In the briefest, highly selective sketch of Norwich's history - 

Norwich's  origins can be traced back to three Danish-Saxon fishing communities which once dwelt upon the terraced shingle banks of the Wensum known as Conesford, Westwic and Norwic which unified under the name of of Norwic (North port or settlement)  to become Norwich. Fully established as a town by the 10th century CE Norwich had its own mint which issued coins with the word NORVIC inscribed upon them. Following the Norman conquest of 1066, stone quarried from Caen in Normandy was transported across the North Sea and river to build and construct the City's two Norman architectural jewels, its Castle and Cathedral. 

The City's independence and trading status were enhanced under a Charter granted by King Richard I (the Lion heart) in 1194 for an annual payment to the King which freed the City and its citizens from all rents, tolls and taxes previously paid and permitted them to elect their own Reeve, (the senior official responsible under the Crown who often acted as chief magistrate). King Richard's Charter, granted in reward for Norwich's contribution to his ransom when kidnapped whilst returning from the Crusades, effectively allowed the City to be self governing, giving Norwich the same rights as London.

From the 13th century onward Norwich became a manufacturing city, exporting a wide variety of goods including pottery, wool and textiles, via the river Wensum. The river effectively connected the City to trade as far afield as Scandinavia and Russia, Germany and the Baltic North Sea cities as well as the Netherlands and Flanders. 

Norwich's trade and commerce with the Netherlands and Flanders in particular was vigorous throughout the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Dutch and Flemish (modern-day Belgium) influences in fields as diverse as horticulture, architecture, textiles in particular wool, painting, religious denomination, civic social policy and not least, migration over the centuries have all been significant in contributing to Norwich's economic well-being and cultural heritage. 

 

Like many cities in medieval Europe, Norwich built a wall around itself for defense, taxation of goods and control of entry to trade in the City. The city walls were built circa 1280 to 1340. At around 4 kilometres in length they enclosed an area larger than the city of London. Norwich's city walls were supplemented by Cow tower and Bishop gate bridge strengthening defenses at its weakest point, the exposed bend of the river which  semi-circles around the Cathedral. The Wensum was integral to the defense of medieval Norwich. Its semi-circular bend from New Mills at the north of the City to Carrow south-east of the City effectively functioning as a wall. 

The medieval river-gate at Carrow is unique to European city defenses. Consisting of two 'Boom' towers'  one standing on each side of the river, by placing either a timber 'boom' or chains between them, effectively prevented any vessel from sailing further upstream. Their ruins at Carrow bridge, along with a long stretch of the city's medieval walls nearby, survive to the present-day.  

It would have been after passing between the 'Boom-towers' water-gate at Carrow (historical photo above) that visitors by river to Norwich would have seen the city's many churches towers, (Norwich has the large number of  medieval churches in Northern Europe).  The city's two largest architectural structures, the  Castle  perched upon earthwork mound and Cathedral with flying buttresses and spire pointing heavenwards would have been visible many miles from the low viewpoint of water before arriving at the walled city.   

A spectacular section of the old city wall  survives to this day. It  rises sharp up the valley with the Black Tower at its summit. The  surviving section  is a remarkable display of medieval engineering skill and dramatic to view. Poorly signed, this section of the City's medieval walls remains unknown to many locals even.

Tragically, shortly after the completion of the City wall, Norwich, like almost every other city in Europe suffered from the pandemic of the Black Death which peaked from 1347 to 1351. The Black Death was the second disaster affecting Europe during the 14th century, the Great Famine occurring 1315–1317. The Black Death plague is estimated to have killed between 30% to 60% of Europe's population. Norwich was not exempt from this death-toll with over half its population dying from the disease. It was against the background of the Black Death that the city's Christian mystic Julian of Norwich (1343–c.1416) wrote her Revelations of divine Love, the first book to be written by a woman in English,which continues to grow in popularity for its spiritual message. 

A major contributing factor to Norwich's identity occurred during the Elizabethan era when Protestant refugees from the Spanish Netherlands were invited to settle in Norwich to invigorate the City's declining textile industry. In 1565 some 30 households of master weavers and their families, 300 people in total, traveled from the Netherlands to Norwich seeking refuge from Spanish Catholic persecution. Reports of the City's religious tolerance resulted in many more religious refugees migrating from the Netherlands and contributing to Norwich's manufacturing industries of weaving and wool. At one time almost one third of Norwich's population consisted of skilled artisan refugees, a crucial factor in shaping the City's identity. 'The Strangers' as they were known, brought with them their pet Canary birds. Fancy breeds of the Canary bird were  bred in in the city  and in the early 20th century  they became emblematic of Norwich football team. The Canaries holds claim to having the world's oldest football supporter's song, On the ball, City. 

England's first provincial newspaper the Norwich Post was printed in Norwich in 1701. Succeeded by the Norwich Mercury in 1737,  its reflective of the city's high literacy rate as well as its radical politics. Support for the French revolution was initially high in Norwich, its leading intellectual William Taylor even visiting Paris in order to  kiss the soil of Liberty. Norwich's radical and sane politics continues to the present-day. In the 2016 advisory Referendum it voted for the UK to Remain in the European Union. 

Its been said that prosperity and literacy were the two factors which were the driving forces between 1750-1850 which contributed to Norwich's theatrical, artistic, philosophical and musical life. Together, they cross-fertilised Norwich's cultural life in a way that was unique outside London. 

In contrast to its close continental connections Norwich was, and still is, geographically remote from any other English town in transport links, a situation which was not improved until the mid-nineteenth century with the advent of the railway. Indeed, its been said  that it was sometimes quicker for a Norwich citizen to travel via river, sea and canal to Amsterdam than to London until the arrival of the railway. Travelling to London involved traversing marsh and forest on poor roads with the risk of robbery and overnight hostelry and rest for horses. In contrast, travelling to Amsterdam involved transportation via tidal river, sea and canal, its primary hazard being crossing the North Sea.

Whether because of its radical politics or more likely a received perception of the City as a 'back-water', Norwich was not officially recognized  as a seat of learning until 1963 when elected as the host city to the University of East Anglia. The University was named  'East Anglia' as representative of the region as a whole rather than its host city, resulting in few even today knowing its location. The University  didn't however hesitate to adopt Norwich City's  'Do Different' motto as its own. 

Currently teaching over 17,000 students statistically UEA is the British University with the highest percentage of students nationwide who choose to settle in the city of their graduation, a major contributing factor to the City's 9% population growth in the past decade. Prestigious UEA alumni include the geneticist, Paul Nurse, awarded the 2001 Nobel Prize in Medicine and novelist, Kazou Ishiguru, awarded the Nobel prize for Literature in 2017.  

With its many continental connections and influences its not too surprising that Norwich is one of the most European influenced of all English cities. The City's 'Do different' mindset is in evidence today in its growth as a regional retail centre, as a place of academic excellence and as a place which has a unique blend of international and local artistic life. 

2. Norwich School of Painters

 

According to the church historian Thomas Fuller (1608-61)  17th century Norwich was, 'either a city in an orchard, or an orchard in a city, so equal are houses and trees blended in it' . This blending of the urban with leaf continues in present-day Norwich with its reputation as one of greenest of English cities. Thomas Browne, the city's first botanist, natural historian, archaeologist and literary figure of significance, was a contemporary of  the historian Thomas Fuller, and indeed a book by Fuller is listed as once in Browne's vast library. 

In many ways Thomas Browne (1605-82) is one of most dazzling and valuable jewels in the crown of Norwich's cultural heritage. Known of world-wide, contributing to diverse fields of knowledge Browne's star is currently in the ascendent with a resurgence of interest in the physician-philosopher and his diverse literary works. Browne was also, as the archaeologist Alan Carter noted, one of the first to speculate upon Norwich's origins. In Urn-Burial  (1658) he alludes to coins minted in Norwich (the earliest with  the inscription name Norvic is dated 850 CE), to the city being established sometime after the Roman occupation of Britain, and to it being a place of size before  destruction by fire following a Viking raid by King Swen Forkbeard in 1004 CE-

'Vulgar Chronology will have Norwich Castle as old as Julius Caesar; but his distance from these parts, and its Gothick form of structure, abridgeth such Antiquity. The British Coins afford conjecture of early habitation in these parts, though the City of Norwich arose from the ruins of Venta, and though perhaps not without some habitation before, was enlarged, builded, and nominated by the Saxons. In what bulk or populosity it stood in the old East-angle Monarchy, tradition and history are silent. Considerable it was in the Danish Eruptions, when Sueno burnt Thetford and Norwich', [4]

More often than not Thomas Browne refers to the Wensum simply as 'the Norwich river'. Its been speculated that the word 'Wensum' is a corruption of the old English of 'wendsome' meaning winding, and this, as almost all old rivers, the Wensum certainly is, as can be seen in the photo below of the river Wensum at Drayton, a few miles north-west of Norwich. 

Geographically speaking, the Wensum is an old or senile river, that is a river with a low gradient and low erosive power and with having flood-plains. Today the Wensum is listed as a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest and as a Special Area of Conservation. Nevertheless it is under threat of environmental damage from a proposed Western Link Road (WLR) which will seriously damage river wildlife and its immediate environment with little, if any benefit to the easing of  traffic in the region whatsoever.[5]

On several occasions in his Natural History notes Thomas Browne refers to the network of shallow lakes in the north-east quarter of Norfolk as 'broad waters' . In all probability its from his description that the nomenclature of these shallow lakes  originated from to become  known as the Norfolk Broads. Today, the Norfolk Broads have National Park status and protection 'however it was not until the 1960's that aerial photography determined the Norfolk Broads were in fact not natural but man-made, the product of many years of digging for peat as a source of heat which following flood and inundation from the sea, formed the present-day Broads. 

On the river upstream between New Mills to Hellesdon Mills its possible to often spot the iridescent blue plumage and bullet-like flight of the kingfisher zipping low over the water. As a keen ornithologist who at one time or another kept an eagle, cormorant, bittern, owl and ostrich to study, Browne noted of Norfolk -

The number of rivulets becks & streams whose banks are beset with willows & Alders which give occasion of easier fishing & slooping to the water makes that handsome coloured bird abound which is called Alcedo Ispida or the King fisher. They build in holes about gravel pits.. their nests wherein is to bee found great quantity of small fish bones. & lay very handsome round & as it were polished eggs.

Browne was a keen botanist and noted of the aquatic plant Acorus Calamus  known as Sweet Flag (photo below).

                         

'This elegant plant groweth very plentifully and beareth its Julus yearly by the banks of Norwich river  chiefly about Claxton and Surlingham. & also between norwich & Hellsden bridge so that I have known Heigham Church in the suburbs of Norwich strewed all over with it, it hath been transplanted and set on the sides of Marish ponds in several places of the country where it thrives and beareth ye Julus yearly. [6]

The Sweet Briar bridge to Hellesdon (photo above) is a great example of the legacy from the 1930's. Constructed in 1932, Sweet Briar bridge, along with the acres of landscaped parks of Eaton and Wensum, innovative social housing at Mile Cross, libraries, and urban regeneration in general, were all constructed and achieved through the collective work-force of the unemployed of Norwich during the Great Depression of the 1930's era.

The river Wensum upstream of New Mills is navigable only to light, non-powered vessels and is at turns scenic, neglected and wild. Its only with one's eye at water level that one gains a perspective of  the sheer size and abundance of mature trees growing near the river. Approaching Hellesdon Mill two varieties of willow can be seen growing together. (above). 

The weeping willow is a naturally occurring mutation of Salix babylonica which was introduced to England from China in the early 17th century during a time of fascination with all things Chinese ts cultivated for it's beautiful appearance. The more common willow Salix fragilis, 'crack willow', is named for the loud noise it makes when it breaks.  Grown on the river-bank so that its binding roots protect the bank from erosion its used for commercial willow farming (withey beds) and is managed by pollarding. Some of humans' earliest manufactured items may have been made from willow. A fishing net made from willow discovered by archaeologists dates back to 8300 BCE and basic crafts, such as baskets, fish traps, wattle fences and wattle and daub house walls, were often woven from osiers or withies (rod-like willow shoots, often grown in coppices). [7]

The Dictionary of British Place-names states that the name Hellesdon comes from Hægelisdun (the spelling of the location 985 CE), meaning 'hill of a man named Hægel', with the spelling changed to Hailesduna by 1086. Hægelisdun is recorded  traditionally, as the place where King Edmund was killed by Viking invaders in 869 CE, although there remains no agreement on exactly where King Edmund died.

Its intriguing to think that momentous history such King Edmund dying in battle near Norwich remains ultimately unknown, such speculation returns our far from exhaustive essay where it began, the remote in time origins of the city, whilst also  exploring the fascinating relationship between city, river and artist.

At the current time of writing, Norwich faces the same challenge as many cities throughout the world in the wake of the Pandemic (2020 - ?) how to make the city, in particular its centre, a safe place to visit, work, socialise and be entertained.  Norwich,  having survived war, plague, flood, fire, famine, rebellion and riot in its thousand plus year history, will surely become a busy, enterprising city, proud to 'Do Different'  once more in the near future.

                         

The Wensum river at 'The Willows', five minutes from my doorstep.

In modern times Urn-Burial  has been recognised as closely corresponding to the Nigredo of alchemy. The black despair and melancholy experienced by the adept beginning their quest is encapsulated in  Browne's succinct phrase lost in the uncomfortable night of nothing an expression apt for the suffering of millions world-wide today, anxious about income and the future, grieving, ill or depressed in the wake of the current pandemic.

Thomas Browne began his medical career in Norwich in 1637, just a few years before English society was sufficiently polarized to engage in Civil war (1642-49) resulting in an estimated 100,000 deaths. Never one for political controversy, Browne occupied himself with establishing his medical practice in Norwich, and compiling and revising his encyclopaedia Pseudodoxia Epidemica (1646) during the years of English Civil war. 

The very title of Browne's colossal endeavour depicts superstition and erroneous beliefs as if a disease.(Lt. Pseudo false, Doxia Truth, Epidemica widespread occurrence of an infectious disease). The prescription for curing such epidemics of 'vulgar errors'  were, for Browne, the combined medicine of - consultation of the Classical authors of antiquity, empirical experiment, inductive reasoning, and collaborative debate with contemporaries. Often engaging in all of these methods in order to ascertain truth, Browne is credited with introducing up-to-date scientific journalism to the English reading public as well as hypothesis in the pages of his Pseudodoxia Epidemica.

It's in a chapter of Pseudodoxia Epidemica which discusses whether the mythic creature known as  the Basilisk is capable of emitting deadly rays from its eyes that Browne engages in a medical speculation of great importance to our times-

'if Plagues or pestilential Atoms have been conveyed in the Air from distant Regions, if men at a distance have infected each other,........there may proceed from subtler seeds, more agile emanations, which contemn those Laws, and invade at distance unexpected'. [2] 

As a doctor Thomas Browne (1605-82) could not help but take an interest in disease. Along with his interest in ancient Greek medicine, primarily the writings of Hippocrates, he also took an interest in ancient Greek mythology. In his medical essay A Letter to a Friend (circa 1656) Browne alludes to the Greek myth of the origin of disease, Pandora and her Box. The Greek myth recounts how Pandora was given the gift of a sealed jar which held within it all the misfortunes for humanity. Her great curiosity overcame her fear of what the jar contained and breaking its seal she released disease, sorrow, conflict and war with only hope remaining inside the jar. The name Pandora means 'All Gifts' both good and bad gifts being bestowed upon Humanity. 

Its whilst alluding to the Greek myth of Pandora and theorizing upon the origin of disease, that Browne introduces the word 'Pathology' into English language in A Letter to a Friend.

'New Discoveries of the Earth discover new Diseases: for besides the common swarm, there are endemial and local Infirmities proper unto certain Regions, which in the whole Earth make no small number: and if Asia, Africa, and America should bring in their List, Pandora's Box would swell, and there must be a strange Pathology'.

Whether Browne, during his travels and studies in Continental Europe from 1629-32 attending the Universities of Padua in Italy, Montpelier in France and Leiden in Holland, upon hearing of an outbreak of the plague in Milan, steered well clear of visiting the Italian city, or, alternatively, viewed the column erected in Milan informing of the crime and punishment of those believed to have started the outbreak, is not known. Precise biographical details are scant. In either event, the Milan plague was still in his memory in his old age when compiling the bizarre inventory of lost, rumoured and imaginary books, paintings and objects known as Museum Clausum (c. 1675) which includes the sinister fantasy item -

* Pyxis Pandoræ, or a Box which held the Unguentum Pestiferum, which by anointing the Garments of several persons begat the great and horrible Plague of Milan. [3]

As a Royalist Browne must have been under intense psychological distress during the years of the Protectorate of Cromwell (1650-59) and his Urn-Burial has been described as a threnody to the waste of human life during the English civil war. Prompted by the accidental unearthing of several burial urns in a Norfolk field just as its secondary title A Discourse upon the supulchrall urnes lately found in Norfolk, informs, Urn-Burial opens with dazzling literary showmanship  naming the main themes of the discourse, notably Time and Memory, Death and the after-life. 

In his scientific, spiritual and mystical analysis of death and the after-life, Browne first surveys the burial rites and custom of various nation's throughout history. His early comparative religion skills references the Chinese, Persian, Roman, Greek and Egyptian civilizations, the Moslem, Hindi and Judaic religions, as well as one of the very earliest mentions of the Zoroastrian religion in Western literature. Like his near contemporary, Athanasius Kircher (1602-80), Browne recognized the syncretic nature of religious symbols, but just like Kircher, he was often misguided in his comparative religion studies.

The unknowingness of the human condition is illustrated in striking medical imagery thus- 

'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 Embryon Philosophers'.

Closely related to Browne's medical imagery, there is also what might be termed opiate imagery in Urn-Burial. Widely in use since the sixteenth century, the Swiss alchemist-physician Paracelsus (1493-1541) was among the earliest advocates of opium. Such was its widespread usage in the seventeenth century that Dr. Thomas Sydenham (1624-89) the so-called 'Father of English medicine' whose books are well-represented in Browne’s vast library, declared- 

'Among the remedies which has pleased the Almighty God to give to man to relieve his sufferings, none is so universal and so efficacious as opium.'

Browne's commonplace notebooks include observations upon dosage and effects of opium, while  knowledge of its recreational usage with sex can be found in Pseudodoxia Epidemica 

'since Opium it self is conceived to extimulate unto venery, and the intent and effect of eating Opium, is not so much to invigorate themselves in coition, as to prolong the Act, and spin out the motions of carnality'. [4]

In Urn-Burial the poppy flower, Opium and Oblivion are invariably interconnected. 'But the iniquity of Oblivion blindly shaketh her poppy' for example. In a heady fusion of philosophical stoicism, medical imagery and empirical observation, Browne declares of the human condition and also perhaps of the psychological effects of opium -

'There is no antidote against the Opium of Time, which temporally considereth all things.'

Its  been proposed that one reason why the prose of Urn-Burial  and its twin The Garden of Cyrus, in particular the transcendent prose of the fifth and last chapter of each Discourse is unlike any other seventeenth century English literature, may have been from Browne writing under the influence of opium. As a physician Browne was licenced to obtain Opium, the only available painkiller available in his day. During the decade of the Protectorate of Cromwell (1650-59) and the highly uncertain days which it engendered, it may have been very tempting for Royalist supporters, particularly those of an empirical nature such as Browne, to reach into the medicine cabinet.

'In a Hydropicall body ten years buried in a Church-yard, we met with a fat concretion, where the nitre of the Earth, and the salt and lixivious liquor of the body, had coagulated large lumps of fat, into the consistence of the hardest castile-soap: whereof part remaineth with us'.

