Editing Thomas Browne

{{Short description|English polymath and writer (1605–1682)}}
{{Other people|Thomas Browne}}
{{Use British English|date=April 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2023}}
{{Infobox scientist
| honorific-prefix = [[Sir]]
| name              = Thomas Browne
| image             = Sir Thomas Browne by Joan Carlile.jpg
| image_size        = 180px
| caption           = Sir Thomas Browne ({{circa|1641–1650}}),<br>attributed to [[Joan Carlile]]
| birth_date        = 19 October 1605
| birth_place       = London, England
| death_date        = {{death date and age|df=yes|1682|10|19|1605|10|19}}
| death_place       = [[Norwich]], England
| alma_mater        = [[Winchester College]]<br> [[Pembroke College, Oxford]] <br> [[University of Padua]] <br> [[Leiden University]]
| known_for         = ''[[Religio Medici]]'', ''[[Urne-Burial]]'' and ''[[The Garden of Cyrus]]'', ''[[Pseudodoxia Epidemica]]'', ''[[Christian Morals]]''
<!--| influences        =  [[Francis Bacon]], [[Johannes Kepler]], [[Paracelsus]], [[Montaigne]], [[Athanasius Kircher]], [[Della Porta]], [[Jan Baptist van Helmont]], [[Fortunio Liceti]],<ref>{{cite book|last=Barbour|first=Reid|title=Sir Thomas Browne: A Life|year=2013|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|quote=''Religio'' clarifies how Liceti's intellectual obsessions were so often Browne's own; ''Pseudodoxia'' and Browne's library catalogue reveal that Liceti ranked among Browne's favourite polymaths.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4dwVAAAAQBAJ&q=monsters&pg=PA153|isbn=9780199679881}}</ref> [[Arthur Dee]] -->
<!-- | influenced        = [[Edward Browne (physician)]], [[Samuel Johnson]], [[Charles Lamb (writer)|Charles Lamb]], [[Samuel Taylor Coleridge]], [[Thomas De Quincey]], [[Herman Melville]], [[William Osler]], [[Jorge Luis Borges]], [[W. G. Sebald]], [[Charles Scott Sherrington]]<ref>{{cite book|last1=Eccles|first1=J. C.|author-link1=John Carew Eccles|last2=Gibson|first2= W. C.| title=Sherrington: His Life and Thought| year=1979|publisher=[[Springer Science+Business Media]]|quote=His library was housed mainly in one large room with open shelves reaching to the ceiling and a couple of turntable bookcases, one of them completely filled with editions of his favourite among all books, Sir Thomas Browne's ''Religio Medici''|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jnFyBgAAQBAJ&pg=PT306|isbn=9783642618642}}</ref>
 -->| signature         = 
}}
'''Sir Thomas Browne''' ({{IPAc-en|b|r|aʊ|n}} "brown"; 19 October 1605{{snd}}19 October 1682) was an English [[polymath]] and author of varied works which reveal his wide learning in diverse fields including science and medicine, religion and the [[esoteric]]. His writings display a deep curiosity towards the [[Nature (philosophy)|natural world]], influenced by the [[Scientific Revolution]] of [[Francis Bacon|Baconian]] enquiry and are permeated by references to [[Classics|Classical]] and [[Bible|Biblical]] sources as well as the idiosyncrasies of his own personality. Although often described as suffused with [[melancholia]], Browne's writings are also characterised by wit and subtle humour, while his literary style is varied, according to genre, resulting in a rich, unique [[prose]] which ranges from rough notebook observations to polished [[Baroque]] eloquence.

