  in  the  course  of  1558  after  the  accession  of  Elizabeth. 
Conf.  Journals  of  the  House  of  Lords,  vol.  i. 

At  an  earlier  date,  the  Prior's  position  is  not  thus  fixed.  In 
the  Parliamentary  Roll  of  13  Edward  III  his  name  comes  last 
but  one  in  the  list  of  spiritual  peers  ;  the  Abbot  of  Westminster 
is  below  him.  Conf.  Rotuli  Parliamentorum,  printed  by  order 
of  the  Lords.  In  the  writ  of  summons  to  Parliament  of  23 
Edward  I  it  is  clear  that  the  Prior  was  then  included  among  the 
spiritual  peers.  Conf.  Dugdale  :  A  perfect  copy  of  all  the  sum 
monses  of  the  nobility,  p.  8  (ed.  1685).  In  13  and  49  Henry  VI, 
he  is  the  last  of  the  spiritual  barons,  and  he  is  addressed  as  they 
are  in  the  summons  to  Parliament — in  fide  et  dilectione  quibus 
nobis  tenemini ;  the  form  for  the  temporal  barons  being  in  fide  et 
homagio,  p.  161.  But,  as  the  head  of  a  military  order,  his  office 
must  at  all  times  have  been  lay  rather  than  clerical.  '  The 
Templars  and  Hospitalers,'  says  Selden,  'were  devout  soldiers 
only.  .  .  .  Their  prayers  or  devotions  in  private  were  not  the 
services  expected  from  them  in  the  Church,  but  their  swords 
and  valour  only  gave  the  desert.'  Hist,  of  Tythes,  vol.  iii. 
p.  1140. 


208  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

EXCURSUS    E. 

Presbytery,  sec.  4.     When  the  queries  were  sent  to  the  Assembly. 

The  questions  sent  (April  1646)  were  as  follows  : — 

'The  House  of  Commons  desires  to  be  satisfied  by  the 
Assembly  of  Divines  in  the  questions  following  : — 

'  i.  Whether  the  Parochial  and  Congregational  Elderships, 
appointed  by  ordinance  of  Parliament,  or  any  other  Congrega 
tional  or  Presbyterial  Elderships  are  jure  divino,  and  by  the  will 
and  appointment  of  Jesus  Christ  ?  and  whether  any  particular 
Church  Government  be  jure  divino  ?  and  what  that  govern 
ment  is  ? 

'  2.  Whether  all  the  members  of  the  said  Elderships,  as  mem 
bers  thereof,  or  which  of  them,  are  jure  divino,  and  by  the  will 
and  appointment  of  Jesus  Christ? 

'3.  Whether  the  superior  Assemblies  or  Elderships,  viz.  the 
Classical,  Provincial,  and  National,  whether  all,  or  any  of  them, 
and  which  of  them  are  jure  divino,  and  by  the  will  and  appoint 
ment  of  Jesus  Christ  ? 

'4.  Whether  the  appeals  from  Congregational  Elderships  to 
the  Classical,  Provincial,  and  National  assemblies,  or  any  of 
them,  and  to  which  of  them  are  jure  divino,  and  by  the  will  and 
appointment  of  Jesus  Christ  ? 

'  5.  Whether  (Ecumenical  assemblies  are  jure  divino  1  and 
whether  there  be  appeals  from  any  of  the  former  assemblies  to 
the  said  (Ecumenical,  jure  divino,  and  by  the  will  and  appoint 
ment  of  Jesus  Christ  ? 

1 6.  Whether  by  the  Word  of  God  the  power  of  judging  and 
declaring  what  are  such  notorious  and  scandalous  offences,  for 
which  persons  guilty  thereof  are  to  be  kept  from  the  Sacrament 
of  the  Lord's  Supper,  and  of  conventing  before  them,  trying,  and 
actual  suspending  from  the  Sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper 
such  offenders  accordingly,  is  either  in  the  Congregational 
Eldership  or  Presbytery,  or  in  any  other  Eldership,  Congrega 
tion,  or  persons  ;  and  whether  such  powers  are  in  them  only,  or 
any  of  them,  and  in  which  of  them,  jure  divino,  and  by  the  will 
and  appointment  of  Jesus  Christ? 

'7.  Whether  there  be  any  certain  and  particular  rules  expressed 


EXCURSUS  F.  209 

in  the  Word  of  God  to  direct  the  Elderships  or  Presbyteries, 
Congregations,  or  persons,  or  any  of  them,  in  the  exercise  and 
execution  of  the  powers  aforesaid,  and  what  are  those  rules  ? 

'  8.  Is  there  anything  contained  in  the  Word  of  God  that  the 
supreme  magistracy  in  a  Christian  State  may  not  judge  and  de 
termine  what  are  the  aforesaid  notorious  and  scandalous  offences, 
and  the  manner  of  suspension  for  the  same  ;  and  in  what  parti 
culars  concerning  the  premisses  is  the  said  supreme  magistracy 
by  the  Word  of  God  excluded  ? 

'g.  Whether  the  provision  of  Commissioners  to  judge  of 
scandals  not  enumerated  (as  they  are  authorized  by  the  ordin 
ance  of  Parliament)  be  contrary  to  that  way  of  government 
which  Christ  has  appointed  in  his  Church,  and  wherein  are  they 
so  contrary  ? 

'In  answer  to  these  particulars,  the  House  of  Commons  desires 
of  the  Assembly  of  Divines  their  proofs  from  Scripture,  and  to 
set  down  the  several  texts  of  Scripture  in  the  express  words  of 
the  same  :  and  there  were  orders  added  that  every  Minister 
present  at  the  debate  of  any  of  these  questions,  shall  put  his 
Christian  name  to  the  answer,  in  the  affirmative  or  negative ; 
and  that  those  who  dissent  from  the  major  part  shall  set  down 
their  positive  opinions,  with  express  texts  in  proof  of  them/ 
Rushworth,  Collections,  vi.  260. 

Selden,  who  had  had  a  hand  in  framing  these  queries,  was 
well  aware  that  search  as  they  would,  they  would  never  find 
answers  to  them  in  the  text  of  Scripture. 

EXCURSUS   F. 

ERRORS  IN  FORMER  TEXTS. 

I  APPEND  some  instances  of  obvious  blunders  in  former  texts, 
which  have  been  corrected  in  this  edition  on  the  authority  of 
the  Harleian  MSS.  In  'Holy- Days/  for  example,  the  old 
reading  is  :  '  Yet  that  has  relation  to  an  Act  of  Parliament 
which  forbids  the  keeping  of  any  Holy-days  in  time  of  popery.' 
There  is  no  such  Act,  and  the  alleged  prohibition  is,  on  the 
face  of  it,  absurd.  The  reading,  as  restored  from  the  MS.,  is  : 
'  Yet  that  has  relation  to  an  Act  of  Parliament  which  forbids  the 
keeping  of  any  other  Holy-days.  The  ground  thereof  was  the 

p 


210  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

multitude  of  Holy-days  in  time  of  popery/  This  makes  sense, 
and  is  in  agreement  with  the  language  of  the  Act.  Again,  in 
'  King  of  England/  sec.  5,  the  old  editions  of  1689  read  :  'The 
three  estates  are  the  Lords  Temporal,  the  Bishops  are  the  clergy, 
and  the  Commons,  as  some  would  have  it  [take  heed  of  that] 
for  then  if  two  agree  the  third  is  involved,  but  he  is  king  of  the 
three  estates/  This  jumble  of  nonsense  is  cured  in  the  MS.  by 
the  insertion  of  a  full  stop  after  '  Commons/  Then  follows : 
'  The  King  is  not  one  of  the  three  estates,  as  some  would  have 
it  [take  heed  of  that]  for  then/  &c.,  &c.  In  sec.  3  of  the  same 
discourse,  the  reading  '  they  did  not  much  advance  the  king's 
supremacy'  makes  the  statement  at  once  incorrect  and  irrelevant. 
Again  in  '  Bishops  out  of  the  Parliament '  sec.  13,  we  have  :  '  If 
the  Parliament  and  Presbyterian  party  should  dispute,  who  should 
be  the  judge  ?  '  a  question  which  Selden  would  certainly  never 
have  asked,  and  which  was  answered  effectively  more  than  once 
when  such  a  dispute  did  happen.  The  reading  should  be :  Tf 
the  Prelatical  and  Presbyterian  party'  &c.,  for,  as  Selden  says 
(Religion,  sec.  10),  'Disputes  in  religion  will  never  be  ended, 
because  there  wants  a  measure  by  which  the  business  should  be 
decided  ....  One  says  one  thing,  and  one  another :  and  there 
is,  I  say,  no  measure  to  end  the  controversy/ 

In  '  Learning/  sec.  2,  the  old  reading  is  :  '  Most  men's  learn 
ing  is  nothing  but  history  duly  taken  up/  It  should  be  'dully 
taken  up/ 

In  '  Oaths/  sec.  3. — '  'Tis  to  me  but  reading  a  paper  in  their 
own  sense'  corrected  to  'in  my  own  sense/  as  the  argument 
clearly  requires. 

In  '  Devils/  sec.  2 — '  and  so  all  of  them  ought  to  be  of  the  same 
trade/  an  absolutely  unmeaning  remark,  is  corrected  in  the 
Harleian  MS.  1315  to  'thought  to  be  of  the  same  trade/  But 
the  reading  of  MS.  690,  'and  so  think  all  of  them  to  be  of  the 
same  trade/  seems  preferable  here. 

In  several  places  a  faulty  punctuation  has  marred  the  sense, 
as  e.g.  in  '  Devils/  sec.  2 — '  Why  in  the  likeness  of  a  bat  or  a  rat 
or  some  creature  ?  That  is,  why  not  in  some  shape  we  paint 
him  in/  &c.  This  should  be  'Why  in  the  likeness  of  a  bat,  or 
a  rat,  or  some  creature  that  is  ? '  i.  e.  some  creature  that  exists 
and  that  could  therefore  be  more  easily  produced  on  occasion 
than  a  real  live  Devil  with  claws  and  horns. 


EXCURSUS  G.  2ii 

So,  too,  in  'Bible,'  sec.  3,  we  have:  'There  is  no  book  so 
translated  as  the  Bible  for  the  purpose/  Here  the  full  stop 
should  come  after  'the  Bible/  and  'For  the  purpose/  a  regular 
Seldenian  phrase  = '  for  example/  should  begin  the  next 
clause.  Again,  in  '  Preaching/  sec.  15,  we  have  :  '  many  things 
are  heard  from  the  preacher  with  suspicion.  They  are  afraid 
of  some  ends,  which  are  easily  assented  to  when  they  have  it 
from  some  of  themselves/  This  piece  of  nonsense  is  cured  in 
the  MS.,  which  puts  a  comma  after  'suspicion/  brackets  off  the 
words  [they  are  afraid  of  some  ends]  and  thus  makes  the  things 
easily  assented  to  not  'some  ends/  but  the  things  which  had 
been  heard  from  the  preacher  with  suspicion. 

There  are  other  changes  introduced  in  the  present  text,  but 
most  of  them  are  wholly  unimportant,  and  adopted  only  because 
the  MSS.  so  read.  One  or  two  are  doubtful,  as  e.g.  'Treaty' 
for  '  Laity '  in  '  Clergy/  sec.  6. 


EXCURSUS   G. 

TESTIMONIES  TO  SELDEN,  AND  CRITICISMS  OF  SELDEN'S  STYLE. 

Dr.  Wilkins,  in  the  preface  to  his  edition  of  Selden's  Works, 
and  in  his  life  of  the  author,  has  collected  proofs  of  the  high 
esteem  in  which  Selden  was  held,  not  only  by  his  own  country 
men,  but  by  the  learned  of  all  countries. 

The  following  are  among  the  notices  which  he  quotes :  '  Grotius 
eum  honorem  Britanniae  appellat.  Conringius  vocat  virum  stu- 
pendae  lectionis.  Boeclerus  ita — Equidem  Seldeni  opera  laudare 
velle,  nihil  aliud  esset  quam  Soli  testimonium  splendoris  meditari. 
In  Lexico  Historico  Universal!  Germanico,  quod  a  J.  F.  Buddeo 
appellari  solet,  dicitur  communiter  appellatus  magnus  dictator 
doctrinae  gentis  Anglorum.'  Other  testimonies  follow.  See 
Works,  vol.  i.  Prcefatio,  pp.  i  &  n,  and  Vita  authoris,  p.  xlix. 

If  I  have  ventured  in  my  Introduction  to  speak  disparagingly 
of  Selden's  style  and  method,  I  have  good  warrant  for  what  I 
have  said.  Clarendon,  e. g.,  writes, — 'His  style  in  all  his  writings 
seems  harsh  and  sometimes  obscure  :  which  is  not  wholly  to  be 
imputed  to  the  abstruse  subjects  of  which  he  commonly  treated, 
out  of  the  paths  trod  by  other  men ;  but  to  a  little  undervaluing 

P  2 


212  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  JOHN  SELDEN. 

the  beauty  of  a  style,  and  too  much  propensity  to  the  language 
of  antiquity/     Clarendon,  Life,  i.  p.  35. 

Le  Clerc  writes  more  severely — '  Selden,  un  des  plus  savans 
que  VAngleterre  ait  eus,  est  Vun  de  ceux  qui  gardoit  le  mains  ce 
que  Von  a  dit  touchant  I'ordre,  ce  qui  fait  que  ses  e'crits,  quoique 
savans  et  utiles^  sont  lus  par  peu  de  gens  d'un  bout  a  Vautr,e ' : 
and  again — '  Quoique  je  ne  voulusse  pas  imiter  la  methode  confuse, 
ni  le  stile  de  Selden  .  .  .  .  les  bonnes  choses  qu'il  dit,  et  r erudition 
qu'il  fait  paroilre  par  tout,  surpassent  de  beaucoup  en  utilite'  ce 
qu'il  y  a  d'ailleurs  defectueux  dans  ses  ouvrages.y  Most  severe 
of  all  is  the  judgment  in  the  Ars  Critica — 'Apparet  eum  ita 
studia  sua  perturbasse,  ut  eodem  tempore  de  rebus  toto  genere 
diversis  cogitaret ;  digressiones  enim  captat  adeo  remotas, 
et  interdum  tarn  longas,  ut  nisi  ita  studia  instituisset,  non 
potuisset  tantam  ordinis  et  rerum  perturbationem  ferre.  Ac 
sane  dum  ordinem  et  perspicuitatem  negligit,  non  parum  taedii 
lectoribus  creat.'  And  Le  Clerc  goes  on  to  complain  that  where 
Selden  errs,  as  he  is  said  to  do  in  some  parts  of  the  De 
Synedriis  Veterum  Ebraeorum,  it  is  hardly  possible  to  trace  out 
how  he  has  got  wrong,  since  '  confusio,  digressiones,  testimonia 
aliena,  et  immensa  ilia  eruditionis  congesta  farrago,  facile  fucum 
faciunt,  et  perspicaces  etiam  obruunt/  Quoted  in  Works,  vol.  i. 
Prefatio,  p.  2. 


INDEX 


The  Arabic  numerals  refer  to  the  pages  of  Text  of  Table  Talk,  the  Roman  to  those  of 
the  Introduction,     The  letter  n  refers  to  the  notes  to  the  Text. 


A. 


Abbeys,  spoliation  of,  3,  4. 

Abraham,  example  of,  not  now  bind 
ing,  178. 

Acta  Eruditorum,  praise  of  Selden  in 
the,  xxv. 

Affection,  nature  of,  124. 

Alchemists  find  their  art  in  Virgil's 
aureus  ramus,  155. 

Allodium,  meaning  of,  97. 

Altar,  bowing  to  or  towards,  whether 
idolatrous,  78  and  n. 

Amsterdam,  independency  in  use  at, 

83- 

An  eye  for  an  eye,  &c.,  meaning  of 
command,  168. 

Andrews,  Bishop,  much  studied  pro 
verbs,  why,  159. 

Angers,  Bishop  of,  attempts  to  change 
the  Breviary,  141. 

