JOHN SELDEN FIRST- -EDITION PVBLISHED- 1539 ^^aaaflBaaa^^ THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY DIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN D IAJOLLA, CALIFORNIA THE TEMPLE CLASSICS Edited by ISRAEL GOLLANCZ M.A. BEING THE DISCOURSES 1SELPEN KDCCCXCVUl-PUBLlSHeD BY' 7J-M-DCJHT co : Ai/Dme. Hoose LOJSDON e -c* Table-Talk: BEING THE DISCOURSES OF John\Selden> Efq. Being His Senfe of various Matters of Weight and high Confequence ; relating efpecially to RELIGION and STATE. Diftingue Tempora. LONDON: Printed for E. SMITH, in the Year MDCLXXXIX. TO THE HONOURABLE MR JUSTICE HALE, ONE OF THE JUDGES OF THE COMMON PLEAS AND TO THE MUCH HONOURED EDWARD HEY WARD, JOHN VAUGHAN, AND ROWLAND JEWKS, Eso,s. Most worthy Gentlemen, WERE you not Executors to that Person, who (while he liv'd) 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 pre- sent 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 mar- vellous delight to those that heard him, he would presently convey the highest Points of Religion, vi EPISTLE DEDICATORY 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 Enter- tainment you find in them may render you the more inclinable to pardon the Presumption of Tour most Obliged and most Humble Servant, RICH. MILWARD. TABLE OF CONTENTS Abbeys. Priories i Articles ........ 2 Baptism ........ 3 Bastard ........ 4 Bible. Scripture 5 Bishops before the Parliament .... 8 Bishops in the Parliament . . . . 10 Bishops out of the Parliament . . . .15 Books. Authors . . . . . .19 Canon Law . . . . . . .21 Ceremony . . . . . . .21 Chancellor ....... 22 Changing Sides ...... 22 Charity 24 Christmas ....... 24 Christians ....... 25 Church ........ 26 Church of Rome ...... 27 Churches ........ 28 City 28 Clergy ... .... 29 Commission, High ...... 30 Commons, House of 31 Confession . . . . . . .32 Competency . . . . . . .32 Conjunction, Great ...... 33 Conscience . . . . . . -33 Consecrated Places ...... 34 Contracts ........ 35 Council 36 Convocation ....... 37 Creed . . . . . . . -37 Damnation ....... 38 Devils ........ 39 Denial, Self 41 viii CONTENTS Duel 42 Epitaph ........ 43 Equity . 43 Evil Speaking . . ... . . 44 Excommunication ...... 45 Faith and Works 48 Fasting Days .... 48 Fathers and Sons ...... 49 Fines 49 Free-will ........ 50 Friars ........ 50 Friends 51 Genealogy of Christ 51 Gentlemen . . . . . . .52 Gold Hall S3 Hell 54 Holy Days 55 Humility 55 Idolatry 56 Jews . . . . . . . .56 Invincible Ignorance ...... 57 Images 57 Imperial Constitutions 58 Imprisonment ....... 59 Incendiaries 59 Independency . . . . . . -59 Indifferent, Things 60 Interest, Public 61 Invention, Human . . . . . .61 Judgments ....... 62 Judge ........ 62 Juggling 63 Jurisdiction . . . . . . .63 Jus Divinum ....... 64 King 64 King of England ...... 66 King, The 68 Knight's Service 70 Land 70 CONTENTS ix Language ....... PAGE 7 1 Law ........ 7* Law of Nature ...... 73 Learning ....... 74 Lecturers ....... 75 Libels ....... . 76 Liturgy 76 Lords in the Parliament .... 77 Lords before the Parliament 78 Marriage ....... 79 Marriage of Cousin-Germans 79 Measure of Things ..... . 80 Men, Difference of 81 Minister Divine . 82 Money ....... 7 Moral Honesty . . . . . 88 Mortgage 89 Number ....... . 89 Oaths 9 Oracles ....... Opinion ....... 93 Parity 94 Parliament 94 Parson ....... 97 Patience ....... 97 Peace . 98 Penance ....... . 98 People ....... 99 Pleasure 100 Philosophy IOI Poetry ....... . IOI Pope . 103 Popery ....... 106 Power. State ...... 106 Prayer ...... IOQ Preaching ...... . in Predestination ...... . 117 Preferment ...... . 118 Prsemunire I2O Prerogative . 120 CONTENTS Presbytery ..... PAGE 121 Priests of Rome 122 Prophecies ..... . I2 3 Proverbs ..... I2A Question ...... ' *"+ . 124 Reason ..... 124. Retaliation ..... . IZ5 Reverence ...... . 126 Residency, Non- .... . 126 Religion ...... . 127 Sabbath 132 Sacrament ..... . 132 Salvation , State 1 J 5 '33 Superstition ..... Subsidies ...... '34 Simony ...... '35 Ship-Money ..... Synod. Assembly .... .' .' 1 36 Thanksgiving ..... . . 138 Tithes . . 138 Trade 140 Tradition ...... . 14. Transubstantiation .... . 141 Traitor . 142 Trinity . 142 Truth . 142 Trial . 143 University ..... Vows ...... . 145 Usury ...... . 145 Uses, Pious ..... . 146 War . 147 Witches ..... i co Wife 1 j u . 150 Wisdom . . . . 151 Wit . .51 Women ...... . 152 Year Zealots ...... '55 THE TABLE-TALK OF JOHN SELDEN i Abbeys, Priories. THE unwillingness of the Monks to part with Abbeys. their Lands, will fall out to be just nothing, Priories 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 con- cerning 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 major part con- cludes it ; we are then involved, and the Law is good. 2. When the Founders of Abbeys laid a Curse upon those 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 any Body, that hurt me, because they come from them, but because I do something ill against them, that 2 THE TABLE-TALK OF Abbeys, deserves God should curse me for it. On the Priories other side, 'tis not a Man's blessing 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 sur- rendered them (as most of them did). Indeed the Prior of St John'*, Sir (R.) William Wesion, being a stout 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 Fifth put away the Friars aliens, and seized to himself ioo,ooo/. a Year ; and therefore they were not the Protest- ants only that took away Church Lands. 5. In Queen Elizabeth's time, when all the Abbies were pulled .down, all good Works defaced, then the Preachers must cry up Justifi- cation by Faith, not by good Works. II Article* THE nine and thirty Articles are much another thing in Latin, (in which tongue they were made) than they are translated into English. They were made at three several JOHN SELDEN 3 Convocations, and confirmed by Act of Parlia- Articles ment six or seven times after. There is a Secret concerning them : Of late, Ministers have sub- scribed to all of them ; but by the Act of Parliament that confirmed them, they ought only to subscribe to those Articles which contain matter of Faith, and the Doctrine of the Sacraments, as appears by the first Subscriptions. But Bishop Bancroft (in the Convocation held in King James's days) he began it, that Ministers should subscribe to three things, to the King's Supremacy, to the Common Prayer, and to the Thirty-nine Articles. Many of them do not contain matter of Faith. Is it matter of Faith how the Church should be governed ? Whether Infants should be bap- tized ? Whether we have any Property in our Goods ? Ill Baptism "~PWAS a good way to persuade Men to be A christened, to tell them that they had a Foulness about them, viz. Original Sin, that could not be washed away but by Baptism. 2. The Baptising of Children with us, does 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 4 THE TABLE-TALK OF Baptism of that at eight Days old ; why then may not we as reasonably baptise a Child at that Age ? In England, of late years, I ever thought the Parson baptized his own Fingers rather than the Child. 3. In the Primitive Times they had God- fathers 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 their Children brought up in that Faith. IV Bastard PIS said, the xxiii. of Deuteron. ^. A JL Bastard shall not enter into the Congregation of the Lord, even to the tenth Generation. Non ingredietnr in 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 upon a Mis- take, (the Place having no reference to the Church, ) appears plainly by what follows at the third Verse : An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the Congregation of the Lord, even to the tenth Generation. Now you know with the JOHN SELDEN 5 Jews an Ammonite or a Moabite could never be Bastard a Priest, because their Priests were born so, not made. V Bible. Scripture "TMS a great Question how we know Scripture A to be Scripture, whether by the Church, or by Man's private Spirit. Let me ask you how I know any thing ? 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 Translation 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 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, etc. If they found any Fault, they spoke; if not, he read on. 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. \_Il fait froid~\ I say, 6 THE TABLE-TALK OF Bible, 'tis cold, not, it makes cold ; but the Bible is Scripture ra ther translated into English Words than into English Phrase. The Hebraisms are kept, and the Phrase of that Language is kept : as for Example, [He uncovered her Shame J which is well enough, so long as Scholars have to do with it ; but when it comes among the Common People, Lord, what Gear do they make of it ! 4. Scrutamini Scripturas. These two Words have undone the World. Because C hrist spake it to his Disciples, therefore we must all, Men,Women and Children, read and interpret the Scripture. 5. Henry the Eighth made a Law, that all Men might read the Scripture, except Servants ; but no Woman, except Ladies and Gentlewomen, who had Leisure, and might ask somebody the Meaning. The Law was repealed in Edward the Sixth's Days. 6. Lay-men have best interpreted the hard places in the Bible, such as Johannes 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 all did 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 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. q. In interpreting the Scripture, many do as JOHN SELDEN 7 if a Man should see one have ten Pounds, which Bible, he reckoned by i, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10: Scripture 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 together as he doth, but picks here and there, and thereupon reports, that he hath five Pounds in one Bag, and six Pounds in another Bag, and nine Pounds in another Bag, 2JV., 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 altogether, and considered what went before and what followed after, we should find it meant no such thing. 10. Make no more Allegories in Scripture than needs must. The Fathers were too fre- quent in them ; they, indeed, before they fully understood the literal Sense, looked out for an Allegory. The Folly whereof you may con- ceive 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 : after- wards upon nearer view, they prove no such thing ; one is a Box made like a Book, the other is a Picture made like a Glass : where's now my Allegory ? 