Part 10

To sum up—Sir Kenelm Digby writes to Sir T. Browne, of the _Religio Medici_ as “Your excellent piece, . . . of so weighty subjects, and so strongly penned.”

Dr. Johnson says of him “There is no science of which he does not discover some skill; and scarce any kind of knowledge profane or sacred, obstruse or elegant, which he does not appear to have cultivated with success.”

Carlyle says “The conclusion of the essay on urn burial is absolutely beautiful; a still elegiac mood, so soft, so solemn and tender, like the song of some departed saint flitting faint under the everlasting canopy of night—an echo of deepest meaning from the great and mighty nations of the dead. Browne must have been a good man.”

Evelyn, as I have already quoted, writes of him as “That famous scholar and physician.”

And to come nearer home, the late Captain Blakiston, in a paper read before the Archæological Institute, in Norwich, in 1847, writes of him as a “Great Antiquarian and eminent citizen; . . . a quaint and original thinker;” and as “Leaving behind him a shining reputation.”

By general consent Sir Thomas Browne was recognised, not only as a “curious thinker,” but as a man of remarkable and original talent even in his lifetime, and the same reputation continued after his death. His works have always been regarded as those of a strong and original thinker, and they have never been held in higher estimation than at the present time. And I think I may fairly repeat that the more his writings are studied the more does their learning and power impress itself upon our understanding. With many faults, with many shortcomings—as judged by the standard of the present day—they yet remain the monument of genius, and worthy to be classed amongst the highest productions of great and cultivated intellects.

Norwich may be well proud of so great a citizen—of one whose memory is held in higher and yet higher esteem, and who is justly regarded as one of the greatest of her literary men.

Perhaps the only drawback to our satisfaction is the fact that he was not a native of Norwich. And in this sense we cannot claim him as our own, as we are proud to claim so many of our citizens, who have distinguished themselves in literature, in science, in botany, in departments of natural history, in medicine, and in painting. But Norwich can look upon him with pride as an adopted son, as one who elected to live the whole of his working life in this city; and who identified himself so absolutely with it, that his name is inseparable from it, and who will be known for all time as Sir Thomas Browne, of Norwich.

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ADDENDUM.—On October 19th, 1905, the admirable statue by Mr. Henry Pegram of Sir Thomas Browne, erected in the Norwich Haymarket, was unveiled by Lord Avebury, in the presence of the Mayor and other city officials and of a numerous company. This date was the tercentenary of the birth of this great philosopher, and he was both born and died on the 19th October.

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JARROLD & SONS, LTD., PRINTERS. THE EMPIRE PRESS, NORWICH.

NOTES.

{16} 1908. For the last five or six years I have practically been an abstainer, and my health has greatly improved in consequence. I am now eighty-three years of age.

{29} Read September 28th, 1886, and reprinted from the “Transactions of the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists’ Society,” Vol. iv.

{33} It is noticeable how they both do the same thing, in a precisely similar way, at the same time, and this applies even to the attitudes they assume.

{36} April, 1887. They have just been again weighed, after their winter’s hybernation; and their weight now is, respectively, 2 lbs. 7½ ozs. and 2 lbs. 2½ ozs. Thus each of them has lost 2½ ozs. in the seven months of quietude.

{38} Read November 29th, 1892, and reprinted from the “Transactions of the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists’ Society,” Vol. v.

{44} Read before the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists’ Society, February 22nd, 1887, and reprinted from Vol. iv. of the Society’s “Transactions.”

{53} Read before the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists’ Society, January 30th, 1900, and reprinted from Vol. vii. of the Society’s “Transactions.”

{57} A further photographic view of this grand tree is given in the second edition of this book, published in 1906: but before this time the tree had been topped and shorn, and had lost the grandeur and beauty which had made it so remarkable.

{72} Read by the President, to the Members of the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists’ Society, at their Eighteenth Annual Meeting, held at the Norfolk and Norwich Museum, March 29th, 1887.—Reprinted from Volume iv. of the Society’s “Transactions.”

{80} It is now known that the nodules found upon certain growing plants are caused by germ growth, with the production of Nitrates and thereby a fertilization of the soil. And it is worth noting that at the present time (1908) it is being endeavoured to utilise this knowledge of aerial nitrification by certain plants, by artificially applying a liquid preparation of the germs which are the active agents in the process to the seeds of these plants or to the growing crops. The results of such applications, so far, are alleged to be effective and commercially advantageous.

{88} This grand Castle Museum was opened by their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of York (now Prince and Princess of Wales) on October 23rd, 1894; and this Society’s meetings are now held in it.

{90a} A Paper read at the Church in May, 1891, before the Norwich Archæological Society.

{90b} Kirkpatrick’s Streets and Lanes of Norwich.

{97a} Described by Mr. Manning in Vol. x. of Archæological Society’s “Transactions.”

{97b} The large East Window of the Chancel has recently been filled with a handsome design of stained glass, by Clayton and Bell, of London, and presented by the Author.

{99} Read before the “Literary and Debating Class” of the Church of England Young Men’s Society, on March 7th, 1906.

{101} Mr. T. West Carnie, in a little volume entitled, “In Quaint East Anglia,” speaking of Norwich by night, says, “If Norwich is beautiful by day, with the August sun kissing its red roofs, it is as lovely by night under the beams of the harvest moon.” “Under the moonbeams Norwich makes a pretty picture from whichever point it is viewed; and the effects in some of the narrow streets are very wonderful. I mind me of one special ‘set,’ if I may so call it, namely that in which, from St. Giles’s lower end, the street entirely in shadow, you look out westward upon the lofty church tower sheeted in moonlight against a clear sky.”

{106} The writer of this paper.

{108} Further, it may be noted, that my clock is a striking clock, and as such is of considerable value to the large body of workers who live within sound of the bell, and who have to begin or return to their employments at fixed times.

{113} A very handsome and illustrated volume on the history of this Bethel Hospital, by the late Sir Frederic Bateman and Mr. Walter Rye, has recently (in 1906) been published.

{117} Those who have read Mr. Hooper’s and Mr. B. Prior’s admirable souvenir of the Nelson Centenary, so recently published, will remember how it is there stated that this statue was at first placed in St. Andrew’s Hall; then after a year or two was located in the Market Place, near the Guildhall; and then in 1856 was removed to its present position in the Upper Close.

{121} Reprinted from the Society’s Journal.

{123} This Portrait was reclaimed by and returned to the Churchwardens of St. Peter’s in 1900.

{135a} Quincunx—a square with a central object, as of five trees arranged thus—

x x

x

x x

{135b} Since the above was written, an admirable volume has been published by Mr. T. Southwell, upon Browne’s “Notes on the Natural History of Norfolk.”