Anglican  religion,  antiquity  and  con 
tinuity  of  the,  163. 

Apocrypha,  12. 

Aquinas  on  unbaptized  children,  7  n. 

—  on  admission  of  bastard  to  orders, 
8n. 

Archer,  the   last   person   tortured   in 

England,  185  n. 
Aristotelians,    absurd   saying  of  the, 

186. 
Aristotle  excommunicated  in  France, 

181. 

—  quotations  from,  102  n.,  132  n. 
Armstrong,  the  king's  fool,  insolent  to 

Abp.  Laud,  62  n. 

Article,  changes  made  in  the,  on  the 
Descent  into  Hell,  75  n. 

—  concerning  Power  of  Church,  ques 
tion  about  the,  39  and  n. 

Articles,  the  Thirty- nine,  5. 


Articles,  English  translation  of,  faulty, 
5  and  n. 

—  subscription  to,  6  and  n. 

Ass's  head,  alleged  Christian  worship 

of,  35  and  n. 
Assemblies,  different  sorts  of  synodical, 

84. 
Assembly  of  Divines,  lay  members  of, 

how  described,  176. 

—  open  to  scorn  for  revoking   their 
votes,  176. 

Athens,  why  governed  by  a  democracy, 
102. 


B. 


Bacon,    Sir    Nicholas,    judge    in    an 
ecclesiastical  dispute,  27  and  n. 

—  Roger,    on    Astrological    Conjunc 
tions,  49  n. 

on  Caesar's  use  of  perspective 

glasses,  155  n. 
on  the  change  of  opinion  among 

theologians  about  Aristotle,  180  n. 
Baillie,  Robert,  complains  of  Selden's 

antagonism,  xix. 
Bancroft,  Bishop,  changes  subscription 

to  Articles,  6  and  n. 
Baptism  in  the  Church  of  England,  7. 

—  in  the  Church  of  Rome,  7  and  n. 
Bastard,    not   to  enter  into  the  con 
gregation  of  the  Lord,  8. 

—  not  admitted  to  Orders  in  Church 
of  Rome,  8  and  n. 

—  appointment  of,  to  See  of  Worces 
ter,  letter  on,  8  and  n. 

Baxter  on  Selden's  religion,  xxi. 
Bible,  how  to  be  judged,  9,  sec.  i,  and 
n. 


2I4 


INDEX. 


Bible,  English  translation  of  the,  9,  ro. 

—  how  misprinted,  12  and  n. 
Bishops,  nature  of  jurisdiction  of,  13. 

—  confirmation  of,  13  n. 

—  not  to  preach,  14. 

—  failure  of  reforms  attempted  by,  14, 
sec.  5,  and  16,  sec.  6. 

—  seat  of,  in  Parliament,  16,  17. 

—  subject  to  lay  jurisdiction,  18. 

—  right  of,  to  vote  in  '  cases  of  blood,' 
19  and  n. 

—  may  meddle  with  temporal  affairs, 
20. 

—  contrast  between  old  and  new,  22, 
sec.  8. 

—  unfit  to  govern,  22. 

—  votes  of,  whether  to  be  taken  away, 

22,  23. 

—  originally  the  same  as  presbyters, 

23,  24,  25. 

—  whether  'jure   divino,'  25,  sec.   4, 
and  n. ;  26. 

—  stand  best  with  monarchy,  26,  sec.  8. 

—  Protestants  in  France  have  not,  26. 

—  to  be  retained,  26,  sec.  8;  27,  sees, 
ii  and  12;  28,  sec.  14. 

—  lands  of,  27,  sec.  10. 
Boccalino,  story  about  Euclid,  118. 

—  precedence    of    scholars,    soldiers, 
and  butchers,  how  settled  in,  192. 

Books,  value  of  Popish,  29. 

—  how  to  be  answered,  31,  sec.  6. 

—  what,  are  to  be  quoted,  31,  sees.  7-9. 
Borrichius  interprets  Virgil's  ;  golden 

bough '  alchemically,  155  n. 


C. 


Caesar  said  to  have  used  perspective 
glasses,  155. 

Cambridge,  why  Oxford  to  have  prece 
dence  of,  187. 

Canon  law,  how  to  be  studied,  31. 

Canons,  how  far  received  in  England, 
19. 

Catholics  uncharitable,  40. 

Cavellus,  an  editor  of  Duns  Scotus,  115. 

Ceremony,  use  of,  31. 

—  not  to  be  decried  by  ladies,  32. 
Chancellor,  bishop's,  his  jurisdiction, 

32. 
Chapel  establishment,  the  king's,  92, 

205. 
Christ,  a  great  observer  of  the  civil 

power,  140. 

—  exact  birth  and  death  of,  cannot  be 
known,  197. 

—  acted  lawfully  in  whipping  buyers 
and  sellers  out  of  the  temple,  199. 


Christian,  punishment  for  converting, 

to  be  Jew,  81. 
Christians  identified  with  Jews,  35. 

—  why  believed  to  worship  an  ass's 
head,  35  and  n. 

—  their  views  about  Heaven  and  Hell 
contrasted  with  those  of  the  Turks, 

35- 

—  position  of,  before  the  state  became 
Christian  and  after,  140. 

Christmas  succeeds  the  Saturnalia,  37. 

Church,  policy  of,  about  royal  prero 
gative,  38. 

Church  subject  to  the  civil  power  in 
England,  Spain,  and  France,  141. 

Churches,  main  entrance  to,  by  the 
west  door,  41  and  n. 

City,  what  makes  a,  42. 

Clergy,  claim  of,  to  teach,  how  far 
admitted,  43. 

—  a  learned  body,  44. 

—  interference     of,    sometimes     mis 
chievous,  44. 

Clink,  keeper  of  the,  story  about,  117. 
Cocledemoy,  probably  referred  to  by 

Selden,  189  n. 
Coleridge,    S.    T.,    remarks    by,    on 

Selden's  Table  Talk,  xxv. 
Commandment,   the   second,   view  of 

Papists  about,  80  and  n. 
Comme  d'abus,  142. 
Commendams,  use  and  abuse  of,  14. 
Commission,  High,  a  mixed  lay  and 

clerical  court,  45. 
Commons,      House      of,      erroneous 

opinions  in,  46. 
Confession,  48. 
Conjunction    of  Jupiter   and    Saturn, 

48. 
Conscience,  a  scrupulous,  a  tender,  49. 

—  not  to  be  pretended  against  law,  50. 

—  special  case  of,  50  and  n. 
Consecration,  its  effect,  51. 
Constantine,   alleged   rescript    of,    66 

and  n.  ;  how  far  genuine,  Excursus 

A,  201. 
Constitutions,   Imperial,   punishments 

inflicted  by,  81. 
Contracts,  not  to  be  receded  from,  52. 

—  always  to  be  kept,  100. 

—  some  not  valid,  196. 
Convocation,  who  to  be  members  of, 

53,  21  and  n. 

Cotton,  Sir  Robert,  story  about,  161. 
Councils,     general,      swayed     by     a 

majority  of  votes,  53. 
Court  of  England,  change  of  manners 

in  the,  93. 
Crashaw,    Mr.,   how   converted    from 

writing  against  plays,  134. 


INDEX. 


215 


Creed  of  St.  Athanasius,  53. 
—  Nicene,  how  altered,  54. 
Creeds,  why  disliked,  54. 
Crucifixion,  exact  date  of  the,  cannot 

be  known,  197. 

Crusades,  frauds  about  the,  119. 
Cushion-dance,  93  n. 


D. 


Damnation,   preachers    of,    liked   and 

run  after,  54. 
Dead  body  passing  through  a  town, 

money  charged  for,  139. 
Devils,  why  none  possessed  with,  in 

England,  55. 

—  nuns  possessed  by,  55  and  n. 

—  casting   out   of,   is   mere   juggling, 
why  practised,  56. 

—  man  possessed  by,  how  cured  by 
Selden,  57. 

Die  ecclesiae,  meaning  of,  65,  140. 
Difference  of  men,  in  what  it  consists, 

ill. 
Digby,  Sir  Kenelm,  82  and  n. 

—  Lord,  offends  the  Commons  and  is 
called  to  the  Upper  House,  152. 

Dionysius  the  Areopagite,  conversion 

of,  198. 
Do  as  you  would  be  done  to,  how  to 

be  understood,  61. 
Dreams,  good  done  by,  159. 
Duel,  how  far  allowable,  58. 
Duellists,  prayers  appointed  for,  59. 


E. 

Eclipses,  when  they  occur,  198. 
Emma  (Queen),  ordeal  of,  184. 
Enemy,  a  powerful,  not  to  be  abused, 

63  ;  not  to  be  undervalued,  190. 
Epitaph  ought  to  fit  the  person,  60. 
Equity,    uncertain    and    roguish,  60, 

61. 

Erasmus,  Scaliger  on,  15. 
Estates,  the  three,  92. 
Euclid,     story    about,    in    Boccalino, 

118. 
Excommunication,   whether   enjoined 

in  Scripture,  64,  65. 

—  first  instance  of,  65  and  n. 

—  legal  effect  of,  in  England,  66. 

—  why  disliked,  66. 

—  how  limited  by  law,  67  and  n. 

—  power    of,  sought   by   presbytery, 
67. 

Exposition  of  Scripture,  when  human, 
86. 


F. 


Faith  and  works,  not  to  be  divided,  69. 

Fasts,  commanded  absolutely  by  law, 
68  and  n. 

Fines,  moderate  and  excessive,  70  and 
n. 

Forest  laws,  revival  of  the,  204. 

Free  will,  paradoxical  views  about,  71. 

Friars,  their  vows  of  poverty  ques 
tioned,  71. 

—  disturbers  of  the  peace  of  Christen 
dom,  71. 

—  aliens,  5  and  n. 
Friends,  old,  are  best,  71. 
Frogs,  fable  of,  in  ^Esop,  109. 
Fuller,  remarks  of,  on  Selden,  in  the 

Westminster  Assembly,  xix. 


G. 


Galileo,  quotation  from,  186  and  n. 
Genesis    vi.    2,    how    interpreted    by 

Greek  Church,  196. 
St.   Paul's  argument   based 

upon,  196. 
Gentiles,    meaning    and    survival    of 

word,  73. 
Gentlemen  temperate  in  their  religion, 

73- 
Gold  coin,  reasons  of  inscription  on, 

73  and  n. 

Goring,  his  changes  of  sides,  33  and  n. 
Gregory  IX,  letter  on  appointment  of 

bastard  to  See  of  Worcester,  8  n. 
Groom-porter,  his  office  and  business, 

87  n. 
Grossetest,  Bishop,  household  statutes 

of,  74  n. 
Gun,  old  meaning  of,  98  and  n. 


H. 


Hall,  its  use  in  old  times,  74  and  n. 
Hell,  Christ's  descent  into,  Scriptural 
proofs  of,  75  and  n. 

—  how  explained  by  Selden,  76. 

—  how     understood      by     the     first 
Christians,  77  and  n.  on  76. 

Henry  V  puts  away  friars  aliens,  5. 

—  VIII,  law  about  reading  the  Scrip 
tures,  10. 

Heretic,  a  vain  thing  to  talk  of  a,  125. 
Hobbes,     alleged     contests     between 
Selden  and,  xxi. 

—  story    of,   at    Selden's    death-bed, 
xxii. 


216 


INDEX. 


Holy-days,  statute  limiting  number  of, 

77  and  n. 
Honesty  must  not  be  without  religion, 

119. 

Hospitallers,  priory  of,  4  and  n. 
House       of      Commons,      erroneous 

opinions  in,  46. 
Humility,  all  think  it  good  for  other 

people,  78. 
—  excess  of,  is  a  vice,  78. 


I. 


Idolatry,  true  nature  of,  78. 
Ignorance,  invincible,  nature  of,  79. 
Image  of  St.  Nicholas,  story  about,  80, 

106. 

Images,  use  of,  whether  defensible,  80. 
—  whether  worshipped  by  Papists,  80. 
Imperial  constitutions,  punishments 

inflicted  by,  81. 

Impropriations  of  Tithes,  177,  178. 
Incendiaries  of  the  State,  83,  202. 
Independency,    nature   and   antiquity 

of,  83. 
Independents,  claim  of,  to  be  above  the 

law,  84. 
Irish  Lords,  rank  of,  in  England,  106. 


J- 


James,  King,  his  opinion  about  the 
death  of  Henry  IV,  86. 

Jardine,  reading  on  torture  in  Eng 
land,  184  M. 

Jesuits,  learned,  102. 

Jewish  year,  how  reckoned,  197. 

Jews  are  cursed  and  hated,  but  thrive, 

79- 
Jews,  how  a  doctor  of  law  was  made 

among  the,  112. 
John  O'Powls,  189. 
Johnson,  praise  of  the  Table  Talk  by, 

xxv. 
Jonson,  Ben,  his  satire  on  the  disputes 

of  divines,  164. 
Joseph,  Christ's  pedigree,  why  traced 

through,  72. 
Judges,  rascality  of,  the  cause  of  all 

mischief  in  the  commonwealth,  87. 
Judgments  of  God,  presumptuous  to 

pronounce  about,  86. 
Juggling    necessary    for   government, 

88. 
Jurisdiction  in  the  Church,  not  spiritual 

but  civil,  88. 


Jus    Divinum,   why   claimed    by  the 
Church,  89. 


K. 


King,  made  for  quietness'  sake,  89. 

—  banished,    must     not    claim    same 
respect,  90. 

—  can  do  no  wrong,  meaning  of,  91. 

—  his  headship  or  supremacy  over  the 
Church,  92. 

—  his  chapel  establishment,  92,  205. 

—  not  one  of  the  three  estates,  93. 

—  all  land  in  England  held  of  the,  97. 
Kings,  not  all  alike,  89. 

King's  oath,  why  not  to  be  relied  upon, 

95- 

Knight's  service,  duties  attaching  to, 

97- 


L. 


Ladies  dependent  on  ceremonies  and 

compliments,  32. 
Land  in  England  all  held  of  the  King, 

97- 

Langbaine  (Provost),  recommends  Sel- 
den's  History  of  Tithes,  179  n. 

Latimer,  meaning  of,  98. 

Laud  quarrels  with  Archibald  Arm 
strong,  62  n. 

—  his  defence  of  bowing  towards  the 
altar,  78  n. 

—  accused  for  his  sanction  of  sports 
on  Sundays,  169  n. 

—  Justice  Whitelock's  opinion  about, 
203. 

Law,  human,  when  binding  on  the 
conscience,  68. 

—  ignorance  of,  why  no  excuse,  99. 

—  of  nature,  meaning  of,  101. 

—  martial,  nature  and  limit  of,  190. 

—  a     contract     between     king     and 
people,  100. 

Lawyers  of  France,  learned,  102. 

Le  Clerc  severely  criticises  Selden's 
style  and  method,  212. 

Learning,  what  use  it  is,  what  it  com 
monly  is,  102. 

Lecturers,  harmful  to  the  English 
Church,  71. 

—  defraud    the    parochial    ministers, 
103. 

—  why  favoured  by  the  parliamentary 
party,  103  n. 

Libels,  indications  given  by,  105. 
Liturgies  prove  general  beliefs,  105. 


INDEX. 


217 


Liturgy,  no  Church  without  a,  105. 
London,  Lord  Mayor  of,  how  inducted 

into  office,  42. 
Lords,  self-ignorance  of  great,  105. 

—  Irish,  rank  of,  in  England,  106. 

—  protests  of,  108. 

Low  Countrymen,  learning  of  the,  102. 
Luther,  refuses  preferment  offered  by 
Pope,  34  and  n. 


M. 


Manual,  how  received  in  England  be 
fore  the  Reformation,  162. 
Marriage  is  a  civil  contract,  109. 

—  is  a  desperate  thing,  109. 

—  of  cousins-german    not     unlawful, 
109. 

Marston,    quotation    from   a   play   of, 

189  n. 

Martial  law,  nature  and  limit  of,  190. 
Mayro,  writings  of,  115. 
Metempsychosis  believed  in  by  Plato- 

nists,  76  and  n. 
Minister,   ordination  of,  its  force  and 

the  terms  by  which  it  is  properly 

described,  112. 