Burial, putrefaction and interment are all synonymous with the Nigredo stage of alchemy defined by C.G. Jung thus - 

'the original half animal state of unconsciousness was known to the adept as the Nigredo, chaos, confused mass, as inextricable interweaving of the soul with the body'. [5] 

 According to Jung-

'the nigredo not only brought decay, suffering, death, and the torments of hell visibly before the eyes of the alchemist, it also cast the shadow of melancholy over his solitary soul. In the blackness of his despair he experienced.. grotesque images which reflect the conflict of opposites into which the researcher's curiosity had led him. His work began with a katabasis, a journey to the underworld as Dante also experienced it'. [6] 

Urn-Burial alludes to several Soul journeys of classical literature including Homer's Odyssey in which the wily hero Ulysses descends into the Underworld, Macrobius's commentary on the planetary Soul journey Scipio's Dream and the Greek philosopher Plato's myth of Er, as well as Dante's Inferno. The religious mystic in Browne knew that each one of us from birth, conscious or not of the fact, embarks upon a soul-journey with Death as a final port of call.

The Swiss psychologist C.G.Jung (1875-1961) freed modern-day scholarship from many of the prejudices and misunderstandings which have hindered study of western esoteric traditions. Today, the thematic concerns of Urn-Burial can confidently be identified as matching the nigredo of alchemy and may even be the template upon which Browne modeled his discourse upon. Urn-Burial's counterpart, The Garden of Cyrus reinforces this interpretation for its opening pages muse upon paradise, a frequent symbol of the albedo or whitening in the alchemical opus succeeding the Nigredo.

C.G. Jung  states- 'As we all know, science began with the stars, and mankind discovered in them the dominants of the unconscious, the "gods," as well as the curious psychological qualities of the zodiac: a complete projected theory of human character'.  [7]   

As the most remote planet known to the ancients, Saturn was believed to be a cold, heavy planet, qualities which were confirmed millennia later by modern science. In the western esoteric traditions of alchemy and astrology, Saturn is associated with restriction, contraction, limitation and melancholy. As the ruler of isolation and quarantine Saturn is the lockdown god par excellence.  'Old Father Time' depicted with his scythe as the Grim Reaper is a variant upon symbolism associated with Saturn.

Originally an Italian agricultural god, other implements associated with Saturn include the pruning-hook,  spade and the hour-glass, as well as the oar for its slow, regular strokes which, like the ticking of a clock,  propel a boat through time.

The first volume of the Theatrum Chemicum (Chemical Theatre) features over 400 pages of writings by the Belgian physician Gerhard Dorn (c. 1530 - c. 1584). The foremost promoter of Paracelsian alchemy, Dorn devised his own planetary symbolism in order to express his psychological insights, including that of an  'invisible sun'. We can be confident that Browne read the Theatrum Chemicum closely, he appropriated Dorn's planetary symbolism of an 'invisible Sun' for his own purposes, featuring it at the apotheosis of Urn-Burial as the mysterious life-force we each possess. In a high flourish of Baroque oratory Browne declaims- 

'But man is a Noble Animal, splendid in ashes, and pompous in the grave, solemnizing Nativities and Deaths with equal lustre, nor omitting Ceremonies of bravery, in the infamy of his nature. Life is a pure flame, and we live by an invisible Sun within us'....

A major theme of Urn-Burial is the futility of the endeavour to be remembered after death, especially through funerary monuments, including the earliest and most spectacular, the pyramids of ancient Egypt. Thomas Browne did not need to look far from his doorstep for ostentatious displays of vain-glory or 'pompous in the grave' monuments. 

Though little known, the city of Norwich is home to one of the world's largest and finest collections of funerary monuments. Erected by various civic dignitaries, Norwich's surviving monuments are evidence of the great wealth the City once generated as an important European trading City. Browne would have had opportunity to see these extravagant and costly monuments, mostly sculpted from marble stone, some of which are adorned to saturation point with obscure and learned religious symbols which the City's merchant mayors loaded onto them, seemingly in competition with each other. But it is just as Browne repeatedly stresses in Urn-Burial, the dignitaries who wanted their names to be remembered and their monuments admired, are now long forgotten and their monuments are housed behind locked or restricted access doors of  mainly disused or redundant churches. It was only as recently as 2012 that the source of the Layer monument's (below) iconography was identified. A wealth of religious symbolism, some of which is esoteric, remains to be studied on the funerary monuments of the medieval churches of Norwich. Photographs and details of Norwich funerary monuments are featured throughout this essay.

As great a religious mystic as Julian of Norwich or Meister Eckhart, Thomas Browne was well-aware of various altered states of religious consciousness, naming many at the conclusion of  Urn-Burial thus-

'And if any have been so happy as truly to understand Christian annihilation, extasis, exolution, liquefaction, transformation, the kiss of the Spouse, gustation of God, and ingression into the divine shadow, they have already had an handsome anticipation of heaven; the glory of the world is surely over, and the earth in ashes unto them'.

Much of Browne's mysticism rests in his highly original symbolism along with the plexiformed construction and relationship of his two 1658 discourses. Although appearing identical, each being prefaced with a dedicatory epistle and consisting of five chapters, are not unlike two white, crystalline substances which, when tasted are found to differ sharply; Urn-Burial is discovered to be the bitter salt of  Stoicism, a sprinkling of which is essential for spiritual well-being in the face of illness or disease, death and the grave.  In complete contrast, The Garden of Cyrus with its playful delight in demonstrating archetypal pattern, design and order in art and nature is written in a literary style not unlike a hyperactive sugar rush.  

A large part of esoteric schemata involves correspondences and polarities or opposites. Together the diptych discourses display polarity in theme, imagery and style. (Browne is credited as introducing the very word 'Polarity' into the English language). It was Frank Huntley who first advanced the interpretation that Browne's Discourses simultaneously progress in sequence from the Grave to the Garden, mirror each other in imagery, such as darkness and light, and are circular with Cyrus concluding Oroboros-like returning to night, sleep and darkness. [11]

A plethora of opposites exist between the two Discourses including and this list is far from exhaustive - Earth and Heaven, Grave and Garden, Accident and Design, Darkness and Light, Doubt and Certainty, Death and Life, Ephemeral and Eternal, Time and Space, Microcosm and Macrocosm.  

Contemplation of the body and soul in Urn-Burial gives way to a preoccupation with ideas associated with the mind and Spirit in The Garden of Cyrus. In terms of planetary symbolism Urn-Burial is strongly Saturnine with its theme of Time while The Garden of Cyrus has Space as its template and is utterly Mercurial in its communication of esoteric revelations. Even stylistically the two Discourse differ, the slow-paced, Baroque oratory of Urn-Burial's primary appeal is to ear its sonorous prose is best appreciated read aloud. In complete contrast the sensory organ of the eye and the visual in design, pattern and shape is prominent throughout the hasty, excited prose of Cyrus. 

Given Browne's deep interest in the esoteric we cannot overlook C.G.Jung's observation that the opposites and their union was the chief preoccupation of alchemists. Jung's study of alchemy led him to believe that the opposites are one of the most fruitful sources of psychic energy and for him their union played a decisive role in the alchemical process stating -'the "alchemystical" philosophers made the opposites and their union one of the chiefest objects of their work'. [12] The resultant synergy and unconscious associations for the reader between the two Discourses may well be Browne's literary concept of the Philosopher's Stone.

The psychological element in Browne's writings was admired by the poet Coleridge who declared of him that he, 'added to the consciousness hidden worlds within worlds' The Swiss psychologist C.G. Jung when introduced to Browne's declaration in his Religio Medici that- There is all Africa and her prodigies in us was deeply moved and immediately wrote it down. Understanding of the relationship between the two doctors Browne and Jung, is a rich, yet little explored field. Both naturally held a deep understanding of the human condition acquired from their profession, and both knew that with suffering comes spiritual growth.  Browne's Urn-Burial and The Garden of Cyrus as well as his A Letter to a Friend were all written as condolences for bereaved patrons. 

Browne describes the blessings of not knowing the future and the relationship between memory, suffering and self-preservation  in Urn-Burial thus -

'Afflictions induce callosities, miseries are slippery, or fall like snow upon us, which notwithstanding is no unhappy stupidity. To be ignorant of evils to come, and forgetful of evils past, is a merciful provision in nature, whereby we digest the mixture of our few and evil days, and our delivered senses not relapsing into cutting remembrances, our sorrows are not kept raw by the edge of repetitions'.

Writing currently at a time of great sorrow and potentially in the near future of great anger, strife and conflict if the consequences of the Pandemic and the socio-economic inequalities it has highlighted throughout the world are not resolved, C.G. Jung reminds us that -

'Tears, sorrow, and disappointment are bitter, but wisdom is the comforter in all psychic suffering. Indeed, bitterness and wisdom form a pair of alternatives: where there is bitterness wisdom is lacking, and where wisdom is there can be no bitterness'. [13] 

The dark, sombre and gloomy half of Browne's literary diptych speaks for our times and for all times. The worthy doctor gently draws to our attention to the fact that - 'the certainty of death is attended with uncertainties, in time, manner, places', and of how little we know of ourselves, and how unlikely it is we will be remembered beyond a generation or two at most. Our days are finite and numbered and the inescapable port of call on our soul-journey is death he reminds us, in ornate, baroque prose. 

Browne's Urn-Burial is a high watermark in English prose. Acknowledged as a work of World Literature, its pages, as countless readers throughout generations have discovered, are a valuable source of wisdom.  Reading Urn-Burial today is a timely reminder of how vulnerable we are to the invisible and unseen, and of how temporal our lives are; something which the devout Norwich physician seldom, if ever, needed reminding of.

Notes

[1 ] The great plague of Milan in 1630 was alleged to have been started by a Milanese barber and the Commissioner of Public Health. They were executed and a column was erected in Milan in August 1630 informing of their crime.  

[2] Pseudodoxia Epidemica Book 3 chapter 7 of  'On the Basilisk'.

[3] Miscellaneous tract 13  item 24 of Antiquities and Rarities of several sorts in Museum Clausum (circa 1675)

[4] Pseudodoxia Epidemica Book 8 chapter 7

[5] Collected Works  Vol. 14:696

[6] C. W.  Vol.14: 93

[7] C.W. Vol. 12:346. 

[8] Religio Medici Part 2 :11

[9] Religio Medici Part 2 :6 

[10] The Theatrum Chemicum is listed in the 1711 Sales Catalogue of Browne Library on page 25 no. 124  as 5 vols. Strasbourg 1613

[11] Frank Huntley Sir Thomas Browne: A Biographical and Critical Study, pub. Ann Arbour 1962 

[12] CW 8:414 and CW 12: 557 and CW.  vol. 14 Foreword 

[13] C.W 14: 330

Books consulted 

* Reid Barbour - Sir Thomas Browne A Life pub. Oxford University Press 2013

* Thomas Browne: Selected Writings edited and with an introduction by Kevin Killeen pub.Oxford          University Press 2014

Images

*Top - Woodcut, the Nigredo Vol. 4 Theatrum Chemicum (1613) 

* Death wearing a Crown (Corona) Joseph Paine Monument (1673), St. Gregory's, Norwich 

* Detail of allegorical figure of Time from the Sotherton Monument (1611), Saint Andrew's, Norwich.

*  Woodcut, the Nigredo Vol. 4 Theatrum Chemicum (1613)

* The Layer Monument (1608) St.John the Baptist, Maddermarket, Norwich

* SCIOLTA  (Freed) Allegorical image of the soul released from the cage of the body.  Suckling Monument  (1616) St. Andrew's Norwich 

* 4th edition of Pseudodoxia Epidemica with first publication of Urn-Burial and The Garden of Cyrus appended.

Recommended Listening

Icelandic composer Johann Johannson (1968-2018) is still missed in the music world. 

His song 'The Sky's gone dim and the Sun is Black' could not be more nigredo in mood.

Dr. Browne may well have prescribed George Harrison's song All things must pass (1970) to his patients. As a devout Christian he'd have known that Harrison's song-title originates from the prophecy of Christ in the Gospel of Matthew in which the Judaic prophet Jesus says “All these things must come to pass'. But its not the transitory nature of life and inevitability of death which Harrison is singing about here, but simply the passing of The Beatles as a group.

This essay with thanks to Dr. E. Player.

 In Memoriam  Richard Paul Faulkner (1958-2020)

The word 'mandala' originates from a Sanskrit word meaning 'disc' and many mandalas are circular in shape. Defined also as a geometric configuration of symbols which can be used as a spiritual guidance tool, mandalas are universal, they can be found not only in Tibetan Buddhist religious art, but also in Christian iconography, as well as the iconography of Western esoteric traditions such as alchemy, astrology and the kabbalah. Although usually associated as visual art-works, mandalas are not exclusively visual. The German composer J.S. Bach's late musical work Die Kunst der Fuge  (The Art of Fugue BVW 1080) with its  meditative and abstract, yet thematically related canons and fugues, is in structure, content and function an aural representation of a mandala [2]. In nature many species of flower have radiating, wheel-like petals and circular centres, making them mandala-like in structure with their beauty inviting contemplation. In India there's a dance known as the nyithya dance which is named the mandala dance, while in Maurice Bejart's contemporary choreography of Stravinsky's Le Sacre du Printemps, a mandala  is formed by dancers with their sacrificial victim at its centre (below).

 

In 'The Alchemical Mandala: A survey of the mandala in the western esoteric traditions' (1989), leading British authority on alchemy, Adam Maclean (b.1948, Glasgow) discusses over thirty mandalas taken from the iconography of 17th century European alchemical literature. Each Western esoteric mandala is accompanied by the author's insightful knowledge of alchemy's rich and complex symbolism. Maclean notes that Western mandalas are an important but neglected aspect of art history which urgently require the attention of scholars and historians. From his generous reproduction of all three mandala variants found in Andrea Libavius's Alchemia (1606) concrete evidence of the seventeenth century funerary monument known as the Layer monument was cemented in 2013 [3].

Returning to the dominant themes and imagery of Urn Burial and the Garden of Cyrus. Inspired by a recent archaeological discovery in Norfolk, Urn-Burial opens with a survey of the burial rites and customs of various nations, highlighting Browne's comparative religion studies.  Imagery of darkness, night, sleep and unknowing pervades the pages of his exploration of the invisible world. Life's ending's, and human beliefs  about death are sombrely surveyed, Browne the doctor, reminds his reader of their mortality, the inevitability of their death, and the unlikeliness of their being remembered very long. Urn-Burial has been lauded throughout the centuries for its stately, ornate Baroque flourishes of prose. Whilst being the strongly Christian and stoical half of the diptych it also includes mention of ghosts, spirits, vampirism and even altered states of  spiritual consciousness. Urn-Burial has been described as a threnody to the dead of the English Civil war. At a time when England's population was estimated to have been a little over 5 million its estimated that over 200,000 lives were lost in the seven year period of the English Civil war (1642-49). Exceeding anything England has ever experienced to the present-day of writing, its little wonder that English society was even further psychologically traumatised when living in the experimental, Puritan Republic of Cromwell (1650 -59).

In complete polarity, The Garden of Cyrus examines life's visible beginnings, including germination and growth in botany. Its hasty in style and playful in tone, whilst also repeatedly demonstrating the ubiquity of the number five and the Quincunx pattern in art, nature and religious symbolism. Imagery involving Light, optics and growth crowd its pages. Overtly hermetic in content,  its alludes to several esoteric disciplines which  Browne subscribed to, including Paracelsus, physiognomy and the kabbalah. The discourse also features Browne's highly original proper-name and place name symbolism, often originating from Biblical and Ancient world sources; whilst its central chapter is crowded with numerous sharp-eyed botanical observations, botany being an essential pursuit for physicians at the time. 

But just how The Garden of Cyrus has never been recognised as exemplary of literary writings  which are strongly influenced by hermetic philosophy, remains a great mystery; its very first page alludes to  major themes, symbols and preoccupations associated with western esoteric traditions. Opening with the patron "deity" associated with Paracelsian alchemy, namely Vulcan, featuring Browne’s study of comparative religion, employing highly original spiritual-optical imagery, speculating upon the Creation and life’s beginnings, citing Plato’s discourse Timaeus, (the supreme authority for Hermetic philosophers) and finally, conjuring the potent alchemical 'coniunctionis' symbol of Sol et Luna, Browne could not spell out the esoteric theme of his discourse harder if he tried.  Little wonder  that for three and a half centuries its pages have baffled most and delighted few, such as the Romantic poet, Coleridge for example. [4]

Browne reconciled the wisdom of Western esoteric traditions such as alchemy and the kabbalah to Christianity in exactly the same way as the vanguard Renaissance advocates of esotericism, Marsilio Ficino (b.19th October 1433- d.1499) and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463-1494) by giving credence to a Prisca Theologia, a belief in a single, true theology shared by all religions and whose wisdom is passed on in a golden chain through a series of mystics and prophets which included Moses and Zoroaster, Pythagoras and Plato. In particular, the mythic Egyptian Hermes Trismegistus or ‘thrice greatest’ (being the greatest priest, philosopher and king) was appropriated by Hermetic philosophers as a wise pagan prophet who foresaw the coming of Christianity. In reality the writings known as the Corpus Hermeticum  which were attributed to  Hermes Trismegistus originated from the early Christian era, and not before, as believed. Such imaginative comparative religion sanctioned the study of pagan philosophers such as Pythagoras and Plato, and justified the Bible's antiquity, wisdom and  superiority to devout Christians.  

It was Frank Huntley who is credited as the first to identify the circular nature of Browne's discourses. Huntley saw evidence of Browne's creative intent of the circle uniting his two Discourses in the penultimate paragraphs of The Garden of Cyrus where imagery  involving night, darkness, sleep and death returns; thus Browne's essay on life's beginnings, The Garden of Cyrus unites with Urn Burial with its thematic concern of life's endings and imagery of darkness, night and sleep. Huntley viewed this return of Urn-Burial's theme and imagery as evidence of  Browne utilizing imagery of the tail-eating snake of alchemy, known as the Ouroboros, shaping his twin Discourses' overall structure [5]. Browne had reflected upon the tail-eating snake or Ouroboros in his medical essay A Letter to a Friend  (c.1656) -

One of C.G. Jung's greatest achievements was his discovery that at its deepest strata human consciousness is undifferentiated, thus symbols originating from civilizations remote to each other in time and geography nevertheless often display striking similarities. The symbols of the Greek Ouroboros (above) and the Chinese Yin Yang symbol (below) express the self-same duality or polarity, and balanced view of the total forces of good and evil, life and death.

'And, though none of the seven wonders, yet a noble piece of Antiquity, and made by a Copy exceeding all the rest, had its principal parts disposed after this manner, that is, the Labyrinth of Crete, built upon a long quadrate, containing five large squares, communicating by right inflections, terminating in the centre of the middle square, and lodging of the Minotaur, if we conform unto the description of the elegant medal thereof in Agostino'. [7]

 

                                                          

One of Western civilization's earliest mandalas originates from the poetry of the ancient Greek author Homer (circa 500 BCE). Homer's epic poems The Iliad and The Odyssey, not unlike Browne's discourses, are also a two-in-one literary work, the masculine theme of the Trojan war in The Iliad  differs starkly to the adventures and affairs of the heart of The Odyssey, with its hero Odysseus endeavouring to return to his wife, Penelope. Both of Homer's epic poems are mentioned in Urn-Burial and The Garden of Cyrus, but its at the apotheosis of The Garden of Cyrus that Browne alludes to the weaponry of the Greek warrior Achilles, shortly before delivering his scientific credentials -

'Flat and flexible truths are beat out by every hammer. But Vulcan and his whole forge, sweat to work out Achilles' his armour'

Homer’s long and detailed description of the  Achilles' shield  of over 100 lines is utterly mandala-like in concept. Angelo Monticelli's visual realization of  Achilles’ shield (circa 1820) divides the shield into five concentric rings. From its centre it depicts the whole universe, with constellations and planets, as well as human life, including a wedding, a marketplace and tribunal. Wartime is represented by a victim of a siege, peacetime by sowing, a harvest and dancing. The stream of Oceanus encircles the land mass. The twelves signs of the zodiac and Apollo riding a chariot of four horses can be seen at its centre. [8]

In alchemy the primordial symbolism of colour is represented by the colour schemata of Nigredo and Albedo (Blackness and Whiteness) . There's a strong case to be made for Urn Burial as a symbolic realization of the Nigredo stage of alchemy. As the first of four stages in the alchemical opus, the Nigredo  (Blackness) represents the psychological state of melancholic gloom and despair which the adept faced beginning the alchemical opus.  The historical circumstances in which Urn-Burial was written,  its many grave and sombre meditations upon Death, mortification, putrefaction, embalmment, funerary urns and monuments,  its repeatedly condemnation of the vain-glory of  being remembered after death as a futile hope,  makes it utterly exemplary of the Nigredo . Browne's poetic phrase, 'lost in the uncomfortable night of nothing' encapsulates the Nigredo stage of alchemy, which  C. G. Jung  describes thus-

'the Nigredo not only brought decay, suffering, death, and the torments of hell visibly before the eyes of the alchemist, it also cast the shadow of melancholy over his solitary soul. In the blackness of his despair he experienced grotesque images which reflect the conflict of opposites into which the researcher's curiosity had led him. His work began with a journey to the underworld as Dante experienced it'. [9] 

It should come as no surprise that several of the 'Soul Journey's of Classical literature are named in Urn-Burial, for mandalas often symbolize the spiritual journey of the soul. Homer's Voyage of Ulysses, Plato's myth of Er, the Roman poet Macrobius''Dream of Scipio' and Dante's descent to the Underworld are all works of ''Soul Journey' literature  named in Urn Burial. 