1 1 . When Men meddle with the literal Text, the Question is, where they should stop. In this Case, a Man must venture his Discretion, and do his best to satisfy himself and others in those Places where he doubts ; for although we call the Scripture the Word of God (as it is), 8 THE TABLE-TALK OF Bible, yet it was writ by a Man, a mercenary Man, Scripture w hose Copy, either might be false, or he might make it false. For Example, here were a thou- sand Bibles printed in England with the Text thus, [JIhou shalt commit Adultery^ the Word \_noi~\ 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 the Author meant when he writ it. 1 3. 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 you 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.) Susanna, and Bel and the Dragon, which she does not esteem equally with the rest of those Books that we call Apocrypha. VI Bishops before the Parliament BISHOP, as a Bishop, had never any Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction ; for as soon as he was Electus Confirmatus, that is, after the A JOHN SELDEN 9 three Proclamations in Bo~^ a Penny-Glass to a rich Spirit, or some excellent Water ; without it the Water were spilt, the Spirit lost. 2. Of all people Ladies have no reason to cry THE TABLE-TALK OF Cere- down Ceremony, for they take themselves slighted mony w i t hout it. And were they not used with Cere- mony, with Compliments and Addresses, with Legs and Kissing of Hands, they were the pitifullest Creatures in the World. But yet f_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 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 govern'd 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 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 the rest. XIII Changing Sides 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 JOHN SELDEN 23 Country Fellows have a way to try if a Man be Chang- weak in the Hams, by coming behind him and m S Sides giving him a 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 Conscience, 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 upon the Sabbath-day. 3. Colonel Goring serving first the one side and then 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 offer'd any Preferment in the Church, that he would make choice of: Luther answered, if he had ofTer'd 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 they 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 therefore there is the less probability of bringing them off. 24 THE TABLE-TALK OF Charity YTV Charity CHARITY to Strangers is enjoin'd in the Text. By Strangers is there understood those that are not of our 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. XV Christmas CHRISTMAS succeeds the Saturnalia, the V same time, the same number of Holy- days; then the Master waited upon the Servant like the Lord of Misrule. 2. Our Meats and our Sports, much of them, have Relation to Church- works. The Coffin of our Christmas-Pies, in shape long, is in Imita- tion of the Cratch ; our choosing Kings and Queens on Twelfth-Night, hath 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- works, Emblems of Martyrdom. Our Tansies at Easter have reference to the bitter Herbs ; though, at the same time, 'twas always the Fashion for a Man to have at his house a Gammon of Bacon to show himself to be no Jeiv. JOHN SELDEN 15 xvi ? hris " tians Christians IN the High-Church of Jerusalem, the Chris- tians were but another sect of Jews, that did believe the Messias was come. To be called, was nothing else, but to become a Chris- tian, to have the Name of a Christian, it being their own Language ; for amongst the Jews, when they made a 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 don't 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 can't tell what. 3. What did the Heathens object to the Christians, that they worship an Ass's Head ? You must know, that to a Heathen, a Jew and a Christian were all one ; that they regarded him not, so he was not one of them. Now that of the Ass's Head might proceed from such a Mis- take as this ; by the Jews' 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 kill'd at their Sacrifices, only young Asses redeem'd, might very well think they had that silly Beast in some high Estima- tion, and thence might imagine they worshipped it as a God. 26 THE TABLE-TALK OF Church XVII Church TTERETOFORE the Kingdom let the J-^L Church alone, let them do what they would, because they had something else to think of, (w'z.) Wars; but now in time of Peace, we begin to examine all things, will have nothing but what we like, grow dainty and wan- ton ; just as in a Family, when the Heir uses to go a hunting, he never considers how his Meal is drest ; takes a bit, 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 drest his own way, or peradventure he will dress it himself. 2. It hath ever been the game of the Church, when the 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 another. 3. A glorious Church is like a magnificent Feast ; there is all the Variety that may be, but everyone 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 the rest alone. 4. The Laws of the Church are most favour- able to the Church, because they were the JOHN SELDEN 27 Church's own making ; as the Heralds are the Church best Gentlemen, because they make their own Pedigree. 5. There is a question about that Article, concerning the Power of the Church, whether these Words [of having Power in Controversies of Faith] were not stolen in ; but 'tis most cer- tain they were in the Book of Articles that was confirm'd, though in some Editions they have been left out : But the Article before tells you, who the Church is ; not the Clergy, but Catus jldel'tum. XVIII Church of Rome ~D EFORE a Juggler's Tricks are discover'd * ' we admire him, and give him Money, but afterwards we care not for them ; so 'twas before the Discovery of the Juggling of the Church of Rome. 2. Catholics say, we out of our Charity be- lieve they of the Church of Rome may be saved, but they do not believe so of us ; therefore their Church is better according to ourselves. First, some of them, no doubt, believe as well of us as we do of them, but they must not say so. Be- sides, is that an Argument, their Church is better than ours because it has less Charity ? 3. One of the Church of Rome will not come to our Prayers ; does that argue he doth not like them ? I would fain see a Catholic leave his Dinner, because a Nobleman's Chaplain says 28 THE TABLE-TALK OF Church Grace. Nor haply would he leave the Prayers of Rome O f tne Church, if going to Church were not made a Mark of Distinction between a Pro- testant and a Papist. XIX Churches THE Way coming into our great Churches, was anciently at the West-Door, that Men might see the Altar, and all the Church before them ; the other Doors were but Posterns. XX City WHAT makes a City? whether a Bishopric or anything of that nature ? Answer. 'Tis according to the first Charter which made them a Corporation. If they are incorporated by Name of Civitas, 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 Chief Justiciary of England, afterwards to the Lord Chancellor, 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. JOHN SELDEN 29 xxi Clergy '"PHOUGH a Clergyman have no Faults of -L his own, yet the Faults of the whole Tribe shall be laid upon him, so that 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 : What ! will you believe your own Eyes before your own sweet Wife ? 3. The Condition of the Clergy towards their Prince, and the Condition of the Physician is all one ; the Physicians tell the Prince they have Agarick 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, he will have no more to do with them. What is that to them, or any body else, if a King will not go 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 inform'd by those whose Pro- fession it is to tell you. The Parson of the Tower, a good discreet Man, told Dr Mosely, 30 THE TABLE-TALK OF Clergy (who was sent to me, and the rest of the Gentle- men committed the ^d. Caroli, to persuade us to submit to the King) that he found no such Words as Parliament, Habeas Corpus, Return, Tower, &c., neither in the Fathers, nor the Schoolmen, nor in the Text ; and therefore for his part he believed they understood nothing of the Business. A Satire upon all those Clergy- men 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 wish'd God would forgive him his Lechery, and lay Usury to his Charge. The Clergy have worse Faults. 6. The Clergy and the Laity together are never like to do well ; 'tis as if a Man were to make an excellent Feast, and should have his Apothecary and his Physician 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 one Sauce and Agarick into another Sauce. Chain up the Clergy on both sides. XXII High Commission MEN cry out upon the High Commission, as if the Clergymen only had to do in it, when I believe there are more Lay-men in JOHN SELDEN 3' Commission there, than Clergy-men ; if the High Lay-men will not come, whose fault is that ? Commis- So of the Star-Chamber ; the People think the S1 Bishops only censur'd Prynne, Burton, and Bast- wick, when there were but two there, and one spake not in his own Cause. XXIII House of Commons 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 ? Because the Room will not hold all. The Lords being few, they all come ; and imagine the Room able to hold all the Commons of England, then the Knights and Burgesses would sit no other- wise than the Lords do. The second Error is, 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 the Accuser ? 32 THE TABLE-TALK OF XXIV Confession IN 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 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, till 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 thing that is forbidden him, haply not so often as I. The utmost Punishment is Deprivation ; and how can it be proved, that ever any Man revealed Confession, when there is no Witness ? And no 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 Competency THAT which is a Competency for one Man, is not enough for another, no more than that which will keep one Man warm, will keep another Man warm ; one Man can go in Doublet JOHN SELDEN 33 and Hose, when another Man cannot be without Com- a Cloak, and yet have no more Clothes than is petency necessary for him. XXVI Great Conjunction HPHE greatest Conjunction of Saturn and *- Jupiter happens but once in eight Hun- dred Years, and therefore Astrologers can make no Experiments of it, nor foretel 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 could come at it, to apply it? XXVII Conscience HE that hath a Scrupulous Conscience, is like a Horse that is not well wayed ; he starts at every Bird that flies out of the Hedge. 2. A knowing Man will do that, which a tender conscienced 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 is no Danger. 