honour conferred upon him of being unanimously chosen his successor. It adds to the worth of this testimony that some of the members of both Houses of parliament approved of his preferment to the office, yet he was the active supporter of no party, and that at a time when an opponent was seen in every one who was not a violent coadjutor. The following extracts from the letter to Selden, announcing his election, show the rational motives which actuated the electors. "From the first we chose you to the Mastership of Trinity Hall, because we thought that it was incumbent upon us to provide not only a Master to our College, but an ornament of literature, and a guardian and patron for the University. We trust that you will suffer your will, which has hitherto flowed for our advantage, to continue to direct and confirm our welfare. In your power it rests whether we shall have to lament our loss. If your modesty successfully opposes, we will appeal to your humanity. Grant then that it may be as we hope and ardently desire -let us forthwith hail you as our guardian, that they who were preserved under Eden, may continue to be happy under Selden." As a further proof of their anxiety to have him as their President, the Fellows prematurely informed the Chancellor of the University of the choice they had made, and requested his ratification of their election. Selden declined this office, as he had studiously declined all other honours that had sought his acceptance; and this rejection did not arise from any dislike to the clerical body, as was imagined by Dr. Wilkins, for Trinity Hall is a foundation for the study of civil and canon law, and its fellows are entirely of that faculty. Dr. Eden was eminent as a civilian, and was a member of the long parliament. Better reasons for his refusal may be found, though not recorded, in his age, his infirmities, his love of literary leisure, and his close connection with Oxford, his alma mater. Although Selden declined this union with the University of Cambridge, he availed himself of every opportunity to show his care of its interests, united as they were with the interests of learning. Dr. Bancroft, who died in 1610, had left his library to the archbishops, his successors in the see of Canterbury, on condition that the one who succeeded him should give security that he would leave it entire and without embezzlement; but in case of refusal to give such security, he bequeathed it to Chelsea College*, then building, on condition that that institution should be finished within six years after his decease. If this did not occur, he left his library to the University of Cambridge. Whether his successors, Abbot and Laud, gave the * Chelsea College appears to have been founded by Dr. Sutcliffe, Dean of Exeter; to consist of a provost and twenty fellows, who were to answer all sectarian publications written against the Protestant religion, or its episcopal government. (Kennet's Complete Hist. of England,ii. 685.) security required, does not appear. However, the books remained at Lambeth, until the order of bishops being abolished, and Chelsea College abandoned, as more likely to create contention than assuage sectarian animosity, Selden suggested to the University that their right to the books had arisen on the contingent remainder. It consequently presented a petition to the House of Lords, and Selden pleaded for them so successfully, that the University obtained an order not only for the books of Dr. Bancroft, but those of his successor, Dr. Abbot*. Archbishop Juxon, after the Restoration, demanded their restitution, and in the time of his successor, Dr. Sheldon, they were restored to the Lambeth library t. Selden's object, therefore, was attained-their preservation entire during the prevalence of that neglect of literary property which disgraced the anti-monarchical period. Selden's exertions for the protection of learning and its nurseries, the universities, were strenuous, general and unremitting. Mr. D'Israeli remarks, that the republicans of England at that period, like those of France in the next century, were infected with a hatred of literature and the arts; "the burning of the records in the Tower, he adds, was certainly proposed; a speech of Selden's, which I cannot immediately turn to, put a stop to these incen * For this and other services, the University returned Selden thanks in two letters given by his biographer, Dr. Wilkins. + La Neve's Lives, &c., of Protestant Bishops, 87. diaries*." It is certain that a similar spirit rendered them inimical to the privileges of the universities, and made them desirous to reduce, if not entirely to confiscate, their revenues. Contrary to his habits of retirement, and conscious of the additional protecting power it would impart, Selden obtained, in 1647, the appointment of one of the parliamentary visiters of the University of Oxford. His guardianship had soon to be exercised, for Wood relates that Bradshaw proposing, in harsh terms, an immediate visitation, Selden successfully objected to the injustice of such a proceeding before the University had provided itself with legal assistance. The question in dispute was whether the University should admit the visitatorial power of the Parliament. By the aid of Mr. Prynne they reduced the controversy to a question whether the king had previously had the right of being visiter, for if it had been propounded, "whether the kingly power was not virtually included in the parliament?" no lawyer would have dared to argue for the negative. It was owing to the exertions of Prynne and Selden that counsel were allowed to the University t. Dr. Gerard Langbaine, provost of Queen's College, Oxford, in a letter dated March, 1648, thus animatedly expresses the sense of his exertions in its favour, that was entertained by the university. "We are all abundantly * Curiosities of Literature, Second Series, iii. 446. satisfied in your unwearied care and passionate endeavours for our preservation. We know and confess Si Pergama dextra Defendi poterant, etiam hac defensa fuissent. "Of this we are confident, that (next under God's) it must be imputed to your extraordinary providence, that we have stood thus long: you have been the only belli mora, and 66 "Quicquid apud nostræ cessatum est mænia Troja, Hectoris "(I cannot add Æneæque, for you had no second) 66 manu victoria Graium Hæsit By your good acts, and prudent manage, our six months have been spun into two years, and it has been thus far verified upon us, by your means, nec capti potuere capi*" In the Journals of the House of Commons, of the date of May 1645, there is an order" for Mr. Selden to bring in an ordinance for regulating the Heralds' Office, and the heraldry of the kingdom." The College of Heralds is subject to the control of the Earl Marshal of England, in whose court all disputes concerning their craft are determined, and as this dignity and court had been abolished by the parliament, Selden was required to propose some substitute for its superintending jurisdiction. * Leland's Collectanea, by Hearne, v.282. |