In contradistinction to the Job-like suffering of the Nigredo, the albedo or 'Whitening' the alchemical opus represents a return to innocence. Closely associated with Biblical accounts of the Creation and of Paradise, we can be confident in interpreting The Garden of Cyrus as representative of the Albedo  stage of alchemy. Not only does Browne open The Garden of Cyrus with the Creation,  he then swiftly moves onto Paradise, speculating on the location of the Garden of Eden. According to C.G. Jung -

'By means of the opus which the adept likens to the creation of the world, the albedo or whitening is produced.'  [10]

'For alchemists Paradise was a favourite symbol of the albedo, the regained state of innocence'. [11]

The Hamburg based physician and hermetic philosopher Heinrich Khunrath (1560-1605) synthesized symbolism from Christianity, the Kabbalah and the mystic Rose of alchemy to form the mandala reproduced in his Amphitheatrum sapientiae aeternae  of 1595 (Above).

The gordian knot of  how and why  Browne's creative motivation in writing two 'conjoyned discourses remained uncut for centuries. In  a typical self-depreciating manner, Browne states simply of the relationship between his two Discourses-

That we conjoyn these parts of different Subjects, or that this should succeed the other; Your judgement will admit without impute of incongruity; Since the delightful World comes after death, and Paradise succeeds the Grave.

This solitary clue far from explains Browne's creative motivation for the multiplicity of polarities or complexio oppositorum  in his diptych Discourses. 

There's a plethora of opposites or polarities in Urn Burial and The Garden of Cyrus their primary thematic polarities being Time and Space, Darkness and Light, Decay and Growth, Invisible and Visible, Accident and Design, Conjecture and Discernment,  Microcosm and Macrocosm among others, as well as oppositional imagery and literary style. Such distinctive polarity alerts those familiar with basic tenets of Western esotericism,  for polarity features strongly in nearly all esoteric schemata. One of the basic maxims of alchemy, solve et coagula for example, which exhorts the alchemist to 'dissolve and coagulate'  loosely approximating to the biology of decay and growth, is itself a polarized maxim which corresponds to the dominant themes of each Discourse respectively, Urn Burial being a meditative soliloquy on decay and life's endings, whilst The Garden Of Cyrus lyricizes upon life's beginnings and growth. 

C. G. Jung's radical interpretation of the psychological importance of alchemy did much to alleviate  prejudices against Western esoteric traditions. When he died in 1961 the publication of his collected writings gathered apace. The very title of Jung's late magnum opus work, Mysterium Coniunctions: An enquiry and synthesis of the psychic opposites in alchemy', first published in 1963, is pertinent to the psychic opposites of melancholy in Urn-Burial and cheerfulness in The Garden of Cyrus. In its foreword Jung trenchantly, but revealing states that- 

The 1650's decade in which Browne's discourses were composed was one in which the greatest volume of esoteric literature was ever published in England. Many important esoteric titles were translated or made available in English for the first time under the liberalisation and relaxation of printing press licensing laws during the Protectorate of Cromwell. The antiquarian Elias Ashmole tested the waters of this new liberalisation in order to publish in 1652 his anthology of British alchemical authors, the Theatrum Chemicum Brittanicum, a copy of which is listed as once in Browne's library. It was followed by Cornelius Agrippa's influential Three books on Occult Philosophy and by Thomas Vaughan's translation of the Fama and Confessio of the Rosicrucian Fraternity. Incidentally, the spiritual alchemist Thomas Vaughan (c.1621-65) knew of, and admired Thomas Browne, may have had the diptych Discourses in mind when, alluding to the dominant symbol of the each Discourse he declared Mercurius, the patron 'deity' of alchemy, to be, 'not only a two-edged sword, but also our true, hidden vessel, the Philosophical Garden, wherein our sun rises and sets'. A copy of Vaughan's evoactively titled A Hermetical Banquet drest up by a Spagyrical cook of 1652 is listed as once in Browne's library. [18]

It must have been nigh on impossible for an avid bibliophile such as Browne to be unaware of this publication trend throughout the 1650's decade. And the temptation to add his own influential voice to the chorus of esoteric literature which poured forth from England's printing presses, must surely  have  inspired him. This creative urge, along with experiencing extreme psychological distress from the uncertainty and vulnerable social status of being a defeated Royalist with a profession to protect in order to support his large family, may well have induced Browne, consciously or unconsciously, to construct his own personal mandala, for according to Jung-

'the Mandala encompasses, protects and defends the psychic totality against outside influences and seeks to unite the opposites and is an individuation symbol'. [19] 

Individuation symbols such as those produced by the mandala were in Jung's view spontaneous products of the psyche which arise whenever the psyche is in crisis and in need of transforming or protection. C.G. Jung observed that alchemical symbolism frequently incorporated geometric forms stating -

 'Alchemical symbolism has produced a whole series of non-human forms, geometrical configurations like the sphere, circle, square, and octagon, or chemical configurations like the Philosopher's Stone, the ruby, diamond, quicksilver, gold, water, fire, and spirit (in the sense of a volatile substance).[20] 

Urn-Burial focusses almost hypnotically upon the Urn as a symbol.  In alchemy the Urn or Vessel was the matrix where the Philosopher's Stone incubated. ('Incubation' being yet another Of Browne's neologisms).  In complete contrast The Garden of Cyrus is jam-packed with symbols, geometric forms, numbers and hieroglyphs - the triangle, square, hexagon, pyramid, Egyptian Ankh, the letter X as well as the Quincunx pattern , all of which are utilized by Browne in his demonstration of the interconnection of the worlds of art, nature and religious mysticism. For Jung such symbols were none other than variants upon the foremost symbol of the psyche, the mandala , writing - 'Empirically the self appears spontaneously in the shape of specific symbols and its totality is discernible above all in the mandala and its countless variants'. [21] 

C. G. Jung, like Browne before him, was a keen scholar of comparative religion, who became familiar with the Quincunx symbol from his long study of alchemy. Originally, little more than a unit measurement of 5/12th during the Roman era, the Quincunx gained esoteric associations when the German astronomer Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) introduced it as an aspect to astronomy and astrology. Kepler's books are well-represented in Browne's library [22]. 

Although its highly unlikely that C. G. Jung knew of The Garden of Cyrus other than from hearsay, Browne's discourse being utterly untranslatable, he nevertheless knew that -  'The quinarius or Quinio (in the form of 4 + 1 i.e. Quincunx ) does occur as a symbol of wholeness (in China and occasionally in alchemy) but relatively rarely.' [23]  

Jung even utilized the Quincunx pattern for his own purposes, stating in an essay, 'Their union in a quincunx signifies union of the four elements in a world-body' [24]. Astoundingly, in, 'Flying Saucers: A modern myth' (1957) Jung declares the Quincunx to be none other than, 'a symbol of the quinta essentia which is identical with the Philosopher's Stone. [25] 

As the centrepiece of Browne's mandala, the Quincunx pattern is thus a symbol of totality and wholeness, representing the achievement of Unio mentalis or self-knowledge of the alchemists. As Jung succinctly observed - 'The self itself is a complexio oppositorum' [26]  

Browne's creative motivation in penning his twin discourses is to share his psychological understanding of the Self, the true Philosopher's Stone, in order to provide his reader with an unique spiritual text. His alchemical mandala is both a portrait of himself personally with his hobbies of archaeology and botany and of the Collective Self, with all the irrational fears and inspired ideas we share; it operates upon the reader primarily through the effects of synergy, which is defined as - the interaction of two or more agents to produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate effects'. 

Like all good empirical scientists, Browne knew that simply by juxtaposing object A with object B, a new perspective upon each object is gained, inasmuch as differences and similarities are heightened whenever objects, or indeed whenever philosophical discourses are placed within close proximity to each other. As C.G. Jung puts it - ''A judgement can be made about a thing only if its opposite is equally real and possible'. [27]

Its the resultant synergy from reading these two quite different discourses which generates Browne's alchemical mandala and which effectively operates upon the reader. The individual reader's conscious and unconscious association of Browne's rich, highly original, home-grown symbolism, comprehension of his many Classical and Biblical references, receptivity towards his highly original imagery and meditation upon the dominant thematic concerns of each Discourse all contribute towards psychically activating his alchemical mandala.

To repeat, Urn Burial and The Garden of Cyrus correspond closely to mandala symbolism in their circularity and symmetry as well as their frequent usage of symbolism. Crucially, they engage in the mandala's highest function - being art-objects of great beauty,  which are worthy of contemplation and capable of bestowing spiritual enlightenment, reminding their reader of their own 'soul- journey' and place in the cosmos.

Augmenting and summarizing in Adam Maclean's words- 'Hermetic philosophers such as Thomas Browne can be said to be pioneering proto-psychologists who were open to their inner worlds and perceptions which they 'projected' onto outer symbols, in doing so they discovered a universal language which transcended words to communicate their experience of the soul's architecture. Thomas Browne's ability to lucid dream is a vital contributing factor in this alchemical act of active imagination.  If we choose to contemplate the symbolism of alchemical mandalas, whether they are visual, auditory or couched within literary works such as Browne's two philosophical discourses, they can lead us deep into the mysteries of our inner world. Thus, far from Urn Burial being a gloomy antiquarian essay, with another appended to it on gardening, in order to bulk out for the printer, as was once believed, Urn-Burial  and The Garden of Cyrus can be interpreted as an alchemical mandala, moreover, one which is capable of unlocking the mysteries of the soul's architecture. [28]     

Notes

[1] Opening quote from Heideman M.A. 'Hydriotaphia and The Garden of Cyrus' A Paradox and a Cosmic Vision'  University of Toronto Quarterly, XIX 1950 . 

Next -  Green, P. Sir Thomas Browne Longmans, Green & Co (Writers and Their Work, No.108 1959)  followed by Browne  Religio Medici 1:12

[2] Recommended recording : Bach: Die Kunst der Fuge (The Art of Fugue) - Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin. Harmonia Mundi 2011

[3] See Wikipedia    The Layer Monument 

[4] Collected Works of C.G. Jung vol. 11: 92

[5] Huntley,  Frank . Sir Thomas Browne: A Biographical and Critical Study, Ann Arbour 1962

[6]  Collected Works  11. 92 and Vol 14 :759

[7]  Agostino's book is listed in the 1711 Sales Catalogue of Browne's Library p. 38 no. 5.  The full title of Agostino's book  is - Ant. Agostini Dialoghi intorno alle Medaglie, Inscrissioni & altre Antichita Romanze tradotti di Lingua Spagnola in Italiana da D Ottav. Sada, e dal Medisimo accresciuti, con Annot. & illustrati con disegni di molte Medaglie &c. Rome 1650. 

[8]  Link to Book 18, lines 478-608 of Homer's Iliad  .https://poets.org/poem/iliad-book-xviii-shield-achilles

[9] C. W. 14: 93

[10] C. W.  vol. 9 ii :  230

[11] CW ?   373

[12] CW 14 Foreword

[13] Religio Medici  Part 2 Section 11

[14] CW 11:150

[15] CW 12:557 

[16] CW 11: 738

[17] The Soul's Code James Hillman  Bantam 1991

[18]  A list of esoteric authors in Thomas Browne's Library

[19] CW 10:621 

[20]  CW 11:276

[21] CW 9ii:426 

[22]  See  1711 Sales Catalogue  page 29 no. 18  S.C.  page 29 no.34  S.C. page 28. no. 13

[23] C.W.  10:737

[24] CW 11:190

[25] CW 18:1602

[26]  CW 11: 92

[27] CW 11:247

[28]  Adam Maclean's words adapted from 'The Alchemical Mandala'.

Books Consulted

Thomas Browne: Selected Writings ed. Kevin Killeen pub. OUP  2014

Adam Maclean  -The Alchemical Mandala : A Survey of the mandala in the western esoteric traditions

James Hillman - The Dream and the Underworld pub. Harpur 1979

James Hillman - Pan and the Nightmare pub. Phanes 1989 second edition 2002

C.G. Jung Collected Works vol.  11 Psychology and Religion

C'.G. Jung  - CW 9 part one   - 'Concerning mandala symbolism' 

C.G. Jung - Collected Works vol. 14 Mysterium Coniunctionis   

1711 Sales Catalogue of Edward and Thomas Browne's libraries -J.S. Finch pub. Brill Leiden  

See also    Jung and Sir Thomas Browne

'In philosophy where truth seems double-faced there is no man more paradoxical than myself, but in Divinity I love to keep the road. [3] 

A few paragraphs later he introduces his highly original proper-name symbolism, stating -  

'yet I perceive the wisest heads stand like Janus in the field of knowledge'. [4] 

in other words, the true intellect respects the wisdom of the past as well as advancing knowledge for future generations. 

Browne's subsequent publication, the encyclopaedic endeavour Pseudodoxia Epidemica (1646-72) challenged and refuted many of the superstitions and folk-lore beliefs prevalent in his day in favour of reason, experience and 'occular observation'. This included a rejection of medical cures by means of amulets and minerals, the learned doctor wittily remarks-  

'he must have more heads than Janus, that makes out half of those virtues ascribed unto stones and their not only medical, but magical properties, which are to be found in Authors of great name'. [5] 

The Roman god Janus is ingeniously used by Browne as a 'conjoining' symbol which unites his twin philosophical discourses Urn-Burial and The Garden of  Cyrus (1658). Structured upon the metaphysical templates of Time (Urn-Burial) and Space (The Garden of Cyrus) and highly polarised in imagery, respective truth and literary style, Browne's twin Discourses remain unique in World literature. In Urn-Burial the gloomy, stoical and funerary half of the literary diptych,the learned physician laments

'We cannot hope to live so long in our names, as some have done in their persons, one face of Janus holds no proportion unto the other'. [6]

in other words, everyone has either a greater or lesser proportion of their life remaining. No-one can ever know for certain just when they have arrived at the equidistant point of their lives, the past and the future are unequal in all lives. 

Janus is also encountered in the esoteric and whimsical discourse The Garden of Cyrus. With typical subtle humour Browne declares-

'And in their groves of the Sun this was a fit number, by multiplication to denote the days of the year; and might Hieroglyphically speak as much, as the mystical Statua of Janus in the Language of his fingers. And since they were so critical in the number of his horses, the strings of his Harp, and rays about his head, denoting the orbs of heaven, the Seasons and Months of the Year; witty Idolatry would hardly be flat in other appropriations'. [7]

Ever helpful to his reader, Browne adds an explanatory foot-note- 'Which King Numa set up with his fingers so disposed that they numerically denoted 365'.  i.e. Numa reformed the Roman calendar.

A primary source of information about Janus can be found in Ovid's Fasti (Festivals). Over a dozen books by  the Roman poet Ovid (43 BCE - 17 CE) including Fasti as well as several editions of his most famous work Metamorphoses are listed as once in the combined libraries of Thomas Browne and his eldest son Edward.[8] The opening page of Ovid's Fasti narrates firstly of how the poet encounters and questions Janus, the poet reminding his reader that there is no equivalent to Janus in the Greek pantheon of gods -

'Yet what god am I to call you, biformed Janus ? / For Greece has no deity like you'.

Janus subsequently informs the poet of his origins and attributes thus-

'The ancients (since I'm a primitive thing) called me Chaos. 

Then I, who had been a ball and a faceless hulk,

Got the looks and limbs proper to a god.

Now as a small token of my once confused shape,

My front and back appear identical....

Whenever you see around, sky, ocean, clouds, earth,

They are all closed and opened by my hand.....

Just as your janitor seated by the threshold

Watches the exits and the entrances,

So I the janitor of the celestial court

Observe the East and West together'. 

The celestial 'janitor' who has the power to open and to close is defined as the god of mysteries in general by Ovid who recounts one of the few surviving myths known of Janus. Ovid tells of a deceitful nymph called Carna whom many lovers pursued, but  all in vain.  

'A young man would declare words of love to her,

And her immediate reply would be:

''This place has too much light and the light causes shame.

Lead me to a secluded cave, I'll come''.

He naively goes ahead; she stops in bushes

And lurks, and can never be detected.

Janus had seen her. Clutched by desire at the sight,

He deployed soft words against her hardness.

The nymph, as usual, demands a more remote cave,

Trails at her leader's heels and deserts him.

Fool ! Janus observes what happens behind his back

You fail; he sees your hideout behind him.

You fail, see, I told you: as you hide by that rock,

He grabs you in his arms and works his will.

'For lying with me,' he says, 'take control of the hinge;

Have this prize for your lost virginity'.  [8]  

The primary attributes of Janus are hindsight, the ability to learn from past events and foresight, the ability to anticipate future events. These attributes may have contributed in no small measure towards the continuity of Roman civilization on both an individual and collective basis. The Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius (121 -180 CE) in his stoical Meditations (listed as once in Browne's library) gives Janus-like advice his reader-

'Look closely at the past and its changing Empires, and it is possible to foresee the things to come'. [9] 

'In ancient poetry these souls were signified by the double-headed Janus, because, being supplied like him with eyes in front and behind, they can at the same time see the spiritual things and provide for the material'.  

Browne was a pioneering scholar of comparative religion, that is, the study of religious beliefs, their doctrines and symbols, alongside their spread and influence in the world. Assisting him in this study were the six modern languages he was fluent in, as well as Greek, Latin and Hebrew. Although at times misguided in his study, notably by the Jesuit scholar Athanasius Kircher (1602-80) whose books are well-represented in his library and to whom he somewhat slavishly believed, nonetheless his tolerance and broad-mindedness, paved the way for future scholars. As stated earlier, Janus is exclusively a Roman god without Greek equivalent. It was not until the eighteenth century that the British philologist Sir William James (1746-94) detected linguistic similarities between Sanskrit and Latin which indicated that Janus originated from the Indian elephant-headed god Ganesh. Its highly probable that Roman merchants who travelled to India for luxury goods such as saffron introduced and modified the Indian god to the Roman world.

Late in his life Browne wrote, though never published, an advisory for the benefit of his children. Christian Morals is Browne's last known written work. Published posthumously (1716) its  an equal testimony to Religio Medici in his adherence to the Christian faith; nevertheless mention of alchemy and astrology along with Hermes Trismegistus can also be found within its pages. The name of Janus occurs no less than four times in Christian Morals, primarily in the guise as a moral figure advising the reader to learn from hindsight and to develop  foresight in their life.  

Browne firstly links the temple of Janus in ancient Rome whose doors were shut during peace-time and open during times of war to individual temperament. He cautions his reader to - 'keep the Temple of Janus shut by peaceable and quiet tempers'  [10] 

Next, he advises that when in doubt one should opt for virtue-  

'In bivous theorems and Janus-faced doctrines let virtuous considerations state the determination.' [11] 

The stoic moralist also instructs his grown-up children to- 

'Let the mortifying Janus of Covarrubias be thy daily thoughts''  [12] 

adding the explanatory footnote -  'Don Sebastian de Covarrubias writ 3 Centuries of moral emblems in Spanish.  In the 88th of the second century he sets down two faces averse, and conjoined Janus-like, the one gallant beautiful face, the other a death's head face, with this motto out of Ovid's Metamorphosis Quid fuerim quid simque vide'. ('See what I was and what I am now'). 