== Biography ==
=== Early life ===
Thomas Browne was born in the parish of [[St Michael-le-Querne|St Michael]], [[Cheapside]], in London on 19 October 1605. He was the youngest child of Thomas Browne, a [[silk]] merchant from [[Upton-by-Chester|Upton, Cheshire]], and Anne Browne, the daughter of Paul Garraway of [[Lewes]], [[Sussex]]. He had an elder brother and two elder sisters.{{sfn|Robbins|2004}} The family, who had lived at Upton for several generations, were "evidently people of some importance" who "intermarried with families of position in that neighbourhood", and were [[armiger]]ous. Browne's paternal grandmother, Elizabeth, was the daughter of Henry Birkenhead, [[Clerk of the Green Cloth]] to [[Elizabeth I of England]] and [[Clerk of the Crown]] for the counties of [[Cheshire]] and [[Flintshire]].{{sfn|Williams|1902|p=1}} Browne's father died while he was young, and his mother married Sir Thomas Dutton of [[Gloucester]] and [[Isleworth]], [[Middlesex]], by whom she had two daughters.{{sfn|Williams|1902|pp=5{{ndash}}6}}

[[File:Lady Dorothy Browne (née Mileham); Sir Thomas Browne by Joan Carlile.jpg|thumb|''[[Lady Dorothy Browne and Sir Thomas Browne]]'' ({{circa|1641–1650}}), by [[Joan Carlile]]]]
Browne was educated at [[Winchester College]].{{sfn|Breathnach|2005}} In 1623, he went to [[Broadgates Hall]] of [[Oxford University]]. Browne was chosen to deliver the undergraduate oration when the hall was incorporated as [[Pembroke College, Oxford|Pembroke College]] in August 1624. He graduated from Oxford in January 1627, after which he studied medicine at [[University of Padua|Padua]] and [[University of Montpellier|Montpellier]] universities, completing his studies at [[University of Leiden|Leiden]], where he received a [[Doctor of Medicine|medical degree]] in 1633.  He settled in [[Norwich]] in 1637 and practised medicine there until he died in 1682.{{sfn|Abbott|1996|p=296}}<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/may/21/the-adventures-of-sir-thomas-browne-in-the-21st-century-hugh-aldersey-williams-review |work=The Guardian |date=21 May 2015 |last=Burrow |first=Colin  |title=The Adventures of Sir Thomas Browne in the 21st Century by Hugh Aldersey-Williams – review |access-date=23 August 2023}}</ref> 

In 1641, Browne married Dorothy Mileham of [[Burlingham St Peter]], [[Norfolk]]. They had 10 children, six of whom died before their parents.{{sfn|Barbour|2013|pp=284{{ndash}}286}}

===Literary career===
Browne's first literary work was ''[[Religio Medici]]'' ''(The Religion of a Physician)''. It surprised him when an unauthorised edition appeared in 1642, which included unorthodox religious speculations. An authorised text appeared in 1643, with some of the more controversial views removed. The expurgation did not end the controversy. The Scottish writer [[Alexander Ross (writer)|Alexander Ross]] attacked {{lang|la|Religio Medici}} in his {{lang|la|Medicus Medicatus}} (1645). Browne's book was placed upon the Papal ''[[Index Librorum Prohibitorum]]'' in the same year.{{sfn|Robbins|2004}}

{{multiple image | direction = horizontal | total_width= 300| header = | footer =Contents and first page of a 1646 copy of Browne's ''Pseudodoxia Epidemica'' | image1 = Broiwne-3.jpg | alt1 = aaa | caption1 = | image2 = Browne-4.jpg | alt2 =bbb | caption2 = }}
In 1646 Browne published his encyclopaedia, ''[[Pseudodoxia Epidemica]], or, Enquiries into Very many Received Tenents, and commonly Presumed Truths'', the title of which refers to the prevalence of false beliefs and "vulgar errors".  A sceptical work that debunks in a methodical and witty manner several legends circulating at the time, it displays the [[Francis Bacon|Baconian]] side of Browne—the side that was unafraid of what at the time was still called the "[[New Learning]]".  The book is significant in the [[history of science]] because it promoted an awareness of scientific journalism.{{citation required|date=August 2023}}

