Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

SIR THOMAS BROWNE (1605-1682)

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V04, Page 667 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

SIR See also:THOMAS See also:BROWNE (1605-1682)  , See also:English author and physician, was See also:born in See also:London, on the 19th of See also:October 16o5 . He was admitted as a See also:scholar of See also:Winchester school in 1616, and matriculated at Broadgates See also:Hall (See also:Pembroke See also:College), See also:Oxford, in 1623, where he graduated B.A. in See also:January 1626 . He took the further degree of M.A. in 1629, studied See also:medicine, and practised for some See also:time in See also:Oxfordshire . Between 163o and 1633 he See also:left See also:England, travelled in See also:Ireland, See also:France and See also:Italy, and on his way See also:home received the degree of M.D. at the university of See also:Leiden . He returned to London in 1634, and, after a See also:short See also:residence at Shipden Hall, near See also:Halifax, settled in practice at See also:Norwich in 1637 . He married in 1641 Dorothy Mileham . Their eldest son, See also:Edward, became See also:president of the Royal College of Physicians, and glimpses of their happy See also:family See also:life are obtainable in the fragmentary See also:correspondence contained in See also:Simon Wilkin's edition . In 1642 a copy of his Religio See also:Medici, which he describes as " a private exercise directed to myself," was printed from one of his See also:MSS. without his knowledge, and reviewed by See also:Sir Kenelm See also:Digby in Observations . . . (1643) . The See also:interest aroused by this edition compelled See also:Browne to put forth a correct version (1643) of the See also:work, in which letters between Digby and Brownewere included . The See also:book was probably written as See also:early as 1635, for he describes himself as still under See also:thirty .

In 1646 he published Pseudodoxia Epidemica; Enquiries into very many commonly received Tenents and commonly presumed Truths (1646), and in 1658 Ilydriotaphia, Urne-Buriall; or, a discourse of the sepulchrall urnes lately found in See also:

Norfolk . Together with the See also:Garden of See also:Cyrus, or the quincunciall, See also:lozenge, or See also:net-work plantations of the ancients, artificially, naturally, and mystically considered . With Sundry observations (1658) . These four See also:works were all that he published, though several tracts, notably the See also:Christian Morals' intended as a continuation of Religio Medici, were prepared for publication, and appeared posthumously . In 1671 he received the See also:honour of See also:knighthood from See also:Charles II. on his visit to Norwich . He began a correspondence with See also:John See also:Evelyn in 1658 . Very few of the letters are extant, but the diarist has left an See also:account of a visit to Browne (See also:Diary, 17th of October 1671) . He died in 1682 on his seventy-seventh birthday, and was buried at St See also:Peter's, Mancroft, Norwich . His See also:coffin was accidentally broken in 184o, and his See also:skull is preserved in the museum of the Norwich See also:hospital . Browne's writings are among the few specimens of purely See also:literary work produced during a See also:period of See also:great See also:political excitement and discord . He remained to all See also:appearance placidly indifferent to the struggle going on around him . His first book, appeared in the See also:year of the outbreak of the See also:Civil See also:War; Pseudodoxia Epidemica in the See also:critical year of 1646; and Hydriotaphia, the reflections on the shortness of human life inspired by the unearthing of some funeral urns, on the See also:eve of the Restoration .

A mind as aloof as his is a psychological curiosity, and its peculiarities are faithfully reflected in the See also:

form and See also:matter of his works . His display of erudition, his copious citations from authorities, his See also:constant use of See also:metaphor and See also:analogy, and his elaborate diction, are See also:common qualities of the writers of the 17th See also:century, but Browne stands apart from his contemporaries by See also:reason of the See also:peculiar See also:cast of his mind . Imbued with the Platonic See also:mysticism which taught him to look on this See also:world as only the See also:image, the See also:shadow of an invisible See also:system, he regarded the whole of experience as only See also:food for contemplation . Nothing is too great or too small for him; all finds a See also:place in the universe of being, which he seems to regard almost from the position of an outsider . He did not speculate systematically on the problems of existence, but he meditates repeatedly on the outward and visible signs of mortality, and on what lies beyond See also:death . Of Browne, as of the greatest writers, it is true that the See also:style is the See also:man . The form of his thought is as peculiar and remarkable as the matter; the two, indeed, react on one another . Much of the'quaintness of his style, no doubt, depends on the excessive employment of latinized words, many of which have failed to justify their existence; but the peculiarities of his vocabulary do not explain the unique See also:character of his See also:writing, which is appreciated to-See also:day as much as ever . The Religio Medici was a See also:puzzle to his contemporaries, and it is still hard to reconcile its contradictions . A Latin See also:translation appeared at Leiden in 1644, and it was widely read on the See also:continent, being translated subsequently into Dutch, See also:French and See also:German . In See also:Paris it was issued in the belief that Browne was really a See also:Roman See also:Catholic, but in See also:Rome the authorities thought otherwise, and the book was placed on the See also:Index Expurgatorius . It is the See also:confession of a mind keen and sceptical in some aspects, and credulous in others .