Lastly, Browne juxtaposes Roman mythology to Biblical scripture in vivid imagery, declaring- 

'What is prophetical in one age proves historical in another, and so must hold on unto the last of time; when there will be no room for prediction, when Janus shall lose one face, and the long beard of time shall look like those of David's servants, shorn away upon one side.'  [13]  

The Old Testament book of Samuel recounts that- 

'Wherefore Hanun took David's servants, and shaved off the one half of their beards, and cut off their garments in the middle, even to their buttocks, and sent them away'. [14]

The Biblical figure of King David is now believed to have lived circa 1010–970 BCE. Its worthwhile remembering that the King James Bible (1611) with its soaring strophes, rhythmic cadences and striking parallelisms was the predominant influence upon Browne's spirituality. Freshly translated  from Hebrew by a host of scholars, the text of the King James Bible was, in all probability, the first book which young Thomas learnt to read as a child, and subsequently a powerful influence upon his literary style as an adult.

Browne's own Janus-like ability to 'foresee' the future is testified in a memoir by the Reverend Whitefoot. The Heigham-based priest was a close friend of Browne's from the newly-qualified physician's arrival to Norwich in 1637 until 1682 when Browne upon his death-bed gave 'expressions of dearness' to his long-time friend. Reverend Whitefoot's memoir includes the character testimony-  

'Tho' he were no prophet, nor son of a prophet, yet in that faculty which comes nearest it, he excelled, i.e. the stochastick, wherein he was seldom mistaken, as to future events, as well publick as private; but not apt to discover any presages or superstition'. 

Even greater testimony to Browne's ability to prognosticate the future can be found in the miscellaneous tract known as 'A Prophecy concerning the future state of several nations'. Imitative of the opaque verse of Nostradamus, Browne's 'Prophecy' consists of a series of couplet verse 'predictions' several of which on America. In Browne's proper-name symbolism America is invariably equated with the new, exotic and unexplored, a good example occurring in Pseudodoxia Epidemica in which he describes his encyclopaedic endeavours as, 'oft-times fain to wander in the America and untravelled parts of Truth'. At least three 'predictions' in 'A prophecy concerning the future state of several nations' are remarkable - 

* 'When Africa shall no more sell out their Blacks/ To make slaves and drudges to the American Tracts'.

* 'When America shall cease to send out its treasure/But employ it at home in American pleasure'.

* 'When the new world shall the old invade/Nor count them their lords but their fellows in trade'.

Browne's 'prophecy' concludes thus-

'Then think strange things are come to light/ Where but few have had a foresight'. [15]

In conclusion, Thomas Browne's life-long penchant for utilizing Janus as a symbol is illuminated by the psychologist Carl Gustav Jung who considered Janus to be - 

'a perfect symbol of the human psyche, as it faces both the past and future. Anything psychic is Janus-faced: it looks both backwards and forwards. Because it is evolving it is also preparing for the future'.  [16] 

I've written before about the many ideas shared between Browne and Jung. Not only does one of the earliest recorded usages in modern English of the word 'archetype' occur in Browne's hermetic vision, The Garden of Cyrus but the archetype of 'the wise ruler' itself is sketched through highly original proper-name symbolism. King Cyrus, Moses, Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Solon, Scipio, King Cheops, Hermes Trismegistus and Augustus are all cited in the discourse as exemplary of 'the wise ruler'  archetype.  

Nowadays the phrase 'two-faced'  more often than not is used as a pejorative term, however, from his deep study of the Ancient world to his anticipation of 'future discoveries in Botanical Agriculture', there's a good case to be made for Thomas Browne to be lauded as the Janus-faced sage of Norwich. The learned physician-philosopher's assessment of our own increasingly uncertain times was one which was, 'not like to envy those that shall live in the next, much less three or four hundred Years hence, when no Man can comfortably imagine what Face this World will carry'. [17] What is certain however is that centuries before C.G. Jung, the proto-psychology of Thomas Browne utilized Janus as symbolic of the human psyche. And just like the Roman god Janus, whose name is remembered in the month of January, we too continue to look back to the past and forward to the future in order to define our identity.

In reply to a recent enquiry, what exactly is 'the Aquarium of Vulcan' from which this blog is named, its useful to refer to  the Deipnsophistae or 'Banquet of the Philosophers' by the ancient Greek author Athenaeus, the allusive source of the little-known myth of Vulcan's love-gift to Venus.

By far the better-known myth associated with Vulcan and Venus however, is that of the goddess Venus  caught in bed with Mars, trapped by her husband Vulcan throwing an 'invisible net' over the pair of lovers. The Roman poet Ovid supplied rich material for many Renaissance-era artists in his Metamorphosis including his description of how Vulcan responded upon discovering Venus and Mars in bed together.

'At once, he began to to fashion slender bronze chains, nets and snares which the eye could not see. The thinnest threads spun on the loom, or cobwebs hanging from rafters are no finer than was that workmanship. Moreover, he made them so that they would yield to the lightest touch, and to the smallest movement. These he set skillfully around his bed.

When his wife and her lover lay down together upon that couch they were caught by the chains, ingeniously fastened there by her husband's skill, and they were held fast in the very act of embracing. Immediately, Vulcan  flung open the ivory doors, and admitted the gods. There lay Venus and Mars, close bound together, a shameful sight. The gods were highly amused; ... They laughed aloud, and for long this was the best-known story in heaven'. [1] 

Vulcan enmeshing Venus and Mars in his net was a popular subject for many Renaissance artists including Velasquez, Tintoretto, Piero di Cosimo, Van Dyck and Rubens. Northern Mannerists artists in particular, such as Wtewael, Spranger and Heemskercke were all attracted to the myth.

Tintoretto in his 'Mars and Venus Surprised by Vulcan' dated 1551-1552 (below) has Vulcan interrupting Venus and Mar's love-making without his net. Examining by invitation her beauty, in close proximity, Vulcan is momentarily distracted from detecting a seemingly timorous Mars hiding under a bed. 

The  Dutch Northern Mannerist artist Joachim Wtewael (1566–1638) painted the moment in which Venus and Mars are surprised by Vulcan in three differing versions (below). The main protagonists of the celestial drama with their respective attributes can all be seen in Wtewael's elaborate staging, including Mercury with his caduceus, Saturn with his scythe along with Vulcan preparing to fling his net over the lovers.

Bartholomew Spranger (1546-1611) was a Flemish artist who worked as a Court artist for the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II. The erotic content of  his'Vulcan and Venus' (below) is overt. It also emphasises the Beauty and the Beast aspect of the relationship. Its a seemingly unequal looking pairing of a submissive Vulcan and a dominant Venus in Spranger's interpretation of the two gods relationship.  

The Greek myth of  Mars trapped by Vulcan's net  is included in the hermetic phantasmagoria of the English physician-philosopher Thomas Browne's 'network' discourse, The Garden of Cyrus (1658) its full running title being The Garden of Cyrus, or the Quincuncial Lozenge, or Network Plantations of the Ancients, Naturally, Artificially, Mystically considered.

'As for that famous network of Vulcan, which enclosed Mars and Venus, and caused that inextinguishable laugh in heaven; since the gods themselves could not discern it, we shall not pry into it. Although why Vulcan bound them, Neptune loosed them, and Apollo should first discover them, might afford no vulgar mythology'.

And in fact the highly symbolic figure of Vulcan opens Browne's hermetic discourse, ('That Vulcan gave arrows to Apollo  and Diana') and ushers its apotheosis in which 'Vulcan and his whole forge sweat to work out Achilles his armour'. 

On a mundane level the appeal of the myth of Venus and Mars surprised by Vulcan may be viewed as social commentary upon the rise of adultery in urban Europe. During the Renaissance, with the increase and mix of population in European cities, opportunities for extra-marital affairs grew. The myth served well as a moral warning to its viewers.  Renaissance painters also seized upon the myth of Venus and Mars and its symbolism in order to comment upon war-torn Europe of the late 16th and early 17th centuries for from the union of Venus, the goddess of Peace and Mars, the god of war, a child named Harmony was born. From an esoteric perspective the union of Venus and Mars is a lesser example of the 'coniunctio' or union of opposites in alchemy which was more often symbolized by the luminaries Sol et Luna.

Although Vulcan was famed for his inventiveness, making armour for the hero Achilles and a chair for his mother-in-law from which she could not escape when sitting on, no painting has survived of  his constructing an aquarium for Venus. In any event, Casaubon's edition of Athenaeus's 'Banquet of the Philosophers' was not published until 1612 and therefore no painting of this subject before this date is possible.  There is however at least one Renaissance painting in which Venus is depicted visiting her husband Vulcan's forge, perhaps for the purpose of requesting a love-gift. 

In the Dutch painter Jan van Kessel's 'Venus at the forge of Vulcan'  of 1662 (below) the stark contrast between the naked vulnerability of Venus and the metallic accoutrements of protective armour scattered in its foreground is notable. 

Thomas Browne for one knew that a close relationship existed between the goddess Venus, water and fish. In his commonplace notebooks the following verse couplet can be found-

'Who will not commend the wit of Astrology ? 

Venus born of the sea hath her exaltation in Pisces'. 

Its highly probable that Thomas Browne knew of the myth of Vulcan's Aquarium.  Isaac Casaubon's 1612 edition of Athenaeus's Deipnosophistae, or 'The Banquet of the Philosophers'  is listed as once in his library. He also wrote a short, humorous piece in Latin entitled 'From a reading of Athenaeus'. [2]

The ancient Greek author Athenaeus lived in Naucratis circa the late 2nd to early 3rd century CE.  In his day Naucratis was an important Egyptian  harbor and a dynamic melting-pot of Greek and Egyptian art and culture. Its also the setting of 'The Banquet of the Philosophers in which characters including physicians, philosophers, grammarians, parasites and musicians discuss topics such as Baths, Wine, invented words, feasts and music, useless philosophers, precious metals, flatterers, gluttony and drunkenness, hedonism and obesity, women and love, mistresses and courtesans, the cooking of fish and cuisine in general, ships, entertainment, luxury and  perfumes.

In total the 15 books of the 'Banquet  of the  philosophers',  mention almost  800 authors. Over 2500 separate works are cited in it, making it a valuable source of numerous works of Greek literature which otherwise would have been lost, including the three surviving lines extant on Vulcan's aquarium. 

James Russell Lowell famously characterized the Deipnosophistae as -'the somewhat greasy heap of a literary rag-and-bone-picker like Athenaeus is turned to gold by time'. In the seventeenth century there was a revived interest in the Banquet of the Philosophers following its publication by the scholar Isaac Casaubon  (1559-1614) in 1612. The  commentary to the text was Isaac Causabon’s magnum opus. Incidentally it was the scholarship of Isaac Causabon which proved from his textual analysis of  the Corpus Hermeticum that it could not have been written by the mythic ancient Egyptian Hermes Trismegistus who anticipated the coming of Christ, as commonly believed, but in fact was a syncretic work of  Gnostic and Greek philosophy dated centuries after Christ's era, circa 200 and 300 CE.

Athenaeus was a favourite author of Thomas Browne's, judging by his opinion of the ancient Greek author, when stating of him in his encyclopaedic endeavour Pseudodoxia Epidemica-

'Athenæus, a delectable Author, very various, and justly stiled by Casaubon, Græcorum Plinius (Greek Pliny) . There is extant of his, a famous Piece, under the name of Deipnosophista, or CoenaSapientum, containing the Discourse of many learned men, at a Feast provided by Laurentius. It is a laborious Collection out of many Authors, and some whereof are mentioned nowhere else. It containeth strange and singular relations, not without some spice or sprinkling of all Learning. The Author was probably a better Grammarian then Philosopher, dealing but hardly with Aristotle and Plato, and betrayeth himself much in his Chapter De Curiositate Aristotelis. In brief, he is an Author of excellent use, and may with discretion be read unto great advantage: [3]

Its in book 2 of 'Banquet of the Philosopher' that Athenaeus records how the blacksmith of the gods Vulcan set about creating sheets of glass which he bonded together with an early version of tungsten steel. Tungsten is one of the oldest elements used for alloying steel. It forms a very hard carbide and iron tungstite. High tungsten content in the alloy however tends to cause brittleness and makes it subject to fracturing rather than bending. Somehow Vulcan over came this weakness, its speculated through adding 'the salty sweat' of his workshop labourers to the molten crucible. 

The little-known myth is recounted in the Deipnosophistae after heated discussion upon the best sauces to prepare for fish.  The  courtesan and lute-player musician Callipygae  then recites three verses from a long-lost comedy, now known only by  its title The Chessmen of Odysseus. These following lines are believed to allude to Vulcan's aquarium -

 As the Pleiades ascended, Vulcan's workshop laboured,

the sound of hammer on anvil could be heard 

echoing through mountains

 until rosy dawn glowed furnace-like in the east. 

 Salty sweat streamed in torrents into hissing troughs, 

smelting and refining the dross. 

Crafted and ready 

to bind with ox-like ribs the thick and cloudy glass,

Vulcan's love-gift  for Venus. 

[4]  (Book 2 Lines 27-29 ) 

For the seminal twentieth century psychologist C.G. Jung

'The protean mythologem and the shimmering symbol express the processes of the psyche far more trenchantly than, in the end, far more clearly than the clearest concept.' [5] 

The symbol of Vulcan's gift of an aquarium invites speculation and analysis. Perhaps Venus made her request to test the fullness of Vulcan's forgiveness, or else to alleviate her boredom with Vulcan spending long hours away from her at the forge, or simply for her amusement and pleasure, its not really known. Nor is it known how many or what kind of fish she choose to place in her aquarium. 

Aquariums are mysterious habitats which often evoke great underwater beauty. They function well as calming distractions, their psychological benefits include  reducing stress and anxiety. Looking into an aquarium, observing fish swimming care-free, helps people momentarily forget their worries. But whether Vulcan manufactured his love-gift for Venus specifically for any of these reasons remains unclear. What is clear is that the fish in the Aquarium of Vulcan like to play far more than imagined. 

Notes

[1] Ovid Metamorphosis  Book 4 lines 180-190

[2]  1711 Sales Auction Catalogue page 7 no. 67

[3]  Pseudodoxia Epidemica . Bk.1 chapter 8

[4] Deipnosophistae Book 2 lines 27-29

[5] Collected Works of C.G.Jung vol. 13  Alchemical Studies (1967) para. 199

See also - Thomas Browne  From a reading of Athenaeus 

Dr. Francis joins the ranks of other physicians who have admired Thomas Browne, these include the distinguished Canadian doctor William Osler (1849-1919), the surgeon Sir Geoffrey Keynes, and the Norwich-based GP Anthony Batty-Shaw (1922-2015). Much of the strength of Dr. Francis's appreciation rests in a shared profession for although separated by centuries he recognises that, in many ways little has changed in the role of his profession since Browne's day.  Faced with human illness and suffering the role of the physician as a well-informed and trusted confidant has altered little. In this respect The Opium of Time transcends the technicalities of literary criticism, highlighting Browne's tolerance, humility and compassion as key components of a shared humanism. The discourse Urn-Burial and Christian Morals in particular are much favoured by the author as exemplary of Browne's psychological understanding of the human condition, encapsulated in pithy aphorisms such as 'Sorrows destroy us or themselves'.

Its refreshing to read in The Opium of Time of the influence of the Swiss alchemist-physician Paracelsus (1493-1541). During his short life Paracelsus dedicated himself to the art of healing, declaring 'Compassion is the physician's teacher'. Crucially, he urged physicians to experiment upon nature's properties in order to discover new chemicals for medical use, Browne himself knew 'that every plant might receive a name according unto the disease it cureth, was the wish of Paracelsus' [1] As a critical follower of Paracelsus, Browne, like the Swiss physician, was both early chemist and alchemist, the difference between the two activities being fluid not fixed, even with latter scientific figures such as Robert Boyle (1627-91) and Isaac Newton (1643-1727). 

Its primarily because of Dr. Francis's non-judgemental mention of the influence of Paracelsian medicine when others have either denounced, or what's worse, ridiculed Browne's 'spagyric' medicine (the Paracelsian neologism 'spagyric' is inscribed in verse on Browne's coffin-plate) that The Opium of Time can be said to be the most insightful book by a medical professional on Browne since William Osler's day, over a century ago.

The parallel between the humility of Christian faith and the humility of caring work in nursing and medicine is noted by Dr. Francis, a staunch advocate of the beloved but beleaguered institute founded upon Christian values known as the NHS. and in Browne's day devout physicians took inspiration from Christ's Ministry [2]. Although not sharing his subject's religious faith, Dr. Francis nevertheless applauds his Christian stoicism, engendered one suspects, by a shared close proximity to human suffering and mortality in profession. A concern about the regeneration of the social, religious and moral values once instilled by Christianity is voiced in the author's proposition that, 'As Europeans we've yet to take the best from our own traditions, and many possibilities for how to build on them remain unexplored'. 

Gavin Francis also highlights Browne's little-recognised sense of humour, a tool which used carefully, he suggests, can assist the doctor-patient relationship when faced with seemingly unsurpassable dilemmas. Humour is encountered throughout Browne's writings. His quip on William Harvey's detection of the circulation of the blood as being, “a discovery I prefer to that of Columbus” (i.e that of America) [3] is typical of his dry and learned humour.  His most sustained piece of humour is the hilarious, 'To an illustrious friend on his wearisome Chatterer' which may have been composed in order to cheer up his friend Joseph Hall (1574-1656) an author of satirical character sketches who was deposed as Bishop Of Norwich in 1643 for supporting the Royalist cause.   

In addition to examining the influence of piety and humility upon Browne's intellect and spirituality, Dr. Francis also tackles the thorny subject of the physician's involvement in a witch trial, discussing how much he was influenced by the endemic misogyny of his era. Browne never testified at the Bury trial, nor could his opinion have influenced any verdict while the patriarchal authority of the Judaic Old Testament held blind sway over reason. A single verse in the Old Testament sanctioned and 'justified' the legal condemnation to death of what is estimated to have been a quarter million of mostly women throughout Europe from 1400-1700. [4] 

Much has been made on what is one of the very few biographical details known about Browne, often inviting disapproval from a comfortably removed historical perspective. His culpability and supposed failure in risking his status and social standing when faced with mass-mind irrationality and legalized prejudice is often exaggerated. Its worthwhile remembering, as Dr. Francis does, that Browne dedicated a large part of his life to relieving the suffering of others. His psychological observation that, 'No man can justly censure or condemn another because indeed no man truly knows another' seems applicable here. [5]

Dr. Francis shares with his subject in a love of travel, both doctors recognising that travel usually broadens the mind in tolerance, understanding and appreciation of different societies and cultures. Its thus an easy excuse for the author to visit Padua in Italy and Leiden in the Netherlands in search of traces of Browne's academic sojourns. 

Replete with original observations which others have overlooked, Dr. Francis also draws attention to how Thomas Browne when elderly, enjoyed reading, or having read to him, accounts by traveller's from distant lands such as Africa, India and China. Throughout The Opium of Time one also learns more of Dr. Francis's own extensive travels which have included working visits to India and Africa as well as Antarctica. 

In a book which is engaging in narrative, the author takes delight as many others, in Browne's inventive coining of new words into the English language. Browne's neologisms catered for the need for a preciser vocabulary in the early scientific revolution and many, such as 'electricity''ambidextrous''network' cater for this need. Through his deep study and understanding of Greek and Latin Browne is also credited with introducing words associated with his profession such as 'medical', 'pathology' and 'hallucination' for example.     

