Verse
‘The Almond flourisheth, the Birch trees flowe’
Anonymous. First published in The Commonplace Book of Elizabeth Lyttelton, ed. Geoffrey Keynes (Cambridge, 1919), p. 27. Keynes, III, 236.
BrT 0.1
Copy in: A quarto miscellany of verse and some prose, predominantly in one female roman hand, written from both ends, 174 pages, in contemporary calf. Compiled by members of Sir Thomas Browne's family, chiefly his daughter Elizabeth Lyttelton (b. c.1648), containing various works in verse and prose including copies of a passage by Sir Thomas on consumptions (p. 43), a list of books which he had Elizabeth read out to him (pp. 44-5), copies of notes by him (pp. 77-76 rev.), his poem ‘Upon a Tempest at Sea’ (pp. 94-93 rev.) and verses beginning ‘the Almond flourisheth ye Birch trees flowe’ (p. 72); some of the verses in other hands including poems by Donne, Corbett, Wotton, Cartwright, William Browne, Ralegh, Katherine Phillips and others. Late 17th century.
Inscriptions (p. 1) ‘Mary Browne’ (who d.1676) and ‘James Dodsley’ and (p. 174) ‘Mar. 11th 1713/4 The gift of Mrs Lyttelton to Edward Tenison’. Percy Dobell's sale catalogue The Literature of the Restoration (1918), item 1240. Bookplate of the Royal College of Medicine, London. Owned by Sir Geoffrey Keynes (Bibliotheca Bibliographici, No. 1301).
This MS volume described in [Geoffrey Keynes], ‘A Daughter of Sir Thomas Browne’, TLS (4 September 1919), p. 420. Discussed in Victoria E. Burke, ‘Contexts for Women's Manuscript Miscellanies: The Case of Elizabeth Lyttelton and Sir Thomas Browne’, Yearbook of English Studies, 33 (2003), 316-28. Edited selectively by Geoffrey Keynes as The Commonplace Book of Elizabeth Lyttelton, Daughter of Sir Thomas Browne (Cambridge, 1919). The passages by Browne also edited in Keynes, I, 120-1, and III, 236-7, 331-2.
Edited from this MS in both Keynes volumes.
‘And if the Dogstarre up hath dranck’
A four-line fragment published in Keynes, III, 234.
*BrT 0.2
Autograph fragment of four lines, introduced ‘...these four verses which wer part of a coppy wch I made upon his [T. M.'s] death’.
In: A notebook, entirely in Sir Thomas Browne's hand, with a few inserted leaves, 118 leaves, in 19th-century half-morocco gilt. c.1668.
Edited from this MS in Keynes.
Colloquy with God (‘The night is come like to the day’)
First published in Religio Medici, where Browne describes it as ‘the dormitive I take to bedward…to make me sleepe’. Published later, in an anonymous musical setting, in Harmonia Sacra, II (1693). Keynes, I, 89-90.
BrT 0.3
Copy, headed ‘Dr: Browne, Verses’, and dated ‘Decemb: 420th: Paris. 1655’.
In: An octavo notebook of largely ecclesiastical prose and some verse, chiefly in Latin, English and French, in a cursive italic hand, possibly a second hand on ff. 59r-66r, written from both ends, 96 leaves (including some blanks), in contemporary calf, with metal clasps. Compiled probably by an English cleric in France, who writes (f. 1v) ‘I came to Maule. Aug. 16th at night, 1656’ and (f. 16r) records visiting Lord Hatton at his house in St Germains, Paris, where he is shown books and manuscripts, on 1 August NS 1656. c.1656-8.
Christie's, 27 March 1985, lot 154.
BrT 0.4
Copy in: A quarto miscellany of verse and prose, in English and Latin, in a single small hand, 31 leaves, in contemporary half-calf over marbled boards, imperfect. A label on the cover: ‘Dr. Lynnet's Common Place Book’: i.e. compiled by Dr William Lynnett (1622/3-1700), of Trinity College, Cambridge. c.1643.
Inscribed ‘Ri. Walker 1758. some years agoe Mr. Brigg bought this Common place book in Smithfield, and gave it to RW’. Inscriptions dated 1792 by Thomas Bousefield (or possibly James Simpson), wheelwright of Kendal. Purchased from J.W. Jarvis & Son, 30 January 1891.
BrT 0.5
Copy, untitled.
In: An octavo verse miscellany and notebook, in several italic hands, written from both ends, 64 unnumbered leaves, in contemporary calf. Compiled chiefly by members of the Grosvenor family, of Downton, Radnorshire (now Shropshire). c.1681-1732.
Various inscriptions including ‘Teverra Byrd’, ‘Teverra Grosvenor of Downton 1731’, and ‘Rich: Grosvenor his Book Given him p Mrs Teverra Grosvenor in the Year of Our Lord God Ano Dom 1730’. Also including earlier notes, dated 1681, relating to persons excommunicated ‘since J: Sayer came to Old Radnor’.
A microfilm of this volume is in the National Library of Wales.
BrT 0.6
Copy, untitled.
In: A quarto miscellany of poems on affairs of state, in several cursive hands, viii + 136 pages, in contemporary calf. Late 17th century.
Ownership inscription (p. [iv]) by Edward Dowden (1843-1913), of Trinity College, Dublin. Colbeck Radford & Co., undated sale catalogue, item 207. Item 117 in an unidentified sale catalogue.
BrT 0.7
Copy, headed ‘A Night Poem’.
In: An octavo verse miscellany, chiefly translations of classical texts, predominantly in one clear hand up to p. 151, with additions in other hands over a period, written from both ends, 273 pages (plus a number of blanks), in half-calf marbled boards. Early 18th century.
Leeds University Library, Brotherton Collection, MS Lt. 123, pp. 65-6.
BrT 0.8
Copy, subscribed ‘Script per me. D: T: Jan: ye 5th. 1702’.
In: A small narrow folio miscellany of verse and some prose, in several hands, 136 leaves, in vellum boards. Compiled probably over a period by members of the Stringer family of Sharlston. Early 18th century.
Among archives of the Fane family, Earls of Westmorland, of Apethorpe.