Browne professes to be absolutely See also:

free from heretical opinions, but asserts the right to be guided by his own reason in cases where no precise guidance is given either by Scripture or by See also:Church teaching . " I love," he says, " to lose myself in a See also:mystery, to pursue my reason to an 0, Altitudol" The Pseudodoxia Epidemica, written in a more See also:direct and See also:simple style than is usual with Browne, is a wonderful storehouse of out-of-the-way facts and scraps of erudition, 1 Ed . John Jeffery, See also:archdeacon of Norwich, 1716 . The dignified " See also:Letter to a Friend, upon the occasion of the Death of his Intimate Friend " (written about 1672, pr . 169o) has been generally supposed to be a preliminary See also:sketch for Christian Morals, but Dr W . A . Greenhill thinks it was written later . exhibiting a singular mixture of credulity and shrewdness . Sir See also:Thomas evidently takes delight in discussing the wildest fables . That he himself was by no means free from superstition is proved by the fact that the condemnation of two unfortunate See also:women, Amy Duny and See also:Rose Cullender, for See also:witchcraft at Norwich in 1664 was aided by his professional See also:evidence . The Garden of Cyrus is a continued See also:illustration of one See also:quaint conceit . The whole universe is ransacked for examples of the Quincunx, and he discovers, as See also:Coleridge says, " quincunxes in See also:heaven above, quincunxes in See also:earth below, quincunxes in the mind of man, quincunxes in tones, in optic nerves, in roots of trees, in leaves, in everything!" But the whole strength of his See also:genius and the wonderful See also:charm of his style are to be sought in the Urnburial, the concluding See also:chapter of which, for richness of imagery and majestic pomp of diction, can hardly be paralleled in the English See also:language .

For anything at all resembling it we must turn to the finest passages of See also:

Jeremy See also:Taylor or of See also:Milton's See also:prose writings . In 1684 appeared a collection of Certain See also:Miscellany Tracts (ed . 'See also:Tenison), and in 1712 See also:Posthumous Works of the learned Sir Thomas Browne . The first collected edition of Browne's works appeared in 1686 . It is said to have been edited by Dr, afterwards See also:Archbishop Tenison . Sir Thomas Browne's Works, including his Life and Correspondence, were carefully edited by Simon Wilkin in 1835-1836 . Among See also:modern reprints may be mentioned Dr W . A Greenhill's See also:editions in the " See also:Golden See also:Treasury " See also:series of the Religio Medici, Letter to a Friend and Christian Morals (1881), with an admirable See also:bibliographical See also:note on the complicated subject of the numerous editions of the Religio Medici; of the Hydriotaphia and the Garden of Cyrus (1896), completed by Mr E . H . See also:Marshall; a See also:complete edition for the English Library, edited by Mr Charles Sayle (1904, &c.) . Browne's interest in See also:bird-See also:lore is noted by Evelyn, and some Notes and Letters on the Natural See also:History of Norfolk were collected from his MSS. in the See also:Sloane Collection, and edited by Thomas See also:Southwell in 1902 .

End of Article: SIR THOMAS BROWNE (1605-1682)
[back]
SIR JAMES BROWNE (1839–1896)
[next]
WILLIAM BROWNE (1591–1643)

Additional information and Comments

The british library verified the edition of religio medici 190 pages was a 1st edition,and gives the location on its shelves. there was another edition later 150 pages. I have the first mentioned. Andrew crooke, 1642, will;marfhall feu. gilded pages, and outer cover and spine, date on spine and inside. two illustrations facsimilies. facing. two poems by this lord thomas browne. and part from others lucan, and lucian. he doubts constantinople existed, and tells of the fire library alexandria, solomons manuscripts etc, he mentions america, its animals, one obnoxious one (skunk) I would not wonder. that there were no horses in america, mentions tygers. beares and other, he mentions africa, elephants, camels, dromedarysetc. very interesting book, aristotle plato, nero, ceazer, etc. lands discovered long before Cook, and others. I am seeking a price for this book. he orated most nights before sleep and these two 17th century poems by him have to be rare, thomas browne, (sir).book, anon.
Thomas Browne. Sir was fully aware of the printing and publishing of the 190 page, religio medici. There is no doubt of this. He then proceeded to cover up, what he had done. By the following 1643 edition. As stated previous the 190 page first edition has a place on the shelves of the british library.ousting what was thought to be the first 150+ pages in the 1643 edition as changed. forty, (40) pages lighter. The 1642 1st edition carries two engravings, face to face, staggered frontispiece.replica of each other.The falling man and the arm reaching out to grasp a leg.Thomas browne, sir he is an atheist within this book.Had this book been published years earlier,during the reign of Henry the eighth,he would have been visiting that king,under arrest. As it was he printed his altered book, and he had the then present king stay at his abode, a visitor. No doubt when the book was first printed 1642,as I say, he then covered himself with the replacement 1643, edition.Same Andrew Crooke, etc.
There are now it seems thousands of various copies in one guise or other and dates with numerous addages, One book I would like to see, is stated to be an exact facsimilie of the original 1st edition of 1642 dated 1888.?.I have gone through all found and failed to find it.thank you.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click and select "copy." Paste it into a website, email, or other HTML document.