3. If we once come to leave that outloose, as to pretend Conscience against Law, who knows what inconvenience may follow ? For thus, Suppose an Anabaptist comes and takes my Horse ; I Sue him ; he tells me he did according 34 THE TABLE-TALK OF Con- to his Conscience ; his Conscience tells him all science things are common amongst the Saints, what is mine is his ; therefore you do ill to make such a Law, " If any Man takes 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 Con- science ? 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, be- cause his Pigeons eat other Folks' Corn. But there is no such thing as Conscience in the Busi- ness ; 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 of the busi- ness ; his Pigeons have a right to eat where they please themselves. XXVIII Consecrated Places THE Jews had a peculiar way of consecrat- ing things to God, which we have not. 2. Under the Law, God, who was Master of all, made choice of a Temple to worship in, where he was more especially present ; just as the Master of the House, who owns 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 con- JOHN SELDEN 35 veniency of Men to Worship in ; they cannot Conse- meet upon the Point of a Needle ; but God crated 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, 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 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 Consecrated cannot be taken away, makes men afraid of Consecration. 5. Yet Consecration has this Power ; when a Man has Consecrated any thing to God, he can- not of himself take it away. XXIX Contracts IF our Fathers have lost their Liberty, why may not we labour to regain it ? Answ. 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 incon- veniency that may afterwards happen, we shall have no Bargain kept. If I sell you a Horse, 36 THE TABLE-TALK OF Contracts and do not like my Bargain, I will have my Horse again. 2. Keep your Contracts. So far a Divine goes, but how to make our Contracts is left to our- selves ; and as we agree upon 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, pre- tend 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 common Obvious Distinction of Jus prceceptivuni y and Jus permissivum, does much trouble Men. 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. 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. JOHN SELDEN 37 Convoca- XXXI tion Convocation 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 Arch-bishops for a Convocation, he commands them to assemble the whole Clergy ; but they, out of Custom amongst themselves, send to the Bishops of their Pro- vinces to will them to bring two Clerks for a Diocese, the Dean, one for the Chapter, and the Arch-Deacons ; but to the King every Clergy- man is there present. 2. We have nothing so nearly expresses the Power of a Convocation, in respect of a Parlia- ment, as a Court- Leet, where they have a Power to make By-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. XXXII Creed A THANASIUS'S Creed is the shortest, take away the Preface, and the Force, and the Conclusion, which are not part of the Creed. In the Nicene Creed it is elg ixxXriffiav, I believe in the Church ; but now, as our Common-prayer has it, I believe one Catholic and Apostolic 3 THE TABLE-TALK OF Creed 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. XXXIII Damnation IF the Physician sees you eat any thing that is not good for your Body, to keep you from it, he cries 'tis 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 Chirurgeon, 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 knows the Medicine beforehand 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 you do something that I could teil 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. JOHN SELDEN 39 xxxiv Devils Devils WHY have we none possessed with Devils in England ? The old Answer is, the Protestants the Devil hath already, and the Papists are so Holy, he dares not meddle with them. Why then, beyond Seas, where a Nun is possest, when a Huguenot comes into the Church, does the Devil hunt him out ? The Priest 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 Mortise-hole, not in the Market-place. They do nothing but what may be done by Art ; they make the Devil fly out of the 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 reverenced ; and certainly if the Priest deliver me from him that is my most deadly Enemy, I have all the reason in the World to reverence him. Objection. But if this be Juggling, why do they punish Impos- tors ? Answer. For great reason, because they do not play their part well, and for fear others 40 THE TABLE-TALK OF Devils should discover them ; and so all of them thought to be 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 (I wondered what he meant), and just at that time, one of them bid him kill me : [Jwith 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 no body 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 about an hour, and then to come again, which he was very willing to. In the meantime I got a Card, and lapped it up handsome in a Piece of 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 to 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 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 JOHN SELDEN 41 likewise. So I gave him another thing to hang Devils about his Neck. Three Days after he came to me to my Chamber and profest he was now as well as ever he was in his Life, and did extremely thank me for the great Care I had taken of 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 Devils in the Head, and that was Dr. Harvey (whom I had prepared), and wished him, if ever he found himself ill in my Absence, to go to him, for he could cure his Disease as well as myself. The Gentleman lived many Years and was never troubled after. XXXV Self Denial ""PIS much the Doctrine of the times, that A 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 Accusation that can be upon the Maker of all good things. If they be not to be used, why did God make them ? The truth is, they that preach against them cannot make use of them theirselves, 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. 42 THE TABLE-TALK OF Duel xxxvi Duel A DUEL may still be granted in some Cases *. by the Law of England, and only there. That the Church allowed it Anciently, appears by this : in their public Liturgies there were Prayers appointed for the Duellists to say ; the Judge used to bid them go to such a Church and pray, &c. But whether is this Lawful ? If you grant any War Lawful, I make no doubt but to convince it. War is Lawful, because God is the only Judge between two that are Supreme. Now if a Difference happen between two Subjects, and it cannot be decided by Human Testimony, why may they not put it to God to Judge between them, by the Permission of the Prince ? Nay, what if we should bring it down, for Argument's sake, to the Swordmen ? 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 distance between you and me, but your Dignity does not Privilege you to do me an Injury ; as soon as ever you do me an Injury, you make yourself my equal ; and JOHN SELDEN 43 as you are my equal I challenge you ; and in Duel sense the Duke is bound to Answer him. This will give you some Light to understand 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 hath no power to do them an Injury: then they think themselves as much bound to vindicate their Right, as they are to obey his Lawful Commands ; nor is there any other measure of Justice left upon Earth but Arms. A XXXVII Epitaph N 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, is as if a Painter should make the handsomest Piece he can pos- sibly make, and say 'twas my Picture. It holds in a Funeral Sermon. XXXVIII Equity EQUITY in Law, is the same that the Spirit is in Religion, what every one pleases to make it. Sometimes they go accord- ing to Conscience, sometimes according to Law, sometimes according to, the Rule of Court. 2. Equity is a Roguish thing : for Law we 44 THE TABLE-TALK OF Equity 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 Foot ; what an uncertain Measure would be this. One Chancellor has a long Foot, another a short Foot, a Third an indiffer- ent Foot : 'Tis the same thing in the Chan- cellor's Conscience. 3. That saying, " Do as you would be done to," is often 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 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. XXXIX Evil Speaking E 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 of Language. H JOHN SELDEN 45 2. A gallant Man is above ill words : an Evil Example we have in the old Lord of Salisbury, Speaking who was a great wise Man. Stone had call'd some Lord about Court, Fool ; the Lord com- plains, and has Stone whipt : Stone cries, I might have called my Lord of Salisbury Fool often enough, before he would have had me whipt. 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 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 him. Excuse me said the Don, for calling him so, 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. XL Excommunication PHAT place they bring for Excommunica- J- tion, "put away from among yourselves that wicked Person," i Cor. v Chap. 13 Verse is corrupted in the Greek : for it should be, TO xovripbv, put away that Evil from among you, not riv Trovqpcv, that Evil Person ; besides, 6 vovqpbg is the Devil, in Scripture, and it may be so taken there ; and there is a new Edition of Theodoret 46 THE TABLE-TALK OF Excom- come out, that has it right TO Kovqpov. 'Tis true munica- the Christians, before the Civil State became n Christian, did by Covenant and Agreement set down how they should live, and he that did not observe what they agreed upon, should come no more amongst them, that is, be Excommuni- cated. Such Men are spoken of by the Apostle [Romans i. 31.] whom he calls affw6irov$ x.ai aSTTovdous ; the Vulgate has it Incompositos, et sine federe ; the last word is pretty well, but the first not at all. Origen, in his Book against Celsus, speaks of the Christians' ffuv&qy.ri : the Transla- tion renders it Conventus, as if it signifies a Meeting, when it is plain it signifies a Covenant, and the English Bible turned the other Word well, Covenant-Breakers. Pliny tells us, the Christians took an Oath amongst themselves to live thus and thus. 2. The other place, Die Ecclesia Matth. xviii. 1 7, tell the Church, 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 instituted. The Jews' Ecclesia was their San- hedrim, their Court : so that the meaning is, if after once or twice Admonition this Brother will not be reclaimed, bring him thither. 