Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 07.djvu/77

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Browne
71
Browne

other Animals found in Norfolk.’ 2. ‘Oratio Anniversaria Harveiana,’ written to be delivered by his son. 3. ‘On the Ostrich,’ a paper drawn up for his son's use. 4. ‘On Dreams,’ a striking fragment. 5. ‘Observations on Grafting,’ probably written for Evelyn. 6. ‘Hints and Extracts’ (from commonplace books), set down for the use of his son. ‘They are not trite or vulgar,’ says Browne, ‘and very few of them anywhere to be met with. I set them not down in order, but as memory, fancy, or occasional observation produced them; whereof you may take the pains to single out such as shall conduce unto your purpose.’ 7. ‘De Enecante Garrulo,’ a quaint specimen of humorous invective. From memoranda in Sloane MS. 1843 it appears that Browne meditated writing (1) ‘A Dialogue between an Inhabitant of the Earth and of the Moon,’ and (2) ‘A Dialogue between two Twins in the Womb concerning the world they were to come into.’ In the fourth chapter of ‘Urn Burial’ he observes: ‘A dialogue between two infants in the womb concerning the state of this world might handsomely illustrate our ignorance of the next, whereof methinks we yet discourse in Plato's den, and are but embryo philosophers.’ Whether the dialogues were ever actually written is uncertain. A ‘Conjectural Restoration of the lost Dialogue between two Twins, by Sir Thomas Browne,’ was published in 1855 by B. Docray. The ‘Fragment on Mummies,’ which Wilkin received without suspicion and printed in the fourth volume of Browne's Works (1835), was written by James Crossley. An anonymous manuscript play, called ‘The Female Rebellion,’ has been ascribed to Browne, without the slightest show of probability, by a correspondent of ‘Notes and Queries’ (5th ser. iii. 341–4). A few unpublished letters of Browne on professional subjects are preserved in private libraries (Hist. MSS. Comm. Reps.)

A very careful bibliography of ‘Religio Medici’ has been drawn up by Dr. Greenhill. He enumerates thirty-three English editions, ranging from 1642 to 1881. Of the Latin translation ten editions were published between 1644 and 1743; a Dutch translation appeared in 1665, and was reprinted in 1668 and 1683; a French translation, made from the Dutch, is dated 1668, and Watt mentions an edition in two volumes, 12mo, 1732; a German translation was published in 1680, and republished in 1746. In a letter to Aubrey, dated 14 March 1672–3, Browne states that the treatise had been already translated into high Dutch and Italian. No such Italian translation has been discovered. Five manuscript copies of ‘Religio Medici’ are known (see Gardiner's Preface to Rel. Med. 1845, p. vi. note). ‘Pseudodoxia Epidemica’ was originally published (in pot folio) in 1646. The second edition, which is typographically the best, appeared in 1650. Two editions are dated 1658, one in folio, and the other (which includes ‘Hydriotaphia’ and ‘The Garden of Cyrus’) in quarto. The fifth edition, 1669, 4to, has a portrait of the author which bears little resemblance to the other portraits. The sixth edition, 1672, 4to, with a portrait by Van Hove, was the last that appeared in the author's lifetime, and contains his final corrections. A Dutch translation was published in 1668 by Gründahl, and a German translation in 1680 by Christian Knorr (Peganius). In the British Museum there is an Italian translation, in 2 vols. 12mo, published at Venice in 1737. The Italian translation was made (as we learn from the title-page) from the French; but the earliest French translation yet discovered is dated 1738. The first collective edition of Browne's works was published in 1686, fol. It contains everything that had been printed in his lifetime, together with the ‘Miscellany Tracts’ that Tenison had edited in 1683. ‘Hydriotaphia’ and the ‘Garden of Cyrus,’ originally published in 1658, reached their sixth edition in the folio of 1686. In 1736 Curll reprinted ‘Hydriotaphia’ and a portion of the ‘Garden of Cyrus,’ including in the same collection the tract on Brampton urns and the ninth of the miscellany tracts. No new edition of ‘Hydriotaphia’ appeared until 1822, when it was edited (with ‘A Letter to a Friend’ and ‘Musæum Clausum’) by James Crossley. The ‘Garden of Cyrus’ is included in Wilkin's editions of Browne's complete works; it has not been published in a separate form. Of a ‘Letter to a Friend’ Dr. Greenhill describes eleven editions, ranging from 1690 to 1869; his own edition, accompanying ‘Religio Medici’ (1881), is the twelfth. The ‘Posthumous Works,’ 1712, were not reissued in a separate form, but are included in Wilkin's editions. ‘Christian Morals,’ 1716, was republished in 1756, with a life of Browne by Dr. Johnson and notes. The editions of 1761 and 1765 are merely the unsold copies (with fresh title-pages) of the 1756 edition. ‘Christian Morals’ has been appended to several modern editions of ‘Religio Medici.’ The only complete collection of Browne's works is Pickering's edition in four volumes, 1835–6, edited by Simon Wilkin. This is a worthy edition of a great English classic. Wilkin spent twelve years in collecting and arranging his material; he spared himself no trouble and left no source of