—  his  position  when  ordained,  114. 

—  course  of  study  recommended  for, 
114  ff. 

—  degree  of  respect  shown  to,  among 
Protestants,  116,  117. 

—  how  his  claims  can  be  tested,  118. 

—  limits  of  his  right  to  preach,  168. 
Money  illegally  got  by  English  princes 

at  all  times,  119. 
Monopolies,      Sir    John      Culpeper's 

speech  about,  203. 
Mortgage,  incidents  of  a,  120. 


N. 


Nash,  a  sensible  remark  by,  in. 
Nativity  of  Christ,  date  of  the,  cannot 

be  known,  197. 
Non-residency  a  favourite  topic  with 

the  young  M.A.s,  146. 
—  forbidden  by  statute,  167. 
Noy  brings  in  ship-money,  171. 
Number  is  nothing  in  itself,  120. 
Nuns,  possessed,  55  and  n. 


O. 

Oath,  the  King's,  not  security  enough, 
why  not,  95. 


Oath  of  allegiance,  when  and  by  whom 

taken,  69. 
Oaths   taken   without    knowledge   of 

their  meaning,  121. 

—  cannot  be  imposed  where  there  is 
a  parity,  121. 

—  different  kinds  of,  121. 

—  may  be  broken  if  their  observance 
is  very  prejudicial,  122. 

—  rule  concerning,  among  Jews,  122. 

—  to  be  taken  in  the  swearer's  own 
sense,  123. 

—  so   frequent   that   they   should   be 
1  swallowed  whole/  123. 

Obedience  due  to  a  prince,  how  to  be 

determined,  191. 
Opinion,  nature  of,  124. 
Oracles  ceased  after  Christ,  why,  123. 
Ordeals,  183  and  n. 
Ovid,  judgment  about,  134. 
Oxford,  the  King's  friends  summoned 

to,  96. 

—  why  to  have  precedence  of  Cam 
bridge,  187. 


P. 


Papists,  why  not  to  be  admitted  to 
office  in  England,  137. 

—  why  under  disabilities  at  Amster 
dam,  137. 

Parity,  juggling  trick  of,  125. 
Parliament,  all  consent  to  decisions  of, 
126. 

—  right  of  electing  to,  how  fixed,  and 
why,  126. 

—  its  power  as  a  court  of  law,  100, 
142. 

—  privilege   of,    its   asserted   and   its 
true  nature,  127. 

Parliamentary  party,  unfair  tactics  of 

the,  128,  129. 
Parson,  meaning  of  word,  129. 

—  conjuring  by,  did  much  good,  130. 
Pelias  hasta,  Selden's  History  of  Tithes 

compared  to,  180. 

Penance,  not  to  be  confused  with 
penitence,  131. 

People,  good  of  the,  to  be  studied  by 
lawgiver,  131. 

Perjury  first  punished  in  Queen  Eliza 
beth's  time,  123. 

Personatus,  meaning  of  word,  129. 

Philosophy,  how  useful,  132. 

Pictures  in  churches,  a  discreet  rule 
about,  81. 

Pigeon-house,  who  licensed  to  keep, 
50  n. 


2l8 


INDEX. 


Pious  uses,  perversion  of,  189. 

Place,  a  great,  often  qualifies  its  holder, 

Platonic,  fancy  of  a,  124. 
Plays,  why  written  in  verse,  134. 
Pleasure,  the  nature  of,  132. 
Pleasures  sought  after  by  all  men,  133. 

—  ought  to  be  enjoyed,  133. 
Pocklington  (Dr.),  his  books  burned, 

169  M. 

Pope,  limit  of  infallibility  of  the,  136. 

—  English    clergy    inconsiderate     in 
preaching  against  the,  138. 

Popery,   the   prelatical    clergy  falsely 

charged  with,  139. 
Possession,  diabolical,  55  and  n. 
Power,    all,    is    of  God,    meaning   of 

words,  140. 

Praemunire,  nature  of,  153. 
Prayer,  defence  of  set  forms  of,  143. 

—  should  be  short,  why,  144. 
Preach  the  Gospel,  how  command  is 

to  be  obeyed,  144. 

Preaching  often,  condemned,  146  ;  ap 
proved,  149. 

—  democratic  influence  of,  103. 

—  by  the  Spirit,  why  most  esteemed 
by  the  common  people,  145. 

—  some  rules  for,  147,  148. 
Predestination,    a    point    out    of    our 

reach,  149. 

Preferment,  prospect  of,   makes  men 
obedient,  151. 

—  not  getting,  makes  the  presbyters 
discontented,  151. 

—  some  Parliament  men  discontented 
until  they  got,  153. 

Prerogative,   nature  and  limit  of  the 

King's,  154. 
Presbyters,  their  power  over  the  laity 

and  lay-elders,  156. 

—  claim  to  be  jure  divino,  175. 
Presbytery,     queries    concerning  jus 

divinum  of,  156,  208. 

Pride,  how  far  permissible,  78. 

Prideaux,  his  lectures  on  Predestina 
tion,  150. 

Priest     has    no     indelible    character, 

—  an  Irish,  on  the  accession  of  James 
the  First,  158. 

Priests,    reason    of    statutes    against, 
157  and  n. 

—  of  Rome,  their  objects  and  methods, 

159- 
Prior  of  St.  John's,  4  and  n. 

—  his  rank  as  a  temporal  baron,  106, 
206. 

Priories,  spoliation  of,  3,  4. 
Prophecies,  use  of,  159. 


Protections,  their  nature ;  abuses  of, 
107  and  n. 

Protestants  and  Papists,  a  dispute  be 
tween,  27  and  n. 

Protestants,  why  rightly  admitted  to 
office  in  France,  137. 

Protests  of  the  Lords,  108. 

Proverbs,  use  and  value  of,  159. 

Prynne  censured  in  Star-Chamber, 
45- 


Q. 


Queen-mother  (Mary  de  Medici)  draws 
priests  and  Jesuits  about  her,  158. 

—  Commons  suggest  that  she  be  moved 
to  leave  England,  158  n. 

Queries  sent  to  the  Assembly  on  jus 
divinum  of  presbytery,  156,  208. 


R. 


Rabbi  Busy  disputes  with  a  puppet, 

164. 

Rack,  how  used  in  England,  184. 
Reasons  commonly  fictitious,  160. 

—  must  be  enquired  about   after  the 
fact  is  known,  161. 

Recta  ratio,  meaning  of,  in  the  school 
men,  160. 

Regna  allodiata,  97. 

Religion,  meddled  with  at  unfit  times, 
161. 

—  very  little  agreement  about,  161. 

—  alteration  of,  dangerous,  162. 

—  who  have  the  right  to  judge  about, 
162. 

—  disputes  about,  between  Protestants 
and  Papists,  27,  163. 

—  disputes  about,  must  be  intermin 
able,  164. 

—  is  turned  into   all   shapes   to   suit 
ends,  165. 

—  nature  of  some  men's  pretence  of, 
165. 

—  why  men  say  they  fight  for,  166, 
167. 

Religions,  when  impossible  to  recon 
cile,  165. 

Reverence,  it  is  sometimes  unreason 
able  to  demand,  168. 

Ripley    the    alchemist,    story    about, 

74- 
Robertus  Vallensis  on  Virgil's  aureus 

ramus,  155  n. 
Rosset  (Rosetti),  Count,  158. 


INDEX. 


219 


s. 


Sabbath,  observance  of  the,  169  and  n, 
Sacrament  taken  by  Judas,  170. 

—  no  one  can  judge  about  another's 
fitness  to  receive,  170. 

Saint  John  of  Jerusalem,  Prior  of,  4, 

106,  206. 

Saint  Nicholas,  image  of,  80,  106. 
Salisbury,  Lord,  was  above  ill  words, 

62. 

Salus  populi  suprema  lex  esto,  131. 
Salvation,    how    understood    by   the 

Jews,  170. 

—  Selden's  charitable  opinion  about, 
170. 

Saracens,  how  pictured  by  Crusaders, 

and  why,  190. 
Scaliger  on  Erasmus,  15. 
Scripture,  interpretation  of,  n,  145. 

—  allegories  in,  n. 

—  different   readings   in,    how  to   be 
judged,  n,  12. 

Selden,  some  laudatory  notices  of,  211. 

—  criticisms  of  style  and  method   of, 
211,  212. 

Self-denial  not  meritorious,  55. 

—  more  pretended  than  practised,  55. 
Ship-money,  how  brought  in.    Selden 

on  refusals  to  pay,  171. 
Simplicius  on  Aristotle,  186. 
Simony     first    forbidden     in     Queen 

Elizabeth's  time,  171. 

—  why    not     practised    in     time    of 
Popery,  172. 

Soldiers,  dispute  about  profession  of, 
192. 

Spain,  the  King  of,  outlawed  in  West 
minster  Hall,  99. 

Spaniard,  a,  his  death-bed  prudence, 

63- 
Sports,  how  related  to  church-work, 

37- 

—  declaration   about  lawful,   on   Sun 
days,  169  n. 

offends    serious,    godly   people, 

169  n. 
State,  rule  for  conduct  in  a  troubled, 

172. 
Stephen,  bishop  of  Paris,  said  to  have 

excommunicated  Aristotle,  181  and 

n. 

Stone,  a  court  fool,  62  and  n. 
Subjects   may  take   up   arms   against 

their  prince,  191,  192. 
Subsidies,  not  now  given  to  the  King, 

amount  of,  how  calculated,  173. 
Suffragans,  13. 
Superstition,  mistakes  and  pretences 

about,  174,  175. 


Synod,  national,  why  not  to  be  sum 
moned,  174. 

—  why  there  must  be  laymen  in,  175. 

—  meaning  of  subscription  to  articles 
of,  176. 


T. 


Table  Talk,  blunders  in  printed   edi 
tions  of,  209. 

—  manuscript  copies  of,  xi. 
Tithes,  impropriations  of,  177. 

—  impropriations  of,  by  what  authority 
made,  178. 

—  need  not  belong  to  the  clergy,  178. 

—  Selden's  History  of,  179. 
Tradesman,  every  prince  is  a,  181. 
Tradesmen,  tricks  of,  182. 
Tradition,  importance  of,  182. 
Traitor,  he  who  can  command  an  army 

is  not  to  be  called  a,  183. 
Transubstantiation,  arguments  about, 

182. 

Trenchmore,  a  dance  so  termed,  93  n. 
Trent,    Council    of,    not    admitted   in 

France,  163,  141  n.  on  line  22. 
Trial,  various  kinds  of,  183. 
Trinity,  the  three  Persons  of  the,  185. 
Truth,   all,    said    to   be   contained    in 

Aristotle,  186. 
Turks,  their  notions  about  Heaven  and 

Hell  contrasted  with  those  of  the 

Christians,  35. 

—  are  forbidden  to  use  images,  139. 


U. 


Urban    the    Sixth,    a    Parliamentary 

Pope,  137. 

Uses,  pious,  perversion  of,  189. 
Usury,  how  far  forbidden  among  the 

Jews,  1 88. 
—  defence  of,  188. 


V. 


Valentinian's  Novels,  8r. 

Vallensis,  Robertus,  his  references  to 

Virgil,  155  n. 

Venetians,  why  Roman  Catholics,  163. 
Verse,  well  for  children  to  learn  how 

to  make,  135. 

—  ridiculous  for  a  lord  to  print,  135. 
Virgil's  aureus  ramus,  how  interpreted 

by  the  alchemists,  155. 
Vows,  instances  of  absurd,  188. 


220 


INDEX. 


W. 

Wayed,  word  explained,  49  n. 
Wedel     interprets    Virgil's     '  golden 

bough '  alchemically,  155  n. 
Whitelock   on   Selden's    speeches   in 

the  Westminster  Assembly,  xviii. 
Wife,  remarks  on  a  handsome,  194. 

—  a  bishop's,  compared  to  a  monkey's 
clog,  194. 

—  compared  to  a  mischievous  female 
monkey,  194. 

Wisdom,  some  rules  of,  194. 

—  how  different  from  wit,  195. 
Wit,  nature  of,  195. 

—  should    be    restrained   by   civility, 
196. 

—  fine,  sometimes  injurious  to  its  pos 
sessor,  196. 


Witches,  remarks  about,  195. 
Women  ought  not  to  know  their  own 
wit,  196. 

—  and  angels,  opinion  in  Greek  Church 
about,  196. 

—  are    sensitive    about    dispraise    of 
other  women,  197. 

—  must  trust  somebody,  197. 


Y. 


Year,  the  Jewish,  how  reckoned,  197. 


Z. 


Zealots,  Jewish  law  about,  199. 
—  committed  many  villainies,  200. 


THE   END. 


I.  LITEKATURE  AND  PHILOLOGY. 

SECTION   I. 

DICTIONARIES,    GRAMMARS,    &c. 

ANGLO-SAXON.    An  Anglo-Saxon  Dictionary,  based  on  the 

MS.  Collections  of  the  late  JOSEPH  BOSWORTH,  D.D.,  Professor  of  Anglo- 
Saxon,  Oxford.  Edited  and  enlarged  by  Prof.  T.  N.  TOLLER,  M.A. 
Parts  I-III.  A— SAR.  4to,  155.  each.  Part  IV.  Sect.  I.  SAR- 
SWlDRIAN.  8*.  6d. 

ARABIC.  A  Practical  Arabic  Grammar.  Parti.  Compiled 
by  A.  0.  GREEN,  Brigade  Major,  Koyal  Engineers.  Second  Edition, 
Enlarged.  Crown  8vo,  7*.  6d. 

BENGALI.  Grammar  of  the  Bengali  Language  ;  Literary 
and  Colloquial.  By  JOHN  BEAMES.  Crown  8vo,  cloth,  43.  6d. 

CELTIC.     Ancient  Cornish  Drama.     Edited  and  translated 

by  E.  NORRIS,  with  a  Sketch  of  Cornish  Grammar,  an  Ancient  Cornish 
Vocabulary,  &c.  2  vols.  8vo,  il.  is. 

The  Sketch  of  Cornish  Grammar  separately,  stitched,  2S.  6d. 

CHINESE.  A  Handbook  of  the  Chinese  Language.  By 
JAMES  SUMMERS.  8vo,  half-bound,  il.  8s. 

ENGLISH.    A  New  English  Dictionary,  on  Historical  Prin 
ciples:    founded  mainly  on  the  materials  collected  by  the  Philological 
Society.     Vol.  I.    A  and  B.     Imperial  4to,  half-morocco,  2l.  12$.  6d. 
Part  IV.  Section  II.     C— CASS  (beginning  of  Vol.  II).  55. 
PartV.     CAST— CLIVY.   12s.  6d. 
Part  VI.  CLO— CONSIGNEE.     12*.  6d. 
Edited  by  JAMES  A.  H.  MURRAY,  LL.D. 


Vol.  III.  Part  I.   E— EVERY.    Edited  by  H.  BRADLEY,  M.A.  us.  6d. 

Oxford  :  Clarendon  Press.     London  :  HENRY  FROWDE,  Amen  Corner,  E.C 
14.9.92.  B 


/.  Literature  and  Philology. 


ENGLISH  (continued). 

ENGLISH.     An   Etymological   Dictionary  of  the  English 
Language.    By  W.  W.  SKEAT,  Litt.D.    Second  Edition.    4to,  2l.  4*. 

A    Concise   Etymological   Dictionary   of   the   English 

Language.     By  W.  W.  SKEAT,  Litt.D.     Fourth  Edition.    Crown  8vo, 
5*.  6d. 

A  Concise  Dictionary  of  Middle  English,  from  A.D.  115° 

to  1580.    By  A.  L.  MATHEW,  M.A.,  and  W.  W.  SKEAT,  Litt.  D.    Crown 
8vo,  half-roan,   Js.  6d. 

A   Middle  English    Dictionary.     By  FRANCIS    HENRY 

STRATMANN.     A  New  Edition,  Re-arranged,  Revised,  and  Enlarged  by 
HENRY  BRADLEY,  M.A.     Small  4to,  i/.  ns.6d. 