BrT 0.9
Copy, headed ‘Dr Browns dormative to bedward’.
In: A quarto verse miscellany, in probably a single mixed hand varying over a period, entitled in another hand Recueil Choisi De Pieces fugitives En Vers Anglois, 214 pages, in modern calf. c.1713.
Afterwards owned by Charles de Beaumont, the Chevalière d'Éon (1728-1810). Later owned by Sir Thomas Phillipps (1792-1872): Phillipps MS 9500. In the Shakespearian Library of Marsden J. Perry (1850-1935), industrialist, banker, and art and book collector, of Providence, Rhode Island. American Art Association, New York, 11-12 March 1936.
Cited in Religio Medici as Browne's ‘Colloquy with God’ and ‘the dormitive I take to bedward…to make me sleepe’. The poem was also published later, in Harmonia Sacra, II (1693), in an anonymous musical setting. Edited in The Works of Sir Thomas Browne, ed. Geoffrey Keynes [1st edition, 6 vols, London, 1928-31], 2nd edition, 4 vols (London, 1964), I, pp. 89-90.
BrT 0.91
Copy in: A small quarto miscellany of anecdotes, aphorisms, verses, etc., in two hands, compiled by Sir Francis Fane (c.1612-80), 193 leaves, in contemporary vellum. Inscribed by Fane on f. 1r ‘Aug: 24: 1629 / Franciscus Fane’ and, later, as a bequest to his three grandsons to be read by them when aged 21, dated from Fulbeck, 5 May 1672. c.1629-72.
Sold by Maggs, 29 May 1930.
‘Diseases are the armes wherby’
Twelve lines, published in Keynes, III, 236.
*BrT 0.92
Autograph copy, untitled.
In: the MS described under BrT 0.2. c.1668.
Edited from this MS in Keynes.
An Epitaph on Monsieur Poliander (‘Here lys deposited in trust’)
Epitaph of forty lines on the Professor of Divinity at Leiden (d. c.1645). Published in Keynes, III, 237-8.
BrT 0.93
Copy, introduced ‘this following Epitaph made by Doctor Broun, a fine Poet’.
In: A large folio letterbook of Philip Stanhope (1633-1713), second Earl of Chesterfield, in a single neat hand, written from both ends, 211 leaves, in modern half red morocco. Early 18th century.
Sale of Charles K. Sharpe, 7 January 1852, lot 2330. Purchased from Boone 11 December 1852.
Edited from this MS in Keynes.
‘The courteous Sunn with dust & lowlie mire’
Four lines, published in Keynes, III, 236.
Upon a Tempest at Sea (‘Whither yea angry winds? What beath’)
First published in The Commonplace Book of Elizabeth Lyttelton, ed. Geoffrey Keynes (Cambridge, 1919), p. 21. Keynes, III, 236-7.
*BrT 0.95
Autograph copy of 18 lines, introduced ‘of those upon a Tempest I was on the Irish seas I can call to mind only these’ and subscribed ‘The rest I haue vtterly forgott’.
In: the MS described under BrT 0.2. c.1668.
Edited from this MS in Keynes, III, 234-5.
BrT 0.96
Copy of the complete poem, subscribed ‘Writt by my Father at the Crowe Inne in Chester at his Coming from Ireland’.
In: the MS described under BrT 0.1. Late 17th century.
Edited from this MS in Commonplace Book of Elizabeth Lyttelton, p. 21, and in Keynes, III, 236-7.
‘Wee scorne those iudgments which adore’
Thirty lines, published in Keynes, III, 235.
*BrT 0.97
Autograph copy, introduced ‘The other verses upon a different subiect were these’.
In: the MS described under BrT 0.2. c.1668.
Edited from this MS in Keynes.
Prose
Works Published no later than 1716
An Account of Island, alias Ice-land in the yeare 1663
First published in Posthumous Works (London, 1712). Wilkin, IV, 254-6. Keynes, III, 345-6.
*BrT 1
Autograph draft of a letter about Iceland which Browne communicated to the Royal Society, in one of the volumes of his miscellaneous papers (BrT 51); 15 January 1663.
In: A folio composite volume (originally three separate MSS, now bound together with continuous foliation); comprising letters and papers of Sir Thomas Browne and his son Dr Edward Browne, 111 leaves.
Edited from this MS in Keynes, III, 345-6. Related letters by the Rev. Theodor Jonas are at the Royal Society, Classified Papers VII (1) 9.
Brampton Urns
First published in Posthumous Works (London, 1712). Wilkin, III, 497-505. Keynes, I, 229-38.
*BrT 2
Autograph early draft, on two folio leaves. c.1668.
In: A folio composite volume of letters and papers of Sir Thomas Browne, 111 leaves. Including an autograph letter by Browne (ff. 28-30), copies of 17 letters by him and two by his wife Dorothy all in the hand of his daughter Elizabeth (later Lyttelton) (ff. 81-8), an autograph draft of Brampton Urns (ff. 53-4v) and autograph notes on Greenland (f. 111), together with some 24 letters sent to Sir Thomas by various correspondents (ff. 3-10v, 15-21, 26-7v, 36-7v, 52v-v, 55-6v, 59v-63, 65-8, 71-80, 100-10v) and four letters addressed to Dr Edward Browne (ff. 1-2v, 22-24av, 64); with other miscellaneous tracts and papers in other hands. (passim).
The letters of Sir Thomas edited in Wilkin, I (passim), and in Keynes, IV, Nos. 1-13, 18, 138, 141, 143-4. Certain of the letters to Sir Thomas (by Digby, Evelyn and L'Estrange) edited in Keynes, IV, Nos. 168, 181, 186. The notes on Greenland edited from this MS in Wilkin, IV, 475, and in Keynes, III, 347-8. For Brampton Urns, see BrT 2.
Edited in part from this MS in Keynes.
*BrT 3
Autograph later draft, headed ‘Concerning some urns found in Brampton feild in Norfolk 1667’.
In: A quarto notebook, entirely in Sir Thomas Browne's hand, 94 leaves. c.1668.
