VOLUME III

EDINBURGH

JOHN GRANT

1907

PREFATORY NOTE

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 was the one preserved in the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge. In this, in addition to the corrections made at the time of publication on the printed label attached, there are a few others made by a contemporary hand, which deserve consideration. Among these is the excision of a sentence hitherto preserved in the text, and now relegated to the margin (p. 205). If further sanction were needed for the change indicated, it may be gathered from the inscription on the title-page, 'Ex dono Auctoris.' The text of the _Christian Morals_ of 1716 has been collated with the copy in the same Library.

For the account of Birds and Fishes found in Norfolk (pp. 513-539), Professor Alfred Newton generously placed his annotated copy at the disposal of the editor. As those actual pages were in the press, Professor Newton passed away, and Death has deprived us of the pleasure of placing this volume in his hands. In this edition Professor Newton's readings have been in the main followed, with the additional help of the valuable recension, published by Mr. Thomas Southwell of Norwich, in 1902, to which every serious student of this treatise must always refer.

For further assistance in questions of identification, I am again indebted to the kindness of Mr. W. Aldis Wright; and for one correction to Mr. A. R. Waller.

Sir Thomas Browne's Latin treatises and his correspondence are not included in these volumes. It was the determination of the original publisher of this edition that they should be omitted; and indeed they do not form the most characteristic part of Sir Thomas Browne's work. His erudition, and the resources from which he drew, his amazing industry, his marvellous diction, and natural piety--all these are apparent to the general reader of his English text; and it is to such that the present edition of Sir Thomas Browne's works, as they originally appeared, will primarily appeal.

C. S. _16th June 1907._

CONTENTS

Page

PREFATORY NOTE BY THE EDITOR, v

PSEUDODOXIA EPIDEMICA--

THE SEVENTH BOOK:

1. Of the Forbidden Fruit, 1 2. That a Man hath one Rib less then a Woman, 5 3. Of Methuselah, 8 4. That there was no Rain-bow before the Flood, 11 5. Of Sem, Ham, and Japhet, 15 6. That the Tower of Babel was erected against a Second Deluge, 17 7. Of the Mandrakes of Leah, 19 8. Of the three Kings of Collein, 25 9. Of the food of John Baptist, Locust and Wild Honey, 27 10. That John Evangelist should not die, 29 11. More compendiously of some others, 36 12. Of the Cessation of Oracles, 39 13. Of the death of Aristotle, 42 14. Of the Wish of Philoxenus, 49 15. Of the Lake Asphaltites, 52 16. Of divers other Relations, 56 17. Of some others, 65 18. More briefly of some others, 74 19. Of some Relations whose truth we fear, 81

HYDRIOTAPHIA AND THE GARDEN OF CYRUS (1658), 87

Epistle to Thomas Le Gros, 89 Epistle to Nicholas Bacon, 93 HYDRIOTAPHIA, 97 THE GARDEN OF CYRUS, 145

The Stationer to the Reader, 211

CERTAIN MISCELLANY TRACTS (1684), 213

The Publisher to the Reader, 215

1. Observations upon several Plants mentioned in Scripture, 218 2. Of Garlands and Coronary or Garden-plants, 281 3. Of the Fishes eaten by Our Saviour, 286 4. An Answer to certain Queries relating to Fishes, Birds, Insects, 289 5. Of Hawks and Falconry, 294 6. Of Cymbals, etc., 301 7. Of Ropalic or Gradual Verses, etc., 304 8. Of Languages, and particularly of the Saxon Tongue, 307 9. Of Artificial Hills, Mounts or Burrows, 322 10. Of Troas, etc., 326 11. Of the Answers of Apollo at Delphos to Croesus, 333 12. A Prophecy concerning several Nations, 342 13. Musæum Clausum, or Bibliotheca Abscondita, 350

A LETTER TO A FRIEND (1690), 367

POSTHUMOUS WORKS (1712), 395

Repertorium, or some Account of the Tombs and Monuments in the Cathedral Church of Norwich in 1680, 397

MISCELLANIES:

1. An Account of Island, _alias_ Ice-land, in 1662, 427 2. Concerning some Urnes found in Brampton-Field, in Norfolk, in 1667, 430 3. Concerning too nice Curiosity, 437 4. Upon reading Hudibras, 438

CHRISTIAN MORALS (1716), 439 Dedication, 441 Preface, 442 CHRISTIAN MORALS, 443

NOTES ON CERTAIN BIRDS FOUND IN NORFOLK, 513

NOTES ON CERTAIN FISHES AND MARINE ANIMALS FOUND IN NORFOLK, 526

ON THE OSTRICH, 540

BOULIMIA CENTENARIA, 544

UPON THE DARK MIST, 27TH NOVEMBER 1674, 545

ACCOUNT OF A THUNDERSTORM AT NORWICH, 1665, 548

ON DREAMS, 550

OBSERVATIONS ON GRAFTING, 555

CORRIGENDA, 559

INDEX, 561

PLATES

EN SUM QUOD DIGITIS QUINQUE, _to face page_ 97

QUID QUINCUNCE SPECIOSIUS, " 147

THE SEVENTH BOOK

Concerning many Historical Tenents generally received, and some deduced from the history of holy Scripture.