-  A  Primer  of  Spoken  English.     By  HENRY  SWEET,  M.A., 

Ph.D.     Extra  fcap.  8vo,  35.  6d. 

-  A   New   English    Grammar,    Logical    and    Historical. 

By  HENRY  SWEET,  M.A.,  Ph.D.     Part  I.     Introduction,  Phonology,  and 
Accidence.     Crown  8vo,  los.  6d. 

-  A  Primer  of  Phonetics.     By  HENRY  SWEET,  M.A.,  Ph.D. 

Extra  fcap.  8vo,  35.  6d. 

-  Elementarbuch  des  Gesprochenen  Englisch.  Grammatik, 
Texte  und  Glossar.     By  HENRY  SWEET,  M.A.,  Ph.D.     Second  Edition. 
Extra  fcap.  8vo,  stiff  covers,  is.  6d. 

FINNISH.     A  Finnish  Grammar.     By  C.  N.  E.  ELIOT,  M.A. 

Crown  8vo,  roan,  ios.  6d, 


GOTHIC.  A  Primer  of  the  Gothic  Language  ;  with  Gram 
mar,  Notes,  and  Glossary.  By  JOSEPH  WRIGHT,  Ph.D.  Extra  fcap. 
8vo,  cloth,  4,9.  6d. 

GREEK.  A  Greek-English  Lexicon,  by  H.  G.  LIDDELL,  D.D., 
and  EGBERT  SCOTT,  D.D.  Seventh  Edition,  Revised  and  Augmented 
throughout.  4to,  il.  i6s. 

An  Intermediate  Greek-English  Lexicon,  founded  upon 

the  Seventh  Edition  of  the  above.      Small  4to,  125.  6d. 


—  A  Greek-English  Lexicon,  abridged  from  Liddell  and 

Scott's  4to  edition,  chiefly  for  the  use  of  Schools.    Square  I2ino,  7*.  6d. 


Oxford  :   Clarendon  Press. 


Dictionaries,  Grammars,  &c. 


GREEK.    A  Concordance  to  the  Septuagint  and  the  other 

Greek  Versions  of  the  Old  Testament  (including  the  Apocryphal  Books). 
By  the  late  EDWIN  HATCH,  M.A.,  and  HENRY  REDPATH,  M.A.  Part  I. 
A-BnPl'@.  Imperial  4to,  2  is.  Part  II.  In  the  Press. 

A  copious  Greek-English  Vocabulary,  compiled   from 

the  best  authorities.     241110,  35. 

Etymologicon  Magnum.     Ad  Codd.  mss.  recensuit   et 

notis  variorum  instruxit  T.  G-AISFOKD,  S.T.P.     1848.     fol.  il.  I2s. 

Suidae  Lexicon.    Ad  Codd.  mss.  recensuit  T.  GAISFOBD, 

S.T.P.     Tomi  III.     1834.    fol.  aZ.  25. 
HEBREW.     Gesenius*  Hebrew  and  English  Lexicon  of  the 

Old  Testament,  with  an  Appendix  containing  the  Biblical  Aramaic. 
Translated  and  Edited  by  E.  ROBINSON,  FKANCIS  BROWN,  S.  R.  DRIVER, 
and  C.  A.  BRIGGS.  Part  I  (Aleph).  Small  410,  is.  6cl— Part  II. 
Immediately. 

The  Book  of  Hebrew  Roots,  by  ABU  'L-WAL!D  MAHWAN 

IBN  JANAH,  otherwise  called  RABB!  YON!H.  Now  first  edited,  with  an 
Appendix,  by  AD.  NEUBAUER.  4to,  il.  7*.  6d. 

A  Treatise  on  the  use  of  the  Tenses  in  Hebrew.     By 

S.  K.  DRIVER,  D.D.     Third  Edition.    Crown  8vo,  7*.  6d. 

ICELANDIC.    An  Icelandic-English  Dictionary,  based  on  the 

MS.  collections  of  the  late  RICHARD  CLEASBY.  Enlarged  and  completed 
by  G.  VIGFUSSON,  M.A.  4to,  3^.  76'. 

A  List  of  English   Words  the  Etymology  of  which  is 

illustrated  by  comparison  with  Icelandic.  Prepared  in  the  form  of  an 
Appendix  to  the  above.  By  W.  W.  SKEAT,  Litt.D.  Stitched,  2s. 

An    Icelandic    Primer,    with    Grammar,    Notes,    and 

Glossary.     BY  HENRY  SWEET,  M.A.,  Ph.D.     Extra  fcap.  8vo,  3«.  6d. 

An  Icelandic  Prose  Header,  with  Notes,  Grammar,  and 

Glossary,  by  Dr.  GUDBRAND  VIGFUSSON  and  F.  YORK  POWELL,  M.A. 
Extra  fcap.  8vo,  IDS.  6d. 

LATIN.    A  Latin  Dictionary,  founded  on  Andrews'  edition  of 

Freund's  Latin  Dictionary,  revised,  enlarged,  and  in  great  part  rewritten 
by  CHARLTON  T.  LEWIS,  Ph.D.,  and  CHARLES  SHORT,  LL.D.  4to,  il.  5$. 

A  School  Latin  Dictionary.     By  CHARLTON  T.  LEWIS, 

Ph.D.    Small  4to,  i8s. 

An    Elementary     Latin     Dictionary.     By    CHAULTON 

T.  LEWIS,  Ph.D.     Square  8vo,  7s.  6d. 


London  :  HTCNRY  FROWDE,  Amen  Corner,  E.G. 
B  2 


/.  Literature  and  Philology. 


LATIN.    Scheller's  Dictionary  of  the  Latin  Language,  revised 
and  translated  into  English  by  J.  E.  KIDDLE,  M.A.     1835.    fo1-  lZ-  Is- 

Contributions    to    Latin    Lexicography.     By    HENRY 

NETTLESHIP,  M.A.    8vo,  2 is. 

MELANESIA!*.     The  Melanesian  Languages.     By  ROBERT 

H.  CODRINGTON,  D.D.,  of  the  Melanesian  Mission.     8vo,  iSs. 

RUSSIAN.     A   Grammar   of  the   Russian  Language,     By 

W.  R.  MORFILL,  M.A.     Crown  8vo,  6s. 
SANSKRIT.    A  Practical  Grammar  of  the  Sanskrit  Language, 

arranged  with  reference  to  the  Classical  Languages  of  Europe,  for  the  use 
of  English  Students,  by  Sir  M.  MONIER- WILLIAMS,  D.C.L.  Fourth 
Edition.  8vo,  155. 

-  A    Sanskrit-English    Dictionary,    Etymological ly    and 

Philologically  arranged,  with  special  reference  to  Greek,  Latin,  German, 
Anglo-Saxon,  English,  and  other  cognate  Indo-European  Languages. 
By  Sir  M.  MONIER- WILLIAMS,  D.C.L.  4to,  4?.  145.  6d. 

Nalopakhyanam.     Story  of  Nala,   an   Episode   of  the 

Maha'-Bharata  :  the  Sanskrit  text,  with  a  copious  Vocabulary,  and  an 
improved  version  of  Dean  MILMAN'S  Translation,  by  Sir  M.  MONIER- 
WILLIAMS,  D.C.L.  Second  Edition,  Revised  and  Improved.  8vo,  15$. 

Sakuntala.     A  Sanskrit  Drama,  in  Seven  Acts.     Edited 

by  Sir  M.  MONIER- WILLIAMS,  D.C.L.     Second  Edition.     8vo,  215. 

S YRIAC.    Thesaurus  Syriacus :  collegerunt  Quatremere,  Bern 
stein,   Lorsbach,  Arnoldi,  Agrell,   Field,  Roediger :    edidit  R.  PAYNE 
SMITH,  S.T.P.     Vol.  I,  containing  Fasc.  I-V,  sm.  fol.  5?.  55. 
Fasc.  VI,  iZ.  is.     Fasc.  VII,  il.  us.  6d.     Fasc.  VIII,  iZ.  i6s. 

TAMIL.     First  Lessons  in  Tamil.      By  G.  U.  POPE,  D.D. 

Fifth  Edition.     Crown  8vo,  7*.  6d. 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARIES. 
Cotton's  Typographical  Gazetteer.     1831.     8vo,  12*.  6d. 

Typographical  Gazetteer.     Second  Series.    1866.    8vo, 


i2s.  6d. 

Ebert's    Bibliographical    Dictionary,    translated    from    the 

German.     4  vols.     1837.     8vo,  iZ.  los. 


Oxford  :   Clarendon  Press. 


Anglo-Saxon  and  English. 


SECTION   II. 

ANGLO-SAXON   AND  ENGLISH. 

HELPS  TO   THE  STUDY  OF  THE  LANGUAGE  AND 
LITERATURE. 


A  NEW  ENGLISH  DICTIONARY  on  Historical  Prin 
ciples,  founded  mainly  on  the  materials  collected  by  the  Philological 
Society.  Imperial  4to.  Parts  I-IV,  price  125.  6d.  each. 

Vol.  I  (A  and  B),  half-morocco,  2?.  125.  6d. 
Vol.  II  (C  and  D).     In  the  Press. 

Part  IV,  Section  2,  C— CASS,  beginning  Vol.  II,  price  55. 

Part  V,  CAST— CLIVY,  price  12*.  6d. 

Part  VI,  CLO— CONSIGNER,  price  12*.  6d. 
Edited  by  JAMES  A.  H.  MUKKAY,  LL.D. 


Vol.  III.  Part  I.  E— EVERY.  Edited  by  H.  BRADLEY,  M. A.  1 2s.  6d. 


Bosworth  and  Toller.     An  Anglo-Saxon  Dictionary,  based 

on  the  MS.  collections  of  the  late  JOSEPH  BOSWORTH,  D.D.  Edited  and 
enlarged  by  Prof.  T.  N.  TOLLER,  M.A.  Parts  I-III.  A— SAR.  4to,  stiff 
covers,  155.  each.  Part  IV.  Sect.  I.  SAR-SWiDPJAN.  8s.  6d. 

Earle.     A   Book   for  the    Beginner   in   Anglo-Saxon.      By 
JOHN  EARLE,  M.A.     Third  Edition.     Extra  fcap.  8vo,  2s.  6d. 

The  Philology  of  the  English  Tongue.     Fifth  Edition, 


Newly  Revised.     Extra  fcap.  8vo,  8*.  6d. 

Mayhew.     Synopsis  of  Old  English  Phonology.     By  A.  L. 

MAYHEW,  M.A.     Extra  fcap.  8vo,  bevelled  boards,  8s.^6d. 

Mayhew  and  Skeat.  A  Concise  Dictionary  of  Middle  English, 
from  A.D.  1150  to  1580.  By  A.  L.  MAYHEW,  M.A.,  and  W.  W.  SKEAT, 
Litt.D.  Crown  8vo,  half-roan,  7*.  6d. 

London  :  HENRY  FROWDE,  Amen  Corner,  E.G. 


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Skoat.  An  Etymological  Dictionary  of  the  English  Language, 
arranged  on  an  Historical  Basis.  By  W.  W.  SKEAT,  Litt.D.  Second 
Edition.  4to,  2Z.  4.9. 

A  Supplement  to  the  First  Edition  of  the  above.     4to,  2*.  6d.  , 

A  Concise    Etymological    Dictionary   of  the   English 

Language.     Fourth  Edition.     Crown  8vo,  55.  6d. 

-  Principles  of  English  Etymology.     First  Series.     The 

Native  Element.     Second  Edition.     Crown  8vo,  105.  6d. 

Principles    of    English    Etymology.      Second    Series. 

The  Foreign  Element.     Crown  Svo,  105. 6d. 

—  A  Primer  of  English  Etymology.     Extra  fcap.  Svo,  stiff 

covers,  is.  6d. 


—  Twelve   Facsimiles  of   Old    English  Manuscripts,  with 

Transcriptions   and  an  Introduction.     4to,  paper  covers,  7,9.  6d. 

Stratmann.    A  Middle  English  Dictionary,  containing  Words 

used  by  English  Writers  from  the  Twelfth  to  the  Fifteenth  Century.  By 
FRANCIS  HENRY  STRATMANN.  A  'New  Edition,  Ke-arranged,  Revised, 
and  Enlarged  by  HEM  it  Y  BRADLEY,  M.A.  Small  4to,  iZ.  us.  6d. 

Sweet.     An  Anglo-Saxon  Primer,  with  Grammar,  Notes,  and 

Glossary.  By  HENRY  SWEET,  M.A.,  Ph.D.  Second  Edition.  Extra  fcap. 
8vo,  2s.  6d. 

-  An  Anglo-Saxon   Reader.     In  Prose  and  Verse.     With 

Grammatical  Introduction,  Notes,  and  Glossary.  Sixth  Edition,  Revised 
and  Enlarged.  Extra  fcup.  Svo,  8*.  6d. 

-  A  Second  Anglo-Saxon  Header.    Extra  fcap.  8vo,  45.  6d. 

-  .  Old  English  Reading  Primers  : 

I.  Selected  Homilies  of  ^Elfric.     Stiff  covers,  is.  6d. 

II.  Extracts  from  Alfred's  Orosius.     Still'  covers,  is.  6d. 

-  First  Middle  English  Primer,  with  Grammar  and  Glos 
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-  Second  Middle  English  Primer.    Extracts  from  Chaucer, 
with  Grammar  and  Glossary.    Second  Edition.     Extra  fcap.  Svo,  2s.  6d. 

-  History  of  English   Sounds  from  the  Earliest   Period. 

With  full  Word-Lists.     Svo,  145. 


Oxford  :   Clarendon  Press. 


Anglo-Saxon  and  English. 


Sweet.     A  Primer  of  Spoken  English.    Extra  fcap.  8vo,  3^.  6d. 

-  A    New   English  Grammar,  Logical    and    Historical. 
Part  I.     Introduction,  Phonology,  and  Accidence.     Crown  8vo,  IDS.  6d. 

A  Primer  of  Phonetics.     Extra  fcap.  8vo,  35.  6d. 


Elementarbuch  des  Gesprochenen  Englisch.   Grammatik, 

Texte  und  Glossar.    Second  Edition.   Extra  fcap.  8vo,  stiff  covers,  2s.  6d. 

Tancock.     An  Elementary  English  Grammar  and   Exercise 
Book.  By  0.  W.  TANCOCK,  M.A.  Second  Edition.   Extra  fcap.  8vo,  is.  6d. 

An  English  Grammar  and   Reading  Book,  for  Lower 

Forms  in  Classical  Schools.    Fourth  Edition.    Extra  fcap.  8vo,  35.  6d. 


Saxon  Chronicles.    Two  of  the  Saxon  Chronicles  Parallel ; 

with  Supplementary  Extracts  from  the  others.  A  Eevised  Text.  Edited, 
with  Introduction,  Notes,  Appendices,  and  Glossary.  By  C.  PLUMMEB, 
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With  Introduction,  Notes,  and  Glossarial  Index. 

Part  I.  From  Old  English  Homilies  to  King  Horn  (A.D.  1150  to  A.D. 
1300).  By  R.  MORRIS,  LL.D.  Second  Edition.  Extra  fcap.  8vo,  gs. 

Part  II.  From  Eobert  of  Gloucester  to  Gower  (A.D.  1298  to  A.D.  1393). 
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Extra  fcap.  8vo,  7$.  6d. 

Specimens   of  English  Literature,  from  the  'Ploughman's 

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Fifth  Edition.  Extra  fcap.  8vo,  7*.  6d. 

Typical  Selections   from   the   best   English   Writers,   with 

Introductory  Notices.     In  2  vols.     Extra  fcap.  8vo,  3*.  6d.  each. 
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A  SERIES  OF  ENGLISH  CLASSICS. 
Beowulf,  The  Deeds  of.     An  English  Epic  of  the  Eighth 

Century  done  into  Modern  Prose.  With  an  Introduction  and  Notes,  by 
JOHN  EAKLE,  M.A.  Crown  8vo,  8s.  6d. 