3. The first Excommunication was 180 Years after Christ, 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 JOHN SELDEN 47 about the Feast of Easter. Men do not care Excpm- for Excommunication because they are shut out niunica- of the Church, or delivered up to Satan, but 1( 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 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 Out- law a Man for forty shillings, which is their Ex- communication, and you can do no more for Forty Thousand Pound. 4. When Constantinc 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 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 Man 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 ? If the Civil Power might take away all but three Things, why may they not take them away too ? If this Excommunication were taken away, the Presbyters would be quiet ; 'tis that 48 THE TABLE-TALK OF they have a mind to, 'tis that they would fain be at. 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. XLI Faith and Works J'T^WAS an unhappy Division that has been J- made between Faith and Works. Tho' in my Intellect I may divide them, just as in the Candle I know there is both Light and Heat ; 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 1 believe a thing because I am commanded, that is Opus. XL II Fasting-Days WHAT the Church debars us one Day, she gives us leave to take out in another. First we fast, and then we feast ; first there is a Carnival, and then a Lent. 2. Whether do Human Laws bind the Con- science ? If they do, 'tis a way to ensnare : If we say they do not, we open the Door to dis- obedience. Answer. In this Case we must look to the Justice of the Law, and intention of the JOHN SELDEN 49 Law-giver : if there be not Justice in the Law, Fasting- 'tis not to be obeyed ; if the intention of the Days Law-giver be absolute, our obedience must be so too. If the intention of the Law-giver enjoin a Penalty as a Compensation for the Breach of the Law, I sin not if I submit to the 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 Obedience ; which intention appears by the often calling upon us to keep that Law by the King, and the Dispensation of the Church to such as are not able to keep it, as young Children, old Folks, diseased Men, &c. XLIII Fathers and Sons IT hath ever been the way for 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. XLIV Fines THE old Law was, that when a Man was fined, he was to be Fined Salvo Contene- mento, so as his Countenance might be safe ; So THE TABLE-TALK OF Fines taking Countenance in the same sense as your Countryman does, when he says, if you will come unto my House, I will show 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 notwith- standing 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. XLV 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, not- withstanding 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 to be stood for. XLVI Friars 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 himself? JOHN SELDEN 5' 2. If there had been no Friars, Christendom Friars might have continued quiet, and things remained at a stay. If there had been no Lecturers, [which succeed the Friars in their way], the Church of England might have stood and flourished at this Day. XLVII Friends OLD Friends are best. King James used to call for his old Shoes ; they were easiest for his Feet. XLVIII Genealogy of Christ 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 ; 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 was 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, 5* THE TABLE-TALK OF Genea- he was taken for his Son ; and his Land (if he kad an y) was to descend upon him ; and there- fore the Genealogy of Joseph is justly set down. :hrist XLIX Gentlemen WHAT a Gentleman is, 'tis hard with us to define. In other Countries he is known by his Privileges ; in Westminster- Hall he is one that is reputed one ; in the Court of Honour, he that hath Arms. The King can- not make a 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 Gentleman 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 Christianity, the Fathers writ Contra gentes t and Contra Gentiles ; they were all one : But after all were Christians, the better sort of People still retained the Name of Gentiles, throughout the four Provinces of the Roman Empire ; as Gentil-homme in French, Gentil-huomo in Italian, Gentil-huombre in Spanish, and Gentle-man in English : and they, no ques- tion, being Persons of Quality, kept up those JOHN SELDEN 53 Feasts which we borrow from the Gentiles ; as Gentle- Christmas, Candlemas, May-day, &c. continuing men what was not directly against Christianity, which the common People would never have endured. Gold h I ''HERE are two Reasons given why those J- Words Jesus autem transient per medium eorum ibat, were about our old Gold : the one is, because Ripley, the Alchymist, when he made Gold in the Toiuer, the first time he found it he spoke these Words, per medium eorum, that is, per medium Ignis et Sulphuris. The other, be- cause 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. LI Hall THE Hall was the Place where the great Lord used to eat, (wherefore else were the Halls made so big ?), where he saw all his Servants and Tenants about him. He eat not in private, except in time of sickness : when once he became 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. 54 THE TABLE-TALK OF Hell LII Hell HPHERE are two Texts for Christ's descend- -L ing into Hell : the one, Psal. xvi. the other, Acts ii. where the Bible that 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 con- firmed, reads in 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 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 Learning, who held a Metempsychosis, and when the Soul did descend from Heaven to take another Body, they called it Kara/Sdffiv 11$ adqv taking ddq$, for the lower World, the State of Mortality. Now the first Christians, many of them, were Platonic Philo- sophers, and no question spake such Language as then was understood amongst them. To understand by Hell the Grave, is no Tauto- logy ; because the Creed first tells what Christ suffered, He was Crucified, Dead, and Buried ; JOHN SELDEN 55 then it tells us what he did, He descended into Hell Hell, the third day he rose again, he ascended, &c. LIII 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. Yet that has re- lation to an Act of Parliament, which forbids the keeping of any other Holy- Days. The ground thereof was the multitude of Holy-Days in time of Popery ; but those that are kept, are kept by the Custom of the Country ; and I hope you will not say the Church imposes that. H LIV Humility UMILITY is a Virtue all preach, none practise, and yet everybody 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 quadam in Vitio. If a Man does not take notice of that excellency and perfection that is in himself, how can he be thank- ful to God, who is the Author of all excellency and perfection ? Nay, if a Man hath too mean an Opinion of himself, 'twill render him unservice- able both to God and Man. 3. Pride may be allowed to this or that 56 THE TABLE-TALK OF Humil- degree, else a Man cannot keep up his Dignity. lty In Gluttony there must be Eating, in Drunken- ness there must be drinking : 'tis not the eating, nor 'tis not the drinking that is to be blamed, but the Excess. So in Pride. LV Idolatry TDOLATRY is in a Man's own thought, not A in the Opinion of another. Put case I bow to the altar, why am I guilty of Idolatry ? be- cause a stander-by thinks so ? I am sure I do not believe the Altar to be God ; and the God I worship may be bow'd to in all Places, and at all times. LVI Jews GOD at the first gave .Laws to all Mankind, but afterwards he gave peculiar Laws to the Jews, which they were only 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 them- selves. 2. Talk what you will of the Jews, that they are cursed, 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, Christians hate one another as much. JOHN SELDEN 57 LVII Invincible Ignor- Invincible Ignorance ance PIS all one to me if I am told of Christ, or some Mystery of Christianity, if I am not capable of understanding, as if I am not told at all ; my Ignorance is as invincible ; and there- fore 'tis vain to call their Ignorance only invinc- ible, who never were told of Christ. The trick of it is to advance the Priest, whilst the Church of Rome says a Man must be told of Christ by one thus and thus ordained. T LVIII Images HE Papists taking away the second Com- mandment, is not haply so horrid a thing, nor so unreasonable amongst Christians as we make it ; for the Jews 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 Mary, and St Veronica of our Saviour. Other- wise 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 Story of St Nicholas in Spain. 58 THE TABLE-TALK OF Images A Countryman used to offer daily to St Nicholas's Image ; at length by 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 old Image, but to the new he could not find in his heart, because he knew 'twas a piece of his own Plum-Tree. You see what Opinion this Man had of the Image ; and to this tended the bow- ing of their Images, the twinkling of their Eyes, the Virgin's Milk, &c. Had they only meant representations, a Picture would have done as well as these Tricks. It may be with us in England they do not worship Images, because living amongst 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. LIX Imperial Constitutions THEY say Imperial Constitutions did only confirm the Canons of the Church ; but that is not so, for they inflicted Punishment, when the Canons never did : viz. If a Man converted a Christian to be a Jew, he was to forfeit his Estate, and lose his Life. In Valen- tine's Novels, 'tis said, Constat Episcopus Forum Legibus non habere, etjudicant tantum de Religione. JOHN SELDEN 59 LX Imprison- ment Imprisonment SIR Kenelm Dlgby was several times taken and let go again, at last imprisoned in Winchester House. I can compare him to nothing but a great Fish that we catch and let go again, but still he will come to the Bait ; at last therefore we put him into some great Pond for Store. LXI Incendiaries FANCY to yourself a Man sets the City on Fire at Cripplegatc, and that Fire con- tinues, by means of others, till it come to White- Friars, and then he that began it would fain quench it : does not he deserve to be punished most that first set the City on Fire ? So 'tis with the Incendiaries of the State. They that first set it on Fire, by Monopolizing, Forest Business, Imprisoning Parliament Men tertio Caro/i, &c.