Thomas Browne gave good advice to literary critics when declaring - 'If the substantial subject be well forged we need not examine the sparks which fly irregularly from it'. [6] 

The Opium of Time is a wholly original response to the Renaissance humanism, wit and scholarship of Thomas Browne, nevertheless a few 'irregular sparks' fly from it, silently smouldering in the deep pile carpet of truth. Credence is given to the unreliable narrator of W.G. Sebald's The Rings of Saturn who  mischievously adds fictitious imagery at the conclusion of The Garden of Cyrus. A footnote speculation and regret that Aldrovandi's Monstrorum Historia would not have been known to Browne is groundless. Throughout his life Browne kept well-abreast on the latest publications, nationally and internationally. The 1711 Sales Auction Catalogue of his and his eldest son Edward's combined libraries is solid evidence of the vast and extraordinary range of Browne's interests. The catalogue records that the Italian zoologist Aldrovandi's Monstrorum Historia (picture below) along with some half a dozen other titles by the Italian zoologist are listed as once in his library. [7]

Nor can one agree that Browne's choice of a 'provincial general practise' is exemplary of his humility. Norwich was England's second city in Browne's day, a position it occupied until the early Industrial Revolution. Densely populated and surrounded by a highly-productive agricultural hinterland, the ancient City had important links in trade, culture and travel to mainland Europe, in particular the Netherlands. As the home to a wealthy gentry who were financially able to consult and afford a doctor's fees, Norwich was an ideal location for an ambitious, newly-qualified physician to establish a medical practise in order to support a wife, home and family. 

But by far the greatest weakness of The Opium of Time is its author's reluctance to acknowledge Browne's esoteric inclinations, resulting in an incomplete portrait of the seventeenth century physician-philosopher. Other than a welcome mention of the medical influence of Paracelsus, Dr. Francis is reluctant to discuss Browne's relationship to esotericism. Its a reluctance which results in the removal of a whole sentence of text. An entire sentence in which Browne makes a tacit nod to like-minded influences upon him, 'It was the opinion of Plate and is yet of the Hermetical philosophers', is removed and replaced thus .... and not presumably for the purposes of page formatting or in order to save ink. [8]

Such glossing over of Browne's esoteric credentials is regrettable. Its a slippery path to travel upon if, for example, one dislikes the sentiment expressed in a few bars of a Beethoven symphony or imagery in the lines of a Shakespeare sonnet to simply extract and omit them from a work of art. 

It's usually the British historian Dame Frances Yates (1899-1981) who is credited as the first to  explore the vital influence which Western esotericism wielded upon scientists, thinkers and artists of the Renaissance-era. Yates demonstrated Western esotericism to be worthy of academic study. Catholic in faith herself, she also disproved a commonplace misapprehension, that its necessary to personally believe ideas espoused by Western esotericism when studying its influence in intellectual history.

Ever since the humanist scholar Marsilio Ficino (1433-99) introduced Plato's Timaeus to Western readers and attributed his translation of the Corpus Hermeticum to the mythic Hermes Trismegistus, numerous thinkers, scholars and artists throughout the Renaissance era (circa 1500-1650) studied and were influenced by Western esoteric concepts such as Neoplatonism, Hermetic philosophy, Cabala, Gnosticism and alchemical symbolism which they incorporated into their art, philosophy or science. Thomas Browne, in common with British contemporaries such as the Welsh clergyman Thomas Vaughan (1621-1666) the Oxford antiquarian Elias Ashmole (1617-92), the Paracelsian physician Robert Fludd (1574-1637) and Arthur Dee (1579-1651) eldest son of the Elizabethan magus John Dee were influenced by the tenets of Western esotericism.  Thomas Browne makes clear his allegiance in Religio Medici  when  emphatically declaring, 'the severe schools shall never laugh me out of the philosophy of Hermes wherein as in a portrait things are not truly seen but in equivocal shapes'. [9] There's no evidence he ever deviated from this opinion in his life-time. Even in Christian Morals a moralistic work believed to have been written late in his life during the mid 1670's which Dr. Francis refreshingly champions for its many profound psychological observations, mention of astrology, physiognomy, the alchemical maxim solve et coagula  along with the mythic Hermes Trismegistus can be found.

The Garden of Cyrus has been described as 'the ultimate test of one's response to Browne'. For Dr. Francis its, 'the strangest of all Browne's books'. Consulting the well-worn role-call of Browne's literary critics is little help in comprehending its highly hermetic content. Dr. Johnson from the height of his 18th century Age of Reason in particular was unsympathetic and disparaging towards it. Modern scholarship however recognises a seminal authority who Gavin Francis mentions in his 'Shapeshifters: A Doctor's Notes on Medicine and Human change'  namely the Swiss psychologist Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961). Through a judicious application of C.G. Jung's life-long study and understanding of Western esotericism its possible to acquire new interpretative insights into Browne's creativity and literary symbolism.  

Dr. Francis notes of a passage in Urn-Burial, that - 'It is almost as if Browne wished death and new life to sit adjacent on the page. He seemed to want to demonstrate the fraternity of life and death, their interdependence.' But in fact its more through the physical binding and union of the twin Discourses Urn-Burial and The Garden of Cyrus that Browne ingeniously demonstrates this fraternity. The gordian knot of why the diptych discourses exhibit a plethora of oppositions or polarities in their respective themes, truths and imagery such as - Antiquity and Botany, Decay and Growth, Mortality and Eternity, Body and Soul, Accident and Design, Speculation and Revelation, Darkness and Light, World and Universe, Microcosm and Macrocosm, is sundered in C. G. Jung's sharp observation - 'the alchemystical philosophers made the opposites and their union their chiefest concern'. [10] 

The Quincunx pattern, the vehicle whereby Browne drives home his message of  the interconnectivity of Nature is revealingly defined by C.G. Jung as none other than 'a symbol of the quinta essentia which is identical to the Philosopher's Stone' [11]. Jung's lifetime study of comparative religion and alchemical literature also assists in identifying the source of imagery at the apotheosis of Browne's Urn-Burial  in which he states,  'Life is a pure flame, and we live by an invisible sun'.  Browne's 'astral imagery' in this case originates from his reading and 'borrowing' imagery by the Belgian alchemist and foremost advocate of Paracelsus, Gerard Dorn whose writings feature in the alchemical anthology known as the Theatrum Chemicum. [12] 

All of which strongly suggests Browne's esoteric inclinations are far greater than acknowledged and none of which distracts from enjoyment of what is a personal appreciation.

Slender in volume but compressed with original observations and well-attuned in empathy with its subject, The Opium of Time will be enjoyed by many and enlighten its readers, long may it remain in print; opium is invariably associated with oblivion in Browne's highly original proper word symbolism, the philosopher on the Oblivion of Time knowing only too well, little in life ultimately survives the devouring of Time.     

Books consulted

* The Opium of Time: Gavin Francis OUP 2023 

* Shapeshifters: A doctor's notes on medicine and human change Gavin Francis  Wellcome Collection 2016

*  The Major Works of Sir Thomas Browne edited and with an Introduction by C. A. Patrides Penguin  1977

*  A Catalogue of the Libraries of Sir Thomas Browne and Dr Edward Browne, his son. A Facsimile Reproduction  with an Introduction, Notes and Index by J.S. Finch  pub.  E. J .Brill 1986

See also

 *  The Opium of Time  Opiate imagery and drugs in Thomas Browne's  literary works. (2016) 

*   Carl Jung and Thomas Browne On the extraordinary relationship between Jung and Browne

*    Paracelsus and Sir Thomas Browne

*   A selection of books in Thomas Browne's library

*   To an illustrious friend on his wearisome Chatterer  

Notes  

[1]  Pseudodoxia Epidemica Book 2 chapter 7

[2] 'And Jesus went about all Galilee ....healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.' Matthew 4:23

[3] In Browne's correspondence to Henry Power

[4] 'Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live' (Exodus 22 verse 18)

[5] Religio Medici Part 2:4

[6] Christian Morals Part 2: Section 2

[7]  Aldrovandi's Monstrorum Historicum Bologna 1642 is listed in the 1711 Sales Auction Catalogue on page 18 no. 23 

[8] Religio Medici Part 1: 32

[9] Religio Medici Part 1 : 12 

[10] foreword to C.G. Jung's Mysterium Coniunctionis 

[11] CW vol. 10: 737

[12] Dorn's writings are included in the first volume of the Theatrum Chemicum. a copy of which was owned by both Jung and Browne. Its  listed in Browne's library S.C. page 25 no. 124. Jung states - 'In Dorn's view there is in man an 'invisible sun', which he identifies with the Archeus. This sun is identical with the 'sun in the earth'. The invisible sun enkindles an elemental fire which consumes man's substance and reduces his body to the prima materia'. - CW. 14: 49

Because of the multiplicity of his interests, scientific, antiquarian and esoteric, the philosopher-physician Thomas Browne (1605-82) is often termed a polymath but a preciser definition of him, one which is tailor-made for his profession and interest in people, is that of early or proto-psychologist. 

As a doctor practising in the 17th century he certainly had plenty of occasion to observe mental trauma through sickness, disease and bereavement. He also lived through one of the most psychologically disturbed times of English history, witnessing extremes of human behaviour in the Civil war and its consequences.

Primary elements of Browne's proto-psychology include his capacity for self-analysis, lifelong interest in people, usage of proper-noun symbolism and fascination with the inner world of dreams, each of which is discussed in the following. Furthermore, modern scholarship has recently detected a remarkable relationship between Browne's proto-psychology to the analytical psychology of Carl Jung.

Officially published in 1643 Browne's Religio Medici remains a classic of World literature; its thought-provoking soliloquies reward the attention of casual reader and academic alike. The first ever comparative edition of Religio Medici was published by Oxford University Press in April 2023 after protracted delay. Edited by Reid Barbour and Brooke Conti, the scholarly introduction to the Oxford edition of Browne's Collected Works discusses Religio Medici's major themes and reception, citing the Romantic poet Coleridge, who proposed it should be read  'in a dramatic & not in a metaphysical View - as a sweet Exhibition of character & passion & not as an Expression or Investigation of positive Truth'. [1]

The first volume of the ambitious project to publish a critical edition of the complete works of Thomas Browne reproduces three different versions of Religio Medici for the first time ever. The Pembroke manuscript, a subsequent revised version and the official version are all reproduced, making it easy to identify text which Browne excluded from the authorized version. Only the early Pembroke version includes the following text, declared in a typical fusion of spirituality, scientific credentials and hermetic imagery- 

'Those strange and mystical transmigrations that I have observed in silkworms, turned my Philosophy into Divinity...............I have therefore forsaken those strict definitions of Death, by privation of life, extinction of natural heat, separation &c. of soul and body, and have framed one in hermetical way unto my own fancy - death is the final change, by which that noble portion of the microcosm is perfected (Latin trans.) for to me that considers things in a natural or experimental way, man seems to be but a digestion or a preparative way unto the last and glorious Elixir which lies imprisoned in the chains of flesh'. [2]

The first readers of Religio Medici were at turns shocked, astonished and admiring of Browne's frank display of his enigmatic personality and advocacy for greater tolerance in religious belief. Browne also invites his reader to witness the labyrinthine meanderings of his thought, and a precocious talent for self-analysis is prominent throughout its pages. In many ways self-examination and understanding of Self is the bedrock foundation of Browne's proto-psychology; without such rigours he would never have achieved individuation or developed fully in creativity. 

The newly-qualified physician also informs his reader in Religio Medici of the psychic crisis which he experienced through the trials of self-analysis and examination. His devout Christian faith was of its time, Hell and the Devil were very real psychic entities to him.

'The heart of man is the place the devil dwells in. I feel sometimes a hell within myself, Lucifer keeps his court in my breast, Legion is revived in me'. [3]

'Tis that unruly regiment within me that will destroy me, 'tis I that do infect myself, the man without a Navel yet lives in me;  I feel that original canker corrode and devour me. Lord deliver me from myself'.[4]

'The Devil that did but buffet Saint Paul, plays me thinks at Sharp with me. Let me be nothing if within the compass of my self, I do not find the battle of Lepanto passion against reason, reason against faith, faith against the Devil, and my conscience against all..There is another man within me that's angry with me, rebukes, commands and eastwards me'. [ 5] 

'Thus did the devil did play Chess with me and yielding a pawn thought to gain a Queen from me. And whilst I laboured to raise the structure of my reason he strove to undermine the edifice of my faith'. [6]

*

Its testimony to his deep interest in people that even when advanced in years, when asked for his medical advice, he dutifully made the journey from his home in Norwich to the sea-port of Yarmouth. He recorded his doctor's call on what must be a very early known case of the eating disorder bulimia in a notebook thus-

'There is a woman now Living in Yarmouth named Elizabeth Michell, an hundred and two years old, a person of 4 foot and an half high, very lean, very poor, and Living in a meane room without ordinary accommodation. Her youngest son is 45 years old; though she answers well enough to ordinary Questions, yet she conceives her eldest daughter to be her mother. Butt what is remarkable in her is a kind of boulime or dog appetite; she greedily eating day and night all that her allowance, friends and charitable people afford her, drinking beer or water, and making little distinction of any food either of broths, flesh, fish, apples, pears, and any coarse food in no small quantity, insomuch that the overseers of late have been fain to augment her weekly allowance. She sleeps indifferently well till hunger awakes her and then she must have no ordinary supply whether in the day or night. She vomits not, nor is very laxative. This is the oldest example of the sal esurinum chymicorum, which I have taken notice of; though I am ready to afford my charity unto her, yet I should be loth to spend a piece of ambergris I have upon her, and to allow six grains to every dose till I found some effect in moderating her appetite: though that be esteemed a great specific in her condition'. [7]

*

Symbols are integral to Browne's proto-psychology. In Religio Medici Egyptian hieroglyphs, the 'book of nature' and music are all proposed to be symbols containing a wealth of hidden spiritual wisdom to the receptive enquirer. The sources of Browne's literary symbolism are varied. The Bible and Greek mythology were two happy hunting grounds for his proper-name symbolism. He was also capable of  developing 'home-grown' symbols such as the urn and quincunx which enable him, 'by concentrating, almost like a hypnotist, on this pair of unfamiliar symbols, to paradoxically release the reader's mind into an infinite number of associative levels of awareness, without preconception to give shape and substance to quite literally cosmic generalizations'. [8]  

Geographic place names with their unconscious association are also utilized by Browne. One in particular made a big impression upon C.G. Jung. 

It was the South African traveller and explorer Laurens van der Post (1906-96) who introduced Carl Jung  to one of Browne's greatest psychological observations. It celebrates the mystery of consciousness and employs an original proper-place name symbolic of the unconscious psyche.  

Van der Post quoted Browne’s bold declaration - 'We carry within us the wonders we seek without us. There is all Africa, and her prodigies in us'; and recorded Jung's response. ‘He was deeply moved. He wrote it down and exclaimed 'that was, and is, just it. But it needed the Africa without to drive home the point in my own self'. Clearly,  Jung was impressed by Browne's proto-psychology proper-name symbolism. [9]

It remains unknown whether Jung read Religio Medici which was translated into German in 1746. He was however fond of quoting its title and once stated – ‘For the educated person who studied alchemy as part of his general education it was a real Religio medici  [10]

According to Jung the seventeenth century was the era in which alchemy and hermetic philosophy attained their most significance. In his view Browne’s era was 'one of those periods in human history when symbol formation still went on unimpeded'. He also noted that Hermetic philosophy was, in the main, practised by physicians not only because many known alchemists were physicians, but also because chemistry in those days was essentially a pharmacopeia.  [11] 

From proto-psychologists such as Browne there emerged the beginnings of the modern science of psychology.  As Jung explains - 'the language of the alchemists is at first sight very different from our psychological terminology and way of thinking. But if we treat their symbols in the same way as we treat modern fantasies, they yield a meaning - even in the Middle Ages confessed alchemists interpreted their symbols in a moral and philosophical sense, their "philosophy" was, indeed, nothing but projected psychology. [12]

Jung's psychology is based upon the protean multiplicity of symbols which the human psyche ceaselessly creates. The symbolic meaning of almost every ancient world myth, animal, geometric form, feature of Nature,  planetary god and number is elaborated upon in his writings, for he believed that-  

'The protean mythologeme and the shimmering symbol express the processes of the psyche far more trenchantly and, in the end, far more clearly than the clearest concept; for the symbol not only conveys a visualization of the process but—and this is perhaps just as important—it also brings a re-experiencing it'. [13]

A superb example of how Browne’s proto-psychology anticipates Jung's interpretation of symbols can be  seen in the Roman god Janus. The double-faced god Janus who presents his two faces simultaneously to  the past and future pops up as a proper-name symbol in each of Browne’s literary works. In Urn-Burial  the gloomy but realistic thought that, 'one face of Janus holds no proportion to the other' occurs, while in Cyrus the finger language of  'the mystical statua of Janus' is featured. The double-faced god clearly held proto-psychological significance to Browne. Centuries later, Carl Jung declared the Roman god Janus to be none other than,  'a perfect symbol of the human psyche, as it faces both the past and future. Anything psychic is Janus-faced: it looks both backwards and forwards. Because it is evolving it is also preparing for the future'. [14] 

'It is the heaviest stone that melancholy can throw at a man, to tell him he is at the end of his nature; or that there is no further state to come, unto which this seems progressional, and otherwise made in vain. [16]

Browne’s proto-psychology in Urn-Burial  stoically notes of the relationship between pain and memory.

‘We slightly remember our felicities, and the smartest strokes of affliction leave but short smart upon us. Sense endureth no extremities, and sorrows destroy us or themselves. … To be ignorant of evils to come, and forgetful of evils past, is a merciful provision in nature.' [17]

The Nigredo is encapsulated perfectly in Urn-Burial's pithy expression, 'lost in the uncomfortable night of nothing'.  Though little recognised, Browne's forensic survey of the burial rites and customs of  various world religions, contemplation of ancient world beliefs associated with death and the afterlife along with its mention of putrefaction and mortification makes it the most sustained and exemplary work of the Nigredo stage of alchemy extant in English literature.  

The succeeding stage of the alchemical opus was known as the albedo or whitening in which a widening of consciousness and revelation occurs. The albedo is frequently likened in alchemical literature to the Creation, Paradise and the Garden of Eden, each of which are alluded to in the opening paragraphs of The Garden of Cyrus. 

Misapprehension and prejudice continues to bedevil clear understanding of the vital influence which alchemy, Neoplatonic thought and Hermetic philosophy exerted upon artist, scientist and philosopher alike throughout the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Such misapprehensions continue to hamper comprehension of Browne who read and studied alchemical literature closely, as the contents of his library reveals. Along with other spiritual alchemists Browne  intuited the bizarre symbolism and imagery of alchemy as a proto-psychology which discoursed upon the unconscious processes of the psyche to attain self-knowledge and individuation, the very Philosopher's Stone no less. In essence, Browne recognised in alchemical literature a kinship to the moralism and insights of Christian theology. Spiritually orientated alchemy is his greatest interest, as he makes clear in Religio Medici - 

'The smattering I have of the Philosopher's Stone (which is something more than the perfect exaltation of gold)  hath taught me a great deal of theology'.  [18 ]

Even late in his life, when orthodox in his Christian faith, Browne justified the study of esoteric literature, naming two mystical scientists who he held in high regard in Christian Morals - 'many would be content that some would write like Helmont and Paracelsus; and be willing to endure the monstrosity of some opinions, for divers singular notions requiting such aberrations'. [19]

The frontispiece to Mario Bettini's Beehives of Univeral Mathematical Philosophy (published in 1656 and listed as once in Browne's library) is a fitting visualization of the overall mood-music of The Garden of Cyrus. In its foreground is a villa courtyard in which mathematical, optical and geometric instruments stand in vases as if cultivated plants. In the centre of the courtyard a peacock stands upon a sphere and displays its feathers, water flows from its feathered eyes creating a streaming fountain. Mercurius, the god of communication and revelation stands aloft a pyramid of skep beehives holding an armillary sphere. Ten bees in quincunx formation hover beside him.

The Garden of Cyrus is crowded with concepts and symbols from various Western esoteric disciplines  The quincunx is one of many symbols featured in the discourse. Although the quincunx is mentioned in classical antiquity the idea of it being a pattern which transcends the realm of the artificial originates from the Renaissance. The idea can be found in book 4 of the Italian polymath and scholar Giambattista Della Porta's vast agricultural encyclopedia known as Villa (1583-1592). Della Porta (1535-1615) asserts in Villa that the quincunx pattern in addition to featuring in gardens and plantations, 'is to be found in each and every single thing in nature'. An illustration of the quincunx pattern from Della Porta's Villa was borrowed by Browne for the frontispiece of The Garden of Cyrus. Astoundingly, centuries later, C.G. Jung declared the quincunx to be none other than 'a symbol of the quinta essentia which is identical to the Philosopher's Stone'. [20]     

In contrast to Urn-Burial's slow, stately rhythms, The Garden of Cyrus includes many paragraphs of rapid, near breathless prose. In a rare first person outburst Browne couples the game of chess to Persia to Egyptian deities, Hermes Trismegistus to cosmology to the potent alchemical 'coniunctio' symbol of Sol et Luna in a train of stream-of-consciousness association. 