For A Letter to a Friend and Brampton Urns, see BrT 5 and BrT 3. Passages relating to Hydriotaphia edited from this MS in Martin, pp. 268-9. Those relating to Christian Morals collated in Martin, pp. 271-88 (passim), and one of them edited from this MS in Keynes, III, 291. A facsimile page in Chris Fletcher et al., 1000 Years of English Literature: A Treasury of Literary Manuscripts (British Library, 2003), p. 71.
Edited chiefly from this MS in Keynes.
*BrT 4
Autograph draft of a portion of the text.
In: the MS described under BrT 0.2. c.1668.
This MS recorded in Keynes, I, 231.
Certain Miscellany Tracts
First published (viz. 13 tracts, edited by Archbishop Tenison) in London, 1683. Wilkin, IV, 115-250. Keynes, III, 1-120.
See also BrT 21, BrT 24, BrT 29, BrT 32, BrT 33, BrT 36, BrT 37, and BrT 46.
*BrT 4.1
Autograph draft versions (some incomplete) of nine of the Certain Miscellany Tracts: viz. Nos. XI [‘Of the Answers for the Oracle of Apollo’] (ff. 2-9), X [‘Of Troas’] (ff. 9-13, 17v-18), III [‘Of the Fishes’] (f. 19), V [‘Of Hawks’] (ff. 23-69), VIII [‘Of Languages’] (ff. 27-39), IX [‘Of Artificial Hills’] (ff. 39v-43), IV [‘An Answer to Certain Queries’] (ff. 55-7), VII [‘Of Ropalic’] (ff. 57v-8v), VI [‘Of Cymbals’] (ff. 58-9) [B] ‘A breif reply to severall Queries’, which forms in effect an addition to Certain Miscellany Tracts (ff. 48v-55, 55v); [C] a letter about ‘the improprietie, falsetie, or mistakes in picturall draughts’ which may also relate to Certain Miscellany Tracts (ff. 14-17).
In: A folio composite volume of autograph drafts by Sir Thomas Browne, 86 leaves.
The drafts of Certain Miscellany Tracts [A] collated in part in Wilkin, IV, xv-xvi, 179-230, and in Keynes III, 53-102; Tract VIII discussed by N.J. Endicott in ‘Sir Thomas Browne, Montpellier, and the Tract “Of Languages”’, TLS (24 August 1962), p. 645, and also in UTQ 36 (1966-7), 68-86 (p. 85). ‘The breif reply’ [B] edited from this MS in Wilkin, IV, 281-6, and (but for the passage on f. 57v) in Keynes, III, 224-9. The letter [C] edited from the MS — as, erroneously, an additional passage for Pseudodoxia Epidemica — in Wilkin, III, 157-61, and in Keynes, III, 221-3, but see Robbins, II, 946.
BrT 4.2
Extracts from No. II (‘Of Garlands’), headed ‘A catalogue of exoticke coronary or garland plants mentioned in Sir Tho. Brown's Miscellaneous Tracts, Lond. 1683’.
In: An octavo miscellany on botanical subjects, 246 leaves. Late 17th century.
BrT 4.3
Extracts, inscribed ‘urn-burial’.
In: A folio miscellany of extracts, in a single cursive hand, 351 leaves, in modern half brown morocco on marbled boards. c.1685-1700s.
Sotheby's, 13 July 1855, lot 1364.
BrT 4.4
Copy of No. XII, in a rounded hand, headed ‘writ by Sr Thomas Browne Dr of Physick in Norwich upon occation of an old Prophecie sent him by a Friend to read’, on five folio pages. Late 17th century.
Greffe, Guernsey, Bailiff's MS collection No. 126 (iii) (Volume List p. 73).
Christian Morals
First published in Cambridge, 1716. Wilkin, IV, 53-114. Keynes, I, 239-95. Martin, pp. 197-247. Endicott, pp. 365-442.
See BrT 21, BrT 34, BrT 35, BrT 36, BrT 41, BrT 43, BrT 48, and BrT 50.
The Garden of Cyrus
First published with Hydriotaphia (London, 1658). Wilkin, III, 375-448. Keynes, I, 173-227. Martin, pp. 127-76. Endicott, pp. 287-344. Also edited (with Urne Buriall) by John Carter (Cambridge, 1958).
See BrT 35, BrT 42, BrT 47, and BrT 49.
Hydriotaphia, Urne-Buriall
First published with The Garden of Cyrus (London, 1658). Wilkin, III, 449-96. Keynes. I, 123-72. Martin, pp. 81-125. Endicott, pp. 241-86. Also edited (with The Garden of Cyrus) by John Carter (Cambridge, 1958).
See BrT 36 and BrT 41.
BrT 4.5
Extracts. Mid-late 17th century.
In: A folio composite volume of MSS.
A Letter to a Friend
First published in London, 1690. Wilkin, IV, 33-51. Keynes, I, 95-121. Martin, pp. 177-96. Endicott, pp. 345-63.
See also BrT 43.
*BrT 5
Autograph draft, including passages not printed in 1690, untitled, with the author's note (f. 8v) ‘this Letter may bee added to the Letters in the folio with red leaues’, in one of Browne's notebooks (BrT 41).
In: the MS described under BrT 3. c.1668.
Edited from this MS in Martin, pp. 249-57 (with a facsimile of f. 10), and in Endicott, pp. 472-80. The ‘additional’ passages on ff. 14r-19r edited in Keynes, I, 119-20. Passages on f. 43r collated in Martin, pp. 270-1. See also relevant discussions in Frank Livingstone Huntley, ‘The Occasion and Date of Sir Thomas Browne's “A Letter to a Friend”’, MP, 48 (1950-1), 157-71; N.J. Endicott, ‘Browne's “Letter to a Friend”’, TLS (15 September 1966), p. 868, and replies by Karl Joseph Höltgen, TLS (20 October 1966), p. 966; by F.L. Huntley, TLS (9 February 1967), p. 116; and by N.J. Endicott, ‘Sir Thomas Browne's “Letter to a Friend”’, UTQ, 36 (1966-7), 68-86.