The last works published by Browne were two philosophical Discourses. They are closely related to each other in concept. The first, ''[[Hydriotaphia, Urn Burial|Hydriotaphia, Urn Burial, or a Brief Discourse of the Sepulchral Urns lately found in Norfolk]]'' (1658), was inspired by the discovery in Norfolk of some 40 to 50 [[Burial in Anglo-Saxon England|Anglo-Saxon burial urn]]s.<ref>{{cite journal|journal= British Archaeology|title=Spoilheap: Antiquities and the Art of Contemplation|volume=176 |date=January–February 2021 |page=66 |issn=1357-4442 }}</ref> It is a literary meditation upon death, the [[funerary]] customs of the world and the ephemerality of fame. The other discourse in the [[diptych]] is antithetical in style, subject matter and imagery. ''[[The Garden of Cyrus|The Garden of Cyrus, or The Quincuncial Lozenge, or Network Plantations of the Ancients, Artificially, Naturally, and Mystically Considered]]'' (1658) features the [[quincunx]] that Browne used to demonstrate evidence of [[Platonic realism|the Platonic forms]] in art and nature.{{sfn|Huntley|1968}}{{page needed|date=February 2018}}

=== Later life and knighthood ===
[[File:Sir Thomas Browne's House, Norwich.jpg|thumb|left|Browne's house in [[Norwich]]]]
Browne believed in the existence of [[angel]]s and [[witchcraft]].{{sfn|Dunn|1950|pp=26, 117}} He attended the 1662 [[Bury St Edmunds witch trials|Bury St Edmunds witch trial]],{{sfn|Breathnach|2005}} where his [[citation]] of a similar trial in Denmark may have influenced the jury's minds concerning two accused women, who were later found guilty of witchcraft.{{sfn|Thomas|1971|p=441}}

In November 1671, [[Charles II of England|King Charles II]], accompanied by his [[Court (royal)|Court]], visited Norwich.{{sfn|Breathnach|2005}} The courtier [[John Evelyn]], who had occasionally corresponded with Browne, made good use of the royal visit to call upon "the learned doctor" of European fame and wrote of his visit, recording that "his whole house and garden is a paradise and Cabinet of rarities and that of the best collection, amongst Medails, books, Plants, natural things". During his visit, Charles visited Browne's home. A [[banquet]] was held in [[St. Andrew's and Blackfriars' Hall, Norwich|St Andrew's Hall]] for the royal visit.  Obliged to honour a notable local, the name of the Mayor of Norwich was proposed to the King for [[knight]]hood. The Mayor, however, declined the honour and proposed Browne's name instead.{{citation required|date=August 2023}}

=== Death and aftermath ===
[[File:The skull of Sir Thomas Browne.jpg|thumb|Browne's skull, as illustrated in Charles Williams's ''The Measurements of the Skull of Sir Thomas Browne'' (1895)]]
Browne died on 19 October 1682, his 77th birthday. He was buried in the [[chancel]] of [[St Peter Mancroft]], Norwich. His skull was removed when his lead coffin was accidentally re-opened by workmen in 1840. It was not re-interred in St Peter Mancroft until 4 July 1922 when it was recorded in the [[Parish register|burial register]] as aged 317 years.<ref name="Dic">{{cite news |last1=Dickey |first1=Colin |title=The Fate of His Bones: Sir Thomas Browne and the craniokleptic impulse |url=http://www.cabinetmagazine.org/issues/28/dickey.php |access-date=24 August 2023 |work=[[Cabinet Magazine]] |issue=28 |date=2007}}</ref> Browne's [[coffin plate]],  which was stolen the same time as his skull, was also eventually recovered, broken into two halves, one of which is on display at St Peter Mancroft. Alluding to the commonplace opus of [[alchemy]] it reads, ''Amplissimus Vir Dns. Thomas Browne, Miles, Medicinae Dr., Annos Natus 77 Denatus 19 Die mensis Octobris, Anno. Dni. 1682, hoc Loculo indormiens. Corporis Spagyrici pulvere plumbum in aurum Convertit.'' — translated from Latin as "The esteemed Gentleman Thomas Browne, Knight, Doctor of Medicine, 77 years old, died on the 19th of October in the year of Our Lord 1682 and lies sleeping in this coffin. With the dust of his alchemical body he converts lead into gold".{{citation needed|date=December 2021}} The origin of the invented word [[spagyric|''spagyrici'']] is from the Greek ''spao'' to tear open + ''ageiro'' to collect, a signature neologism coined by [[Paracelsus]] to define his medicine-oriented alchemy; the origins of [[iatrochemistry]], being first advanced by him.{{sfn|Principe|2013|p=129}}

