published the book aroused a fierce storm. The author was summoned to answer for his opinions before some of the lords of the court of high commission and some of the privy council, and he acknowledged his error in a few lines in writing. The submission contained, as Selden contended, no confession of mistakes in the book, and expressed no change of opinion, but merely regret at the publication of the work. The form of the submission was probably a matter of arrangement between himself and those of his judges who seemed to favour him. The book itself was suppressed by public authority, and by some command, probably of the king, he was forbidden to print any reply to his numerous antagonists, a restraint of which he bitterly complained to the Marquis of Buckingham in May 1620.
On three occasions King James sent for Selden, twice at Theobalds and once at Whitehall, and discoursed with him on his 'History of Tythes' and on other learned questions. Three tracts—only the last seems to have been separately published—were the result of the king's commands given at these interviews: one on the passage in the Revelation of St. John touching the number 666; another on a passage of Calvin in reference to this book; a third on the birthday of our Saviour (London, 1661, 8vo). To these was added a paper on his purpose in writing the 'History of Tythes.'
Selden had thus become a man of mark before he entered upon his political career, which opened in 1621. The object of the legislation of the period was to secure the liberty of the subject and the right of the House of Commons to free debate by declaring rather than by altering the existing law, and the great debates in which Selden, Coke, and Eliot took part often seem rather to have resembled arguments in a court of law than debates in a legislative assembly. The ancient records both of the courts and of the house were often produced and read, and were the subjects of lively though learned discussion.
Selden had acquired vast knowledge of constitutional law and of the records of the law courts and of parliament, and was often consulted on these subjects before he was returned to the commons. In the preparation of the famous protestation of the commons of 18 Dec. 1621, Selden, although not a member of the house, took an active part in the way of seeking precedents. His action gave umbrage to the king, and he was, with others, by the king's orders committed to the custody of Sir Robert Ducie, sheriff of London, who treated him courteously. After the prisoners had been brought before certain peers and privy councillors, presided over by Lancelot Andrewes [q. v.], bishop of Winchester, all were liberated. Again, in 1622, before Selden entered the house, Bacon consulted him on the question of the validity of the judgments given in the House of Lords during the late parliament (see Bacon's letter of 14 Feb. 1621–2 in Spedding's Life and Letters of Bacon, vi. 332–3).
In 1623 Selden was returned to the fourth and last parliament of James as a burgess for Lancaster. In the first parliament of Charles I he does not seem to have sat, but in 1626 he was returned to the second parliament of Charles I as member for Great Bedwin, Wiltshire. He then took an active part with Wentworth and Noy in the attack on Buckingham, and was sent to the lords as one of the chief managers in the impeachment of the favourite. To him was assigned the presentation of the argument in favour of the fourth article which charged the duke with neglecting to guard the seas and protect the merchants; and of the fifth article, which charged the duke with confiscating a French ship, the St. Peter, worth 40,000l., with detaining her after an order by the king for her restoration to the owner, and with taking several things out of her. Selden was also nominated one of a secret committee of twelve to prepare the proofs of the charges against Buckingham. In June 1626 the house was dissolved, and the matter dropped, but on 17 June Heath, the attorney-general, invited the twelve members of the secret committee to attend him at his chambers. The meeting took place, and Eliot, who was authorised to draw up a reply on behalf of the committee, was at once arrested. Selden spent the ensuing long vacation under the hospitable roof of the Earl of Kent at Wrest, Bedfordshire, pursuing antiquarian and historical study.
While the sitting of parliament was suspended, the political strife was transferred to the courts of law. In 1627 several persons were committed to prison by order of the privy council for refusing to lend money to the king on his sole demand. Of these prisoners, Sir Edmund Hampden sued out a habeas corpus in the king's bench, and in November the question of the legality of their detention on a warrant, which did not specify the offences, was argued before the court. Selden appeared as counsel for Hampden. The argument of the counsel for the prisoners excited great and unwonted sympathy, and their speeches are said to have been received with wonderful applause. But the court refused to bail the prisoners. In March 1628, four days before the opening of