Facsimiles of f. 78v in Hilton Kelliher and Sally Brown, English Literary Manuscripts (British Library, 1986), No. 19, p. 30, and in DLB, vol. 151, British Prose Writers of the Early Seventeenth Century, ed. Clayton D. Lein (Detroit, 1995), p. 66.
Pseudodoxia Epidemica: or, Enquiries into very many received Tenents, and commonly presumed Truths
First published in London, 1646. Wilkin, vols II and III, 1-374. Keynes, Vol. II. Robbins (2 vols).
See BrT 29, BrT 32, and BrT 43.
BrT 5.1
Extracts.
In: A quarto miscellany, in several hands, written from both ends, 77 leaves, in contemporary calf gilt. Compiled by members of the Cartwright family, of Aynho, Northamptonshire, including (ff. 4r-7v) verse by William Cartwright (1634-76). Mid-17th century.
Inscribed names including ‘Will: Cartwright’, ‘Jo: Cartwright’, and ‘Katherin Cartwright’. Myers, sale catalogue No. 291 (1933), item 120.
BrT 5.2
Extracts, inscribed ‘Sr Tho: Brownes vulgar Errors’.
In: the MS described under BrT 4.3. c.1685-1700s.
BrT 5.3
Extracts, headed ‘Pseudoxia Epidemica: Enquirye into Vulgar Errours: Dr Browne’.
In: A folio miscellany, including a parliamentary journal for 1670-73, in two hands, 136 leaves, in modern brown leather gilt. Late 17th century.
Puttick & Simpson's, 12 June 1858, lot 1630.
BrT 5.4
Extract, untitled, beginning ‘A speech most hainously injurious to truth...’. on two duodecimo leaves, bound with other MSS in modern half-morocco gilt. Late 17th century.
BrT 5.5
A series of extracts, on nineteen octavo leaves, bound with other MSS. Late 17th century.
BrT 5.6
Extracts, headed ‘Dr Brownes Errors’, dated 1650.
In: An octavo notebook of extracts, in a single small mixed hand, written from both ends, 165 leaves, in contemporary calf. Compiled by one William Bright, entitled ‘ffragmenta hic omnigena è varijs excerpta authoribus ad priuatum existunt vsum WB ex anno 1644’. c.1644-76.
Inscribed also inside the lower cover ‘Will: Bright Novemb 12th pretiu 8d 1645’.
BrT 5.7
Extracts.
In: A duodecimo commonplace book of extracts from philosophical works, under headings, in a single minute hand, xx + 327 pages (including a number of blanks), with an index, in modern calf gilt. 1687-8.
Formerly owned by Sir Geoffrey Keynes, Bibliotheca Bibliographici (London, 1964), No. 19.
Cambridge University Library, MS Add. 8451, [Unspecified page numbers].
BrT 5.8
Extracts.
In: A quarto volume of chiefly religious tracts, 216 leaves. Late 17th century.
BrT 5.9
Extracts, headed ‘Observations out of Dcr Browns Vulgar Errors’.
In: A small quarto booklet of Restoration verse and prose, in a single non-professional hand, ii + 32 leaves (including a few blanks), in contemporary limp vellum, inscribed on the front cover ‘State Lampoons &c.’ and on the rear cover ‘begunn March 1668’. c.1668-85.
Among the Leigh papers of Stoneleigh, Warwickshire. Inscribed names of William Leigh and of Thomas Leigh (1652-1710), Baron Leigh (‘E. Libris Tho: Leigh 1684/5’).
Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, DR 18/26/6 (Part), [quarto-size box, unnumbered item], ff. [8r-9r].
BrT 5.91
An extensive series of extracts, apparently copied from the fourth edition of 1658, on 48 quarto leaves. Mid-late 17th century.
Recorded in Keynes, Bibliography, p. 57.
BrT 5.911
Extracts, in a cursive hand, headed ‘Out of Dr Brownes Enquiries’.
In: An octavo commonplace book, in several hands, 198 leaves, in contemporary calf with traces of ties. Compiled in part by William Drake, MP (1606-69), of Shardeloes, near Amersham, Buckinghamshire. c.1630s-48.
Later in the library of Charles Kay Ogden (1889-1957), psychologist, linguist, and book collector.
Drake's commonplace books discussed in Stuart Clark, ‘Wisdom Literature of the Seventeenth Century: A Guide to the Contents of the “Bacon-Tottel” Commonplace Books’, Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society, 6, Part 5 (1976), 291-305; 7, Part 1 (1977), 46-73, and in Kevin Sharpe, Reading Revolutions (New Haven & London, 2000).
Religio Medici
First published (unauthorised edition) [in London], 1642. Authorised edition published [in London], 1643. Wilkin, II, 1-158. Keynes, I, 1-93. Edited by Jean-Jacques Denonain (Cambridge, 1953). Martin, pp. 1-80. Endicott, pp. 1-89.
BrT 5.92
Extracts.
In: A folio volume of ‘Collections, historical, political, philosophical, moral and divine’, in a single hand, 380 leaves. c.1720.
BrT 5.93
Extracts.
In: A duodecimo commonplace book of largely devotional verse and prose, mainly in a single rounded hand, in black and red ink, i + 137 leaves, in contemporary black morocco gilt. Compiled by Henry Sturmy, who in November 1686 was bound apprentice to the London bookseller Ricard Hunt, and inscribed (f. 31r) ‘Intended for my own meaditations’. c.1696.
Bookplate of Charles Lilburn. Sotheby's, 28 May 1986, lot 198.
BrT 5.94
Extracts.
In: the MS described under BrT 5.7. 1687-8.
Cambridge University Library, MS Add. 8451, [Unspecified page numbers].
BrT 5.95
Extracts.
In: An unbound bundle of verse MSS, in various hands. Late 17th century.
Among archives of the Copped (or Copt) Hall estate, chiefly relating to the Conyers family.
BrT 5.96
Extracts.
In: A quarto miscellany of verse and prose, chiefly in one cursive hand, written from both ends, 271 leaves (including numerous blanks), in contemporary vellum boards. c.1700.
Leeds University Library, Brotherton Collection, MS Lt 48, ff. 54r-v rev.