Browne's coffin-plate verse, along with the collected works of Paracelsus and several followers of the Swiss physician listed in his library, is evidence that although sometimes highly critical of Paracelsus, nevertheless, like the 'Luther of Medicine', he believed in [[palingenesis]], [[physiognomy]], alchemy, [[astrology]] and the [[kabbalah]].{{citation required|date=August 2023}}

The [[Library of Sir Thomas Browne]] was held in the care of his eldest son Edward until 1708. The auction of Browne and his son Edward's libraries in January 1711 was attended by [[Hans Sloane]]. Editions from the library were subsequently included in the founding collection of the [[British Library]].<ref name=finch>''A Facsimile of the 1711 Sales Auction Catalogue of Sir Thomas Browne and his son Edward's Libraries. Introduction, notes and index by J.S. Finch'' (E.J. Brill: Leiden, 1986) Page 7</ref>

==Autobiography==
On 14 March 1673, Browne sent a short autobiography to the antiquarian [[John Aubrey]], presumably for Aubrey's collection of ''[[Brief Lives]]'', which provides an introduction to his life and writings:

:...I was born in [[Cheapside|St Michael's Cheap]] in London, went to school at [[Winchester College]], then went to [[Oxford University|Oxford]], spent some years in foreign parts, was admitted to be a ''Socius Honorarius''{{Efn|Honorary fellow}} of the [[College of Physicians]] in London, Knighted September 1671, when the King,{{Efn|[[Charles II of England]]}} Queen and Court came to Norwich. [Wrote] ''[[Religio Medici]]'' in English, which was since translated into Latin, French, Italian, High and Low Dutch.{{Efn|German and Dutch or Flemish}} 
:''[[Pseudodoxia Epidemica|Pseudodoxia Epidemica, or Enquiries into Common and Vulgar Errors]]'' translated into Dutch four or five years ago.
:''[[Hydriotaphia, or Urn Buriall]].'' 
:''[[The Garden of Cyrus|Hortus Cyri [the Garden of Cyrus], or de Quincunce]].'' 
:Have some miscellaneous tracts which may be published...{{sfn|Preston|1995|p=vii|ps=, from ''Letters'' 376}}

==Literary influence==
[[File:Title-page of 1658 edition of 'Urn-Burial' and 'The Garden of Cyrus'.jpg|thumb|right|Title page of 1658 edition of ''Urn-Burial'' together with ''The Garden of Cyrus'']]
Browne is widely considered one of the most original writers in the English language. The freshness and ingenuity of his mind invested everything he touched with interest; while on more important subjects his style, if frequently ornate and Latinate, often rises to the highest pitch of stately eloquence.  He has a [[paradox]]ical and ambiguous place in the [[history of ideas]], as equally, a devout Christian, a promoter of the new [[induction (philosophy)|inductive]] science, and an adherent of ancient [[esoteric]] learning. For these reasons, one literary critic succinctly assessed him as "an instance of scientific reason lit up by mysticism in the [[Church of England]]".{{sfn|Sencourt|1925|p=126}} However, the complexity of Browne's labyrinthine thought processes, his highly stylised language, his many allusions to Biblical, Classical and contemporary learning, along with esoteric authors, are each contributing factors to why he remains obscure, little-read, and, thus, misunderstood.{{citation required|date=August 2023}}