'In Chess-boards and Tables we yet find Pyramids and Squares, I wish we had their true and ancient description, far different from ours, or the Chet mat of the Persians, which might continue some elegant remarkables, as being an invention as High as Hermes the Secretary of Osyris, figuring the whole world, the motion of the Planets, with Eclipses of Sun and Moon'. [21]

While Urn-Burial with its oratorical flourishes and 'full Organ-stop' prose exhibits distinctly baroque traits thematically and stylistically,  in complete contrast The Garden of Cyrus has strong Mannerist characteristics in style and theme. The Hungarian art-historian Arnold Hauser noted that Mannerist art delighted in symbols and hidden meanings and that it had an intellectual and even surrealistic outlook. He also noted that Mannerist art was inclined towards esoteric concepts and defined its qualities and excesses in words easily applicable to  Browne's creativity and the hermetic content of The Garden of Cyrus. 

'At one time it is the deepening and spiritualizing of religious experience and a vision of a new spiritual content in life; at another, an exaggerated intellectualism, consciously and deliberately deforming reality, with a tinge of the bizarre and the abstruse.' [22]

C.G. Jung studied and borrowed from hermetic philosopher and alchemist alike in the development of his psychology. His great achievement was identifying the unconscious imagery of the alchemists to be a proto-psychology which discusses the stages and processes of the psyche in its striving towards Self-realization and individuation. Foremost of all symbols in Jung's psychology are the archetypes, the primordial models of the psyche which he believed  are embedded at the deepest strata of  the collective psyche; some of the most important are the hero, the lover, the Great Mother, the wise ruler and the trickster. 

Although mention of archetypes can be traced back to Plato and Gnostic philosophers, one of the earliest modern usages of the word 'archetype' occurs in The Garden of Cyrus. Browne even attempts to delineate a specific archetype, that of the 'wise ruler' through proper-name symbolism allusion to the Persian King Cyrus, the biblical leaders Solomon and Moses, the Roman Emperor Augustus and the Macedonian Alexander the Great. The  archetype of the 'Great Mother' is also tentatively sketched in Cyrus through allusion to the matriarchal figures of Sarah of the Hebrew Old Testament, the Greek goddess Juno, and Isis of ancient Egypt.

Another great example of how Browne's proto-psychology anticipates Jung's occurs at the apotheosis of The Garden of Cyrus in which he advises his reader 'to search out the quaternio's and figured draughts of this order'. Its advice which was taken seriously by Carl Jung. The Swiss psychoanalyst firmly believed the quaternity or patterns involving four in number to symbolize wholeness or totality; and indeed the earliest known divisions of Space and Time - the four seasons of the Year and the four points of the compass are quaternity based, as are the four humours of ancient Greek medicine, the four temperaments of medieval medicine and the four gospels of the New Testament. Jung even structured his psychology upon a quaternity, defining the psyche as comprising of four entities in totality, these being - Rational thinking, feeling, sensation and intuition.  

*

C.G. Jung once declared - 'the late alchemical texts are fantastic and baroque; only when we have learnt to interpret them can we recognise what treasures they hide'. [23] Today Urn-Burial and The Garden of Cyrus (1658) can be identified as Browne's supreme work of proto-psychology. Jam-packed with symbolism and imagery allusive to esoteric concepts, together they form a portrait of the psyche, unconscious and conscious, irrational and rational, stoical and transcendent, fearful of Death yet always planning for the future.  

Urn-Burial and The Garden of Cyrus are highly polarised to each other in respective truth, imagery and symbolism. The invisible world of decay and death in Urn-Burial is 'answered' by the visible world of growth and life in The Garden of Cyrus. Imagery of darkness in Urn-Burial is mirrored by imagery of Light in The Garden of Cyrus. Likewise, the gloomy, Saturnine speculations of Urn-Burial are 'answered' by the cheerful, Mercurial revelations of Cyrus. Together the diptych traces a commonplace route of 'Soul-journey' literature from the Grave to the Garden. Browne’s soul-journey begins in the ‘subterranean world’ of Urn-Burial's opening paragraph and arrives at ‘the City of Heaven’ in the penultimate paragraph of Cyrus. The gordian knot of why these two philosophical discourses of 1658 share a multiplicity of oppositions or polarities thematically and in imagery such as -  Darkness and Light, Decay and Growth, Mortality and Eternity, Body and Soul, Accident and Design, Speculation and Revelation, World and Universe, Microcosm and Macrocosm is swiftly spliced by C. G. Jung's sharp remark - 'the alchemystical philosophers made the opposites and their union their chiefest concern'. [24]

If we choose to reflect in depth on the themes, rich imagery and symbolism within Dr. Browne's major work of proto-psychology and Hermetic philosophy, it can lead us deep into the mysteries of our inner world. Far from the received wisdom of Urn Burial being simply a gloomy essay on Death with an essay on gardening appended to it to bulk out for the printer, as one Victorian literary critic believed, the literary spiritual mandala of Urn-Burial   and The Garden of Cyrus with its Nigredo speculations and Albedo revelations is capable of unlocking the mysteries of the psyche/soul's architecture.

* 

The altered state of consciousness known as dreaming fascinated Browne. It remains unknown why exactly we dream. For most dreams are involuntary,  a sequence of strange events and unfamiliar places which are out of one’s control  and which simply happen to one when asleep. Browne however was one of those fortunate people able to manipulate the sequence of events of a dream at will, so-called lucid dreaming. Supplementing his many observations on dreams in Religio Medici Browne describes his ability to lucid dream thus-

'Yet in one dream I can compose a whole comedy, behold the action, apprehend the jests and laugh myself awake at the conceits thereof. Were my memory as faithful as my reason is fruitful I would chose never to study but in my dreams'. [25]

For those living in the grim realities of the seventeenth century, the ability to lucid dream must have been a welcome diversion. In tandem with his wide-ranging reading lucid dreaming was rich fuel for Browne’s artistic imagination. 

Concrete evidence of the relationship between Browne’s proto-psychology to modern-day psychoanalysis can be found in his short tract on dreams. Taking his cue from Paracelsus on the psychotherapeutic value of interpreting dreams, especially at a critical stage of a patient’s illness, Browne expounds his theory for interpreting dreams thus-  

'Many dreams are made out by sagacious exposition and from the signature of their subjects; carrying their interpretation in their fundamental sense and mystery of similitude whereby he that understands upon what natural fundamental every notional dependeth, may by symbolical adaption hold a ready way to read the characters of Morpheus'.    [26] 

Browne's proposal that dreams can be interpreted by 'symbolical adaptation' links him closely to Jung's psychology for the Swiss analyst also believed that his patients dreams could be interpreted through 'symbolical adaptation'. 

Browne mentions in his tract that dreams have changed lives, naming J.B. van Helmont and Jerome Cardan as recipients of transformative dreams. And centuries later, after dreaming of being trapped in the 17th century, Jung embarked upon what was to be over thirty years study of alchemy and its literature. 

Conclusion

Writing in 1961 the American psychiatrist Jerome Schneck asserted- 'When Browne is assessed with the context of modern medico-psychological principles, the strength and richness of his thoughts and the appreciation of him as a psychologically minded physician comes to more fruitful expression. It may be reasonable to predict that more elements of interest in Sir Thomas Browne will be discovered in the future. He will find a more significant place in psychiatry. His importance in the history of medicine will be more fully perceived'. [27]

Browne is indeed more interested in the Renaissance discovery of the psyche than in the discoveries made by the two scientific instruments developed in his lifetime, the telescope and microscope. This is because, above all, it is spirituality and the psychic processes of the mind, in particular self-realization and individuation which are his primary concern. Browne's only science of any value is his contribution to the science of the mind. Without doubt he'd have agreed with Carl Jung’s assessment of our modern-day world. 

‘Science and technology have indeed conquered the world, but whether the psyche has gained anything is another matter’. [28] 

Today, Sir Thomas Browne can confidently be termed an early or proto-psychologist. His capacity for self-analysis, deep interest in people, usage of symbolism and fascination with dreams are each vital components of his proto psychology. Though lacking in terminology, he nonetheless attempted to  through his proper-name symbolism and imagery such as 'the theatre of ourselves' to delineate the psyche. But perhaps his greatest achievement as a proto psychologist is simply his introduction into English language words useful to his profession such as - ‘medical’ ‘pathology’ 'suicide'‘hallucination’ and best of all ‘therapeutic’. Furthermore, as I hope I've adequately proved, Thomas Browne’s proto-psychology has a unique, and yet to be fully explored, relationship to the analytical psychology of Carl Jung.

See also 

Photo Header  - Rainbow Bricks Lego 1000 pieces completed October 2023

[1] Collected Works of Thomas Browne Religio Medici edited Reid Barbour and Brooke Conti 

Oxford University Press 2023

Photo  - first volume of  the Collected Writings of Thomas Browne.

[2]  Religio Medici Part 1 Section 39

[3]  Religio Medici Part 1 Section 51

[4]  Ibid.

[5]  R.M. Part 2 : 7

[6]  R.M. 

[7] Miscellaneous writing Keynes Faber and Faber 1931

[8]  Sir Thomas Browne - Peter Green  pub. Longmans, Green and co. 1959

[9]  ' Jung and the story of our times' Laurens van der Post Penguin 1976

[10]  C.W. vol. 10 :727

[11]  C.W. vol.13:353

[12]  C.W.  vol.14:737

[13] C.W. 13: 199

[14] C.W. vol. 6. Psychological Types (1921)  para. 717

Woodcut from Theatrum Chemicum Sales Catalogue page 24 no. 124  

[15] CW 14:93

[16] Urn-Burial chapter 

[17] Ibid.

[18] R.M. 1 :39

[19]   Christian Morals  Part 2 Section 5 

Photo - Mario Bettini's book is listed in the 1711 Sales Catalogue of Browne's library on p. 28 no. 16 under Folio by its half-title Fucaria & Auctaria ad Apiaria Philosophiae Mathematicae 1656. 

There are two different versions of the  frontispiece for 'The Garden of Mathematical Sciences'. 

Early editions include a frontispiece by Matthiae Galasso/Matthias Galassus while later editions feature Francesco Curti's colour engraving. Browne's edition was the earlier Matthias Galasso's frontispiece (below) 

 

[20]   C.W. 10:737

[21] The Garden of Cyrus Chapter 2

[22]  Arnold Hauser -  Mannerism: The Crisis of the Renaissance and the Origin of Modern Art 

Harvard University Press  1964

[23] 'Memories, dreams, Reflections' C.G. Jung  Chapter 7

[24] Foreword to C.W. vol. 14

[25] Religio Medici Part 2 ; 11

[26] On Dreams

[27] Psychiatric aspects of Sir Thomas Browne  by Jerome Schneck 1961

[28] CW13:163 

Elephants are mentioned in each of Sir Thomas Browne's major literary works. A little-known notebook description highlights his zoological interest in elephants, while his proto-archaeological speculations on bones in Urn-Burial along with his notebook entry on Fossil remains in Norfolk casts new light on the skeleton of a prehistoric elephant excavated at West Runton in 1995.

The newly qualified physician first declared an admiration of elephants in his spiritual testament Religio Medici (1643) remarking - 'ruder heads stand amazed at those prodigious pieces of nature, Whales, Elephants, Dromedaries and Camels; these I confess are the Colossus and Majestick pieces of her hand'. Elsewhere the animal-loving doctor defends the elephant's appearance, objecting, 'I cannot tell by what Logick we call a Toad, a Bear, or an Elephant ugly'. [1]

In his subsequent publication, Pseudodoxia Epidemica (1646) Browne methodically refutes numerous folk-lore beliefs and superstitions, including the misapprehension that the elephant has no joints. Browne's encyclopaedic work of scientific journalism consists of seven books in total. Many of its individual chapters, in particular those on animals in book three, are among the most readable and entertaining of all the learned doctor's writings. Indeed, the Argentinean author Jorge Louis Borges (1899-1986) consulted book three of Pseudodoxia Epidemica extensively with its at turns erudite, pedantic and witty discussion on whether creatures such as the basilisk, salamander, unicorn, phoenix, gryphon and mermaid truly exist, when compiling his Book of Imaginary Creatures (1967).

Book three Of divers popular and received Tenents concerning Animals, which examined, prove either false or dubious opens with a refutation of the false belief that the elephant has no joints. Doctor Browne first calls upon his capacious and retentive memory, referencing the Roman historian Suetonius to inform his reader that-

‘Elephants have been instructed to walk on ropes, in public shows before the people’, as well as the historian's recording of  'that memorable show of Grammaticus wherein twelve Elephants danced unto the sound of music'. 

Following discussion of the mechanics of motion in two and four legged creatures, introducing the words 'cylindrical' and 'locomotion' into English language while doing so, and having argued of the necessity of joints from his anatomical studies, Browne credulously notes that, 'some Elephants have not only written whole sentences,... but have also spoken' and then proposes that because elephants possess the necessary organs for speech, namely lips, teeth and chops, whether they, ‘might not be taught to speak, or become imitators of speech like Birds’. [2]

A detail from Peter Rodulfo's As the elephant laughed 

Finally, and perhaps frustratingly to impatient readers, having consulted at great length two of his three determiners to acquire truth, namely, past authority and reason, Browne calls upon the primary source of his empirically-based science, 'occular observation', and remembers having seen an elephant in real life-

‘whereof not many years past, we have had the advantage in England, by an Elephant shewn in many parts thereof, not only in the posture of standing, but kneeling and lying down'. [3]

Browne's zoology, the study of animals, is exemplified in his little-known notebook description of an elephant in which he references his favourite zoologist of antiquity, Aristotle and with an precise and extensive vocabulary notes an elephant's anatomy, age, emotions, welfare and diet.  Relying on the sense of touch to describe its skin,  the size and roundness of elephant dung reminds him of his favourite pastime, the game of bowls. Browne's notebook entry on the elephant is worthy of  full quotation.

'The trunck is lithe, tortil, flexible, extensible, contractile, butt when hee shrinks it up as in Anger, it becommeth short and as stiff and hard as a stake. 

The 2 nostrills are plaine, and there is a hard tip at the upper end of the extremity of his trunck which helps to hold the faster. 

Hee sleepes not with his trunck extended and hanging at length, butt bended & somewhat rolled about or neere his mouth, for the better security thereof from flies or anything that might gett into it. His tongue is short not large, & seemes as it were tongue tyed, so that hee cannot putt out the tongue. However when yong it makes a shift to suck, for it sucketh with the mouth not with the trunck. Hath very thinne & ill decernible lipps. 

The teeth are very large 4 in number. The two large teeth somewhat reflecting upward: these are for his armes of defense and offence and help him, when hee kneeles or ariseth. The females as Aristotle sayeth, have them straight or bending downward, which afford them the better help and support when they are great with yongue. 

Hayres under his chinne like a beard, some long black hayres about the ridge of his head and neck; about the bottom of his tayle which are bigge and harsh & stiffe like sticks. 2 Bunches like papps in the forepart of the breast by the arm pitts, and as Aristotle sayeth juxta pectus potius quam in pectore. Five kind of hoofes in each foot exceeding hard, but they pare them not. Hee riseth like a horse with his foreleggs first, not like a cowe. 

Hee breakes wind often backward; coughs sometimes, snorts not, vomits not, sweates much about the pappes upon travell. Sleepes about 5 howers in a night: hee lyeth upon strawe and in very cold wether they cover him up with it at night. Being butt 8 yeares old they allowed him a pecke & a quarter of oates every morning and evening besides haye and bread when they showed him, wch came to 3 or 4 penny loaves a daye. Dungs in roundish lumps about the bignesse of bowlls. 

He will take water sometimes & swimme, whereby hee refreseth and suppeyth his hard drye skinne and will suck up water in his trunck and spirt it about his body, and so moystens his skinne, wch is rugged and hard and as it were channel'd, and feels like rough tanned hides. [4] 

Elephants are mentioned in Browne's discourses Urn-Burial and The Garden of Cyrus (1658). Appropriate to its themes of Time and Death allusion is made in Urn-Burial to the elephant's graveyard and it ability for 'sepulture'. In The Garden of Cyrus such is the potency of the Quincunx pattern when employed in brick-wise formation (2:1:2) in ancient military strategy that the archetypal configuration effectively, 'defeated the mischief intended by the elephants'. And as such the elephant may be considered as a 'conjoyning' symbols uniting the two discourses which are highly polarised in theme, imagery and truth. 

Just as Urn-Burial features Browne's interest in archaeology and The Garden of Cyrus with its mention of bees and butterflies, fish, birds, snakes and whales his interest in zoology, so too his study of elephants was both zoological and archaeological, reflecting his enquiries in the divided worlds of the living and the dead.

The philosophical discourse Urn-Burial (1658) was initially inspired by an archaeological find, as its author informs his reader -

'In a Field of old Walsingham, not many months past, were digged up between forty and fifty Urns, deposited in a dry and sandy soil, not a yard deep, nor far from one another'. 

Its however bones which are alluded to most in Urn-Burial (over fifty times) including a remarkable passage which anticipates and influences archaeological interpretative insights to the present day. 

'It is no impossible Physiognomy to conjecture at fleshy appendencies; and after what shape the muscles and carnous parts might hang in their full consistences. A full spread Cariola shews a well-shaped horse behind, handsome formed sculls, give some analogie of fleshy resemblance. A criticall view of bones makes a good distinction of sexes....... Other parts make out their comproportions, and inferences upon whole or parts. And since the dimensions of the head measure the whole body, and the figure thereof gives conjecture of the principall faculties; Physiognomy outlives our selves, and ends not in our graves'. [5]

Browne's advocation of a forensic-like analysis of bones, of how they can be indicative of 'fleshy resemblance' in gender, ancestry and proportion, anticipates modern-day osteology (the study of bones) as well as modern-day illustrative realization of archaeological sites and artefacts. His proto-archaeological speculations acquire significance in light of the discovery and subsequent excavation of a near complete mammoth skeleton at West Runton on the Norfolk coast in 1995. 

Its worthwhile remembering that much of the Norfolk coastline was once part of a prehistoric forest bed which was formed between 780,000 to 450,000 years ago. Known as the geological era of the Cromerian Stage, during the last ice-age or Pleistocene, the Cromerian Interglacial is the benchmark that all European countries use when studying their own geological deposits. 

Browne's early account of coastal erosion and speculative analysis in Fossil Remains in Norfolk is significant in relation to archaeological discovery at West Runton. His description of 'one side of a lower jaw containing very large teeth petrified, far exceeding the teeth of the biggest ox' could be any number of prehistoric creatures including the Auroch, an extinct species of cattle, the last of which died in the early 17th century. 