~\ are now become regenerate, and would fain quench the Fire. Certainly they deserved most to be punished, for being the first Cause of our Distractions. LXII Independency TNDEPENDENCY is in use at Amsterdam, A where forty Churches or Congregations have nothing to do one with another. And 60 THE TABLE-TALK OF Indepen- 'tis, no question, agreeable to the Primitive times, dency before the Emperor became Christian. For either we must say every Church governed itself, or else we must fall upon that old foolish Rock, that St Peter and his Successors governed all. But when the Civil State became Christian, they appointed who should govern them, 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, or a Justice of Peace, as they plead they should not be Subject 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 King- dom into as many Churches as there be Presby- teries ; and your Independent would have every Congregation a Church by itself. LXIII Things Indifferent N time of a Parliament, when things are under debate, they are indifferent ; but in a Church or State settled, there's nothing left indifferent. I JOHN SELDEN 61 T YTV Public LX1V Interest 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 ob- served the Rules of Art he might recover ; but if one of them had a great deal of Scamony by him, he must put off that, therefore he prescribes Scamony. Another had a great deal of Rhubarb, and he must put off that, and therefore he pre- scribes Rhubarb, &c. they would certainly kill the Man. We destroy the Commonwealth, while we preserve our own private Interests and neglect the public. LXV Human Invention YOU say there must be no Human Invention in the Church, nothing but the pure Word. Answer. If 1 give any Exposition, but what is expressed in the Text, that is my Invention ; if you give another Exposition, 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 exprest, therefore they are 6z THE TABLE-TALK OF Human Human Invention ; and I am sure the newer Invention the Invention the worse ; old Inventions are best. 2. If we must admit nothing but what we read in the Bible, what will become of the Par- liament ? for we do not read of that there. LXVI Judgments WE cannot tell what is a Judgment of God ; 'tis presumption 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 : in time of War we know we want Peace, and there- fore we pray to God to give us Peace. Com- monly we say a Judgment falls upon a Man for something in him we cannot abide. An example we have in King James, concerning the Death of Henry the Fourth 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. WE see the Pageants in Cheapside, the Lions, and the Elephants, but we do not see the Men that carry them : we see the JOHN SELDEN 63 Judges look big, look like Lions, but we do not Judge see who moves them. 2. Little things do great works, when the great things will not. If I should 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 in the Com- mon-Wealth 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 hopes of fair Play. LXVIII Juggling PIS not Juggling that is to be blamed, but J- much Juggling ; for the World cannot be Governed without it. All your Rhetoric, and all your Elenchs in Logic, come within the compass of Juggling. LXIX Jurisdiction r I ^"HERE'S no such Thing as Spiritual Juris- -A- diction ; all is Civil ; the Church's is the same with the Lord Mayor's. Suppose a Chris- tian came into a Pagan Country, how can you 64 THE TABLE-TALK OF Jurisdic- fancy he shall have Power there ? he finds tion f au ] t w ; tn t h e 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 Doctrinal, 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 them- selves ; but over whom is all this ? The poor Laymen. LXX Jus Divinum ALL things are held by Jus Divinum, 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 upon the Civil Power, and an unthankfulness in the Priest. But the Church runs to Jus divinum, lest if they should acknowledge that what they have, they have by positive Law, it might be as well taken from them, as given to them. LXXI King 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 : JOHN SELDEN 65 if every Man should buy, or if there were many King buyers, they would never agree ; one would buy what the other liked not, or what the other had bought before, so there would be a confusion. But that Charge being committed to one, he according to his Discretion 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 a Consul ? or a Duke of Eng- land should think himself like the Duke of Florence ; nor can it be imagined, that the word Baff/Xs:)? did signify the same in Greek as the Hebrew Word "j^p did with the Jews. Be- sides, let the 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 Teach 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 Country, 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 Casar the things 66 THE TABLE-TALK OF King that are C&sar's, makes as much against Kings, as for them ; for it says plainly that some things are not Casar's. But Divines make choice of it, first in Flattery, and then because of the other part adjoined to it Render unto God the things that are God's, where they bring in the 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 on high, (and I, being upon the Ground, used to lift up my voice to him, that he might hear me), at length should come down, and then expect I should speak as loud to him as I did before. LXXII King of England THE King can do no wrong ; that is, no Process can be granted 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 busi- ness is heard. His Confessor will not tell him, he can do no wrong. 2. There's a great deal of difference between Head of 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 those, but not Head of them, nor President of the College, nor the best Physician. 3. After the Dissolution of the Abbeys, they JOHN SELDEN 67 did much advance the King's Supremacy, for King of they only cared to exclude the Pope : hence England 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 Com- mons sits : from which Canons the Street called Canon-roiv 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 Tem- poral, the Bishops are the Clergy, and the Com- mons, 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 hath a Seal in every Court, and though the Great Seal be called Sigillum Slnglia, 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 Hibernice, Sigillum Scotice. 7. The Court of England is much altered. At a solemn Dancing, first you had the grave Measures, then the Corantoes and the Galliards, and all this is kept up with Ceremony ; at length to Trenchmore, and 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 68 THE TABLE-TALK OF King of State were kept up. In King James's time England things were pretty well. But in King Charles's time, there has been nothing but Trenchmore, and the Cushion-Dance, omnium gatherum, tolly-polly, hoite cum tolte. LXXIII The King 'HP IS hard to make an Accommodation be- J- tween 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 allowing me Twenty Marks, might make us Friends. But if I said I owed you Twenty Pounds in Silver, and you said I owed you Twenty Pounds of Diamonds, which is a Sum innumerable, 'tis impossible we should ever agree. This is the Case. 2. The King using the House of Commons, as he did Mr Pym and his Company, that is, charging them with Treason, because they charged my Lord of Canterbury and Sir George Ratcliffe ; it was just with as much Logic as the Boy, that would have lain with his Grand- mother, used to his Father ; you lay with my Mother, why should not I lie 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 JOHN SELDEN 69 Commoner ; and he that is accused hath his The Consent going along with him ; 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 force him against his Conscience. If a Physician should tell me, every thing I had a mind to was good for me, tho' 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 Ser- vants, and take whom he please. 6. The King's Oath is not security enough for our Property, for he swears to Govern according to Law ; now the Judges they inter- pret the Law ; and what Judges can be made to do we know. 7. The King and the Parliament now falling out, are just as when there is foul Play offered amongst 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 what is most convenient 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 did no such thing ; they let one another's Bands alone. 7 o THE TABLE-TALK OF The 8. The King calling his Friends from the King Parliament, because he had use of them at Oxford, is as if a man should have use of a little piece of Wood, and he runs down into the Cellar, and takes the Spigot ; in the mean- time all the Beer runs about the House : when his Friends are absent, the King will be lost. LXXIV Knight's Service T7" NIGHT'S Service in earnest means no- -L v thing, 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 Parlia- ment. And what will that be ? So 'tis for a private Man, that holds of a Gentleman. LXXV Land WHEN Men did let their Lands under foot, the Tenants would fight for their Land- lords, 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 JOHN SELDEN 71 nobody. We have no such Lands in England. Land 'Tis a true Proposition ; all the Land in Eng- land is held, either immediately or mediately, of the King. LXXVI Language TO a living Tongue New Words may be added, but not to a dead Tongue, as Latin, Greek, Hebrew, crv. 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 Latiner, 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 Difference 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, and 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 from a Man, long before there was any Gun-powder found out. 72 THE TABLE-TALK OF Lan- 5. Words must be fitted to a Man's Mouth. guage '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. LXXVII Latv 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 you will bring me to a 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 West- minster-Hall, I being of Council against him. A Merchant had recovered Costs against him in a Suit, which because he could not get, we advised to have him Outlawed for not appearing, and so he was. As soon as Gondomar heard that, he presently sent the Money, by reason, if his Master had been Outlawed, he could not have 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. JOHN SELDEN 73 4. Every Law is a Contract between the Law King and the People, and therefore to be kept. A Hundred Men may owe me a Hundred Pounds, as well as any 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 Bargain. If T 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 paid for it ? 