A master [[neologist]], Browne appears at number 69 in the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]''{{'}}s list of top-cited sources. He has 775 entries in the OED of first usage of a word, is quoted in a total of 4131 entries of first evidence of a word, and is quoted 1596 times as first evidence of a particular meaning of a word. Examples of his coinages, many of which are of a scientific or medical nature, include 'ambidextrous', 'antediluvian', 'analogous', 'approximate', 'ascetic', 'anomalous', 'carnivorous', 'coexistence', 'coma', 'compensate', 'computer', 'cryptography', 'cylindrical', 'disruption', 'ergotisms', 'electricity', 'exhaustion', 'ferocious', 'follicle', 'generator', 'gymnastic', 'hallucination', 'herbaceous', 'holocaust', 'insecurity', 'indigenous', 'jocularity', 'literary', 'locomotion', 'medical', 'migrant', 'mucous', 'prairie', 'prostate', 'polarity', 'precocious', 'pubescent', 'therapeutic', 'suicide', 'ulterior', 'ultimate' and 'veterinarian'.<ref name="Hil">{{cite web |last1=Hilton |first1=Denny |title=Sir Thomas Browne and the Oxford English Dictionary |url=http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2012/08/sir-thomas-browne/ |website=Oxford Dictionaries |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |access-date=5 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170131193716/http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2012/08/sir-thomas-browne/ |archive-date=31 January 2017 |date= 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

The influence of his literary style spans four centuries. In the 19th century, Browne's reputation was revived by the [[romanticism|Romantics]]. [[Thomas De Quincey]], [[Samuel Taylor Coleridge]], and [[Charles Lamb (writer)|Charles Lamb]] (who considered himself the rediscoverer of Browne) were all admirers. Carlyle was also influenced by him.{{sfn|Barbour|2013}}{{page needed|date=February 2018}}

The composer [[William Alwyn]] wrote a [[symphony]] in 1973 based upon the rhythmical cadences of Browne's literary work ''[[Hydriotaphia, Urn Burial]]''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lloyd-Jones |first1=David |asin=B000A17GGK |title=(Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra ) |date=2005 |publisher=Naxos}}</ref>

The [[Argentina|Argentinian]] writer [[Jorge Luis Borges]] alluded to Browne throughout his literary writings, from his first publication, ''Fervor de Buenos Aires'' (1923) until his last years. He described Browne as "the best prose writer in the English language".{{Citation needed|date=July 2010}}

==Recognition==
In the 18th century, [[Samuel Johnson]], who shared Browne's love of the [[Latinate]], wrote a brief ''Life'' in which he praised Browne as a faithful Christian and assessed his prose.

The English author [[Virginia Woolf]] wrote two short essays about him, observing in 1923, "Few people love the writings of Sir Thomas Browne, but those who do are the salt of the earth."{{sfn|McNeillie|1988|p=368}}

[[Clive James]] included an essay on Browne in his [[Cultural Amnesia (book)|''Cultural Amnesia'']] collection. James celebrated Browne's style and originality, stating that Browne was "minting new coin" with everything he wrote.

== Portraits and influence in the visual arts ==
[[File:Thomas Browne statue.jpg|thumb|Statue of Browne in Norwich]]
The [[National Portrait Gallery, London|National Portrait Gallery]] in London has a contemporary portrait by [[Joan Carlile]] of [[Lady Dorothy Browne and Sir Thomas Browne|Sir Thomas Browne and his wife Dorothy]], probably completed between 1641 and 1650.<ref name="NPG">{{cite web |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161029073945/https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw00853/Dorothy-Lady-Browne-ne-Mileham-Sir-Thomas-Browne |archive-date=29 October 2016 |url=https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw00853/Dorothy-Lady-Browne-ne-Mileham-Sir-Thomas-Browne |title=Dorothy, Lady Browne (née Mileham); Sir Thomas Browne |work=National Portrait Gallery}}</ref>

More recent sculptural portraits include [[Henry Alfred Pegram]]'s 1905 statue of Sir Thomas contemplating with an urn in Norwich. This statue occupies the central position in the Haymarket beside St Peter Mancroft, not far from the site of his house. Unveiled on 19 October 1905, it was moved from its original position in 1973 and once more in 2023.