BrT 5.97
Copy of prefatory and other supplementary material taken from ‘Sir Thos. own edition of Religio Medici printed in 1660’ (viz.? from the fifth or sixth editions of 1659 and 1669). Late 17th century.
BrT 5.98
Copy of the prefatory and other supplementary material which was added in the authorized edition of 1643 (i.e. not in the unauthorized edition of 1642), 8 pages. Mid-late 17th century.
*BrT 6
An extensive series of autograph corrections and revisions, made possibly in preparation for the first authorised printed edition (1643), on 84 pages of a portion (pp. 49-190) of a printed exemplum of the first, unauthorised, octavo edition (1642), disbound. c.1643.
In the collection of Robert H. Taylor (1908-85), American book and manuscript collector.
A microfilm of this volume is in the British Library, RP 2300.
BrT 7
Copy, on 44 quarto leaves. c.1630s-42.
This MS recorded and collated in part by all editors.
BrT 8
Extract, headed ‘Mrs [sic] Browne’, beginning ‘ffor my religion though there be seuerall circumstances...’, on ten folio pages, dated 1639. c.1639.
In: A folio volume of largely parliamentary and state tracts, predominantly in three secretary hands, 137 leaves (plus blanks), in modern half crushed morocco on cloth boards gilt. c.1637-43.
Owned in 1643 by one Charles Cheyney.
This MS recorded and collated in part by all editors.
BrT 9
Copy, on 203 quarto pages. c.1630s-42.
Once owned by the Brown family of Mimms House, Hertfordshire. Later owned by the grandfather (d.1792) of one William Hall. Sotheby's, 3 May 1928, lot 893. Possibly the MS in Tregaskis's Caxton Head Catalogue No. 1000 (1931), item 29, with a facsimile example on p. 13.
This MS recorded and collated in part by Keynes and subsequent editors.
BrT 10
Copy, on 63 folio leaves. c.1630s-42.
Formerly owned by a Lancashire family. Sotheby's, 14 December 1906, lot 273.
This MS recorded and collated in part by Keynes and subsequent editors.
BrT 11
Copy, on 83 octavo pages. c.1630s-42.
Owned in 1785 by one J. Bohyun Smyth and later by Simon Wilkin (1790-1862).
This MS recorded (as ‘W’ or ‘Wilkin Collection, no. I’) and collated in part by all editors.
BrT 12
Copy, originally untitled, a title and long Latin note attributing the work to a Scot named Dr Read who died in 1641 added in a later hand, 186 quarto pages. c.1630s-42.
Later owned by Simon Wilkin (1790-1862).
BrT 12.5
MS.
This MS recorded (as ‘W.2’ or ‘Wilkin Collection, no. II’) and collated in part by all editors. Facsimile of the first page of text (erroneously described as ‘written by Sir Thomas Browne himself’) in Charles Williams, Souvenir of Sir Thomas Browne, with twelve illustrations (London and Norwich, 1905).
BrT 13
Copy, originally untitled, on 39 quarto leaves. c.1630s-42.
Owned before 1783 by the Rev. T. Shrigley.
Edited from this MS in Une version primitive de Religio Medici par Sir Thomas Browne, ed. Jean-Jacques Denonain (Alger, [1958]), with a facsimile of p. 1 as frontispiece. Recorded and collated in part by subsequent editors. See also F.L. Huntley's review of Denonain's edition in MP, 58 (1959), 58-62.
BrT 14
Copy, on 231 quarto pages. c.1630s-42.
Later owned by Bainbridge Dean (b.1663/4), of St John's College, Cambridge.
This MS recorded and collated in part by Denonain (1953) and subsequent editors.
Repertorium, or Some Account of the Tombs and Monuments in the Cathedrall Church of Norwich 1680
First published in Posthumous Works (London, 1712). Wilkin, IV, 1-31. Keynes, III, 121-43.
See also BrT 21 and BrT 36.
*BrT 15
Autograph draft, untitled.
In: A quarto notebook, entirely in Sir Thomas Browne's hand, 44 leaves. c.1680.
BrT 15.5
Extracts.
In: A folio composite volume of ecclesiastical papers, in various hands, 831 pages, in modern half-calf marbled boards. Compiled by Henry Wharton (1664-95).
Among collections of Henry Wharton (1664-94), William Sancroft's chaplain (in 1688-9).
*BrT 16
Autograph draft, with revisions, on 39 quarto leaves, bound with BrT 17. c.1680.
Later owned by William Fitch (1793-1859), Suffolk antiquary.
Edited chiefly from this MS in Keynes.
*BrT 17
Autograph draft, with revisions, on 22 quarto leaves, the tract dated ‘1679’, bound with BrT 16. c.1679.
Later owned by William Fitch (1793-1859), Suffolk antiquary.
Edited in part from this MS in Keynes.
BrT 18
Copy on 37 quarto leaves, possibly (?) a text used for the edition of 1712. Late 17th century.
This MS probably corresponds to Quarto item 9 in the Rawlinson ‘Catalogue’ of Browne's MSS printed in Wilkin, IV, 469; recorded in Keynes and an ‘additional’ passage on f. 36 edited (III, 143).
BrT 19
Copy ‘Transcribed, & additional notes put to it in the lower margin in red inke by me Anth. à Wood of merton college in Oxon, in the beginning of march an. 168½’, on 15 octavo leaves.
In: An octavo composite volume of notes and antiquarian collections, in various hands, 154 pages, in vellum boards. 1682.
Collected, and partly written, by Anthony Wood (1632-95), Oxford antiquary.
Remains and Collectanea
Remains and Collectanea
*BrT 20
Chiefly comprising 24 autograph letters by Sir Thomas (some in draft) chiefly to his son Edward, 1668-82 (ff. 40-1v, 48-9v, 56-73v, 75-98v, 105, one including a letter by Sir Thomas's daughter Elizabeth) and three original letters by Edward to his father (ff. 34-9v); with autograph passages by Sir Thomas on the Pharsalian Fields (ff. 50-3v) and on the natural history of Norfolk (ff. 103-4v) and autograph verses beginning ‘Caesar and Pompey now are met’ (f. 74); ff. 1-33, 42-7, 54-5v, 99-102, 106v-12 comprising historical and medical collections, treatises and verses in other hands, certain of them relating to Dr Edward Browne.