5. The Parliament may declare Law, as well as any inferior Court may, (viz.] the King's Bench. In that or this particular Case, the King's Bench will declare unto you what the Law is, but that binds no body but whom the Case concerns : so the highest Court, the Parliament may do, but not declare Law, that is, make Law, that was never heard of before. LXXVIII JLa34 THE TABLE-TALK OF State fell to fighting with one of them ; in the mean- time 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 fought 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. cxxx Superstition / "T A HEY that are against Superstition oftentimes J- run into it of the wrong side. If I will wear all colours but black, then am I super- stitious in not wearing black. 2. They pretend not to abide the Cross, be- cause 'tis superstitious ; for my part I will believe them, when I see them throw 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. CXXXI Subsidies T T ERETOFORE the Parliament was wary JTJ. 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, JOHN SELDEN 135 because they give it with one hand, and receive Subsidies 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 misbehave them- selves, they cannot help it, because the Parlia- ment is eternal. 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 Simony THE Name of Simony was begot in the Canon- Law: the 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 provision ; no man was sure to bestow his own Benefice. CXXXIII Ship-Money 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 'twas decided, did like brave men, 136 THE TABLE-TALK OF Ship- though perhaps they did no good by the Trial ; Money b u t they that stand out since, and suffer them- selves to be distrained, never questioning those that do it, do pitifully, for so they only pay twice as much as they should. W CXXXIV Synod. ^Assembly E have had no National Synod since the Kingdom hath been settled as now it is, only Provincial ; and there will be this incon- veniency, to call so many Divines together ; 'twill be to put power in their Hands, who are too apt to usurp it, as if the Laity were bound by their determination. No ; let the Laity con- sult with 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, Goldsmiths ; 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. 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 England, 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 Presbyteries all Persons for all sins JOHN SELDEN 137 directly against the Law of God, as proved to Synod, be sins by necessary consequence. If you would Assembly buy Gloves, send for a Glover or two, not Glovers-Hall : consult with some Divines, not send for a Body. 3. There must be some Laymen in the Synod, to overlook 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 Commons go under the names of learned, godly, and judicious Divines ; there is no difference put betwixt them and the Ministers in the context. 5. 'Tis not unusual in the Assembly to revoke their Votes, by reason they make so much 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 in that, to keep up their Infallibility ; if they did any thing, they took away the whole Council, and yet we would be thought as infallible as any body. 'Tis not enough to say, the House of Commons revoke 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 true, 'twas true before ; not true because they voted it, nor does it cease to be true because they voted otherwise. 138 THE TABLE-TALK OF Synod. 6. Subscribing in a Synod, or to the Articles Assembly o f 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 those have determined whom I sent, though my private Opinion be otherwise ; having respect to that which is the Ground of all assem- blies, The major part carries it. cxxxv Thanksgiving AT first we gave thanks for every Victory as soon as ever '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 some body else that stands by him, puts him in mind of his Duty ; Where's your Leg's CXXXVI Tithes 'TTITHES 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 Eighth. JOHN SELDEN 139 2. To make an Impropriation, there was to Tithes be the consent of the Incumbent, the Patron, and the King ; 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 there- fore take it away from me ? 4. Abraham paid Tithes to Melckizedeck. What then ? 'Twas very well done of him ; it does not follow therefore 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 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 Argument 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, there are more arguments for them than are extant together any where. Upon this, one writ me word, That my History of Tithes was now become like Pelias Hasta, to 140 THE TABLE-TALK OF Tithes 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 the same Fate, that Aristotle, Avicen, and Averroes did in France, some five hundred Years ago ; which were Excommunicated by Stephen, Bishop of Paris (by that very name, Excommunicated) because that kind of Learning puzzled and troubled 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. CXXXVII Trade * I ""HERE is no Prince in Christendom but is -L directly a Tradesman, though in another way than an ordinary Tradesman. For the purpose, I have a Man ; I bid him lay out twenty Shillings in such Commodities ; but I tell 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 cheating ; as your Tradesman thinks not so of his Profession, but calls it a Mystery. Whereas if you would teach a Mercer to make his Silks heavier, than what he has been used to, he would peradventure think that to be cheating. JOHN SELDEN 141 3. Every Tradesman professes to cheat me, Trade that asks for his Commodity twice as much as it is worth. CXXXVIII Tradition SAY what you will against Tradition ; we know the Signification of Words by no- thing but Tradition. You will say the Scrip- ture 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 ^ Inclination he has no mind to marry, may he not then vow Chastity ? Answer. If he does, what a fine thing hath 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. CXLVI Usury HPHE Jews were forbidden to take Use one J- of another, but they were not forbidden to take it of other Nations. That being so, I see 146 THE TABLE-TALK OF Usury no reason, why I may not as well take Use for my Money as Rent for my House. 'Tis a vain thing to say, Money begets not Money ; for that no doubt it does. 2. Would it not look oddly to a Stranger that should 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. CXLVII Pious Uses I^HE 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 some body to pray, that his Soul might be delivered out of Purgatory : now the pious Uses come into his own Pocket. 'Twas well expressed by John Pawls in the Play, who acted the Priest : one that was to be hanged, being brought to the Ladder, would fain have given something to the Poor; he feels for his Purse, (which John Po-w/s had picked out of his Pocket before,) missing it, cries out, he had lost his Purse now he intended to have given something to the Poor : John Fowls bid him be pacified, for the Poor had it already. JOHN SELDEN 147 War CXLVIII War DO not under-value an Enemy by whom you have been worsted. When our Country- men came home from fighting with 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-Law of this, or that Place : with us 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 Com- manders need not complain for want of it, be- cause our Ancestors have done gallant things without it. 3. Question. Whether may Subjects take up Arms against their Prince ? Answer. Conceive it thus : Here lies a Shilling betwixt you and me ; Ten Pence of the Shilling is yours, Two Pence is mine by agreement: I am as much King of my Two Pence, as you of your Ten Pence. If you therefore go about to take away my Two Pence, I will defend it, for there you and I are equal, both Princes. 4. Or thus ; two supreme Powers meet : one says to the other, give me your Land ; if you will not, I will take it from you ; the other, because he thinks himself too weak to resist him, 148 THE TABLE-TALK OF War 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. When the Con- tract 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. 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 Eng- land 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. 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 JOHN SELDEN 149 their Pocket ; and they mean the same thing War that pretend to fight for Religion. Just as a Parson goes to Law with his Parishioners, he says, For the good of his Successors, that the Church may not lose its Right ; when the mean- ing is to get the Tithes into his own Pocket. 9. We govern this War as an unskilful Man does a Casting-Net : if he has not the right trick to cast the Net off 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 War ; whereas of Battles past we hear nothing but the number slain. Just as for the 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. 1 1 . Boccaline has this passage of Soldiers. They came to Apollo to have their Profession made the Eighth Liberal Science, which he granted. As soon as it was noised up and down, in came too the Butchers, and they desired their Profession might be made the Ninth : For, say they, the Soldiers have this Honour for the 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 to 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. iSo THE TABLE-TALK OF Witches CXLIX Witches THE Law against Witches does not prove there be any ; but it punishes the Malice of those People, that use such means to take away Men's Lives. If one should profess that by turning his Hat thrice, and crying Buz, he could take away a Man's Life, though in truth he could do no such thing, yet this were a just Law made by the State, that whosoever should turn his Hat thrice, and cry Buz, with an in- tention to take away a Man's Life, shall be put to death. H CL Wife E that hath 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 ; him- self is got up very high, takes place of the Tem- poral 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 her Trinkets, and JOHN SELDEN 151 pay all the Scores she sets on him. He that Wife will keep a Monkey, 'tis fit he should pay for the Glasses he breaks. CLI Wisdom A WISE Man should never resolve upon any thing, at least never let the World know his Resolution ; for if he cannot arrive at that, he is ashamed. How many things did the King resolve in his Declaration concerning Scotland, never to do, and yet did them all ! A Man must do according to Accidents and Emergencies. 