'This bone was found, about 2 year past by Winterton, on the sea shore in Norfolk. The cliff had been much broken by high tides & the rage of the sea, many hundred loads falling down as it often doth upon this coast, the cliffs being not rock butt earth. Upon the same coast, butt at some miles distance, divers great bones are said to have been found, & I have seen one side of a lower jaw containing very large teeth petrified, far exceeding the teeth of the biggest ox. It was found after a great flood near to the cliff, some thousand loads of earth being broken down by the rage of the sea. That it came not out of the sea it might bee conjectured because it was found so far from it, & from the colour, for if out of the sea it would have been whiter. When the outward crust is taken of, it answers the graine of the bones of whales & other cetaceous animals, comparing it with a piece of whales scull which I have by mee'. [6]

The West Runton skeleton is part of the elephantidae family, which includes both elephants and mammoths. The expert ostologist and archaeological illustrator Ms. J. Curl helpfully explains the sometimes complicated classification which exists between elephants and mammoths thus -

"The West Runton Mammoth (c.800,000 BCE) was called an elephant originally, and was an ancestor to the Woolly Mammoth (c.50,000 BCE to 15,000 BCE here in UK). Both terms are correct and confusing, especially for those working on them. The West Runton Mammoth was mainly a warm phase beast and more likely to be like an elephant, but that individual  was close to a colder phase, so he was probably much hairier than most elephants today". [8] 

                                                               

Ms. J. Curl cleaning the molar teeth of the West Runton mammoth 1995

The West Runton mammoth skeleton is the best example of the species Mammuthus trogontherii to be unearthed so far, being 85% complete. Previous finds include two partial skeletons found in Germany and Russia, both of which were only about 10 to 15% complete. The mammoth was male, stood some 4 metres (13 ft) at the shoulder and would have weighed about 10 tonnes (11 short tons). This is twice the weight of the modern African elephant Loxodonta africana. [7]

Its recorded that at sometime or another Browne acquired an elephant's leg-bone for his anatomical studies and the largest of all land animals continued to interest him late in his life. His solitary work of fiction, Museum Clausum (circa 1673) a bizarre catalogue of imaginary, rumoured and lost books, pictures and rarities includes the landscape painting of - 

'A Snow Piece, of Land and Trees covered with Snow and Ice, and Mountains of Ice floating in the Sea, with Bears, Seals, Foxes and variety of rare Fowls upon them'. 

Also in Browne's surreal inventory Museum Clausum (the Closed Museum) inspired perhaps from an antique coin once in his collector's cabinet, there's the amusing thumb-nail sketch of-

'An Elephant dancing upon the Ropes with a Negro Dwarf upon his Back'. [9] 

Notes

[1] Religio Medici Part 1: 15 and 16.

[2] Suetonius The Twelve Caesars trans. Robert Graves Penguin (Nero para. 11 and Galba para. 6)

[3]  Book 3 chapter 1 Pseudodoxia Epidemica ed. Robin Robbins pub. OUP 1981

[4] British Museum MS Sloane 1848 reproduced in Miscellaneous writings ed. Keynes 1946

[5] Urn-Burial Chapter 3

[6] British Museum Sloane MS 1882 reproduced in Miscellaneous writings ed. Keynes 1946

[7]  Ms. J. Curl to whom the author is indebted for her professional knowledge in relation to Browne.

[8] Larkin, Nigel. "The West Runton Elephant" Norfolk Museums & Archaeology Service.

[9] Miscellaneous Tract 13  reproduced in Miscellaneous writings ed. Keynes 1946

[10] Typically Browne has embellished an original image with his own imaginative addition, placing 'a Negro Dwarf' upon the back of a tight-rope walking elephant. Modern numismatic scholarship now believes that Caesar's coin which was minted in 49 BCE to celebrate his defeat of his political rival Pompey depicts an elephant trampling and crushing a snake underfoot.  Looking closely at this coin (above) it clearly does depict a snake, which is often likened symbolically to a treacherous enemy, and the true statement of Julius Caesar's coin. A tightrope walking elephant is simply too frivolous a subject for a dictator to identify with !

Books Consulted

*Jorge Luis Borges -The Book of Imaginary Creatures (1967) pub. Penguin 1974 

*Suetonius The Twelve Caesars trans. Robert Graves pub. Penguin 1976

* Pseudodoxia Epidemica ed. Robin Robbins pub. OUP 1981

* Miscellaneous writings  of Sir Thomas Browne  ed. Keynes pub. Faber and Faber 1946

Images 

From top to bottom -

* Weston Runton female mammoth with offspring by Ms. J. Curl.

*  Painting - A detail from Peter Rodulfo's 'As the elephant laughed' (2012).

*  Artistic realization of the West Runton elephant by Ms. J. Curl.

*   Photo - Ms. J. Curl cleaning the West Runton mammoth 1995. 

* Photo:  Roman coin reverse.

Evelyn continues - Next morning, I went to see Sir Thomas Browne (with whom I had some time corresponded by letter, though I had never seen him before); his whole house and garden being a paradise and cabinet of rarities; and that of the best collection, especially medals, books, plants, and natural things.

John Evelyn’s description of Thomas Browne’s house as ‘a paradise and cabinet of rarities’ supplies us with clues to the contents of Browne’s Haymarket home. 

Even his garden house or shed seems stately and indicative of his wealth. It stood until as late as 1962 when it was demolished for new shops roughly where the Lamb Inn and what is now Primark stands.

Another 19th century sketch depicts Browne’s parlour. Embedded in its  fireplace are two yellow onyx stones and the Biblical verse ‘O god arise and scattereth our enemies’ inscribed upon it. The fireplace still survives, over the years it has alternated between being displayed at Norwich Castle Museum and then stored and forgotten about at the Rural Museum of Gressenhall. The ornate stucco ceiling is thought to be in storage with Norwich City Council, although it too may be either lost or its whereabouts forgotten.

Browne's notebooks includes verse inspired by a painting once in his parlour by Peter Paul Rubens. It depicts the gods Jupiter and Mercury visiting humble cottage dwellers who are preparing to kill a fattened goose for their visitors. Rubens painting celebrates the virtue of hospitality and its greater Christian tributary Charity, and as such it informs those visiting the family home of their deeply-held Christian values. 

In correspondence to his father Edward mentions another painting once in the family home which depicts the Greek myth of the Fall of Icarus. Equally moralistic to Ruben’s painting, this time warning of the danger of carelessness in youth and the consequence of not heeding parental advice. The parlour painting may have resembled or even have been this Dutch painting dating from 1637. 

Browne’s collection of curios, would in all probability,  have been exhibited within a single room. It  may have resembled this reconstruction of the Danish polymath Olaf Worm’s collection.  Browne's collection would have featured a display case of coins, various stuffed birds including a pelican, birds eggs, a swordfish's head, an elephant’s leg bone, part of a whale's skull and an ancient Egyptian statuette with magnetic properties.

Although his home, paintings and curios have long since vanished, there’s one document which gives us vital insights into Doctor Browne’s many interests, the 1711 Sales Auction Catalogue, which lists the contents of his library. It wasn't however, until 1986 that a facsimile was published of it, edited by the American scholar Jeremiah Finch, ‘after many years in many libraries’. 

There’s a few caveats to be heeded before consulting the catalogue. First, it lists not only books once in Thomas Browne’s library, but also those owned by his eldest son Edward Browne (1644-1708).

Browne’s eldest son Edward (above) became President of the Royal College of Physicians. More adventurous, but less wide-ranging in his interests, Edward Browne’s books are mostly  those relating to his profession, along with French literature and travelogues. Edward Browne was himself a great traveller and the catalogue lists a 1699 publication in which he engagingly narrates his observations while travelling through Hungary, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Thessaly and Austria. We can also safely assume that any book listed in the Catalogue dated after 1682, the year of Thomas Browne’s death were purchased by Edward Browne.

Secondly, the Catalogue advertises that books on sculpture and painting were to be sold, none of which arrived at the auction house for unknown reasons. Almost thirty years passed from Thomas Browne's death in 1682 until the auction and during that time, especially from 1708, the year of Edward Browne's death, until 1711, any number of people, servant, visitor or relative, especially Edward's son young Thomas, who met his death falling off his horse while intoxicated, may have slipped a book aside, especially one of the lavishly illustrated and costly books on sculpture or art. [1]

Nevertheless, the books listed as once in Thomas Browne’s library are extraordinary in the diversity of their subject matter. Books on – anatomy, antiquities, Biblical scholarship, botany, cartography, chemistry, embryology, geography, history, law, English and continental literature, mineralogy, optics, ornithology, philology, philosophy, theology, travel and zoology as well as esoteric topics such as alchemy, astrology and the kabbalah are all listed as once in his library. A high percentage of Browne’s books are in Latin, the predominant language of academics in the Renaissance. In addition, books in French, Spanish, Italian and English are also listed.

Browne claimed that his first book Religio Medici was written without the assistance of any good book, however there’s one book which he consistently refers to throughout his psychological self-portrait, the Bible. One cannot under-estimate the enormous influence which the Bible wielded upon him in religion and spirituality. The King James Bible was first published in 1611 just when young Thomas had barely mastered his ABC. Its stately strophes, cadences and parallelisms greatly influenced his literary style, notably in certain passages of Urn-Burial. 

Any selection of books once in Browne’s library is bound to be subjective. For this introductory essay I’ve selected a few first on natural history, optics and astronomy and finally on alchemy, ancient Egypt and China. 

Browne’s encyclopaedic endeavour Pseudodoxia Epidemica (1646) is a vast work of over two hundred thousand words.  An enormous number of books are referenced in it, it many of which are listed in the catalogue.  

In the second of the seven books of Pseudodoxia Browne writes on magnetism and electricity, frequently referencing William Gilbert's influential book ‘On magnetism’ (1600). The frontispiece of Gilbert’s book (above) depicts a natural philosopher and a mariner, together they are united in the magnet which always points North. Used in navigation, the magnetic compass made  sea-faring, exploration and over-sea trade easier throughout the seventeenth century. [2]

The early English scientist Gilbert also experimented with static electricity in the form of Amber. Because amber is called elektron in Greek, and electrum in Latin, Gilbert decided to name the phenomenon of static by the adjective electricus. However, because Browne chose to write in English and not Latin as Gilbert, it’s the Norwich doctor who is credited with introducing the words ‘electrical’ and ‘electricity’ into English language. 

Thomas Muffett’s 'Theatre of Tiny Animals' is also consulted in Pseudodoxia Epidemica. Muffett (1533-1604) was an English naturalist and physician who supplemented material which he'd inherited from Edward Wooton and the Swiss naturalist Gesner for his book which was ready for publication by 1590. However, due to the expense of its wood-cut illustrations and a general lack of interest in natural science in England at the time, it wasn’t published until many years after his death, in 1634. [3]

The Italian naturalist Guillaume Rondelet (1507-1566) is also referenced in Pseudodoxia. Rondelet was a professor of medicine at the University of Montpellier, one of the three Continental universities which Browne attended for his medical degree. In his book On Fishes (1544) Rondelet compared the swim bladders of freshwater and marine fish. Like other natural philosophers of his day, he made no distinction between fish and marine mammals such as seals and whales, or crustaceans such as crabs and lobsters. He  did however discover that humans share  certain anatomical similarities with dolphins. [4]

The most extensive work on birds in Browne’s day was by the  Italian naturalist Ulysees Aldrovandi (1522-1605). His Ornithologia (above) is a comprehensive study of birds, complete with detailed illustrations. Aldrovandi’s natural history books are well-represented in Browne's library and he himself was a keen bird fancier. At one time or another he kept an owl, a Golden Eagle, a cormorant, a Bittern and even an ostrich. His participation in the sport of falconry in particular points to his animal handling skills. It takes some ability to handle big birds such as  eagles. Some of the birds he kept were eventually dissected,  examined anatomically, cleaned and sent to a taxidermist.  The fate of this stuffed bird collection however was sealed when in 1667 Norwich's city council ordered its destruction, a precautionary measure to eliminate any potential harbingers of disease in the wake of the Plague which had recently decimated the City's population. [5]

Incidentally,  Browne is credited with introducing the word ‘incubation’ into English language.  Its also from his visiting local wetland habitats and repeated use of the phrase 'broad waters' in his Natural history notes that the geographical term 'Norfolk Broads' in all probability originates.

A number of books on optics, that is the scientific study of sight and the behaviour of light are listed in the catalogue, including the Belgian mathematician and physicist François Aiguilon’s 'Six Books of Optics, useful for philosophers and mathematicians alike'. 

Aiguilon's book is notable for containing the principles of stereographic projections. One of the most important uses of stereoscopic projection was in the representation of celestial charts which were increasingly necessary for accurate navigation, exploration and trade-routes, especially for the Dutch and British nations, the two rival Empire building sea-faring nations of the 17th century. 

Aguilon (1567-1617) commissioned the Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens to illustrate his book. Throughout his study on optics Rubens depicts three cherubs who act as heavenly guides who reveal the properties of optical phenomena to the devout enquirer. [6]

The German polymath Athanasius Kircher’s book on optics 'The Great Art of Light and Shadow' was printed in 1646. Its frontispiece (above) depicts a personification of the sun, with the symbols of the zodiac covering his body, below him sits a double-headed eagle. On his right  a woman personifying the moon is covered in stars, below her sits two peacocks. Rays of light hit various lenses reflective of Kircher's optical discoveries. The frontispiece also depicts the hierarchy of Kircher's sources of knowledge in descending order of reliability.  At its top are sacred authority and reason, below are inferior forms of knowledge, the senses (aided by instruments) and profane authority. Kircher's book is significant for its inclusion of the first printed illustration of the planet Saturn. [7]

Optics held both a scientific and mystical dimension for Natural philosophers such as Browne. With its emphasis upon Light and Dark, the visible and invisible worlds and the deceptive nature of appearances optics easily lends itself to moral teachings.  Optical imagery is found in the sacred texts of all world religions, including Christianity notably in Saint Paul's famous imagery of 'seeing through a glass darkly'. 

In Browne’s lifetime which spanned the greater part of the 17th century,  two optical instruments were developed which fundamentally revolutionized understanding of the universe and the complexity of organic life, the  telescope and slightly later, the microscope.

The Italian astronomer Galileo's Duo Sistema mundo or two world systems features a dialogue between two characters who discuss and credibility of the long held Earth centred universe and the new Copernican theory of a Sun-centred Universe. Galileo’s book supported the Copernican or heliocentric view of the Universe and was a fundamental challenge to the authority of the Bible. Humanity, but especially the authority of the Church was undermined. Western consciousness had to face up to a painful truth,  perhaps Earth was not the centre of the Universe after all, our new cosmic address might simply be the third rock from the sun, itself one among thousands of new stars which the invention of the telescope now revealed. [8] 

At the conclusion of Religio Medici Browne seems reluctant to accept the Copernican sun-centred universe, declaring-  ‘there is no happiness under (or as Copernicus will have it, above) the Sun. Nevertheless, his copy of Galileo’s revolutionary work is a first edition from 1635. [9]

One astronomer in particular who has a close affinity to Browne’s scientific perspective is the German astronomer and mathematician, Johannes Kepler (1571-1630).

A fruitful comparison can be made between Kepler to Browne. Kepler’s lifetime like Browne's spanned a watershed in scientific thought. Kepler augmented his rational inductive science and the astronomical discoveries of Galileo with Neoplatonic and Pythagorean ideas. His astronomical discoveries were as much structured upon precise mathematical calculation as deeply held theological beliefs and God-given revelation. 

Kepler’s scientific perspective, just like Browne’s, was a complex fusion of Christian awe of the Creation, precise scientific analysis, and concepts originating from the ancient Greek philosophers Plato and Pythagoras.  Browne just like Kepler believed in two, quite contrasting sources of knowledge. In addition to natural forms of knowledge obtained through reason, hypothesis, deduction and experiment, he also believed in supernatural sources of knowledge such as astrology. While Kepler extolled the virtues of the number six in his study of snowflakes, the mysteries of the number five is explored in Browne’s Garden of Cyrus. Kepler is also credited with introducing the astrological and astronomical aspect of the Quincunx to denote planets 150 degrees apart. 

Kepler’s On the New Star in the Foot of the Serpent Handler (1606) reported on the new star which was observable in the night-sky from October 1604 to October 1605. The new star or supernova, now known as Kepler’s supernova, raised serious questions about the Creation,  such as whether the stars were truly fixed and whether the Universe was changeable, making it an important book in 17th century astronomy.  [10]  

Although its not listed in the Catalogue Browne must surely have perused the pages of the Polish astronomer Hevelius’ Atlas of the Moon in order for him to state-  

'And therefore the learned Hevelius in his accurate Selenography, or description of the Moon, hath well translated the known appellations of Regions, Seas and Mountains, unto the parts of that Luminary: and rather then use invented names or humane denominations, with witty congruity hath placed Mount Sinai, Taurus,… the Mediterranean Sea, Mauritania, Sicily, and Asia Minor in the Moon'. [11]

Helvius’s book may have been one of the books which somehow never made it to the auction house. Incidentally, the word ‘Selenography’ meaning the mapping of the moon’s lunar geography is recorded by the Oxford Dictionary as first used by Browne.

In his lifetime Browne witnessed the cataclysmic events of the English Civil war, the defeat of the Royalist cause, the subsequent execution of King Charles in 1649 and the establishment of the Protectorate and Commonwealth of Cromwell. During this proto-Republic period many Royalist supporters withdrew from society in order not to draw too much attention to themselves. Many retreated into a private world of reading or gardening or even simply whittled time away whittling wood.   

Crowell’s Protectorate saw a liberalisation of printing press licences and a relaxation of censorship laws, these factors along with a general Endzeitpsychosis and the possible end of the world, resulted in a surge of  esoteric publications. Indeed the 1650s saw the greatest interest in esoteric literature that England has ever witnessed.  Books of an esoteric nature from this decade are well represented in Browne’s library. Its against a background of intense anxiety about the future that Browne penned his diptych discourses Urn Burial and The Garden of Cyrus (1658).

Jacques Gaffarell’s Unheard of Curiosities (above) is an early example of esoteric literature from this decade. First published in France in 1629 and in  English translation in 1650, Jacques Gaffarel’s book was enormously popular in its day. In his book the librarian to Cardinal Richelieu supplies his reader with a celestial map in which the stars of the night sky are connected to each other, not through the stories of Greek myth but through the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Browne clearly knew of this book for in The Garden of Cyrus he alludes to ‘the strange cryptography of Gaffarel in his starrie booke of heaven’. In doing so he introduced the word ‘cryptography’ meaning the art of inventing and decoding hidden communications into English language.

The Oxford antiquarian Elias Ashmole (1617-92) was among the first to test the waters of the new liberalisation of printing press licenses and relaxation of censorship laws. In 1650 he published albeit under an anagrammatic name, a translation of Arthur Dee’s anthology of alchemical literature known as Fasicuclus Chemicus. Its frontispiece (above) is framed on the left by the instruments of learning and on the right the weapons of war. Ashmole’s own astrological birth-chart is thrust into view by a mysterious hand which obscures the profile of a sculptural bust. At its top, the trickster figure of Mercurius god of communication and revelation sits upon a stool flanked by King Sol with symbolic beast of lion, and Queen Luna sitting upon a lobster-like creature. The frontispiece also features a secret visual allusion to its translator in the form of an ash tree and a mole. 

Arthur Dee was the eldest son of the Elizabethan mathematician and astrologer John Dee (1527-1608). Arthur Dee was a remarkable man, not least for surviving 14 harsh Moscow winters while serving as a physician to Czar Mikhail, founder of the Romanov dynasty. After his wife’s death Dee returned to England and opted to live in Norwich for his retirement where he became a neighbour and friend to Thomas Browne then living at Tombland.  Arthur Dee was none too pleased with Ashmole's unsolicited translation of his anthology and wrote to him – 

‘I am sorry you or any man should take pains to translate any book of that art into English, for the art is vilified so much already by scholars that do daily deride it, in regard they are ignorant of the principles. How then can it any way be advanced by the vulgar? But to satisfy your question, you may be resolved that he who wrote Euclid's Preface was my father. The 'Fasciculus', I confess, was my labour and work.'

