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Transcriber's Note

Footnotes and section headers were both printed in the margins as
sidenotes.

For this text version, numbered marginal footnotes have been moved to
the end of their paragraphs. The headers have been moved to appear on a
separate line at the beginning of each section. Redundant sidenotes
merely indicating Part and Section numbers have been removed. Those
marginal notes which serve as paragraph descriptions, at or near the
head of a paragraph, precede that paragraph. Those which serve to
annotate specific points are inserted parenthetically as [SN: notes].

The Annotator's note which precedes Religio Medici uses marginal notes
as references to the relevant sections and pages in the printed text.

On occasion, the Latin passages employ a scribal abbreviation 'q;' for
'qus', which has been retained.

Descriptive notes have been inserted at the beginning of the sentence to
which they refer, like this: [Sidenote: Use of Italics] Italics are used
freely, and have been rendered using _underscore_ characters.

Please consult the more detailed notes at the end of this text.




                         THE ENGLISH LIBRARY

                            THE WORKS OF
                         SIR THOMAS BROWNE

                              VOLUME I

                          [Illustration]

                            THE WORKS OF
                         SIR THOMAS BROWNE

                             Edited by
                           CHARLES SAYLE

                             VOLUME I

                              LONDON
                          GRANT RICHARDS

                               1904




PREFATORY NOTE


This edition is an endeavour to arrive at a more satisfactory text of
the work of Sir Thomas Browne, and to reproduce the principal part of
it, as faithfully as seems advisable, in the form in which it was
presented to the public at the time of his death. For this purpose, in
the first volume, the text of the _Religio Medici_ follows more
particularly the issue of 1682. The _Pseudodoxia Epidemica_ here given
is based upon the sixth edition of ten years earlier, with careful
revision. In every case in which a spelling or punctuation was dubious,
a comparison was made of nearly all the issues printed during the
lifetime of the writer, and their merits weighed. By this means it is
hoped that the true flavour of the period has been preserved.

The Annotations upon the _Religio Medici_, which were always reprinted
with the text during the seventeenth century, are here restored. They
will appeal to a certain class of readers which has a right to be
considered. It is to be regretted that every quotation given in these
pages has not been verified. Several have been corrected; but to have
worked through them all, in these busy days, would have been a labour
of some years, which it is not possible to devote to the purpose. It has
been thought best to leave these passages therefore, in the main, as
they stand.[1]

The portrait of Sir Thomas Browne here prefixed is reproduced from the
engraving published in 1672 with the edition of the _Religio Medici_ and
_Pseudodoxia Epidemica_.

                                                                  C.S.

_August, 1903._

  [1] The quotation, now corrected, from Montaigne, on p. xxii, is a
      typical example of the pitfall into which one is liable to stumble.
      The passage there cited is in chapter xl. of the French author's
      later arrangement: a clear indication of the edition of the _Essais_
      used by the author of the Annotations. What is one to make of the
      readings in Lucretius on p. xxv? No light is thrown upon these
      difficulties by the edition of Browne's works published in 1686.
      Wilkin did not reprint the Annotations, except in selection.




CONTENTS

                                                                 PAGE

PREFATORY NOTE BY THE EDITOR,                                       v

ANNOTATIONS UPON 'RELIGIO MEDICI,'                                 ix

A LETTER SENT UPON THE INFORMATION OF ANIMADVERSIONS,               1

TO THE READER.                                                      3

RELIGIO MEDICI,                                                     7

PSEUDODOXIA EPIDEMICA,                                            113

TO THE READER,                                                    115

  THE FIRST BOOK:

    1. Of the Causes of Common Errors,                            121
    2. A further Illustration of the same,                        127
    3. Of the second cause of Popular Errors; the
       erroneous disposition of the People,                       132
    4. Of the nearer and more Immediate Causes
       of Popular Errors,                                         140
    5. Of Credulity and Supinity,                                 147
    6. Of Adherence unto Antiquity,                               152
    7. Of Authority,                                                                                                           161
    8. A brief enumeration of Authors,                            168
    9. Of the Same,                                               178
   10. Of the last and common Promoter of false
       Opinions, the endeavours of Satan,                         182
   11. A further Illustration,                                    193