2. Never tell your Resolution beforehand ; 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, you know, called the Sheep, to ask her if his Breath smelt : she said, Aye ; 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. CLII Wit WIT and Wisdom differ ; Wit is upon the sudden turn, Wisdom is in bringing about ends. iS2 THE TABLE-TALK OF Wit 2. Nature must be the ground-work of Wit and Art ; otherwise whatever is done will prove but Jack-pudding's work. 3. Wit must grow like Fingers. If it be taken from others, 'tis like Plums stuck upon blackthorn ; there they are for a while, but they come to nothing. 4. He that will give himself to all manner of ways to get Money, may be rich ; so he that lets fly all he knows or thinks, may by chance be Satirically Witty. Honesty sometimes keeps a Man from growing Rich, and Civility from being Witty. 5. Women ought not to know their own Wit, because they, will still be showing it, and so spoil it ; like a Child that will continually be showing 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 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. CLIII Women T ET the Women have power of their heads, because of the dngels. The reason of the words, because of the Angels, is this : The Greek JOHN SELDEN 153 Church held an Opinion that the Angels fell in Women Love with Women ; an Opinion grounded upon that in Genesis vi., The Sons of God saiu 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 Mischief might be plotted against him in present possession, by poisoning or some other way. Upon the same reason a Con- tract made with a woman, during her Husband's Life, was not valid. 3. Men are not troubled to hear a Man dis- praised, because they know, though he be naught, there's worth in others ; but Women are might- ily troubled to hear any of them spoken against, as if the Sex itself were guilty of some Un- worthiness. 4. Women and Princes must both trust some body ; and they are Happy or Unhappy accord- ing 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's. CLIV Tear >'T V WAS the Manner of the Jews (if the -i 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 iS4 THE TABLE-TALK OF Year 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. 2. The Year is either the Year of the Moon, or the Year of the Sun ; there's 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 our's : 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 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 especially, and you shall doubt whether it be straight 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. 5. The Eclipse of the Sun is, when it is new Moon ; the Eclipse of the Moon, when 'tis full. They say Dionysius was converted by the Eclipse that happened at our Saviour's Death, because it was neither of these, and so could not be natural. JOHN SELDEN 155 CLV Zealots ONE would wonder Christ should whip the Buyers and Sellers out of the Temple, and noboby offer to resist him, considering what Opinion they had of him. But the reason was, they had a Law, that whosoever did profane Sanctitatem Dei, aut Templi, the Holiness of God or the Temple, before ten Persons, 'twas lawful for any of them to kill him, or to do any thing this side killing him, as whipping him, or the like. And hence it was, that when one struck our Saviour before the Judge, where it was not lawful to strike (as it is not with us at this Day), he only replies ; 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 into execution were called Zealots ; but afterwards they committed many Villainies. " The Chief of Learned Men reputed in this land." MILTON. " There it more -weighty bullion sense in this look than I ever found in the tame number of pages of any unintpired "writer." COLERIDGE. " If Learning could have kept a man alive, this our brother had not died." RICHARD JOHNSON (Master of the Temple). Q5iblio3rapl)ical Bate HP HE origin of -'the Table-Tali" is indicated in the JL dedicatory letter which bears the signature of Selden's amanuensis, the Reverend Richard Milward, who died in 1680, surviving the great master sixteen years. Milward "faithfully committed to writing some of those excellent things that usually fell from him," and there can be little doubt that he has preserved for us in " the Table-Talk " many of Selden's golden say- ings thrown offin casual conversation. Lord Clarendon, Selden's friend, has left it on record (in his Life}, that " in his conversation he was the most clear discourser, and had the best faculty of making hard things easy, and of presenting them to the understanding, of any man that hath been known." Milward's statement that he "had the opportunity to hear his discourse twenty years together," and other internal evidence, enable us to fix 1634-1654 as the period over which these discourses range : the recorder himself is careful to ask the reader " to distinguish times." The collec- tion was probably arranged and put together soon after Selden's death in 1 654 (Mr Justice Hale ceased to be " one of the judges of the Common Pleas " in 165 8, and he is so described in Milward's letter). The printing of the book was long delayed : the editio frinceps appeared in 1689. Its text, derived from a rather faulty MS., is marred by many errors due to carelessness on the part of the printers and those re- sponsible for its publication. Three MSS. of " the Table-Talk" are to be found in the British Museum: (i) Harleian, 690, dated circa 1670; (ii) Sloane, *5I3, somewhat later; (iii) Harleian, 1315, for which the posterior limit of date can be fixed by the following inscription written by Harley : " This book -was given in l68[?] by Charles erle of Dorset and Middlesex to a bookseller '57 iS8 BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE in Fleet Street, in order to have it printed : but the boot seller 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 . . ." (i.e. the edition printed in 1696 by Tonson, Awnsham, and Churchill). This MS. then would have been the text of the earliest printed edition, had not the bookseller delayed to send it to press. It has, however, been taken as the basis of the best of modern editions, -viz., the monumental Oxford edition of 1891, edited by Mr Samuel Harvey Reynolds, to whose scholarly labours all students of Selden are greatly indebted. The present issue is based on the printed text of 1689, its faults corrected by collation with the MSS. referred to, aided by the studies of previous editors, notably S. W. Singer and Mr Reynolds. In the accom- panying brief notes, H. = Harleian 1315; Hz. = Harleian 690; SI. = Sloane 2513; R. = Reynolds; S. = Singer; EP. =Editio Princeps. Spelling and punctuation have here and there been corrected without comment ; the order of the paragraphs is that of the First Edition ; minor alterations are not referred to. I. G. August 5/A, 1898. critical Page v. Hale and Heyward (EP. Hales and Hey wood), Selden's executors : Mr Justice Hale = Sir Matthew Hale. Heyward was Selden's early friend ; Ben Jonson refers to him in his Com- mendatory verses ' to His Honor'd Friend Mr John Selden ' : " Heyward and Selden ! two names that so muck understand! On whom I could take up, and ne'er abuse The credit, that -would furnish a tenth Muse ! But here's no time nor place my wealth to tell, You both are modest. So am I. Farewell." Page 2. ' till they surrendered them ' ; EP. surrounded. ' William Weston ' : so R. ; MSS. EP. Richard Weston. ' the Friars Aliens ' : EP. the Friars, Aliens. 3. ' confirmed by Act of Parliament six or seven times after,' i.e. " six or seven parliamentary sessions or terms " (R.). ' liaibut Infantum,' or ' limbus futrorum,' as it is more commonly called, the Unbaptized Children's Paradise, on the confines of hell. 4. ' Upon this ground ': EP. upon this. 5. 'The Translators in King James's time'; EP. The Translation in King James's time. 'For the purpose,' i.e., 'for instance'; EP. as the Bible for the purpose. 8. ' the word not left out ' : a reference to ' the wicked Bible,' as it is called, printed by Barker, 1631. ' Susanna, and Bel and the Dragon ' : Selden is not correct here : as R. points out, these apocryphal books are canonical in the Church of Rome. '59 160 CRITICAL NOTES 9. ' Yet till then ': EP. not till then. 1 Commendam ' (i.e. dare in commencLim, to give into trust), a vacant living or benefice commended to a cleric (usually a bishop) until a pastor was provided. 10. 'little Applications': MSS. omit 'little': ' applications,' defined by Bacon as " the observing carefully a man's manners and cus- toms, with the intention to understand him sufficiently whereby not to give offence " (Adv. of Learning). ' voluerh ' : EP. voluit : S. voluerit. ia. 'a Bishop-traitor': EP. a Bishop a traitor. 14. ' Braziers': EP. Brazier. 15. ' Assent ' : EP. are sent : S's emendation ; so MSS. 1 6. ' a greater Presbyter ' : EP. a great Presbyter. 17. 'no officers but constables': H. adds: 'and justices of peace which are but greater con- stables.' 19. 'If the PrelaticaP; so H: EP. 'If the Parlia- ment.' 'Sir N. Bacon, Lord Chancellor': he was really Keeper of the Great Seal. ' into these Kingdoms ' : EP. into King- doms : S. ' these.' 20. two [~shove]-groat shillings : EP. two groat shillings : " the broad flat, thin shillings of Edward VI. were anciently much in request for the game of tho-ue-groat or shuffle -board" S. ' the Customer,' i.e. the Officer of the Cus- toms. ' the waiter,' i.e. the tide-waiter. the judgement of one man ' ; EP. ' the judgement of the man.' 21. ' I cite them ': MSS. Edd. I write them : S. cite. 22. ' after they have eat the apple ' : EP. omits ' have.' ' for their lives ' : S. (?) ' for their learning ;" or, following Dr Irving, ' for their know- ledge of the laws.' ' the rest ' : H. all other things. CRITICAL NOTES 161 23. 'Colonel Goring' : first sworn to the King's orders, and then gave evidence against the King. 'the less probability in bringing them off,' S's conjecture ; MSS. Edd. ' less charity probably of.' 24. ' cratch,' i.e. rack or manger, creche. 'Jack of Lents,' puffets thrown at in Lent. 'Tansies,' pancakes or puddings made with the herbs called tanties. ' in his house,' supplied from H. 25. High-Church'; H. Church. 26. ' game ' : MSS. Edd. gain : S. game. 28. ' anything of that nature '; EP. any etc. 29. 'against his own eyes': H. adds 'when he took her with another man, which she stoutly denied.' ' trouble him and his people ' ; H. adds ' then away with them.' 30. ' the clergy and treaty,' so MSS.; EP. ' the Clergy and the Laity.' R. reads ' treaty ' noting that " S. 