* In 1931 the English painter [[Paul Nash (artist)|Paul Nash]] was invited to illustrate a book of his own choice, Nash chose Sir Thomas Browne's ''Urn Burial'' and ''The Garden of Cyrus'', providing the publisher with a set of 32 illustrations to accompany Browne's Discourses. The edition was published in 1932. A pencil drawing by Nash called "Urne Buriall: Teeth, Bones and Hair" is held by Birmingham Museums Trust.

* In 2005 a small standing figure in silver and bronze, commissioned for the 400th anniversary of Browne's birth, was sculpted by Robert Mileham. 

* In 2016 the artists Peter Rodulfo and Mark Burrell elected Browne as honorary ''Great-Grandfather'' of the North Sea Magical Realists art-movement. Simultaneously they realised in painting items taken from Browne's ''[[Musaeum Clausum]]'' in its ''Rarities in Pictures'' section.

==Publications==
* ''[[Religio Medici]]'' (1642; authorised in 1643)
* ''[[Pseudodoxia Epidemica]]'' (1646)
* ''[[Hydriotaphia, Urn Burial]]'' (1658)
* ''[[The Garden of Cyrus]]'' (1658)
* ''[[A Letter to a Friend]]'' (1690)
* ''[[Christian Morals]]'' (1716)
* ''[[Musaeum Clausum]]'' Tract 13 from ''Miscellaneous Tracts'' (1684)

==See also==
* [[Neoplatonism]]
* [[Hermeticism]]
* [[Library of Sir Thomas Browne]]