In: A quarto composite volume of papers of Sir Thomas Browne (1605-82) and his son Edward (1644-1708), 112 leaves. Late 17th century.
The letters by Sir Thomas edited in Keynes, IV, Nos. 20, 22-3, 29, 39, 48, 69-70, 78-9, 84, 99, 105, 118, 122, 131, 135-7, 151, 163-4, 215-16. Letters by both Sir Thomas and Dr Edward Browne edited selectively in Wilkin, I, passim. Miscellaneous drafts on ff. 50-3v, 74, 103-4v edited in Keynes, III, 262-5, 415-16. Facsimile of f. 105 in Notes and Letters on the Natural History of Norfolk...from the MSS of Sir Thomas Browne, ed. Thomas Southwell (London, 1902), frontispiece.
*BrT 21
Autograph notebook, 71 quarto leaves. Entirely in Sir Thomas Browne's hand except for f. 51, including drafts of his Oratio anniversary Harveaiana (ff. 1-16v) and of another Latin oration on anatomy (ff. 17-20), notes on Vienna relating to Dr Edward Browne's travels (f. 25), miscellaneous notes on natural history (f. 23), figures in nature(f. 24), draining (ff. 48-9), Turkey (ff. 54v-63) and other subjects; some miscellaneous passages on moral subjects (on ff. 21f-2, 27-45, 50, 52, 53v, 64-7v) relating to Christian Morals; a draft passage on ff. 46-7 relating to Certain Miscellany Tracts No. 1 [‘Upon several plants mention'd in Scripture’]; and notes on f. 68 relating to Repertorium.
Various notes edited from this MS in Keynes, III, 248 255-6, 357-8. Passages relating to Christian Morals collated in part in Keynes, I, 291, and in Martin, pp. 271-88 (passim). For the Oratio, see BrT 22 and also BrT 31, BrT 36, BrT 44.
BrT 22
Copy of the Oratio anniversaria Harveiana in the hand of Richard Rawlinson (1690-1755), on eight quarto leaves.
In: A quarto composite volume of Oxford academic orations in Latin, 61 leaves.
This Latin oration composed by Sir Thomas for his son Dr Edward Browne to deliver at the College of Physicians in 1680, although it was not in fact used. The text was first printed (from other sources) in Wilkin, IV, 343-52, also (with an English translation) in Keynes, III, 188-205. For other texts see BrT 21, BrT 31, BrT 36, BrT 44.
*BrT 24
A folio composite volume of papers of Sir Thomas Browne, chiefly autograph, 113 leaves (including blanks), different sizes. Including autograph notes and passages on preserving health (in Latin) (ff. 4-5v), on bridges (ff. 8-9), on dolphins (f. 11), on an old woman (‘Boulimia centenaria’, f. 14, with a copy in another hand on f. 15), on echoes (ff. 32-3v) and on gardens (ff. 40-1v), and autograph copies of passages relating to the travels of his son Dr Edward Browne (ff. 24-8); autograph incomplete or imperfect draft versions of two of the Certain Miscellany Tracts (viz. Nos. XII [‘A Prophecy’] and VIII [‘Of Languages’]) (ff. 18-19v, 36-7v); nine original letters by Dr Edward Browne to his father, 1668-9 (ff. 52-84v); part of an original letter by M. Escaillot to Sir Thomas (f. 20r-v), and historical and medical notes, tracts and orations in the hand of Edward Browne and others (ff. 43-50v, 87-104). Late 17th century.
Various of these miscellaneous passages by Sir Thomas selectively edited from this MS in Wilkin, IV, 340, 372-4, and in Keynes, III, 242-3, 348-9. The two Miscellany Tracts edited in part from this MS in Endicott, pp. 425-38, 448-52; collated in part in Wilkin, IV, 195-212, 231-8, and in Keynes, III, 103-8. See also BrT 37.
BrT 25
A large composite folio volume, 90 leaves. Described (? by Sir Hans Sloane) as ‘Some original drawings of Towns, castles, Antiquities, Medals &c by Dr Edward Brown in his Travels Preserved by his Father Thomas Brown. Who hath write upon sevll of them what they are’, in Edward Browne's hand but many of the drawings of towns and topographical features also containing annotations in Sir Thomas's autograph (notably ff. 18, 20, 21, 51, 67, 68, 82), many other pages containing extensive passages in Sir Thomas's hand taken from Dr Edward Browne's accounts of his European travels in 1668-9 (notably ff. 12, 14, 33-4, 40, 75-6, 78-9v, 80, 87), including Sir Thomas's copy of Edward's list of ‘Citties and considerable places which I have seen’ (ff. 89-90v); Sir Thomas's annotation also on a drawing of a tongue (f. 3) and further autograph observations by him on medals and coins (f. 49) and on plants (ff. 84-5v).
Sir Thomas's observations on plants in this MS recorded and edited in part in Wilkin, IV, 367, and in Keynes, III, 374 (where the source is erroneously cited as ‘MS Sloane 523, ff. 58-9’). Facsimile of f. 68 (erroneously cited as f. 58) [annotated drawing of the Pont du Gard] in Endicott, p. 482.
BrT 26
Elephant folio, 109 leaves; composite volume of maps and drawings. A composite volume of maps and drawings by (or collected by) Dr Edward Browne, of topographical and local scenes, monuments, birds, ships or other subjects, the majority relating to Persia and Turkey, a few also relating to his travels in Italhy, Germany and France, some annotated by Dr Edward Browne himself, others bearing autograph descriptions copied in the hand of Sir Thomas Browne, notably accounts of the Leaning Tower of Pisa (f. 34) and notes on colouring (f. 36), Turkish costume (f. 67), towns in Germany (f. 85) and Bordeaux (f. 104).
*BrT 27
Folio, 18 leaves. Copy in a scribal hand of a tract by Rafael Micoleta on the language of Vizcaya, 1653 (ff. 1-15), followed by passages in Sir Thomas Browne's hand on ‘The Lords prayer in the cantabrian, visayna or present Bascuenza Languadge out of paulus merula cosmographie part 2 lib 2’ (f. 16), ‘The Apostles creed in the same Languadge’ (f. 17) and (following a pasage in Icelandic in another hand, ?that of the rev. Theodore Jonas) ‘The Lords prayer in the present languadge of Island’ (f. 18).