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 judgement to do harm by mixing up matters which had better been left out." 31. 'There were but two there; viz. London and Canterbury : Laud made a long speech. ' cause,' EP. case. 33. 'well wayed,' i.e. well taught, easily managed: H. EP. weighed. ' a tender conscienced man ' : EP. a tender conscience man. 34. ' to worship in ' : H. ' to be worshipped in.' 36. 'jut praceptivum and jus permissivum, i.e. 'the law that enjoins, and the Law that suffers.' 39. 'does the Devil,' so H. ; Edd. 'does not the Devil.' 40. ' all of them thought to be ' ; so H.; EP. ' so all of them ought to be ' ; Hz. ' think all of them to be,' so R. i6z CRITICAL NOTES 40. ' a piece of Taffata ' ; the following words have been accidentally omitted : ' and put strings to the Taffata.' ' for in truth ' : EP. ' or in truth.' 41. contemn: EP. condemn. 4z. ' And pray, &c. ' : H. adds : ' for the victory : and to the other go to such a prelate in such a church, and pray, &c.' 46. ' was [not] instituted ' ; MSS. Edd. ' was in- stituted '; S. and R. supply ' not.' 47. ' he scantled them out,' i.e. he measured them out ; EP. ' scanted.' 49. ' 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 (Blackstone). 51. ' Say something ' ; H. adds ' for so it was.' 53. ' Spilled,' so H.; EP. spoiled. 55. ' the keeping of other Holy-days. The ground thereof was the multitude of Holy-Days in time of Popery,' so H. ; EP. omits ' other . . . multitude of.' 58. 'In Valentine's novels,' i.e. the Novels of Valen- tinian the Third. 59. ' Forest business,' i.e. ' encroachments of the King's lands on the Subjects.' 60. ' who should govern whom ' : EP. who should govern them. 63. groom-porter's ' ; EP. groom-porters ; ' an officer of the royal household, whose business was to see the King's lodging furnished with tables, chairs, stools, and firing; as also to provide cards, dice, &c.' (vide Nares' Glossary'). He kept an open gambling table at Christmas. The office was abolished about 1700. 64. ' Doctrinal ' ; so S. : MSS. EP. doctrine all ; so R. 65. *jta: MSS. EP. and all modern Edd. read -^ which I take to be due to misreading the letters of Melech (i.e. King). 66. 'As if a Man,' &c. ; ' as if a man and I being upon the ground, used,' H. : as if a man and CRITICAL NOTES 163 I being upon different ground. I used, Hz : as if a man upon a tree, and I being upon the ground used, Si. : as if a man on high, and I being upon the ground used, EP. 66. ' No Process can be granted against him ' : H. adds, 'you can have no remedy against him.' 'the King is Supreme Governor of those': H. adds, because they live under him.' 67. ' As some would have it ' : before these words H. adds, ' The King is not one of the Three Estates.' ' Trenchmore ' ; a kind of lively dance, in triple time, to which it was usual to dance in a rough and boisterous manner (T>. Nares). ' Coranto ' ; a sprightly but somewhat stately old dance. ' Cushion-Dance ' ; a dance of a rather free charac- ter, used chiefly, as would appear, at weddings (v. Nares). 70. ' under foot,' i.e. ' for less than their value.' ' nay, be the first,' so H. : EP. may be the first. 71. 'We have no such land in England'; H. adds before these words the following : ' So regna allodiata are kingdoms that are not held in fee of any body.' ' King's Latiner '; H., Hz. Latimer. ' As when we call a piece a gun ' : the middle English word Gun was first applied to a cata- pult or machine for throwing stones ; perhaps shortened from Old French mangonne (cp. man- gonel, ' machine for throwing stones '). 74. 'dully,' so H. : EP. duly. 75. ' As a man watches a Hawk,' i.e. tames a hawk by keeping it awake. 77. ' protections ' ; a person holding a protection could not He arrested for debt. 78. ' as if the Cook in the Friars ' (so H. '' with ' fayrs ' written over it, with ' friars ' restored in the margin in a different hand," R.) ; EP. fair. Mr Reynolds notes that after the death of the Earl of Kent, Selden lived with the Countess 1 64 CRITICAL NOTES Dowager, generally at her house in White- friars. So. ' Seeing a further degree may not ' ; Si. EP. read 'being', emended by S. ; R. keeps 'being'; 'and therefore . . . should not' omitted in H.; Hz. inserts ' it is ' after ' being.' 83. ' and yet he was no Bishop,' so EP. MSS. : R. proposes ' and yet he was a bishop,' which is probably what Selden intended. 84. ' Concionary part," i.e. what appertains to preach- ing. ' the Gregories and Tertulian ' ; EP. H. read ' &c.' for ' and.' ' Cavellus Mayro ' : MSS. EP. Javellus Mayco; " Cavellus was the Editor of Duns Scotus : and there is no doubt that Franciscut Mayronis, the renowned follower of Duns Scotus, is meant," S. 85. 'A quaint exposition ' ; EP. position. ' intend,' i.e. give his mind to : EP. attend. 86. ' the Clink,' a prison adjoining the Bishop of Winchester's House in Southwark. 87. ' Euclid was beaten in Boccaline ' : referring to ' I Ragguali di Parnasso ' (i.e. Advertise- ments from Parnassus) by Boccalini. a famous satirist of the XVIth century ; the work was translated by Henry, Earl of Monmouth ; Euclid's fate was to be beaten to death by four men armed with bags of sand, whence probably arose the tradition that Boccalini himself was killed in the same manner. 90. ' who am one of the House ' : MSS. EP. read ' none ' ; R. ' one.' ' in my own sense ' ; EP. in their own sense. 92. ' quickly,' EP. quietly. 93. ' Utrum Angeli, &c.,' i.e. 'whether angels may chat together. ' 94. ' parity ' : " a term, in general use, for a form of Church government by a body of Presbyters or elders and lay assessors all equal in power, as opposed to Church government by bishops," R. CRITICAL NOTES 165 95. ' Dissentions,' so Hz., R. ; EP., H., SI., read Dis- senters. 'drinks of the wort,' i.e. 'drinks some from the wort.' ' they keep a huge quarter,' i.e. ' they make a great noise.' 96. ' if no law be for them,' so MSS. EP., but R. reads ' if law be for them,' a better read- ing, and probably the right one. R. further sees in the passage a reference to the trial of the Earl of Strafford (see p. 128). 97. 'sitting up till two of the clock,' etc.; "the famous Remonstrance was carried after sitting from 3 P.M. to 3 A.M., which made some one say it was The Verdict of a Starved Jury " (S.). 99. 'being one of the Laws of the Twelve Tables'; the words in question occur in Cicero de legi- bus, iii. 8 ; they are not quoted as from the Laws of the XII. Tables. 101. ' upon the matter,' i.e. ' in reality." 102. ' an ill Intention,' so EP : ' attention,' H., R. 103. 'they are like two twists that ' so MSS., R. ; EP. they are like to twist that. R. suggests that we may perhaps add here, " are spun out of the same stuff." ' they did it at first,' altered in H. and H2. from ' they dedicate first,' so EP. 107. 'Then God comes in.' so MSS. and 2nd Ed.: EP. reads ' Then God's comes in.' S. sug- gests ' God's Ordinance ' (?) 108. comme d'abus, wrongly given in MSS. and old Edd. : ua appel comme d'abus is an appeal to the civil from the ecclesiastical court, when the latter is supposed to have exceeded its power. 1 1 6 ' 'tis not the master that teaches all ' : EP. omits ' not.' 1 1 7. The second section of ' Predestination ' is omitted in MSS. EP. evidently gives an earlier recen- sion of the whole passage ; the MSS. give the third paragraph at the beginning of the whole passage. 166 CRITICAL NOTES 119. 'My Lord Digby' ; the reference is probably to Lord Digby's speech against Strafford's attain- der (cf. Clarendon, I.). 1 20. "A Pramunire is a writ issued out of the King's Bench against one who hath procured any- Bull or like process of the Pope from Rome, or elsewhere, for any Ecclesiastical place or pre- ferment within this realm ; or doth sue in any foreign Ecclesiastical court to defeat or impeach any judgment given in the King's Court " (Coke). 123. ' The Queen Mother ] i.e. Mary de Medici, whose residence in England was resented ; she was at last got out of England by the Parliament at ^10,000 expense. ' Roset ' or Rosetti, " was resident, at and a little before that time, from the Pope, with the Queen "... (cp. Hobbes, Behemoth, quoted by Reynolds). 128. 'the Manual,' one of the service books in use before the Reformation, used for service book ' in general. 1 30. ' Rabbi Busy disputing ' ; cp. ' Bartholomew Fair,' v. iii., where there is a dispute between Rabbi Busy and a puppet belonging to Lanthorn Leatherhead ; EP. reads ' Inigo Lanthorne disputing with a puppet in Bartholomew Fair.' Reynolds rightly adopts the reading of H., which is the only one at all correct, though probably the original version ran 'Rabbi Busy disputing with Inigo Lanthorne his puppet in his Bartholomew Fair.' The inter- est of the passage is the identification by Selden, Jonson's friend, of Langthorne Leatherhead with Inigo Jones, whose quar- rels with Jonson are so well known (cp. Jon- son's Expostulation "with Inigo Jones, &c). 131. boat,' so MSS. ; EP. boar. ' roaring boys,' i.e. ' the swash bucklers or bullying bucks.' 134. 'he thought he would save'; EP. reads 'have' instead of' save.' CRITICAL NOTES 167 134. 'they pretend not to abide the Cross,' referring to the impress on the old coins. 136. 'Assembly': the Assembly began to sit in July, 1 643 ; Selden was himself one of the mem- bers (cp. Neal, History of Puritans, iii. ; Rush- worth, Historical Collection!, iii.-V.). 138. ' impropriation,' i.e. the act of putting a benefice in the hands of a layman or lay corporation. 139. 'One writ me word, that my History of Tithes,' referring to Gerald Langbaine's letter, dated ZZ Aug. 1653 (cf. Hearne, Lelanfs Collectanea, quoted by Reynolds, p. 179). ' Pelias' Hasta,' i.e. the spear of Achilles, which was necessary to cure the wound it had inflicted on Telephus. I4Z. ' Galileo makes Simplicius say so ' ; Mr Reynolds gives the reference to the source of this pas- sage, Opere di Galilei, xi. p. z66 (Clatsici Italiani, Milan, i8o8-n); it occurs in an imaginary conversation on mathematical and physical science between Galviati and Ga- gredo, the spokesmen for modern science, and Simplicius, the Aristotelian commentator. 145. 'erect'; EP. direct. hat ' ; EP. head. 146. ' John fotvls in the Play ' (cf>. Marston's Dutch Courtezan, v. iii. ; Bullen's edition, vol. ii. p. 98 ; noted by Mr P. A. Daniel ; cp. R., p. 189). 149. ' Boccaline': cp. Note, p. 88. ' in came too the Butchers ' ; EP. it came to the Butchers ; MSS. R., in came the Butchers. 151. ' King James was pictured, &c,' not in EP. 154. ' Dionysius,' i.e. ' Dionysius the Areopagite.' irepl TravTO? TY\V e\ev0eplav, above all things : (SELDEN'S MOTTO). 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