Religio medici : to which is added, Hydriotaphia; or, Urn-burial; a discourse on sepulchral urns / by Sir Thomas Browne ; with a preliminary discourse and notes, by J.A. St. John. 1841.

  • Browne, Thomas, Sir, 1605-1682.
Date:
1838
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Religio medici : to which is added, Hydriotaphia; or, Urn-burial; a discourse on sepulchral urns / by Sir Thomas Browne ; with a preliminary discourse and notes, by J.A. St. John. 1841. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    the same light as the friar, whose works might still be studied with advantage; and, alluding to the no- tions of Browne, says, “ Surely this acute author’s sharp wit, had he orderly applied his studies that way, would have been able to satisfy himself with less labour, and others with more plenitude, than it hath been the lot of so dull a brain as mine, concerning the immortality of the soul. And yet I assure you, my lord, the little philosophy that is allowed me for my share, demonstrateth this pro- position to me, as well as faith delivereth it; which our physician will not admit in his.” In Sir Thomas Browne’s demiscepticism on this great question, we discover a proof that, recluse as he was, his mind had not escaped the sinister in- fluences then in active operation throughout Eu- rope. Along with a spirit of inquiry, the natural offspring of the Reformation, another less estim- able spirit, always existing, had gained strength— the disposition to confound truth with error, and to mistake for philosophical courage, an ostenta- tious hostility towards both. Similar tendencies were observable in the European intellect during the age immediately preceding the French Revo- lution ; and must be regarded as a consequence of what was going forward at the period of which we are speaking. Men had arisen gifted with the faculty to discern the chains wherewith custom had, until then, bound the mind, and bold enough to attempt the breaking of them. Bacon, Des- cartes, Hobbes, Gassendi, and a phalanx of co- adjutors, set the example of independent thinking;