Ormulum,  The,  with  the  Notes  and  Glossary  of  Dr.  R.  M. 
WHITE.    Edited  by  E.  HOLT,  M.A.     2  vols.     Extra  fcap.  8vo,  il.  is. 

CHAUCER. 

I.  The    Prologue    to    the    Canterbury   Tales.      (School 
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II.  The  Prologue,  the  Knightes  Tale,  The  Nonne  Preestes 

Tale;  from  the  Canterbury  Tales.  Edited  by  E.  MOKRIS,  LL.D.  A 
New  Edition,  with  Collations  and  Additional  Notes  by  W.  W.  SKEAT, 
Litt.D.  Extra  fcap.  8vo,  2s.  6d. 

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IV.  The   Tale  of  the  Man  of  Lawe  ;    The   Pardoneres 

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By  W.  W.  SKEAT,  Litt.D.  New  Edition.  Extra  fcap.  8vo,  4.5.  6d. 

V.  Minor   Poems.     Edited   by   W.  W.  SKE.VT,  Litt.D. 

Crown  8vo,  los.  6d. 

VI.  The  Legend  of  Good  Women.     Edited  by  W.  W. 

SKEAT,  Litt.D.     Crown  8vo,  6s. 
Langland,  W.     The  Vision  of  William  concerning  Piers  the 

Plowman,  in  three  Parallel  Texts;  together  with  Eichard  the  Eecleless. 
By  WILLIAM  LANGLAND  (about  1362-1399  A.D.).  Edited  from  numerous 
Manuscripts,  with  Preface,  Notes,  and  a  Glossary,  by  W.  W.  SKEAT, 
Litt.D.  2  vols.  8vo,  il.  us.  6d. 

The  Vision  of  William  concerning  Piers  the  Plowman,  by 

WILLIAM  LANGLAND.  Edited,  with  Notes,  by  W.  W.  SKEAT,  Litt.D. 
Fourth  Edition.  Extra  fcap.  8vo,  45.  6d. 

Gamelyn,  The  Tale  of.    Edited,  with  Notes,  Glossary,  &c.,  by 

W.  W.  SKEAT,  Litt.D.     Extra  fcap.  8vo,  stiff  covers,  is.  6d. 


Oxford  :    Clarendon  Press. 


A  Series  of  English  Classics. 


WYCLIFFE. 

I.  The  Books  of  Job,  Psalms,  Proverbs,  Ecclesiastes,  and 

the  Song  of  Solomon :  according  to  the  Wycliffite  Version  made  by 
NICHOLAS  DE  HEKEFORD,  about  A.D.  1381,  and  Eevised  by  JOHN 
PURVEY,  about  A.D.  1388.  With  Introduction  and  Glossary  by 
W.  W.  SKEAT,  Litt.D.  Extra  fcap.  8vo,  3*.  6d. 

II.  The  New  Testament  in  English,  according  to  the 

Version  by  JOHN  WYCLIFFE,  about  A.D.  1380,  and  Revised  by  JOHN 
PURVEY,  about  A.D.  1388.  With  Introduction  and  Glossary  by 
W.  W.  SKEAT,  Litt.D.  Extra  fcap.  8vo,  6*. 

Minot  (Laurence).     Poems.     Edited,  with  Introduction  and 

Notes,  by  JOSEPH  HALL,  M.A.,  Head  Master  of  the  Hulme  Grammar 
School,  Manchester.     Extra  fcap.  8vo,  45.  6d. 

Spenser's  Faery  Queene.     Books  I  and  II.     Designed  chiefly 

for  the  use  of  Schools.     With  Introduction  and  Notes  by  G.  W.  KITCHIN, 
D.D.,  and  Glossary  by  A.  L.  MAYHEW,  M.A.   Extra  fcap.  8vo,  2*.  6d.  each. 

Hooker.     Ecclesiastical  Polity,  Book  I.     Edited  by  R.  W. 
CHURCH,  M.A.    Extra  fcap.  8vo,  2*.     [See  also  p.  53.] 

OLD  ENGLISH  DRAMA. 

I.  York  Plays. — The  Plays  performed  by  the  Crafts  or 

Mysteries  of  York,  on  the  day  of  Corpus  Christi,  in  the  I4th,  I5th, 
and  1 6th  centuries ;  now  first  printed  from  the  unique  manuscript 
in  the  library  of  Lord  Ashburnham.  Edited,  with  Introduction  and 
Glossary,  by  LUCY  TOULMIN  SMITH.  8vo,  iL  is. 

II.  English  Miracle   Plays,  Moralities,  and   Interludes. 

Specimens  of  the  Pre-Elizabethan  Drama.  Edited,  with  an  Introduc 
tion,  Notes,  and  Glossary,  by  ALFKED  W.  POLLARD,  M.A.  Crown 
8vo,  7s.  6d. 

III.  The  Pilgrimage  to  Parnassus,  with  the  Two  Parts  of 

the  Return  from  Parnassus.  Three  Comedies  performed  in  St.  John's 
College,  Cambridge,  A.D.  MDXCVII-MDCI.  Edited  from  MSS.  by 
W.  D.  MACEAY,  M.A.,  F.S.A.  Medium  8vo,  bevelled  boards,  gilt 
top,  8s.  6d. 

IV.  Marlowe's  Edward  II.   With  Introduction,  Notes,  &c. 

By  0.  W.TANCOCK,  M.A.     Extra  fcap.  8vo,  paper,  2s. ;  cloth,  35. 

V.  Marlowe  and  Greene.     Marlowe's   Tragical  History 

of  Dr.  Faustus,  and  Greene's  Honourable  History  of  Friar  Bacon  and 
Friar  Bungay.  Edited  by  A.  W.  WAKD,  Litt.  D.  New  and  enlarged 
Edition.  Crown  8vo,  6s.  6d. 


London  :   HENKY  FUOWDE,  Amen  Corner,  E.C, 


io  /.  Literature  and  Philology. 

SHAKESPEARE.    Select  Plays.    Extra  fcap.  8vo,  stiff  covers. 

Edited  by  "W.  G.  CLARK,  M. A.,  and  W.  ALDIS  WRIGHT,  D.C.L. 

The  Merchant  of  Venice,    is.  Macbeth.    is.6d.          , 

Richard  the  Second,    is.  6 d.  Hamlet.    2s. 

Edited  by  W.  ALDIS  WRIGHT,  D.C.L. 

The  Tempest,    is.  6d.  Midsummer  Night's  Dream,  is.  6d. 

As  You  Like  It.    is.  6d.         Coriolanus.    2s.  6d. 
Julius  Caesar.    2s.  Henry  the  Fifth.    2s. 

Richard  the  Third.  2s.  6d.      Twelfth  Night,    is.  6d. 
King  Lear.     is.  6d.  King  John.     is.  6d. 

Henry  the  Eighth.     2S. 

Shakespeare  as  a  Dramatic  Artist ;    a  popular  Illustration 

of  the  Principles  of  Scientific   Criticism.      By  R.  G.   MOULTON,   M.A. 
Second  Edition,  Mnlaryed.     Crown  Svo,  6s. 

Bacon. 

I.  Advancement    of  Learning1.      Edited  by  W.  ALDIS 
WEIGHT,  D.C.L.     Third  Edition.    Extra  fcap.  8vo,  45.  6d. 

II.  The  Essays.  Edited,  with  Introduction  and  Illustrative 

Notes,  by  S.  H.  REYNOLDS,  M.A.    8vo,  half-bound,  125.  6d. 

MILTON. 

I.  Areopagitica.     With   Introduction   and   Notes.     By 
JOHN  W.  HALES,  M.A.     Third  Edition.     Extra  fcap.  8vo,  3$. 

II.  Poems.     Edited  by  R.  C.  BKOWNE,  M.A.     In  two 

Volumes.    Fifth  Edition.    Extra  fcap.  Svo,  6s.  6d. 
Sold  separately,  Vol.  I,  45. ;  Vol.  II,  35. 

In  paper  covers : 
Lycidas,  $d.      L'Allegro,  ^d.       II  Penseroso,  \d.       Comus,  6d. 

III.  Paradise  Lost.    Book  I.    Edited  by  H.  C.  BEECHING, 

B.A.     Extra  fcap.  Svo,  stiff  covers,  is.  6d. ;  in  Parchment,  3$.  6d. 

IV.  Samson  Ag-onistes.     Edited,  with  Introduction  and 
Notes,  by  J.  CHURTON  COLLINS,  M.A.  Extra  fcap.  Svo,  stiff  covers,  is. 

Oxford  :   Clarendon  Tress. 


A  Series  of  English  Classics.  1 1 

Bunyan. 

I.  The  Pilgrim's  Progress,  Grace  Abounding,  Relation 

of  the  Imprisonment  of  Mr.  JOHN  BUNYAN.  Edited,  with  Bio 
graphical  Introduction  and  Notes,  by  E.  VENABLES,  M.A.  Extra 
fcap.  8vo,  cloth,  3$.  6d. ;  in  Parchment,  4*.  6d. 

II.  The  Holy  War,  and  The  Heavenly  Footman.    Edited 
by  MABEL  PEACOCK.     Extra  fcap.  8vo,  35.  6d. 

Fuller.  Wise  Words  and  Quaint  Counsels  of  Thomas  Fuller. 
Selected  by  AUGUSTUS  JESSOPP,  D.D.  Crown  8vo,  6s.  Immediately. 

Clarendon. 

I.  History  of  the  Rebellion.     Book  VI.     Edited  by  T. 
ARNOLD,  M.A.    Extra  fcap.  8vo,  43.  6d. 

II.  Characters   and   Episodes   of  the    Great    Rebellion. 

Selections  from  Clarendon.  Edited  by  G.  BOYLE,  M.A.,  Dean  of 
Salisbury.  Crown  8vo,  gilt  top,  7*.  6d.  [See  also  p.  56.] 

Dryden.     Select  Poems.     (Stanzas  on  the  Death  of  Oliver 

Cromwell ;  Astraea  Eedux ;  Annus  Mirabilis  ;  Abealom  and  Achitophel ; 
Religio  Laici ;  The  Hind  and  the  Panther.)  Edited  by  W.  D.  CHRISTIE, 
M.A.  Second  Edition.  Extra  fcap.  8vo,  35.  6d. 

An  Essay  of  Dramatic  Poesy.     Edited,  with  Notes,  by 

THOMAS  ARNOLD,  M.A.    Extra  fcap.  8vo,  35.  6d. 

Locke.  Conduct  of  the  Understanding.  Edited,  with  Intro 
duction,  Notes,  &c.,  by  T.  FOWLER,  D.D.  Third  Edition.  Extra  fcap. 
8vo,  2s.  6d. 

Addison.     Selections  from  Papers  in  the  Spectator.     With 

Notes.    By  T.  ARNOLD,  M.A.    Extra  fcap.  8vo,  4$.  6d. ;  in  Parchment,  6*. 

Steele.  Selections  from  the  Tatler,  Spectator,  and  Guardian. 
Edited  by  AUSTIN  DOBSON.  Extra  fcap.  8vo,  55. ;  in  Parchment,  75.  6d. 

Swift.     Selections  from  his  Works.     Edited,  with  Life,  In 
troductions,  and  Notes,  by  HENRY  CRAIK.  In  two  Volumes.    Crown  8vo. 
Vol.  I.  Bevelled  boards,  gilt  top,  7§.  6d.  Vol.  II.  Immediately. 

Pope.     Select  Works.     With  Introduction  and  Notes.     By 
MARK  PATTISON,  B.D. 

I.  Essay  on  Man.     Extra  fcap.  8vo,   is.  6d. 

II.  Satires  and  Epistles.     Extra  fcap.  8vo,  2s. 
Parnell.     The  Hermit.     Paper  covers,  zd. 

Thomson.    The  Seasons,  and  The  Castle  of  Indolence.   Edited 

by  J.  LOGIE  KOBEUTSON,  M.A.     Extra  fcap.  8vo,  45.  6d. 

-  The  Castle  of  Indolence.  By  the  same  Editor.  Extra 
fcap.  8vo,  i«.  6d. 

London  :   HENRY  FROWDE,  Amen  Corner,  E.G. 


12  /.  Literature  and  Philology. 

Gray.     Selected  Poems.     Edited  by  EDMUND    GOSSE,  M.A. 

Extra  fcap.  8vo.     In  Parchment,  33. 

The   same,    together    with     Supplementary    Notes   for 

Schools,  by  FOSTER  WATSON,  M.A.    Stiff  covers,  is.  6c7.  i 

Elegy,  and  Ode  on  Eton  College.     Paper  covers,  2d. 

Chesterfield.  Lord  Chesterfield's  Worldly  Wisdom.  Selec 
tions  from  his  Letters  and  Characters.  Edited  by  G.  BIRKBECK  HILL, 
D.C.L.  Crown  Svo,  6s. 

Goldsmith. 

I.  Selected  Poems.     Edited  with  Introduction  and  Notes,  by 
AUSTIN  DOBSON.    Extra  fcap.  Svo,  3$.  6d. ;  in  Parchment,  45.  6d. 

II.  The  Traveller.     Edited  hy    G.  BIRKBECK  HILL,   D.C.L. 

Stiff  covers,  is. 

III.  The  Deserted  Village.     Paper  covers,  26?. 
JOHNSON. 

I.  Rasselas.     Edited,  with  Introduction  and  Notes,  by 
G.  BIRKBECK  HILL,  D.C.L.    Extra  fcap.  Svo,  bevelled  boards,  35.  6d. ; 
in  Parchment,  45.  6d. 

II.  Rasselas ;    Lives   of  Dryden  and  Pope.     Edited  by 
ALFRED  MILNES,  M.A.  (London).     Extra  fcap.  Svo,  45.  6d. ;  or  Lives 
of  DRYDEN  and  POPE  only,  stiff  covers,  2s.  6d. 

III.  Life  of  Milton.  Edited  by  C.  H.  FIRTH,  M.A.   Extra 

fcap.  Svo,  cloth,  2-?.  6d. ;   stiff  covers,  is.  6d. 

IV.  Wit  and  Wisdom  of  Samuel  Johnson.     Edited  by 
G.  BIRKBECK  HILL,  D.C.L.     Crown  Svo,  7*.  6d. 

V.  Vanity  of  Human  Wishes.     With  Notes,  by  E.  J. 

PAYNE,  M.A.     Paper  covers,  ^.d. 

VI.  Letters  of  Samuel   Johnson,  LL.D.     Collected  and 
Edited  by  G.  BIRKBECK  HILL,  D.C.L.     2  vols.     Medium  Svo,  half- 
roan,  285. 

BOSWELL. 

Boswell's   Life   of  Johnson.     With   the   Journal   of  a 

Tour  to  the  Hebrides.     Edited  by  G.  BIRKBECK  HILL,  D.C.L.,  Pem 
broke  College.     6  vols.     Medium  Svo,  half-bound,  3?.  35. 

Cowper.  Edited,  with  Life,  Introductions,  and  Notes,  by 
H.  T.  GRIFFITH,  B.A. 

I.  The  Didactic  Poems  of  1782,  with   Selections  from 

the  Minor  Pieces,  A.D.  1779-1783.     Extra  fcap.  Svo,  3*. 

II.  The  Task,  with  Tirocinium,  and  Selections  from  the 
Minor  Poems,  A.D.  1 784-1 799.     Second  Edition.    Extra  fcap.  Svo,  3*. 

Oxford :   Clarendon  Press. 


A  Series  of  English  Classics.  13 

Burke.      Select    Works.      Edited,    with    Introduction    and 
Notes,  by  E.  J.  PAYNE,  M.A. 

I.  Thoughts    on    the    Present    Discontents;     the    two 

Speeches  on  America.     Second  Edition.     Extra  fcap.  8vo,  4*.  6d. 

II.  Reflections    on    the    French    Revolution.      Second 

Edition.     Extra  fcap.  8vo,  5*. 

III.  Four  Letters  on  the  Proposals  for  Peace  with  the 

Kegicide  Directory  of  France.    Second  Edition.    Extra  fcap.  8vo,  5*. 

