This coate[957] ('..., 3 roses on a fess, between 3 swans' necks,
erased, collared' [this is the coate of Baker]) is on the flatt marble;
but is, indeed, the coate of his mother, for he had none of his owne,
though he so well deserved it. 'Tis strange (me thinke) that he would
not have one.
On the side of the wall above, is a faire[958] inscription of white
marble: the epitaph he made himselfe as is before sayd, and Marchamond
Needham, making mention of it in his _Mercurius Politicus_, sayd 'twas
well he did it, for no man els could doe it for him. He was buried by
Mr. <Richard> Johnson, then Master of the Temple, the directory way,
where Mr. Johnson tooke an occasion to say[BO], 'a learned man sayes
that when a learned man dies a great deale of learning dies with him:
then certainly in this,' etc.
[959]JOANNES SELDENUS
heic juxta situs,
Natus est XVI Decembris, MDLXXXIV,
Salvintoniae,
Qui viculus est Terring occidentalis
in Sussexiae maritimis,
Parentibus honestis,
Joanne Seldeno Thomae filio,
e quinis secundo,
Anno MDXLI nato,
et
Margareta filia et haerede unica
Thomae Bakeri de Rushington,
ex equestri Bakerorum in Cantio familia,
filius e cunis superstitum unicus,
aetatis fere LXX annorum.
Denatus est ultimo die Novembris,
Anno Salutis Reparatae MDCLIV,
per quam expectat heic
+RESVRRECTIONEM+
Felicem.
He would tell his intimate friends, Sir Bennet Hoskyns, etc., that
he had nobody to make his heire, except it were a milke-mayd, and
that such people did not know what to doe with a great estate.
Memorandum:--bishop Grostest, of Lincoln, told his brother, who asked
him to make him a grate man; 'Brother,' said he, 'if your plough is
broken, I'le pay the mending of it; or if an oxe is dead, I'le pay for
another: but a plough-man I found you, and a plough-man I'le leave
you'--Fuller's _Holy State_, p....
He never used any artificiall help to strengthen his memorie: 'twas
purely naturall.
He was very tall, I guesse about 6 foot high; sharp ovall face; head
not very big; long nose inclining to one side; full popping eie (gray).
He was a poet[LXXXIV.], and Sir John Suckling brings him in the
'Session of the Poets.'
[LXXXIV.] He haz a learned copie of verses before Hopton's 'Concordance
of Yeares'; before Ben Jonson's Workes; &c.
The poets met, the other day,
And Apollo was at the meeting, they say,
* * * * *
'Twas strange to see how they flocked together:
There was Selden, and he stood next to the chaire,
And Wenman not far off, which was very faire,
etc.
He was one of the assembly of divines in those dayes (as was also his
highnesse ... Prince Elector Palatine[BP]), and was like a thorne in
their sides; for he did baffle and vexe[960] them; for he was able to
runne them all downe with his Greeke and antiquities.
Sir Robert Cotton (the great antiquary, that collected the library) was
his great friend, whose son, Sir Thomas Cotton, was obnoxious to the
Parliament, and skulked in the countrey: Mr. Selden had the key and
command of the library, and preserved it, being then a Parliament man.
He intended to have given his owne library to the University of
Oxford[LXXXV.], but received disobligation from them, for that they
would not lend him some MSS.; wherfore by his will he left it to the
disposall of his executors, who gave it to the Bodlean library, at Oxon.
[LXXXV.] Memorandum:--Mr. Fabian Philips says that Mr. Selden had given
his library to Oxford at first, but that the University had disobliged
<him> by not lending him a MS. or MSS.
He understood ... languages:--Latin, Greeke, Hebrew, Arabique, besides
the learned modern.
In his writing of ... he used his learned friend, Mr. Henry Jacob, of
Merton College, who did transcribe etc. for him, and as he was writing,
would many times putt-in things of his owne head, which Mr. Selden did
let stand, as he does, in his preface, acknowledge.
In his younger yeares he affected obscurity of style, which, after, he
quite left off, and wrote perspicuously. 'Twill be granted that he was
one of the greatest critiques of his time.
I remember my sadler who wrought many yeares to that family[961] told
me that Mr. Selden had got more by his marriage then he had done by his
practise. He was no eminent practiser at barre; not but that he was or
might have been able enough; but after he had got a _dulce ocium_ he
chiefly addicted himselfe to his more ingeniose studies and records.
I have heard some divines say (I know not if maliciously) that 'twas
true he was a man of great reading, but gave not his owne sentiment.
He was wont to say 'I'le keepe myselfe warme and moyst as long as I
live, for I shall be cold and dry when I am dead.'
[962]John Selden, esq., would write sometimes, when notions came
into his head, to preserve them, under his barber's hands. When he
dyed his barber sayd he had a great mind to know his will, 'For,'
sayd he, 'I never knew a wise man make a wise will.' He bequeathed
his estate (40,000 _li._ value) to four executors, viz. Lord Chiefe
Justice Hales, Lord Chief Justice Vaughan, Rowland Jukes, and ... (his
flatterer)--from Fabian Philips.
_Notes._