  THE SECOND BOOK:

    1. Of Crystal,                                                202
    2. Concerning the Loadstone,                                  216
    3. Concerning the Loadstone,                                  233
    4. Of Bodies Electrical,                                      254
    5. Compendiously of sundry other common
       Tenents, concerning Mineral and Terreous
       Bodies,                                                    262
    6. Of sundry Tenets concerning Vegetables or
       Plants,                                                    285
    7. Of some Insects, and the Properties of
       several Plants,                                            299

  THE THIRD BOOK, CHAPTERS I.-X.:

    1. Of the Elephant,                                           308
    2. Of the Horse,                                              314
    3. Of the Dove,                                               317
    4. Of the Bever,                                              321
    5. Of the Badger,                                             326
    6. Of the Bear,                                               328
    7. Of the Basilisk,                                           331
    8. Of the Wolf,                                               338
    9. Of the Deer,                                               340
   10. Of the King-fisher,                                        348



                            ANNOTATIONS UPON
                             RELIGIO MEDICI


                   _Nec satis est vulgasse fidem._--
                   Pet. Arbit. fragment.




THE ANNOTATOR TO THE READER


A. Gellius (noct. Attic. l. 20. cap. _ult._) _notes some Books that had
strange Titles_; Pliny (Prefat. Nat. Hist.) _speaking of some such,
could not pass them over without a jeer: So strange (saith he) are the
Titles of some Books_, Ut multos ad vadimonium deferendum compellant.
_And_ Seneca _saith, some such there are_, Qui patri obstetricem
parturienti filiae accersenti moram injicere possint. _Of the same fate
this present Tract_ Religio Medici _hath partaken: Exception by some
hath been taken to it in respect of its Inscription, which say they,
seems to imply that_ Physicians _have a Religion by themselves, which is
more than Theologie doth warrant: but it is their Inference, and not the
Title that is to blame; for no more is meant by that, or endeavoured to
be prov'd in the_ Book _then that (contrary to the opinion of the
unlearned_) Physitians _have Religion as well as other men_.

_For the Work it self, the present Age hath produced none that has had
better Reception amongst the learned; it has been received and fostered
by almost all, there having been but one that I knew of_ (_to verifie_
that Books have their Fate from the Capacity of the Reader) _that has
had the face to appear against it; that is_ Mr. Alexander[2] Rosse; _but
he is dead, and it is uncomely to skirmish with his shadow. It shall be
sufficient to remember to the_ Reader, _that the noble and most learned_
Knight, _Sir_ Kenelm Digby, _has delivered his opinion of it in another
sort, who though in some things he differ from the_ Authors _sense, yet
hath he most candidly and ingeniously allow'd it to be a_ very learned
and excellent Piece; _and I think no Scholar will say there can be an
approbation more authentique. Since the time he Published his
Observations upon it, one_ Mr. Jo. Merryweather, _a_ Master _of_ Arts
_of the_ University _of_ Cambridge, _hath deem'd it worthy to be put
into the universal Language, which about the year_ 1644 _he performed;
and that hath carried the Authors name not only into the_ Low-Countries
_and_ France (_in both which places the Book in_ Latin _hath since been
printed_) _but into_ Italy _and_ Germany; _and in_ Germany _it hath
since fallen into the hands of a Gentleman of that Nation[3] (of his
name he hath given us no more than_ L.N.M.E.N.) _who hath written
learned_ Annotations _upon it in_ Latin, which were _Printed together
with the Book at_ Strasbourg 1652. _And for the general good opinion
the World had entertained both of the_ Work and Author, _this Stranger
tells you_[4]: Inter alios Auctores incidi in libruni cui Titulus
_Religio Medici_, jam ante mihi innotuerat lectionem istius libri multos
praeclaros viros delectasse, imo occupasse. Non ignorabam librum in
_Anglia_, _Gallia_, _Italia_, _Belgio_, _Germania_, cupidissime legi;
coustabat mihi eum non solum in _Anglia ac Batavia_, sed et _Purisiis_
cum praefatione, in qua Auctor magnis laudibus fertur, esse typis
mandatum. Compertum mihi erat multos magnos atq; eruditos viros sensere
Auctorem (quantum ex hoc scripto perspici potest) sanctitate vitae ac
pietare elucere, etc. _But for the worth of the_ Book _it is so well
known to every_ English-man _that is fit to read it, that this
attestation of a_ Forrainer _may seem superfluous_.