Burns.     Selected  Poems.     Edited,  with  Introduction,  Notes, 
and  a  Glossary,  by  J.  LOGIE  KOBERTSON,  M.A.    Crown  8vo,  6s. 

Keats.     Hyperion,  Book  I.     With  Notes  by  W.  T.  AHNOLD, 

B.A.     Paper  covers,  4^. 

Byron.     Childe  Harold.     With  Introduction  and  Notes,  by 

H.  F.  TOZEE,  M.A.    Second  Edition.   Extra  fcap.  8vo,  35.  6d. ;  in  Parch 
ment,  5*. 

Scott.     Lady  of  the  Lake.     Edited,  with  Preface  and  Notes, 

by  W.  MINTO,  M.A.     Extra  fcap.  8vo,  35.  6d. 

Lay    of  the   Last   Minstrel.      By    the    same    Editor. 

With  Map.    Extra  fcap.  8vo,  2s. ;  in  parchment,  3*.  6d. 

Lay  of  the  Last  Minstrel.     Introduction  and  Canto  I, 


with  Preface  and  Notes,  by  the  same  Editor.     6d. 

Marmion.     Edited,  with  Introduction  and    Notes,   by 

T.  BAYNE.     Extra  fcap.  8vo,  3s.  6d. 

Shelley.     Adonais.     Edited,  with   Introduction  and    Notes, 

by  VV.  M.  EOSSETTI.     Crown  8vo,  5$. 

Campbell.  Gertrude  of  Wyoming-.  Edited,  with  Introduction 
and  Notes,  by  H.  MACAULAY  FiTzGiBBON,  M.A.  Extra  fcap.  Svo,  is. 

Wordsworth.  The  White  Doe  of  Rylstone,  &c.  Edited  by 
WILLIAM  KNIGHT,  LL.D.  Extra  fcap.  Svo,  28.  6d. 

Shairp.     Aspects  of  Poetry ;    being-  Lectures   delivered   at 

Oxford,  by  J.  C.  SHAIRP,  LL.D.     Crown  Svo,  IQS.  6d. 

Palgrave.  The  Treasury  of  Sacred  Song.  With  Notes  Ex 
planatory  and  Biographical.  By  F.  T.  PALGRAVE,  M.A.  Thirteenth 
Thousand.  Extra  fcap.  Svo,  45.  6d. 

London  :    HENKY  FKOWDE,  Amen  Corner,  E.G. 


14  /.  Literature  and  Philology. 


SECTION  III. 

EUROPEAN    LANGUAGES,    MEDIAEVAL  AND 
MODERN. 

(1)  FRENCH  AND  ITALIAN. 
Braehet's  Etymological  Dictionary  of  the  French  Language. 

Translated  by  G.  W.  KITCHIN,  D.D.    Third  Edition.    Crown  8vo,  7*.  6d. 

Historical  Grammar  of  the  French  Language.     Trans 
lated  by  G.  W.  KITCHIN,  D.D.   Fourth  Edition.    Extra  fcap.  8vo,  3*.  6d. 

Saintsbury.     Primer    of    French    Literature.     By    GEORGE 
SAINTSBUBY,  M.A.     Extra  fcap.  8vo,  2s. 

Short  History  of  French    Literature.     Third    Edition. 

Crown  8vo,  IDS.  6d. 

Specimens  of  French  Literature,  from  Villon  to  Hugo. 


Second  Edition.     Crown  8vo, 


Song   of   Dermot   and.   the  Earl.     An   Old   French   Poem. 

Edited,  with  Translation,  Notes,  &c.,  by  G.  H.  OJRPEN.     Extra  fcap.  8vo, 
8*.  6d. 

Toynbee.  Specimens  of  Old  French  (ix-xv  centuries). 
With  Introduction,  Notes,  and  Glossary.  By  PAGET  TOYNBEE,  M.A. 
Crown  8vo,  165. 


Beaumarch.ais'  Le  Barbier  de   Seville.     Edited,  with  Intro 
duction  and  Notes,  by  AUSTIN  DOBSON.    Extra  fcap.  8vo,  2s.  6d. 

Corneille's  Horace.     Edited,  with  Introduction  and  Notes, 
by  GEORGE  SAINTSBURY,  M.A.     Extra  fcap.  8vo,  2s.  6d. 

Moliere's  Les  Precieuses  Ridicules.   Edited,  with  Introduction 

and  Notes,  by  ANDREW  LANG,  M.A.     Extra  fcap.  8vo,  is.  6d. 

Musset's  On  ne  badine  pas  avec  1'Amour,  and  Fantasio.   Edited, 

with  Prolegomena,  Notes,  &c.,  by  W.  H.  POLLOCK.    Extra  fcap.  8vo,   2s, 


Oxford  :   Clarendon  Press. 


French  and  Italian.  15 

Racine's  Esther.  Edited,  with  Introduction  and  Notes,  by 
GEORGE  SAINTSBUBY,  M.A.  Extra  fcap.  8vo,  2*. 

Voltaire's  Merope.  Edited,  with  Introduction  and  Notes, 
by  GEORGE  SAINTSBURY,  M.A.  Extra  fcap.  8vo,  25. 

***  The  above  six  Plays  may  be  had  in  ornamental  case,  and  bound 
in  Imitation  Parchment,  price  1 2*.  6d. 

Moliere.     Le  Misanthrope.     Edited  by  W.  H.  G.  MAUKHEIM, 

M.A.     Extra  fcap.  8vo,  3*.  6d. 

MASSON'S  FRENCH  CLASSICS. 

Edited  by  Gustave  Masson,  B.A. 
Corneille's  Cinna.     With  Notes,  Glossary,  &c.     Extra  fcap. 

8vo,  25.;  stiff  covers,  i*.  6d. 
Louis  XIV  and  his  Contemporaries ;  as  described  in  Extracts 

from  the  best  Memoirs  of  the  Seventeenth  Century.    With  English  Notes, 
Genealogical  Tables,  &c.     Extra  fcap.  8vo,  2*.  6d. 

Maistre,  Xavier  de,  &c.  Voyage  autour  de  ma  Chambre, 
by  XAVIER  DE  MAISTRE  ;  Ourika,  by  MADAME  DE  DURAS  ;  Le  Vieux 
Tailleur,  by  MM.  ERCKHANN-CHATRIAN  ;  La  Veille"e  de  Vincennes,  by 
ALFRED  DE  VIGNY;  Les  Jumeaux  de  1'Hotel  Corneille,  by  EDMOND 
ABOUT  ;  Me"saventures  d'un  Ecolier,  by  RODOLPHE  TOPFFER.  Third 
Edition,  Revised.  Extra  fcap.  8vo,  2*.  6d. 

Voyage  autour  de  ma  Chambre.     Limp,  is.  6d. 

Moliere's  Les  Fourberies  de  Scapin,  and  Racine's  Athalie. 

With  Voltaire's  Life  of  Moliere.     Extra  fcap.  8vo,  2s.  6d. 

Les   Fourberies  de   Scapin.     With   Voltaire's   Life    of 

Moliere.     Extra  fcap.  8vo,  stiff  covers,  is.  6d. 

Les   Femmes   Savantes.     With    Notes,    Glossary,   &c. 

Extra  fcap.  8vo,  cloth,  2*. ;  stiff  covers,  is.  6d. 

Racine's  Andromaque,  and  Corneille's  Le  Menteur.     With 

Louis  RACINE'S  Life  of  his  Father.     Extra  fcap.  8vo,  2 s.  6d. 

Regnard's  Le  Joueur,  and  Brueys  and  Palaprat's  Le  Gron- 

deur.     Extra  fcap.  8vo,  2S.  6d. 

Sevign^,  Madame  de,  and  her  chief  Contemporaries,  Selections 

from  their  Correspondence.     Extra  fcap.  8vo,  3*. 

London  :   HKNUY  FKOWDK,  Amen  Corner,  E.G. 


1 6  /.  Literature  and  Philology. 

Blouet.     L'Eloquence  de  la  Chaire  et  de  la  Tribune  Frangais'es. 
Edited  by  PAUL  BLODET,  B.A.  Vol.  I.  Sacred  Oratory.  Extra  fcap.  8  vo,  2s.6d. 

Gautier,  Theopliile.     Scenes  of  Travel.     Selected  and  Edited 

by  GEORGE  SAINTSBURY,  M.A.     Extra  fcap.  8vo,  2s.  \ 

Perrault's  Popular  Tales.    Edited  from  the  Original  Editions, 
with  Introduction,  &c.,  by  A.  LANG,  M.A.     Extra  fcap.  8vo,  5$.  6d. 

Quinet's  Lettres  a  sa  Mere.     Selected  and  Edited  by  GEOEGE 
SAINTSBURY,  M.A.     Extra  fcap.  8vo,  2-s. 

Sainte-Beuve.     Selections   from    the    Causeries   du    Lundi. 
Edited  by  GEORGE  SAINTSBURY,  M.A.     Extra  fcap.  8vo,  2s. 


Dante.     Selections    from   the   Inferno.     With   Introduction 
and  Notes.     By  H.  B.  COTTERILL,  B.A.     Extra  fcap.  8vo,  4*.  6d. 

Tasso.     La  Gerusalemme  Liberata.     Cantos  i,  ii.     With  In 
troduction  and  Notes.     By  the  same  Editor.     Extra  fcap.  8vo,  2s.  6d. 

(2)    GERMAN  AND  GOTHIC. 

Max  Miiller.     The  German  Classics,  from  the  Fourth  to  the 

Nineteenth  Century.  With  Biographical  Notices,  Translations  into 
Modern  German,  and  Notes.  By  F.  MAX  MULLER,  M.A.  A  New 
Edition,  Eevised,  Enlarged,  and  Adapted  to  WILHELM  SCHERER'S 
'  History  of  German  Literature,'  by  F.  LICHTENSTEIN.  2  vols.  Crown 
8vo,  2  is. 

Scherer.     A   History  of  German    Literature   by   WILHELM 

SCHERER.  Translated  from  the  Third  German  Edition  by  Mrs.  F. 
C.  CONYBEARE.  Edited  by  F.  MAX  MULLER.  2  vols.  8vo,  2  is. 

A  History  of  German  Literature,  from  the  Accession  of 

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Latin:  Standard  Works.  19 

SECTION   IV. 

CLASSICAL    LANGUAGES. 

(1)  LATIN. 

STANDARD    WORKS  AND   EDITIONS. 
King  and  Cookson.     The  Principles  of  Sound  and  Inflexion, 

as  illustrated  in  the  Greek  and  Latin  Languages.  By  J.  E.  KING,  M.A., 
and  CHRISTOPHER  COOKSON,  M.A.  8vo,  iSs. 

Lewis  and  Short.     A  Latin  Dictionary,  founded  on  Andrews' 

edition  of  Freund's  Latin  Dictionary,  revised,  enlarged,  and  in  great 
part  rewritten  by  CHARLTON  T.  LEWIS,  Ph.D.,  and  CHARLES  SHORT, 
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Nettleship.      Contributions    to    Latin    Lexicography.      By 
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The  Roman  Satura.     Svo,  sewed,  is. 

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Finder.     Selections  from  the  less  known  Latin  Poets.     By 
NORTH  FINDER,  M.A.     Svo,  155. 

Sellar.     Roman   Poets  of  the  Republic.     By  W.  Y.  SELLAE, 

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Roman    Poets  of  the   Augustan   Age.     VIRGIL.     New 

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Wordsworth.     Fragments    and  Specimens  of  Early  Latin. 
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London:  HENRY  EBOWDE,  Amen  Corner,  E.C, 
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2O  7.  Literature  and  Philology. 

Avianus.     The  Fables.     Edited,  with  Prolegomena,  Critical 

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Catullus,  a   Commentary   on.     By  ROBINSON   ELLIS,   M.A. 

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Select  Letters.     With  English  Introductions,  Notes,  and 


Appendices.    By  ALBERT  WATSON,  M.A.     Fourth  Edition.     8vo,  i8«. 
Horace.     With  a  Commentary.     Vol.  I.  The  Odes,  Carmen 

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Manilius.     Noctes  Manilianae  ;  sive  Dissertationes  in  Astro- 

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22  /.  Literature  and  Philology. 


Reddenda  Minova ;  or,  Easy  Passages,  Latin  and  Greek,  for 

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London  :  HENRY  FUOWDE,  Amen  Corner,  E.G. 
D 


34  I-  Literature  and  Philology. 

Herodotus.     Book  IX.     Edited,   with    Notes,   by   EVELYN 

ABBOTT,  M.A.     Extra  fcap.  8vo,  35. 

Selections.     Edited,  with   Introduction  and  Notes,  by 

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same  Editor.     Extra  fcap.  8vo,  6s. 

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D  2 


36  /.  Literature  and  Philology. 

SECTION  v. 
ORIENTAL  LANGUAGES*. 

THE  SACRED  BOOKS  OP  THE  EAST. 

TRANSLATED  BY  VAKTOUS  ORIENTAL  SCHOLARS,  AND  EDITED  BY 
F.  MAX  MULLER. 

First  Series,  Vols.  I— XXIV.    Demy  8vo,  cloth. 
Vol.  I.     The  Upanishads.     Translated  by  F.  MAX  MULLER. 

Parti.  los.  6d. 

Vol.  II.     The  Sacred  Laws  of  the  Aryas,  as  taught  in  the 

Schools  of  Apastamba,  Gautama,  Vasish^Aa,  and  Baudhayana.     Trans 
lated  by  Prof.  GEORG  BUHLER.     Part  I.     IDS.  6d. 

Vol.  III.  The  Sacred  Books  of  China.  The  Texts  of  Con 
fucianism.  Translated  by  JAMES  LEGGE.  Parti.  I2s.6d. 

Vol.  IV.  The  Zend-Avesta.  Part  I.  The  Vendidad.  Trans 
lated  by  JAMES  DARMESTETER.  IDS.  6d. 

Vol.  V.     The  Pahlavi  Texts.     Translated  by  E.  W.  WEST. 

Parti.     I2s.  6d. 

Vols.    VI    and    IX.     The    Qur'an.      Translated   by   E.    H. 

PALMER.     2  is. 

Vol.  VII.  The  Institutes  of  Vishwu.  Translated  by  JULIUS 
JOLLY.  IQS.  6d. 

Vol.  VIII.  The  Bhaeravadgita,  with  The  Sanatsn^atiya,  and 
The  Anugita.  Translated  by  KASHINATH  TRIMBAK  TELANG.  105.  6d. 

Vol.  X.     The  Dhammapada,  translated  from  Pali  by  F.  MAX 

MULLER  ;  and  The  Sutta-Nipata,  translated  from  Pali  by  V.  FAUSBOLL  ; 
being  Canonical  Books  of  the  Buddhists.     105.  6d. 

Vol.  XI.  Buddhist  Suttas.  Translated  from  Pali  by  T.  W. 
.RHYS  DAVIDS.  105.  6d. 

Vol.  XII.  The  xSatapatha-Brahmnfta,  according  to  the  Text 
of  the  Madhyandina  School.  Translated  by  JULIUS  EGGELING.  Part  I. 
Books  I  and  II.  I2S.  6d. 

Vol.  XIII.  Vinaya  Texts.  Translated  from  the  Pali  by 
T.  W.  RHYS  DAVIDS  and  HERMANN  OLDENBERG.  Part  I.  los.  6d. 


*  See  also  ANECDOTA  OXON.,  Series  II,  III,  pp.  41-42,  below. 


Oxford  :   Clarendon  Press. 


Sacred  Books  of  the  East.  37 

The  Sacred  Books  of  the  East  (continued). 

Vol.  XIV.    AThe  Sacred  Laws  of  the  Aryas,  as  taught  in  the 

Schools  of  Apastamba,  Gautama,  Vasish^a  and  Baudhayana.  Translated 
by  GEORG  BUHLER.  Part  II.  los.  6d. 

Vol.  XV.    The  Upanishads.     Translated  by  R  MAX  MULLER. 

Part  II.     lo*.  6d. 