The volume later owned by Sir Thomas Browne's grandson by marriage, Owen Brigstocke (1679-1746).
This MS briefly discussed in Keynes, III, 83, and in N.J. Endicott, ‘Sir Thomas Browne, Montpellier, and the tract “Of Languages”’, TLS (24 August 1962), p. 645. This MS corresponds to Folio item 7 in the Rawlinson ‘Catalogue’ of Browne's MSS printed in Wilkin, IV, 467.
*BrT 28
Folio, 37 leaves (plus blanks); notebook, largely autograph. Comprising [A] Sir Thomas Browne's autograph copies of correspondence with his second son, Lieutenant Thomas Browne (d. c.1667) in 1666-7, including Admiral John Kempthorne's General Orders at Sea (f. 16r-v); [B] Sir Thomas's autograph copy of ‘Verses [by Thomas] at the end of his Horace & Juvenal which hee had with him at Sea’ (ff. 20-1) and verses written on board the Marie Rose (f. 21); [C] Sir Thomas's autograph copy of his son Thomas's account of ‘My Journey from Bourdeaux to Paris in 1662’ (ff. 22-9); [D] an incomplete copy in another hand of the younger Thomas Browne's journal for part of 1666, headed in Sir Thomas's hand ‘from the Thames to falmouth’ (ff. 31-7v); [E] other family notes (ff. 1, 30r-v [dated 1702]).
The correspondence [A] edited in Wilkin, I, 128-34, 141-9. One of the letters (by Sir Thomas) in Keynes, IV, No. 17. The account [C] edited in Wilkin, I, 17-22. The journal [D] edited in Wilkin, I, 134-42.
*BrT 29
Autograph drafts by Browne including [D] two Latin epistles, one to a friend intending a difficult work (‘Amico opus arduum meditantij’) (ff. 61-4), the other to a friend on his wearisome chatterer (‘Amico clarissimo de enecante garrulo suo’) (ff. 82v-6); [E] passages on public execution which relate to Pseudodoxia Epidemica, VI, Chapter 21 (ff. 20-2); [F] a series of miscellaneous drafts and observations: on Kircher's treatise De peste (ff. 44-8), naval fights (in English and Latin) (ff. 59v-60v, 65-8), dice (‘De astragalo aut talo’) (ff. 69-70), a reading of Athenaeus (‘nonnulla a Lectione Athenaei scripta’) (ff. 71-7) and a reading of Athenaeus, Platina and Apicius on cookery (‘nonnulla a Lectione Athenaei Platinae Apicii de re culinaria conscripta’) (ff. 77-81). Mid-late 17th century.
In: the MS described under BrT 4.1.
The Latin epistles [D] edited from this MS in Wilkin, IV, 290-3, 309-12, and (with English translations) in Keynes, III, 150-5, 181-8; facsimile of the last line and signature on f. 86 in Greg, English Literary Autographs, No. LXXXIX (b). The passages relating to Pseudodoxia Epidemica [E] edited from this MS in Robbins, II, 990-5. The miscellaneous drafts [F] edited from this MS in Wilkin, IV, 277-80, 287-9, 294-308, and (with an English translation of the main Latin passages) in Keynes, III, 155-88, 249-54.
*BrT 30
Folio, 46 leaves (plus blanks); composite volume of correspondence between Sir Thomas Browne and Dr Christopher Merrett, comprising four autograph draft letters by Browne to Merrett (ff. 5-44) and two letters from Merrett to Browne (ff. 1-4); the first letter by Browne (ff. 5-38, with additions on f. 45), consisting of a series of notes on the natural history of Norfolk, chiefly on birds and fishes and (ff. 10-11) on the ostrich. [1688-9].
The notes on natural history edited from this MS in Wilkin, IV, 313-39 (passim), and in Keynes, III, 354-6, 401-10, 417-26, 430-1. The remaining letters edited in Wilkin, I, 395-403, 442-5, and in Keynes, IV, Nos. 209-12, 217.
*BrT 31
A folio composite volume of tracts, letters and papers, 236 leaves. Comprising tracts, letters and papers, chiefly on medical and anatomical subjects, chiefly in the hand of Dr Edward Browne, including his copies of his father's Oratio anniversaria Harveiana of 1680 (ff. 155-9), ‘Boulimia centenaria’ [of 1 February 1671/2] (f. 24v) and note ‘Upon the darke thick miste happening on the 27 of November, 1674’ (ff. 143r-v-146); some autograph passages by Sir Thomas in Latin (ff. 144-5v, 149-50); and twelve letters by Sir Thomas, 1668-82, five of them in his autograph (ff. 84-5v, 87r-v, 91r-v, 133-4v, 153-4v), the other seven copies in Edward's hand (ff. 14r-v, 17, 18r-v, 19v, 21v-3v).
The passages (in English) by Sir Thomas Browne edited chiefly from this MS in Wilkin, IV, 340-52, and in Keynes, III, 188-96, 240-3. The letters edited in Wilkin, I, passim, and in Keynes, IV, Nos. 33-5, 50, 52-3, 61, 119, 132, 208, 229, 231. The Oratio edited in part from this MS in Wilkin, IV, 343-52, and in Keynes, III, 188-205; and see also BrT 22 and BrT 21, BrT 36, BrT 44.
*BrT 32
A quarto volume of tracts, 91 leaves. Comprising [A] autograph draft versions by Sir Thomas Browne of three of his Certain Miscellany Tracts, viz. Nos. XI (ff. 1-17), X (ff. 19-26) and VIII (ff. 27-48); and [B] the Observations on Browne's Pseudodoxia Epidemica written by, and in the autograph of, Sir Hamon L'Estrange of Hunstanton Hall, Norfolk, being the MS he sent to Browne in 1653 (ff. 50-91).