On his death in 1651 Arthur Dee bequeathed a number of alchemical manuscripts to Browne who wrote in his correspondence to Elias Ashmole of Arthur Dee - 

'he was a persevering student in Hermetical philosophy and had no small encouragement, having seen projection made; And with the highest asseverations he confirmed unto his death, that he had ocularly, undeceivably, and frequently beheld it in Bohemia. [12]

In  much later correspondence to Ashmole Browne wrote 

'Dr. Arthur Dee was a young man when he saw this projection made in Bohemia, but he was so inflamed therewith that he fell early upon that study, and read not much all his life but books of that subject; [13]

The literary critic Peter French noted- 

‘Little is known of this son of Dee's; one cannot help but wonder however, how much he may have influenced Browne, who was one of the seventeenth century's greatest literary exponents of the type of occult philosophy in which both the Dee's were immersed'. [14]

Encouraged by his success Elias Ashmole published in 1652 Theatrum Chemicum Brittanicum an anthology of British alchemical authors mostly from the Medieval era. Ashmole’s book made available many works that had previously existed only in privately held manuscripts. It contains the rhyming verse of several alchemists, poets, including Thomas Norton, Sir George Ripley, Geoffrey Chaucer and John Dee. The page open here (above) shows the serpent-like Uroboros,  symbol of all devouring, recurrent and Eternal Time. [15]

The 1650s also witnessed enormous interest in the Swiss physician-alchemist Paracelsus (1493 -1541) whose writings are a conglomerate of practical advice on chemistry, proto-psychology and mystical Christian theology. Paracelsus urged his fellow physicians to experiment with Nature’s properties and the new Spagyric medicine which he taught, the beginning of  modern-day chemical medicine no less, exerted a profound influence upon alchemists, early scientists and physicians alike. The 1711 Sales Auction Catalogue lists not only the complete works of Paracelsus, but also many books by his followers, including Gerard Dorn. The large number of books by Paracelsian physicians in Browne’s library suggests that the Norwich physician held far more than a casual interest in Paracelsian medicine. [16]

Paracelsus was fond of inventing new words to describe his alchemical form of medicine and in this context its worthwhile taking a quick look at a verse inscribed upon Sir Thomas Browne's Coffin plate, one surviving half of which is on display at the church of Saint Peter Mancroft. 

The Paracelsian word, spagyric the name of Swiss alchemist-physician's distinctive brand of medicine can be seen engraved upon it. The word spagyric  was invented by Paracelsus from the fusing together of the Greek words Spao, to tear open, and  ageiro, to collect. Browne’s coffin-plate inscription alludes to the commonplace quest of alchemy, the transformation of metals, which for spiritual alchemists such as himself signified a far deeper goal - the transformation of the base matter of man to acquire spiritual gold –Translated the inscription reads – ‘Sleeping here the dust of his spagyric body converts the lead to gold’. Although often highly critical of esoteric aspects of Paracelsus, Browne’s coffin-plate is perhaps the strongest evidence of his adherence to Paracelsian medicine.

One illustration expresses how Browne may have felt at times during the 1650s. It can be found in the Theatrum Chemicum. [17] The six doorstep sized tomes of the Theatrum Chemicum were printed over several decades of the 17th century and remain the most comprehensive anthology on alchemy ever published. A woodcut illustration in  first volume of the Theatrum Chemicum depicts the adept or hermetically-inclined philosopher experiencing the first stage of the alchemical process known as the Nigredo and under the influence of the black, malefic star Saturn, a planet commonly associated with melancholy, Time and old age (below). Browne would have easily recognised this psychic state and may well have identified with the wood-cut image in the Theatrum Chemicum.  In Religio Medici he informs his reader that, 'I was born in the planetary hour of Saturn and I think I have a piece of that leaden planet in me'.  [18]

Browne must have perused his edition of the Theatrum Chemicum extremely closely for somewhere in the 800 pages by the Belgian philosopher Gerard Dorn featured in its first volume, he found an astral image which he liked and borrowed in order to triumphantly  assert at the apotheosis of Urn-Burial  - 'Life is a pure flame and we live by an invisible sun within us'. 

The frontispiece to the Italian polymath Mario Bettini's Beehives of Univeral Mathematical Philosophy (1656)  is a fitting visualization of the overall mood-music of the discourse The Garden of Cyrus. [19]

Like The Garden of Cyrus Bettini’s frontispiece (above) alludes to artificial, natural and mystical aspects of scientific enquiry. This particular frontispiece is in fact from a latter second edition of Bettini’s work and a very early example of colour printing. Although Bettini’s book is predominately on optics, geometry and perspective it also includes scientific ideas contrary to general opinion, mathematical paradoxes, geometrical problems not yet solved, curious machines and engines, optical illusions, games and tricks as well as studies in geometry and perspective.

The foreground of Bettini’s frontispiece features mathematical, optical and geometric instruments in vases as if cultivated plants. In the centre of a Villa courtyard a peacock stands upon a sphere and displays its feathers as water flows from its feathered eyes, creating a streaming fountain. The alchemical deity Mercurius, god of communication and revelation stands aloft a pyramid of beehives holding an armillary sphere. Ten bees in quincunx formation hover beside him. A spider’s web can also be seen.

Peacocks are often encountered in optical and alchemical literature, primarily because the 'multiple eye' symbolism of their feathers evoke watchfulness. The iridescent gleam of the peacock's feathers also appealed to optical study.

Bettini’s book includes chapters on the Holy Grail of optics, the camera obscura, the scientific precursor to photography, as well as examination of the mathematics and geometry of the spider’s web. Likewise, in The Garden of Cyrus fleetingly mentions ‘pictures from objects which are represented, answerable to the paper, or wall in the dark chamber’ and 'the mathematicks of the neatest Retiary Spider.’  

One book above all others seems to have fascinated Browne in the 1650s decade, the Jesuit priest Athanasius Kircher’s greatest work, Oedipus Egypticus or The Egyptian Oedipus. [20]

The frontispiece to The Egyptian Oedipus depicts a youthful looking Kircher successfully answering the Sphinx's riddle. The three door-step sized volumes of Kircher's Egyptian Oedipus are a triumph of the printing press, taking four years in total to print. In Oedipus Aegyptiacus Kircher sets out to explore the esoteric traditions of theosophical systems of Zoroaster, Orpheus, Pythagoras, Plato and the Hebrew Cabala. 

Athanasius Kircher (1602-80) was an archaeologist, an avid collector of scientific experiments and geographical exploration, he probed the secrets of the subterranean world, deciphered ancient languages and experimented with optics and magnetism. Kircher's books are well-represented in Browne’s library and his influence upon the Norwich doctor was considerable.  For example, Browne conceded to Kircher's authority, altering many of his own speculations upon Egyptian hieroglyphics, declaring -

'But no man is likely to profound the Ocean of that Doctrine, beyond that eminent example of industrious Learning, Kircherus’.[21]

In his early work The Magnetic Art (1631) [22] Kircher explored different forms of magnetism. He believed that human relationships, love, sex and music all held magnetic properties because of their ability to exert an invisible attraction. In The Magnetical Art the Italian polymath reproduced notated music which he claimed could cure those bitten by the tarantella spider when performed. Browne seldom if ever questioned even the wildest  of Kircher's ideas, stating in Pseudodoxia-

‘Some doubt many have of the Tarantula, or poisonous Spider of Calabria, and that magical cure of the bite thereof by Musick. But since we observe that many attest it from experience: Since the learned Kircherus hath positively averred it and set down the songs and tunes solemnly used for it; Since some also affirm the Tarantula itself will dance upon certain stroaks, whereby they set their instruments against its poison; we shall not at all question it. [23]

Browne was attracted to all kinds of secret, hidden forms of knowledge whether in the form of anagrams, riddles, codes, cryptograms, or symbolic as in the Hebraic kabbalah, as well as astrology and alchemy, but above all else it was the hieroglyphs (sacred writings) of ancient Egypt which fascinated him most. 

Thomas Browne's study of ancient Egypt was multi-faceted; as a doctor he naturally took an interest in its medicine, as a devout Christian he knew that the Old Testament books Genesis and Exodus are set in Egypt. Crucially, in common with almost all 16th and 17th century alchemists and hermetically-inclined philosophers he believed ancient Egypt was  home to the mythic Hermes Trismegistus as well as the birthplace of alchemy and where long-lost transmutations of Nature were once performed. And indeed, the early civilization skills of baking, brewing and metalwork, as well as cosmetics and perfumery were all once very closely guarded secrets. 

Kircher’s The Egyptian Oedipus includes a detailed reproduction of the Bembine Tablet. Named after Cardinal Bembo, an antiquarian who acquired it after the sack of Rome in 1527, the Bembine Tablet is an important example of ancient metallurgy, its surface being decorated with a variety of metals including silver, gold, copper-gold alloy and various base metals.  The Rosetta Stone of its age, many antiquarians attempted and failed to decipher its hieroglyphs. However, the Bembine Tablet has long since been identified as a Roman work dating from circa 250 CE, and a copy of a much earlier ancient Egyptian artefact. Its not, as both antiquarians believed, a work originating from ancient Egypt whatsoever. 

The engraved drawing  of the Bembine Tablet  in Oedipus Egypticus seems to have fascinated Browne for he alludes to it no less than three times in The Garden of Cyrus. First, in a fine example of how Christian scholars attempted to ‘Christianize’ pagan beliefs and artefacts, stating-

'he that considereth the plain crosse upon the head of the Owl in the Laterane Obelisk, or the crosse erected upon a picher diffusing streams of water into two basins, with sprinkling branches in them, and all described upon a two-footed Altar, as in the Hieroglyphics of the brasen Table of Bembus; will hardly decline all thought of Christian signality in them'.

Its mentioned once more in The Garden of Cyrus (chapter 3) -

'We shall not affirm that from such grounds, the Egyptian Embalmers imitated this texture yet in their linnen folds the same is observable among their neatest mummies, in the figures of Isis  and Osyris,and the Tutelary spirits in the Bembine Tablet'. 

But perhaps best of all - Browne may have felt convinced of the archetypal nature of his quincuncial network when detecting that the engraved drawing of the Bembine Tablet depicts an Egyptian god who is decorated in a network pattern identical to his discourse's frontispiece. (Figure on bottom row, second from left). He hastily mentions it in Cyrus thus -

'Nor is it to be overlooked how Orus the hieroglyphic of the world is described in a Network covering. from the shoulder to the foot'. 

Predating Greek and Latin script  Egyptian hieroglyphics were once believed to contain hidden wisdom. The Egyptian Ankh symbol (above) is the most frequent and easily recognisable symbol of all Egyptian hieroglyphs. Sometimes referred to as the key of life and symbolic of eternal life, the Coptic church of Egypt inherited the ankh symbol as a form of  Christian cross. Like other Hermetically inclined philosophers Browne attempted to reconcile pagan wisdom to Christianity, thus in The Garden of Cyrus he declared-

‘We will not revive the mysterious crosses of Egypt, with circles on their heads, in the breast of Serapis, and the hands of their Geniall spirits, not unlike the characters of Venus, and looked on by ancient Christians, with relation unto Christ'.

But the much simpler truth is that although Christian scholars believed ancient Egyptian symbols such as the Ankh symbol anticipated Christianity and the Coming of Christ in fact Christianity  borrowed and adapted aspects of Egyptian theology and symbols for their own use. 

In essence, Browne justified the study of so-called pagan, pre-Christian antiquities and beliefs in exactly the same manner as the Italian Renaissance scholars Marsilio Ficino (1433-99) and his successor, Pico della Mirandola (1463-94) by giving credence to a Prisca Theologia, a single, true theology which threaded through all religions and whose wisdom was believed to be passed down in a golden chain of mystics and prophets including Zoroaster, the Greek philosophers Pythagoras and Plato along with the Hebraic figures of King Solomon and Moses. For devout Christians the Hebrew prophet Moses in particular was a strong link in this golden chain, Browne for one believing Moses to be  'bred up in the hieroglyphicall schooles of the Egyptians'. But above all others, it was Hermes Trismegistus, the first and wisest of all pagan prophets who was revered by hermetic philosophers such as Browne. Modern scholarship however has now determined the mythic figure of Hermes Trismegistus to be an amalgam of the Egyptian god Theuth or Thoth and the ancient Greek god of revelation, Hermes. Even when the Swiss scholar Isaac Casaubon (1559-1614) conclusively proved that Hermetic texts were written after Christ's era and not before, Christian scholars none the less continued to appropriate hermetic teachings for their own agenda and persisted in belief that Hermes Trismegistus  or ‘thrice greatest’ on account of his being the greatest priest, philosopher and king, was a contemporary of Moses who anticipated the coming of Christ. Such imaginative comparative religion not only justified the study of philosophers such as Plato, but also sanctioned the antiquity, wisdom and superiority of the Bible to devout Christians.

Kircher’s Egyptian Oedipus includes detailed illustrations of Egyptian mummies. Browne mentions his interest in Egyptian mummies in his medical essay A Letter to a Friend (pub. post 1690) stating in what may be one of the world’s earliest dental jokes.

'The Egyptian Mummies that I have seen, have had their Mouths open, and somewhat gaping, which affordeth a good opportunity to view and observe their Teeth, wherein 'tis not easie to find any wanting or decayed: and therefore in Egypt, where one Man practised but one Operation, or the Diseases but of single Parts, it must needs be a barren Profession to confine unto that of drawing of Teeth, and little better than to have been Tooth-drawer unto King Pyrrhus, who had but two in his Head'.

The pyramids, mummies and hieroglyphics of ancient Egypt are frequently encountered throughout the discourses Urn-Burial and The Garden of Cyrus as is imagery closely relating to optics.

In many ways optical imagery is a fundamental template of the diptych discourses. Urn-Burial opens in the depths of the subterranean world, it investigates archaeological finds which are hidden in the earth. The religious beliefs of those going into the darkness of death are examined in it,  the enquirer or adept is said to be ‘lost in the uncomfortable night of nothing’. Browne laments that men remain in the dark to their own moral darkness until death. The discourse includes superb medical-optical imagery in which two infants not yet born and in the darkness of the womb discuss the world they are about to enter. Plato’s famous cave of  shadows and human illusion is also mentioned. 

While Urn-Burial explores the invisible world of death, The Garden of Cyrus explores the visible, living worlds of Nature and Art. In its dedicatory epistle Browne informs his patron that he's encouraged to write after meeting blind men who have the ability to discuss  not only sight but also growth. The discourse  opens with the dazzle of ‘shooting rays and 'diffused Light’ of the Sun and Moon on the fourth day of Creation, the effect of the Sun and Moon's rays upon plant growth is discussed, along with how the visual or optic nerve functions in eyesight. The workings of the camera obscura are also alluded to. Even disturbed, distorted ways of seeing in human perception are included with the word ‘hallucination’  being introduced into the English language. 

The Garden of Cyrus features dozens of sharp-sighted and perspicacious botanical observations. As well as using his eyes to study and examine Nature, Browne was also deeply appreciative of simply contemplating Nature and Art, as he wittily informs readers of Religio Medici  - ‘I can look a whole day with delight upon a handsome picture, though it be but of an horse’.     

Throughout Cyrus Browne attempts to enlighten his reader on the beauty of Nature. The word 'elegant'  frequently occurs in the essay. Visual examples of how the archetypal symbols of order, the number five and the quincunx pattern are generously supplied to the reader 'artificially, naturally and mystically' as prime evidence of God's intelligent design and universal interconnectivity. Though little understood throughout the centuries The Garden of Cyrus remains the greatest work of hermetic philosophy in the  canon of English literature. Taken together the diptych discourses are a unique literary work. Polarity, especially optical imagery involving Darkness and Light are fundamental to their construction. United they form a Cosmic vision and a rare instance of an alchemical mandala in World literature.

With the restoration of Monarchy in 1660 Browne must have felt a sober joy. Only two years earlier he'd reassured readers of The Garden of Cyrus of the imminent return of social Order, prophetically declaring – 'All things began in Order, so shall they end and so shall they begin again'.  

When King Charles II visited Norwich in 1671 Doctor Browne was rewarded with a knighthood, not only for the European fame of Religio Medici and Pseudodoxia, but also for his unwavering support of the Royalist cause. 

In his old age Browne became more than ever interested in far-off lands. His geographical curiosity was stimulated with the publication of Kircher’s  China Illustrated (1667). [24]

Being based in Rome Kircher had access to reports from Jesuit missionaries as far afield as Peru and China. His China illustrata was a work of encyclopaedic breadth. It included accurate maps as well as mythical creatures, and drew heavily on reports by Jesuits returning to Rome who had visited China. Kircher emphasized the Christian elements of Chinese history, both real and imagined and highlighted the early presence of Nestorian Christians in China. However, he also claimed the Chinese were descended from the sons of Biblical Ham and that Chinese characters originated from Egyptian hieroglyphs!

Browne references China illustrated in correspondence dated 1679 to his son Edward in what must be an early recorded mention of the medicinal herb Ginseng. His citing of a specific page number of China illustrated suggests that Edward Browne also had access to a copy of Kircher’s book.

Deare Sonne, - You did well to observe Ginseng. All exotick rarities, especially of the east, the East India trade having encreased, are brought in England, and the profit made thereof. Of this plant Kircherus writeth in his China illustrata, pag. 178, cap. "De Exoticis China plantis". [25]

Kircher’s  book on China was a valuable source of information about China for over two centuries. In one single illustration aspects of Chinese botany, horticulture, costume and customs, as well as architecture, are all faithfully recorded in an eyewitness account of a social gathering  and feast upon the giant 'polomie' jackfruit.

But the Dutch artists who were commissioned to illustrate Kircher’s ground-breaking book didn’t always get it right. Even written reports, like Chinese whispers can be misunderstood and exaggerated, as the size of the pet Chinese squirrel in the illustration below from China Illustrata shows !

It was also in his old age that Browne penned his solitary work of fiction known as Museum Clausum or the Sealed Museum (circa 1675) an inventory of lost, imagined and rumoured books, paintings and objects. Its a literary work which is testimony to his extraordinary imagination as well as his sly sense of humour,

One of Browne’s greatest admirers in the 20th century was Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1996). The Argentinian author, famous for quips such as describing the Falklands war as, ‘two bald men fighting over a comb’  once declared, ‘to write vast books is a laborious task, much better is to write a summary as if those books actually existed’. Borges short-cut advice was anticipated centuries earlier by Browne in Musuem Clausum which includes strange book titles such as-    

* A Sub Marine Herbal, describing the several Vegetables found on the Rocks, Hills, Valleys, Meadows at the bottom of the Sea.

* The Roman philosopher Seneca’s correspondence to Saint Paul

* The Works of Confucius, the famous philosopher of China, translated into Spanish. 

Finally, Browne has some interesting things to say about books and libraries in his Christian Morals (circa 1675). Its as if he had the relatively new Millennium library in Norwich, risen from the ashes of the old Central library in mind, that he rapturously declares-

‘What libraries of new Volumes aftertimes will behold, and in what a new world of Knowledge the eyes of our posterity may be happy, a few Ages may joyfully declare.’ [26]

But its also in this advisory essay that Browne cautions on the dangers of too much reliance upon books and book-learning, moralistically stating-

‘They who do most by books who could do much without them, and he that owes himself unto himself is the substantial man’. [27]

Browne's precocious self-awareness in Religio Medici defined himself a Microcosm or Little World. His extraordinary library with its ancient Greek and Roman authors, Medieval theologians, Renaissance philosophers, travellers accounts of distant lands, scientific discoveries by European polymaths and mystical symbolism of alchemists is also a Microcosm, a little world of 17th century knowledge and a veritable paradise of books. 

Notes

[1] 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  pub. E.J. Brill: Leiden, 1986

[2] Sales Catalogue page  19 no. 94 

[3] S.C. page 18. no. 51

[4] S.C. page 18 no.49

[5] S.C. page 18 no. 28

[6] S.C. page 28 no.12

[7] S.C. page 8 no. 89

[8] S.C. page 29 no. 50

[9] Religio Medici Part 2:15

[10] Sales Catalogue page 29 no. 18

[11] Pseudodoxia Epidemica Book 6 chapter 14

[12] Bibl. Bodleian MS No. 1788 Dr. Browne to Mr Elias Ashmole 25 January 1658

[13] Bibl. Bodleian Ashmole MS 1788 Dr. Thomas Browne to Elias Ashmole March 1674

[14] John Dee: The World of an Elizabethan Magus, by Peter J. French Pub. Routledge and Kegan Paul, London 1972

[15] S.C. page 47 no. 56

[16] Paracelsus Opera S.C. page 22 no. 118. Paracelsian physicians listed in Sales Catalogue includes Theodore Turquet de Mayerne (S.C. page 25 no. 98 page 51 no. 103,104) Joseph Duchesne, (page 33 no. 8 page 34 no. 63) Alexander Suchten (page 51 no. 128) Petrus Severinus ( page 18 no. 50 page 20 no. 23, 24, 25,26) John French (page 51 no. 118) Johann Glauber (page 43 no. 10) and Gerard Dorn (page 25 no. 118).