Vol.   XVI.     The    Sacred   Books   of  China.     The  Texts   of 

Confucianism.     Translated  by  JAMES  LEG GE.     Part  II.     los.  6d. 

Vol.  XVII.     Vinaya  Texts.      Translated  from   the  Pali  by 
T.  W.  KEYS  DAVIDS  and  HERMANN  OLDENBERG.    Part  II.     IQS.  6d. 

Vol.  XVIII.     Pahlavi  Texts.     Translated  by  E.  W.  WEST. 

Part  II.     I2s.6d. 

Vol.  XIX.     The  Fo-sho-hing-tsan-king.     A  Life  of  Buddha 

by  Asvaghosha  Bodhisattva,  translated  from  Sanskrit  into  Chinese  by 
Dharaiaraksha,  A.D.  420,  and  from  Chinese  into  English  by  SAMUEL 
BEAL.  los.  6d. 

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KHYS  DAVIDS  and  HERMANN  OLDENBERG.     Part  III.     los.  6d. 

Vol.  XXI.     The  Saddharma-piw/arika  ;  or,  the  Lotus  of  the 
True  Law.     Translated  by  H.  KERN.     us.  6d. 

Vol.   XXII.      £aina-Sutras.      Translated   from   Prakrit   by 
HERMANN  JACOBI.     Part  I.     10*.  6d. 

Vol.  XXIII.  The  Zend-Avesta.    Part  II.  Translated  by  JAMES 
DARMESTETER.     105.  6d. 

Vol.  XXIV.     Pahlavi  Texts.     Translated  by  E.  W.  WEST. 

Part  III.     10*.  6d. 

Second  Series. 
Vol.  XXV.     Manu.     Translated  by  GEORG  B  tin  LEE.     2  is. 

Vol.    XXVI.     The    flatapatha-Brahmawa.       Translated    by 
JULIUS  EGGELING.    Part  II.     i2s.6d. 

Vols.  XXVII  and  XXVIII.     The  Sacred  Books  of  China. 

The  Texts  of  Confucianism.  Translated  by  JAMES  LEGGE.  Parts  III  and 
IV.  25*. 

Vols.  XXIX  and  XXX.     The  Gnhya-Sutras,  Rules  of  Vedic 
Domestic  Ceremonies.     Translated  by  HERMANN  OLDENBERG. 
Part  I  (Vol.  XXIX).     1 2s.  6d. 
Part  II  (Vol.  XXX).     12*.  6tZ.     Just  Published. 

London :  HENRY  FKOWDE,  Amen  Corner,  E.G. 


38  /.  Literature  and  Philology. 

The  Sacred  Books  of  the  Bast  (continued]. 

Vol.  XXXI.      The  Zend-Avesta.     Part  III.     Translated   by 
L.  II.  MILLS.     1 2*.  6d. 

Vol.    XXXII.      Vedic    Hymns.       Translated    by    F.    MAX 

MULLEU.     Part  I.     185.  6d. 

Vol.    XXXIII.      Narada,    and    some    Minor     Law-books. 

Translated  by  JULIUS  JOLLY.       los.  6d. 

Vol.   XXXIV.     The  Vedanta-Sutras,  with    Ankara's    Com 
mentary.    Translated  by  G.  THIBAUT.     i  is.  6<l. 

Vol.  XXXV.     Milinda.     Translated  by  T.  W.  BUYS  DAVIDS. 

Part  I.     1 03.  6d. 

Vols.  XXXIX  and  XL.     The  Sacred  Books  of  China.     The 

Texts  of  Taoism.     Translated  by  JAMES  LEGGE.     215. 

Vol.  XXXVII.     Pahlavi  Texts.     Translated  by  E.  W.  WEST. 

Part  IV.     155.     Jutt  Published. 

In  the  Press  : — 
Vol.  XXXVI.    Milinda.     Translated  by  T.  W.  RHYS  DAVIDS. 

Part  II. 

Vol.    XLI.      Datapath  a-  B  rah  ma^a.      Translated    by    JULIUS 
EGGELING.    Part  III. 


ARABIC.  A  Practical  Arabic  Grammar.  Part  I.  Compiled 
by  A.  0.  GHEEN,  Brigade  Major,  Royal  Engineers.  Second  Edition, 
Enlarged.  Crown  8vo,  ^s.6d. 

BENGALI.     Grammar  of  the  Bengali  Language  ;  Literary 
and  Colloquial.     By  JOHN  BEAMES.     Crown  8vo,  cloth,  4*.  6d. 

CHINESE.       The    Chinese    Classics:     with    a   Translation, 

Critical  and  Exeget:cal  Notes,  Prolegomena,  and  Copious  Indexes.     By 
JAMES  LKGGE,  1}.}).,  LL.D.     In  Seven  Volumes.     Royal  Svo. 

Vol.  I.     Confudan  Analects,  &c.     Reprinting. 

Vol.  II.     The  Works  of  Mencius.     il.  los. 

Vol.  III.     The  Shoo-King;  or,  The  Book  of  Historical 

Documents.     In  two  Parts,     il.  los.  each. 

Vol.  IV.     The  She-King  ;  or,  The  Book  of  Poetry.     In 

two  Parts.     I/.  105.  each. 

Vol.  V.     The  Ch'un  Ts'ew,  with  the  Tso  Chuen.    In  two 

Parts,      il.  I os.  each. 

Oxford  :   Clarendon  Press. 


Oriental  Languages.  39 


CHINESE.     The   Nestorian    Monument   of   Hsi-an    Fu   in 

Shen-hsi,  China,  relating  to  the  Diffusion  of  Christianity  in  China  in 
the  Seventh  and  Eighth  Centuries.  By  JAMES  LEGGE,  D.D.,  LL.D. 
Paper  covers,  2s.  6d. 

Record  of  Buddhistic  Kingdoms ;    being-   an  Account 

by  the  Chinese  Monk  FA-HIEN  of  his  travels  in  India  and  Ceylon  (A.D. 
399-414)  in  search  of  the  Buddhist  Books  of  Discipline.  Translated  and 
annotated,  with  a  Corean  recension  of  the  Chinese  Text,  by  JAMES  LEGGE, 
M.A.,  LL.D.  Crown  4to,  boards,  ios.  6d. 

• Catalogue  of  the  Chinese  Translation  of  the  Buddhist 

Tripi/aka,  the  Sacred  Canon  of  the  Buddhists  in  China  and  Japan. 
Compiled  by  BUNYIU  NANJIO.  4to,  il.  I2S.  6d. 

• Handbook  of  the  Chinese  Language.     Parts  I  and  II. 

Grammar  and  Chrestomathy.     By  JAMES  SUMMERS.     8vo,  il.  8s. 

CHALDEE.      Book    of  Tobit.      A    Chaldee   Text,    from    a 

unique  MS.  in  the  Bodleian  Library;  with  other  Rabbinical  Texts, 
English  Translations,  and  the  Itala.  Edited  by  AD.  NEUBAUER,  M.A. 
Crown  8vo,  6s. 

COPTIC.    Libri  Prophetarum  Majorum,  cum  Lamentationibus 

Jeremiae,  in  Dialecto  Linguae  Aegyptiacae  Memphitica  seu  Coptica. 
Edidit  cum  Versione  Latina  H.  TATTAM,  S.T.P.  Tomi  II.  8vo,  1 7*. 

Libri  duodecim  Prophetarum  Minorum  in  Ling.  Aegypt. 

vulgo  Coptica.     Edidit  H.  TATTAM,  A.M.     8vo,  8*.  6d. 

Novum  Testamentum  Coptice,  cura  D.  WILKINS.    1716. 

4to,  125.  6d. 
HEBREW.     Psalms  in  Hebrew  (without  points).    Cr.  8vo,  Q,S. 

Driver.     Notes  on   the  Hebrew  Text  of  the  Books  of 
Samuel.     By  S.  R.  DKIVER,  D.D.     8vo,  14*. 

Treatise   on   the   use   of   the   Tenses  in   Hebrew. 

By  S.  K.  DRIVER,  D.D.     Third  Edition.    Crown  Svo,  7s.  6d. 

Commentary  on  the  Book  of  Proverbs.    Attributed 

to  Abraham  Ibn  Ezra.  Edited  from  a  Manuscript  in  the  Bodleian 
Library  by  S.  K  DRIVER,  D.D.  Crown  Svo,  paper  covers,  35.  6d. 

Gesenius'   Hebrew   and    English    Lexicon    of  the    Old 

Testament,  with  an  Appendix  containing  the  Biblical  Aramaic. 
Translated  and  Edited  by  E.  ROBINSON,  FRANCIS  BROWN,  S.  E. 
DRIVER,  and  C.  A.  BRIGGS.  Part  I  (Aieph).  Small  4to.  2*.  6d. — 
Part  II.  Immediately. 

Nenbauer.     Book  of  Hebrew  Roots,  by  Abu  '1-  Wai  id 

Marwan  ibn  Janah,  otherwise  called  Ilabbi  Yonah.  Now  first 
edited,  with  an  Appendix,  by  AD.  NEUBAUER.  4to,  il.  fs.  6d. 

London :   HENRY  FKOWDE,  Amen  Corner,  E.C, 


40  /.    Literature  and  Philology. 

HEBREW  (continued}. 

Spurrell.     Notes  on  the  Hebrew  Text  of  the  Book  of 

Genesis.     By  G.  J.  SPURKELL,  M.A.     Crown  8vo,  los.  6d. 

Wickes.     Hebrew  Accentuation  of  Psalms,  Proverbs,  and 
Job.     By  WILLIAM  WICKES,  D.D.     8vo,  5*. 

Hebrew  Prose  Accentuation.    8vo,  105.  6d. 

SANSKRIT. — Sanskrit-English   Dictionary,  Etymologically 

and  Philologically  arranged,  with  special  reference  to  Greek,  Latin, 
German,  Anglo-Saxon,  English,  and  other  cognate  Indo-European 
Languages.  By  Sir  M.  MoNlEB- WILLIAMS,  D.C.L.  4to,  4?.  14*.  6d. 

Practical  Grammar  of  the  Sanskrit  Language,  arranged 

with  reference  to  the  Classical  Languages  of  Europe,  by  Sir  M.  MONIEK- 
WILLIAMS,  D.C.L.  Fourth  Edition.  8vo,  155. 

Nalopdkhyanam.    Story  of  Nala,  an  Episode  of  the  Maha- 

bhdrata  :  Sanskrit  Text,  with  a  copious  Vocabulary,  and  an  improved 
version  of  Dean  Milman's  Translation,  by  Sir  M.  MONIER-WILLIAMS, 
D.C.L.  Second  Edition,  Revised  and  Improved.  8vo,  155. 

Sakuntala.     A  Sanskrit  Drama,  in  seven  Acts.     Edited 


by  Sm  M.  MONIES-  WILLIAMS,  D.C.L.     Second  Edition.     8vo,  il.  is. 
SYRIAC. — Thesaurus   Syriacus  :    collegerunt    Quatremere, 

Bernstein,  Lorsbach,  Arnoldi,  Agrell,  Field,  Eoediger  :  edidit  R.  PAYNE 
SMITH,  S.T.P.     Vol.  I,  containing  Fasc.  I-V.     Sm.  fol.  5?.  55. 
Fasc.  VI,  iZ.  is.     Fasc.  VII,  iZ.  us.  6d.     Fasc.  VIII,  il  i6s. 

The  Book  of  Kalilah  and  Dimnah.     Translated  from 

Arabic  into  Syriac.     Edited  by  W.  WRIGHT,  LL.D.     8vo.  iZ.  is. 

Cyrilli  Archiepiscopi  Alexandrini  Commentarii  in  Lucae 

Evangelium  quae  snpersunt  Syriace.     E  MSS.  apud  Mus.  Britan.  edidit 
K.  PAYNE  SMITH,  A.M.     4to,  il.  2s. 

Translated  by  R.  PAYNE  SMITH,  M.A.    2  vols.   8vo,  145. 

Sphraemi  Syri,  Rabulae  Episcopi  Edesseni,  Balaei,  &c., 

Opera  Selecta.     E  Codd.  Syriaciy  MSS.  in  MuseoBritannico  et  Bibliotheca 
Bodleiana  asservatis  primus  edidit  J.  J.  OVERBECK.     8vo,  iZ.  is. 

John,  Bishop  of  Ephesus.  The  Third  Part  of  his  Eccle 
siastical  History.  [In  Syriac.]  Now  first  edited  by  WILLIAM  CUKETON, 
M.A.  4to,  iZ.  i2s. 


Translated  hy  R.  PAYNE  SMITH,  M.A.     8vo,  105. 


TAMIL.     First  Lessons   in   Tamil.     By  G.   U.  POPE,  D.D. 

Fifth  Edition.     Crown  8vo,  75.  6d. 

Oxford  :    Clarendon  Press. 


A  nee  do  fa  Oxoniensia.  41 

• 

SECTION  VI. 

ANECDOTA    OXONIENSIA. 

(Crown  4to,  stiff  covers.) 
I.     CLASSICAL     SEEIES. 

I.  The  English  Manuscripts  of  the  Nicomachean  Ethics. 

By  J.  A.  STEWART,  M.A.     35.  6d. 

II.  Nonius  Marcellus,  de  Compendiosa  Doctrina,  Harleian 

MS.  2719.     Collated  by  J.  H.  ONIONS,  M.A.     35.  6d. 

III.  Aristotle's  Physics.     Book  VII.     With  Introduction  by 

K.  SHUTE,  M.A.     2*. 

IV.  Bentley's   Plautine    Emendations.     From    his    copy   of 

Gronovius.     By  E.  A.  SONNENSCHEIN,  M.A.     2s.  6d, 

V.  Harleian  MS.  2610  ;   Ovid's  Metamorphoses  I,  II,  III. 

1-622  ;  XXIV  Latin  Epigrams  from  Bodleian  or  other  MSS. ;  Latin 
Glosses  on  Apollinaris  Sidonius  from  MS.  Digby  172.  Collated  and 
Edited  by  ROBINSON  ELLIS,  M.A.,  LL.D.  45. 

VII.  Collations  from  the  Harleian  MS.  of  Cicero  2683.     By 
ALBERT  C.  CLARK,  M.A.     7s.  6d. 

II.     SEMITIC  SERIES. 

I.  Commentary    on    Ezra    and    Nehemiah.       By    Rabbi 

Saadiah.     Edited  by  H.  J.  MATHEWS,  M.A.     3*.  6d. 

II.  The  Book  of  the  Bee.     Edited  by  ERNEST  A.  WALLIS 

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The  Holy  Scrip  hires,  &c.  43 


II.    THEOLOGY. 

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The  Holy  Scriptures,  &c.  45 

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46  //.   Theology. 


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Fathers  of  the  Church,  &c.  47 

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48  II.   Theology. 


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Ecclesiastical  History,  &c.  49 


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Burnet's  History  of  the  Reformation  of  the  Church  of  England. 

A  new  Edition.     Carefully  revised,  and  the  Records  collated  with  the 
originals,  by  N.  POCOCK,  M.A.     7  vols.    8vo,  iZ.  IQS. 

Cardwell's  Documentary  Annals  of  the  Reformed  Church  of 

England ;  being  a  Collection  of  Injunctions,  Declarations,  Orders,  Articles 
of  Inquiry,  &c.,  from  1546  to  1716.     2  vols.     8vo,  iSs. 

London :  HENRY  FROWDE,  Amen  Corner,  E.C, 
E 


50  II.   Theology. 


Councils  and  Ecclesiastical  Documents  relating  to   Great 

Britain  and  Ireland.    Edited,  after  SPELMAN  and  WILKINS,  by  A.  W. 

HADDAN,  B.D.,   and  W.  STUBBS,  D.D.    Vols.   I  and  III.     Medium 

8vo,  each  iZ.  is. 

Vol.  II,  Part  I.    Medium  8vo,  10*.  6d.  , 

Vol.  II,  Part   II.      Church   of  Ireland;    Memorials  of  St.  Patrick. 
Stiff  covers,  3*.  6d. 

Formularies  of  Faith  set  forth  by  the  King's  authority  during 

the  Eeign  of  Henry  VIII.     8vo,  75. 