  [2] In his _Medicus Medicatus_.

  [3] That he was a _German_ appears by his notes _page_ 35, where he
      useth these words, _Dulcissima nostra Germania_, etc.

  [4] In Praefat. Annotat.

_The_ German, _to do him right, hath in his_ Annotations _given a fair
specimen of his learning, shewing his skill in the Languages, as well
antient as modern; as also his acquaintance with all manner of Authors,
both sacred and profane, out of which he has ammas'd a world of
Quotations: but yet, not to mention that he hath not observed some
Errors of the Press, and one or two main ones of the Latin Translation,
whereby the Author is much injured; it cannot be denyed but he hath
pass'd over many hard places untoucht, that might deserve a Note; that
he hath made_ Annotations _on some, where no need was; in the
explication of others hath gone besides the true sense._

_And were he free from all these, yet one great Fault there is he may be
justly charg'd with, that is, that he cannot_ manum de Tabula _even in
matters the most obvious: which is an affectation ill-becoming a_
Scholar; _witness the most learned Annotator_, Claud. Minos. Divion. in
praefat. commentar. Alciat. Emblemat. praefix. Praestat (_saith he_)
brevius omnia persequi, et leviter attingere quae nemini esse ignota
suspicari possint, quam quasi {~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO WITH DASIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PSI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER DELTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH PERISPOMENI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}, perq; locos communes identidem
expatiari.

_I go not about by finding fault with his, obliquely to commend my own;
I am as far from that, as 'tis possible others will be: All I seek, by
this Preface, next to acquainting the_ Reader _with the various
entertainment of the Book, is, that he would be advertized that these
Notes were collected ten[5] years since, long before the_ German's _were
written; so that I am no Plagiary (as who peruseth his Notes and mine,
will easily perceive): And in the second place, that I made this Recueil
meerly for mine own entertainment, and not with any intention to evulge
it; Truth is my witness, the publication proceeds meerly from the
importunity of the Book-seller (my special friend) who being acquainted
with what I had done, and about to set out another Edition of the Book,
would not be denied these notes to attex to it; 'tis he (not I) that
divulgeth it, and whatever the success be, he alone is concern'd in it;
I only say for my self what my Annotations bear in the Frontispiece_--

                 _Nec satis est vulgasse fidem----_

_That is, that it was not enough to all persons (though pretenders to
Learning) that our_ Physitian _had publish'd his Creed, because it
wanted an exposition. I say further, that the_ German's _is not full_;
_and that_ (----Quicquid sum Ego quamvis infra Lucilli censum
ingeniumq;----) _my explications do in many things illustrate the Text
of my Author_.

_24 Martii,
  1654._

  [5] Excepting two or three particulars in which reference is made to
      some Books that came over since that time.




               ANNOTATIONS UPON RELIGIO MEDICI

                 The Epistle to the _READER_


_Certainly that man were greedy of life, who should desire to live when
all the World were at an end_;] This Mr. _Merryweather_ hath rendred
thus; _Cupidum esse vitae oportet, qui universo jam expirante mundo
vivere cuperet_; and well enough: but it is not amiss to remember, that
we have this saying in _Seneca_ the _Tr