JOHN SELDEN, remembered now as the author of Selden’s “Table-Talk,” was in his generation a man of great and varied activities. He was born in Sussex, England, December 16th, 1584, and was thus contemporary with many of the greatest men of what still remains the most remarkable age of England. Lyttleton, Herbert, Drayton, and Ben Jonson were among his intimates. He was a lawyer and jurist of reputation, and among his forgotten works are “England’s Epinomis,” “Janus Anglorum,” and a “History of Luther,” published in 1618 and suppressed. He was committed to the Tower for sedition in 1621 and seven years later he helped to draw up the Petition of Right. In 1640 he was elected to the Long Parliament, and he was a member of the committee which impeached Archbishop Laud. He died at London, November 30th, 1654.