Puller's  Church  History  of  Britain.    Edited  by  J.  S.  BREWER, 

M.A.     6  vols.     8vo,  iZ.  195. 

Gibson's  Synodus  Anglicana.     Edited  by  E.  CARDWELL,  D.D. 

8vo,  6s. 
Hamilton's  (Archbishop  John)  Catechism,  1552.    Edited,  with 

Introduction  and  Glossary,  by  THOMAS  GRAVES  LAW,  Librarian  of  the 
Signet  Library,  Edinburgh.  With  a  Preface  by  the  Eight  Hon.  W.  E. 
GLADSTONE.  Demy  8vo,  12*.  6d. 

Hussey.  Rise  of  the  Papal  Power,  traced  in  three  Lectures. 
By  ROBERT  HUSSEY,  B.D.  Second  Edition.  Fcap.  8vo,  48.  6d. 

Inett's  Origines  Anglicanae  (in  continuation  of  Stillingfleet). 
Edited  by  J.  GRIFFITHS,  M.A.  3  vols.  8vo,  155. 

John,  Bishop  of  Ephesus.  The  Third  Part  of  his  Ecclesias 
tical  History.  [In  Syriac.]  Now  first  edited  by  WILLIAM  CURETON, 
M.A.  4to,  il.  iis. 

The  same,  translated  by  R.  PAYNE  SMITH,  M.A.    8vo,  los. 

Le  Neve's  Fasti  Ecclesiae  Anglicanae.  Corrected  and  con 
tinued  from  1715  to  1853  by  T.  DUFFUS  HARDY.  3  vols.  8vo,  il.  is. 

Noelli  (A.)  Catechismus  sive  prima  institutio  disciplinaque 

Pietatis  Christianae  Latine  explicata.  Editio  nova  cura  GUIL.  JACOBSON, 
A.M.  8vo,  5*.  6d. 

Prideaux's  Connection  of  Sacred  and  Profane  History.    2  vols. 

8vo,  i  os. 

Primers  put  forth  in  the  Reign  of  Henry  VIII.     8vo,  5$. 
Records   of   the    Reformation.      The    Divorce,    1527-1533. 

Mostly  now  for  the  first  time  printed  from  MSS.  in  the  British  Museum 
and  other  Libraries.  Collected  and  arranged  by  N.  POCOCK,  M.A.  2  vols. 
8vo,  il.  i6s. 


Oxford  :   Clarendon  Press. 


Liturgiology,  5 1 


Reformatio   Legum  Ecclesiasticarum.     The  Reformation  of 

Ecclesiastical  Laws,  as  attempted  in  the  reigns  of  Henry  VIII,  Edward 
VI,  and  Elizabeth.    Edited  by  E.  CARDWELL,  D.D.    8vo,  6*.  6d. 

Shirley.  Some  Account  of  the  Church  in  the  Apostolic  Age. 
By  W.  W.  SHIRLEY,  D.D.  Second  Edition.  Fcap.  8vo,  3*.  6d. 

Shuekford's  Sacred  and  Profane  History  connected  (in  con 
tinuation  of  Prideaux).  2  vols.  8vo,  10*. 

Stillingfleet's  Origines  Britannicae,  with  LLOYD'S  Historical 

Account  of  Church  Government.    Edited  by  T.  P.  PANTIN,  M.A.    2  vols. 
8vo,  10*. 

Stubbs.  Registrum  Sacrum  Anglicanum.  An  attempt  to 
exhibit  the  course  of  Episcopal  Succession  in  England.  By  W.  STUBBS, 
D.D.  Small  4to,  8s.  6d. 

Strype's  Memorials  of  Cranmer.     2  vols.   8vo,  us. 
•Life  of  Aylmer.     8vo,  55.  6d. 
Life  of  Whitgift.     3  vols.     8vo,  1 65.  6d. 
General  Index.     2  vols.     8vo,  us. 

Sylloge  Confessionum  sub  tempus  Reformandae  Ecclesiae  edi- 

tarum.     Subjiciuntur  Catechismus   Heidelbergensis   et  Canones    Synodi 
Dordrechtanae.     8vo,  8*. 


D.    LITURGIOLOGY. 
Cardwell's   Two   Books  of  Common    Prayer,    set   forth  by 

authority  in  the  Reign  of  King  Edward  VI,  compared  with  each  other. 
Third  Edition.    8vo,  75. 

History  of  Conferences  on  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer 


from  1551  to  1690.     Third  Edition.     8vo,  7*.  6d. 

Hammond.  Liturgies,  Eastern  and  Western.  Edited,  with 
Introduction,  Notes,  and  a  Liturgical  Glossary,  by  C.  E.  HAMMOND,  M.A. 
Crown  8vo,  los.  6d. 

An  Appendix  to  the  above,  crown  8vo,  paper  covers,  I*.  6d. 

Helps   to   the    Study    of  the    Book    of  Common   Prayer. 

Being  a  Companion  to  Church  Worship.     Crown  8vo,  3.9.  6d. 

London:    HENRY  FROWDK,  Amen  Corner,  E,C, 
E  2 


5  2  II.  Theology. 


Leofric  Missal,  The,  as  used  in  the  Cathedral  of  Exeter  during 

the  Episcopate  of  its  first  Bishop,  A.D.  1050-1072  ;  together  with  some 
Account  of  the  Red  Book  of  Derby,  the  Missal  of  Robert  of  Jumieges, 
and  a  few  other  early  MS.  Service  Books  of  the  English  Church. 
Edited,  with  Introduction  and  Notes,  by  F.  E.  WARREN,  B.D.,  F.S.A. 
4to,  half-morocco,  il.  15*. 

Maskell.  Ancient  Liturgy  of  the  Church  of  England,  according 

to  the  uses  of  Sarum,  York,  Hereford,  and  Bangor,  and  the  Roman  Liturgy 
arranged  in  parallel  columns,  with  preface  and  notes.  By  W.  MASKELL, 
M.A.  Third  Edition.  8vo,  155. 

Monumenta  Ritualia  Ecclesiae  Anglicanae.  The  occa 
sional  Offices  of  the  Church  of  England  according  to  the  old  use  of 
Salisbury,  the  Prymer  in  English,  and  other  prayers  and  forms,  with 
dissertations  and  notes.  Second  Edition.  3  vols.  8vo,  2l.  los. 

Warren.  The  Liturgy  and  Ritual  of  the  Celtic  Church.  By 
F.  E.  WARREN,  B.D.  8vo,  14*. 


E.    ENGLISH  THEOLOGY. 

Beveridge's  Discourse  upon  the  xxxix  Articles.    8vo,  8^. 
Biscoe's  Boyle  Lectures  on  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles.  8  vo,  9*.  6d. 

Bradley.      Lectures    on    the    Book    of   Job.      By    GEORGE 
GRANVILLE  BRADLEY,  D.D.,  Dean  of  Westminster.     Crown  8vo,  7*.  6d. 

Lectures  on   Ecclesiastes.     By  G.  G.  BRADLEY,   D.D. 

Crown  8vo,  45.  6d. 

Bull's  Works,  with  NELSON'S  Life.     Edited  by  E.  BURTON, 

D.D.     8  vols.  8vo,  2l.  95. 

Burnet's  Exposition  of  the  xxxix  Articles.     8vo,  75. 
Burton's  (Edward)  Testimonies  of  the  Ante-Nicene  Fathers 

to  the  Divinity  of  Christ.    1829.  8vo,  7*. 

Testimonies  of  the  Ante-Nicene  Fathers  to  the  Doctrine 

of  the  Trinity  and  of  the  Divinity  of  the  Holy  Ghost.    1831.    8vo,  33.  6d. 

Butler's  Works.     2  vols.  8vo,  us. 

Sermons.    55.  6d.     Analogy  of  Religion.    $s.  6d. 

Oxford :  Clarendon  Press. 


English  Theology.  53 

Chandler's  Critical  History  of  the  Life  of  David.   8vo,  8*.  6d. 
Chillingworth's  Works.     3  vols.  8vo,  il.  is.  6d. 
Clergyman's  Instructor.     Sixth  Edition.  8vo,  6s.  6d. 
Comber's  Companion  to  the  Temple ;  or,  A  Help  to  Devotion 

in  the  use  of  the  Common  Prayer.     7  vols.  8vo,  il.  us.  6d. 

Cranmer's  Works.     Collected  and  arranged  by  H.  JENKYNS, 

M.A.,  Fellow  of  Oriel  College.  4  vols.  8vo,  il.  los. 

Enchiridion  Theologicum  Anti-Romanum. 

Vol.  I.    JEREMY  TAYLOR'S  Dissuasive  from  Popery,  and  Treatise  on 
[  the  Keal  Presence.     8vo,  8*. 

Vol.  II.    BARROW  on  the  Supremacy  of  the  Pope,  with  his  Discourse 

on  the  Unity  of  the  Church.     8vo,  7*.  6d. 

Vol.  III.  Tracts  selected  from  WAKE, PATRICK,  STILLINGFLEET,  CLAGETT, 
and  others.     8vo,  us. 

[Pell's]  Paraphrase,  &c,,  on  the  Epistles  of  St.  Paul.   8vo,  Js. 
GreswelPs  Harmonia  Evangelica.    Fifth  Edition.   8vo,  9$.  6d. 

Prolegomena  ad  Harmoniam  Evangelicam.    8vo,  9$.  6d. 

Dissertations  on  the  Principles  and  Arrangement  of  a 

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Hall's  Works.  Edited  by  P.  WYNTER,  D.D.  10  vols.  8vo,  3^.  3$. 

Hammond's  Paraphrase  on  the  Book  of  Psalms.  2,  vols.  8vo,  los. 

I  Paraphrase,  &c.,  on  the  New  Testament.    4  vols.  8vo,  il. 

Heurtley.  Harmonia  Symbolica :  Creeds  of  the  Western 
Church.  By  C.  HEURTLEY,  D.D.  8vo,  6s.  6d. 

Homilies  appointed  to  be  read  in  Churches.  Edited  by  J. 
GRIFFITHS,  M.A.  8vo,  7*.  6d. 

HOOKER'S  WORKS,  with  his  Life  by  WALTON,  arranged  by 
JOHN  KEBLE,  M.A.  Seventh  Edition.  Eevised  by  K.  W.  CHURCH,  M.A., 
Dean  of  St.  Paul's,  and  F.  PAGET,  D.D.  3  vols.  medium  8vo,  il.  i6«. 

I  the  Text  as  arranged  by  J.  KEBLE,  M.A.  3  vols.  8vo,  1 1^. 

Hooper's  Works.     2  vols.  8vo,  8s. 

London :   HENRY  FROWDE,  A.men  Corner,  E.G. 


54  II-    Theology. 


Jackson's  (Dr.  Thomas)  Works.     12  vols.  8vo,3/.  6s. 
Jewel's  Works.  Edited  by  R.W.  JELF,D.D.  8  vols.  8vo,i/.io*. 

Martineau.     A  Study  of  Religion  :  its  Sources  and  Contents. 
By  JAMES  MARTINEAU,  D.D.    Second  Edition.    2  vols.  crown  8vo,  15*. 

Patrick's  Theological  Works.     9  vols.  8vo,  \l.  is. 
Pearson's  Exposition  of  the  Creed.    Revised  and  corrected  by 

E.  BUKTON,  D.D.    Sixth  Edition.    8vo,  los.  6d. 

Minor  Theological  Works.     Edited  with  a  Memoir,  by 

EDWARD  CHURTON,  M.A.     2  vols.  8vo,  los. 

Sanderson's  Works.     Edited  by  W.  JACOBSON,  D.D.     6  vols. 

8vo,  il.  i  os. 

Stanhope's  Paraphrase  and  Comment  upon  the  Epistles  and 
Gospels.    A  new  Edition.     2  vols.  8vo,  los. 

Stillingfleet's  Origines  Sacrae.     2  vols.  8vo,  9^. 

Rational  Account  of  the  Grounds  of  Protestant  Religion  ; 

being  a  vindication  of  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD'S  Relation  of  a  Conference,  &c. 
2  vols.  8vo,  i  os. 

Wall's    History   of   Infant   Baptism.      A   new   Edition,   by 
HENRY  COTTON,  D.C.L.    2  vols.  8vo,  iZ.  is. 

Waterland's  Works,  with  Life,  by  Bp.  VAN  MILDERT.     A 

new  Edition,  with  copious  Indexes.     6  vols.  8vo,  aZ.  n*. 

Review  of  the  Doctrine  of  the  Eucharist,  with  a  Preface 

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Wheatly's  Illustration  of  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer.  8  vo,  5$. 


Wyclif.    A  Catalogue  of  the  Original  Works  of  John  Wyclif. 
By  W.  W.  SHIRLEY,  D.D.     8vo,  35.  6d. 

Select  English  Works.    By  T.  ARNOLD,  M.A.    3  vols. 

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Trialogus.     With  the  Supplement  now  first  edited.    By 


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Oxford  :   Clarendon  Press. 


///.  History,  Biography,  &c.  55 


III.    HISTORY,  BIOGRAPHY,   &c. 

Arbutlmot.  The  Life  and  Works  of  John  Arbuthnot.  By 
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Baker's  Chronicle.  Chronicon  Galfridi  le  Baker  de  Svvyne- 
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St.  Andrews;  Hon.  D.C.L.  Oxford  and  Durham;  F.S.A. ;  Principal 
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Bentham.  A  Fragment  on  Government.  By  JEREMY 
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BluntschU.     The  Theory  of  the  State.    By  J.  K.  BLUNTSCHLI. 

Translated  from  the  Sixth  German  Edition.     8vo,  half-bound,  12*.  6d. 

Boswell's  Life  of  Samuel  Johnson,  LL.D. ;  including  BOS- 
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six  volumes,  medium  8vo.  With  Portraits  and  Facsimiles.  Half-bound, 
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Burnet's  History  of  James  II,  with  Additional  Notes.  8vo. 
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Bodleian  Library.     In  three  volumes.     1869-76. 
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Vol.  II.     From  1649  to  1654.     8vo,  i6s. 
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Carte's  Life  of  James  Duke  of  Ormond.  A  new  Edition,  care 
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Casaubon  (Isaac),  Life  of,  by  MARK  PATTISON,  B.D.     Second 

Edition.     8vo,  i6s. 

Casauboni  Ephemerides,  cum  praefatione  et  notis  J.  RUSSELL, 

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Chesterfield.      Letters   of  Philip   Dormer   Fourth  Earl   of 

Chesterfield,  to  his  Godson  and  Successor.  Edited  from  the  Originals, 
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CLARENDON'S  History  of  the  Rebellion  and  Civil  Wars  in 

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Clarendon's  Life,  including  a  Continuation  of  his  History. 

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Clinton's  Fasti  Hellenic!.   The  Civil  and  Literary  Chronology 

of  Greece,  from  the  LVIth  to  the.CXXIIIrd  Olympiad.  Third  Edition. 
4to,  il.  145.  6d. 

—  Fasti  Hellenici.    The   Civil  and   Literary  Chronology 

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Cramer's   Geographical  and   Historical  Description  of  Asia 

Minor.     2  vols.   Svo,  us. 

Description  of  Ancient  Greece.     3  vols.    8vo,  i6s.  6d. 

Earle.  Handbook  to  the  Land-Charters,  and  other  Saxonic 
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University  of  Oxford.  Crown  Svo,  i6s. 

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Pinlay.     A  History  of  Greece  from  its   Conquest  by  the 

Komans  to  the  present  time,  B.C.  146  to  A.D.  1864.  By  GEORGE  FINLAY, 
LL.D.  A  new  Edition,  revised  throughout,  and  in  part  re-written,  with 
considerable  additions,  by  the  Author,  and  edited  by  H.  F.  TOZEK,  M.A. 
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Fortescue.     The  Governance  of  England :    otherwise  called 

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Freeman.     The  History  of  Sicily  from  the  Earliest  Times. 

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Hastings.     Hastings  and  The  Rohilla  War.     By  Sir  JOHN 
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VI.  Physical  Science  and  Mathematics.        67 

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