== Notes ==
{{Notelist}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
* {{cite book |last1=Abbott |first1=Mary |title=Life Cycles in England, 1560–1720: Cradle to Grave |date=1996 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=9780415108430 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mNeymtxbkxgC&pg=PA296}}
* {{cite book |last1=Barbour |first1=Reid |title=Sir Thomas Browne: A Life |date=2013 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |location=Oxford |isbn=978-01996-7-988-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4dwVAAAAQBAJ}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Breathnach |first1=Caoimhghín S. |title=Sir Thomas Browne (1605–1682) |journal=[[Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine]] |date=2005 |volume=98 |issue=1 |pages=33{{ndash}}36 |doi=10.1177/014107680509800115 |url=https://archive.org/details/b22449577/mode/1up |pmc=1079241 | pmid = 15632239}}
* {{cite book |last1=Dunn |first1=William Parmly |title=Sir Thomas Browne: A Study in Religious Philosophy |date=1950 |publisher=[[University of Minnesota Press]] |isbn=978-08166-5-751-3 |page=|url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/sirthomasbrownes0000dunn/page/n5/mode/2up}}
* {{cite book |last1=Huntley |first1=Frank Livingston |title=Sir Thomas Browne, A Biographical and Critical Study |date=1968 |publisher=[[The University of Michigan Press]] |isbn=|oclc=23338778 |page=|url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/sirthomasbrowneb0000fran/page/n7/mode/2up}}
* [[Alice Leonard|Leonard, Alice]], and Sarah E. Parker, '"Put a Mark on the Errors": Seventeenth Century Medicine and Science', ''History of Science'', 61 (3), 2023, 287–307
* {{cite book |last1=McNeillie |first1=Andrew |title=The Essays of Virginia Woolf, Volume III, 1919-1924 |date=1988 |publisher=[[Harcourt Brace Jovanovich]] |location=New York |isbn=0-15-129057-1}}
* {{cite book |last1=Preston |first1=Claire |title=Sir Thomas Browne: Selected Writings |date=1995 |publisher=Carcanet |location=Manchester |isbn=978-1-85754-690-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NN5m2ujQlmYC}}
* {{cite book |last1=Principe |first1=Lawrence M. |author1-link=Lawrence M. Principe |title=The Secrets of Alchemy |date=2013 |publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]] |location=Chicago |isbn=978-0226103792 |page=|url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/secretsofalchemy0000prin/page/n5/mode/2up}}
* {{cite ODNB|last1=Robbins |first1=R. H. |last2=|first2=|editor1-first=Norma|editor1-last=Watt|author1-link=|date=2004|title=Browne, Sir Thomas |url=https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/3702 |url-access=subscription |location=Oxford |access-date=23 August 2023 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/3702}}
* {{cite book |last1=Sencourt |first1=Robert |title=Outflying Philosophy: A Literary Study of the Religious Element in the Poems and Letters of John Donne and in the Works of Sir Thomas Browne |date=1925 |publisher=Ardent Media |isbn=|oclc=2337758 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UkjIMpGzsosC}}
* {{cite book |last1=Thomas |first1=Keith |title=Religion and the Decline of Magic: Studies in Popular Beliefs in Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century England |date=1971 |publisher=[[Penguin Books]] |location=London |isbn=978-0-14-013744-6 |page=|url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/religiondecline00thom/page/n3/mode/2up}}
* {{cite book |last1=Williams |first1=Charles |title=The Pedigree of Sir Thomas Browne |date=1902 |location=Norwich |isbn=|oclc=970772143 |url=https://archive.org/details/b22449577/mode/2up}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book |last1=Finch |first1=Jeremiah Stanton |title=Sir Thomas Browne: a Doctor's Life of Science & Faith |date=1950 |publisher=Schuman |location=New York |isbn=|oclc=1153465828 |page=|url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/sirthomasbrowne0000unse/page/n19/mode/2up?view=theater |ref=none}}
*{{cite journal
|last=Keynes
|first=G
|date=December 1965
|title=Sir Thomas Browne
|journal=BMJ
|volume=2
|issue=5477
|pages=1505–10
| pmid = 5321828
| doi = 10.1136/bmj.2.5477.1505
|pmc=1847298 |ref=none
 }}
*{{cite journal
|last=Martin
|first=D C
|date=May 1976
|title=Sir Thomas Browne 1605–1682
|journal=[[Investigative Urology]]
|volume=13
|issue=6
|page=449
| pmid = 773893 |ref=none
}}
*{{cite journal
|last=Shaw
|first=A B
|date=July 1982
|title=Sir Thomas Browne: the man and the physician
|journal=BMJ
|volume=285
|issue=6334
|pages=40–2
| pmid = 6805806
| doi = 10.1136/bmj.285.6334.40
|pmc=1499136 |ref=none
 }}

==External links==
{{Sister project links
 |1= |display= |auto=yes |collapsible=|position= |style=
 |wikt= |c=yes |q=yes |s=yes 
}}
* [http://www.sirthomasbrowne.org.uk/ Sir Thomas Browne] from the Thomas Browne Project
* [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/index.html Works by Browne] from the [[University of Chicago]]
* {{Gutenberg author |id=304 | name=Thomas Browne}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Sir Thomas Browne}}
* {{Librivox author |id=2989}}

{{Authority control|state=collapsed}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Browne, Thomas}}
[[Category:English non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:Physiognomists]]
[[Category:Paracelsians]]
[[Category:People educated at Winchester College]]
[[Category:Alumni of Broadgates Hall, Oxford]]
[[Category:Leiden University alumni]]
[[Category:Anglican writers]]
[[Category:English knights]]
[[Category:1605 births]]
[[Category:History of mental health in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:People from London]]
[[Category:1682 deaths]]
[[Category:Writers from Norwich]]
[[Category:17th-century English medical doctors]]
[[Category:English male non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:English medical writers]]