The Works of Sir Thomas Browne, Volume 3

To enlarge this contemplation unto all the mysteries and secrets, accommodable unto this number, were inexcusable Pythagorisme, yet cannot omit the ancient conceit of five surna...

'Tis hard to find a whole Age to imitate, or what Century to propose for Example. Some have been far more approveable than others: but Virtue and Vice, Panegyricks and Satyrs, s...

Now although this elegant ordination of vegetables, hath found coincidence or imitation in sundry works of Art, yet is it not also destitute of natural examples, and though over...

Tread softly and circumspectly in this funambulatory Track and narrow Path of Goodness: Pursue Virtue virtuously: Leven not good Actions, nor render Virtues disputable. Stain no...

As for the delights, commodities, mysteries, with other concernments of this order, we are unwilling to fly them over, in the short deliveries of _Virgil_, _Varro_, or others, a...

Playstered and whited Sepulchres, were anciently affected in cadaverous, and corruptive Burials; And the rigid Jews were wont to garnish the Sepulchres of the righteous;[37] _Ul...

Punish not thy self with Pleasure; Glut not thy sense with palative Delights; nor revenge the contempt of Temperance by the penalty of Satiety. Were there an Age of delight or a...

Lastly, As there are many Relations whereto we cannot assent, and make some doubt thereof, so there are divers others whose verities we fear, and heartily wish there were no tru...

Now since these dead bones have already out-lasted the living ones of _Methuselah_, and in a yard under ground, and thin walls of clay, out-worn all the strong and specious buil...

The Solemnities, Ceremonies, Rites of their Cremation or enterrment, so solemnly delivered by Authours, we shall not disparage our Reader to repeat. Only the last and lasting pa...

That _Vulcan_ gave arrows unto _Apollo_ and _Diana_ the fourth day after their Nativities, according to Gentile Theology, may passe for no blinde apprehension of the Creation of...

Christians have handsomely glossed the deformity of death, by careful consideration of the body, and civil rites which take off brutal terminations. And though they conceived al...

Nor was this only a form of practise in Plantations, but found imitation from high Antiquity, in sundry artificial contrivances and manual operations. For to omit the position o...

1. We are sad when we read the story of _Belisarius_ that worthy Chieftain of _Justinian_; who, after his Victories over _Vandals_, _Goths_, _Persians_, and his Trophies in thre...

1. The relation of _Averroes_, and now common in every mouth, of the woman that conceived in a bath, by attracting the sperm or seminal effluxion of a man admitted to bath in so...

Other relations there are, and those in very good Authors, which though we do not positively deny, yet have they not been unquestioned by some, and at least as improbable truths...

In the deep discovery of the Subterranean world, a shallow part would satisfie some enquirers; who, if two or three yards were open about the surface, would not care to wrack th...

The conceit of the long-living, or rather not dying of _John_ the Evangelist, although it seem inconsiderable, and not much weightier than that of _Joseph_ the wandring _Jew_: y...

That _Aristotle_ drowned himself in _Euripus_, as despairing to resolve the cause of its reciprocation, or ebb and flow seven times a day, with this determination, _Si quidem eg...

We shall not omit the Mandrakes of _Leah_, according to the History of _Genesis_. And _Reuben_ went out in the daies of Wheat-harvest, and found Mandrakes in the field, and brou...

That there shall no Rain-bow appear forty years before the end of the world, and that the preceding drought unto that great flame shall exhaust the materials of this Meteor, was...

That the Forbidden fruit of Paradise was an Apple, is commonly believed, confirmed by Tradition, perpetuated by Writings, Verses, Pictures; and some have been so bad _Prosodians...

Concerning the Lake _Asphaltites_, the Lake of _Sodom_, or the dead Sea, that heavy bodies cast therein sink not, but by reason of a salt and bituminous thickness in the water f...

Marginal notes are used for multiple purposes in this edition, and somewhat differently in each of Browne's works. Generally speaking, those notes which serve as paragraph descr...

That Oracles ceased or grew mute at the coming of Christ, is best understood in a qualified sense, and not without all latitude, as though precisely there were none after, nor a...

That Relation of _Aristotle_, and conceit generally received concerning _Philoxenus_, who wished the neck of a Crane, that thereby he might take more pleasure in his meat, altho...

What hath been every where opinioned by all men, and in all times, is more then paradoxical to dispute; and so that _Methuselah_ was the longest liver of all the posterity of _A...

In concluding the present edition of Sir Thomas Browne's works, attention may be drawn to the reprint of the _Hydriotaphia_, from the first edition of 1658. The copy collated wa...

Many others there are which we resign unto Divinity, and perhaps deserve not controversie. Whether _David_ were punished only for pride of heart in numbring the people, as most...

That a Man hath one Rib less then a Woman, is a common conceit derived from the History of _Genesis_, wherein it stands delivered, that _Eve_ was framed out of a Rib of _Adam_;...

Concerning the three sons of _Noah_, _Sem_, _Ham_ and _Japhet_, that the order of their nativity was according to that of numeration, and _Japhet_ the youngest son, as most beli...

A common conceit there is of the three Kings of _Collein_, conceived to be the wise men that travelled unto our Saviour by the direction of the Star, Wherein (omitting the large...

An opinion there is of some generality, that our fathers after the flood attempted the Tower of _Babel_ to secure themselves against a second Deluge. Which however affirmed by _...

Concerning the food of _John Baptist_ in the wilderness, Locusts and Wild-honey, lest popular opiniatrity should arise, we will deliver the chief opinions. The first conceiveth...