The Certain Miscellany Tracts [A] Nos VIII and XI edited largely from this MS in Endicott, pp. 425-7, all three tracts collated in part in Keynes, III, 70-83, 88-102; Tract No. VIII also discussed briefly by N.J. Endicott in TLS (24 August 1962), p. 645, and in UTQ, 36 (1966-7), 68-86 (p. 85). The ‘Observations’ by L'Estrange [B] unpublished but recorded in Wilkin, II, 173-5, and in Keynes, IV, 284 (where they are erroneously cited as ‘MS Sloane 1830’); brief extracts from ff. 50v-1 in Robbins, II, 731.
*BrT 33
Autograph draft version of the first of Sir Thomas Browne's Certain Miscellany Tracts [viz. ‘Observations upon several plants mention'd in Scripture’], incomplete, and with a brief additional passage, 72 quarto leaves.
This MS collated in part in Wilkin, IV, 121-73, and in Keynes, III, 1-48, 120.
*BrT 34
A quarto notebook, entirely in Sir Thomas Browne's hand, 53 leaves. Including miscellaneous observations on medicine, anatomy, natural history, physics and other subjects, quotations from the classics and other writers and some verses in English and Latin, one passage (f. 13) being an early draft version of a brief passage in Christian Morals, Part I, section 5.
Selections from this MS edited in Wilkin, IV, 376-80, and in Keynes, III, 272-82. The variant passage for Christian Morals edited in Martin, p. 272. Facsimile example of f. 32v (a passage on brandy drinking) in Petti, English Literary Hands, Nol. 64.
*BrT 35
A quarto composite volume of Sir Thomas Browne's papers, 256 leaves. Chiefly comprising 115 autograph letters by him, 1652-82, the majority to his son Edward, together with one letter addressed to Sir Thomas (f. 57); also including autograph notes by Sir Thomas relating to the European travels of Dr Edward Browne (ff. 65-6v), on plants (f. 105) and on Plutarch (f. 149), an autograph passage possibly relating to The Garden of Cyrus (f. 48v) and three others relating to Christian Morals (ff. 196, 227-8).
The letters edited in Wilkin, I (selectively, passim), and in Keynes, IV, Nos. 16, 19, 21, 24-8, 30-1, 36-8, 40-5, 47, 51, 54, 56-60, 62-8, 71-7, 80-3, 85-98, 100-4, 106-17, 120-1, 123-30, 133-4, 139-40, 142, 145-50, 152-62, 165-6, 214, 218, 225-6, 230, 232. The notes on plants and Plutarch edited from this MS in Keynes, III, 379 and 262. The passage possibly relating to The Garden of Cyrus edited from this MS in Keynes, I, 227; noted in Martin, p. 270 (where its relation to that work is questioned). The passages relating to Christian Morals edited selectively from this MS in Keynes, I, 291-2, 295, and in Martin, pp. 271-88 (passim). Facsimile of f. 27 [= Keynes, IV, No. 156] in Garnett and Gosse (1903), III, facing p. 52.
*BrT 36
A quarto composite volume of writings entirely in Sir Thomas Browne's hand (except for ff. 173-4), 279 leaves. Comprising miscellaneous drafts and notes, observations and memoranda on anatomy, medicine, natural history and other subjects, including: rough draft notes for his Oratio anniversaria Harveiana (ff. 40-142v), passages on spectacles (f. 148), tutelary angels (f. 174), criticisms of passages in scripture (ff. 175-93), Camaldulenses (f. 196), St Veit (f. 196), St Paul's Cross (f. 210), Plutarch (f. 211) and passages relating to the European travels of his son Dr Edward Browne (ff. 256-66v), with draft letters to Dr Christopher Merrett on natural history (ff. 219-55v) and to his sons Thomas and Edward (ff. 3-10v, 267-9) and two original letters sent to Sir Thomas by members of his family (ff. 173-4); ff. 272v-3v containing notes (on Heydon's Chapel, etc.) relating to Repertorium; ff. 278-9v comprising a draft portion of Certain Miscellany Tracts No. IX, and several passages relating to Christian Morals occurring in ff. 146v, 149v-50, 157, 161-2, 165v, 167v, 195.
Various of these notes edited selectively from this MS in Keynes, III, 244-5, 261, 265-71, 282, 333-43, 349-54, 361-73, 375-7, 410-15, 426-31. Passages relating to Christian Morals edited in part in Keynes, I, 172 (questionably cited as an addition to Hydriotaphia), 291, 295, and in Martin, pp. 271-88 (passim). Two letters by Sir Thomas to his sons edited in Keynes, IV, Nos. 14 and 46. For the Oratio, see BrT 22 and also BrT 21, BrT 31, BrT 44.
*BrT 37
A folio composite volume of MSS, 94 leaves. Fols 1r-32v comprising miscellaneous writings entirely in Sir Thomas Browne's hand, including his observations on the ear (ff. 1-5), on the ostrich (ff. 6-7), on various European towns and places [relating to Dr Edward Browne's travels] (ff. 8-9, 13, 19, 22-5), on the birth of our Saviour (ff. 17-18v) and on the birds in Norfolk (ff. 20-21v, 27-30v), f. 12 being a single leaf separated from the draft Certain Miscellany Tracts No. XII (see BrT 24, ff. 33-94 comprising tracts in other hands on the muscles, geometry and a translation from Plutarch, the last (ff. 55-94) in the hand of Dr Edward Browne).
The passages on the ear recorded in Keynes, III, 335. The leaf from the Miscellany Tract edited in part in Endicott, pp. 448-52.
*BrT 38
A quarto MS volume, 84 leaves. Comprising: [A] a copy, entirely in Sir Thomas Browne's autograph, of part of his son Dr Edward Browne's account of his travels in Europe in 1668-9 (ff. 2-54), with additions in Edward Browne's hand on ff. 35v and 44v; [B] a Latin treatise on medicine in the hand of Edward Browne (ff. 55-70); [C] a Latin comedy, ‘Fraus pia’, in an unidentified hand (ff. 71-84).
*BrT 39
A quarto autograph Latin notebook, 91 leaves. Comprising ‘sententiae ethieca’ and extracts from Aristotle and other authors, written throughout in a relatively neat version of Sir Thomas Browne's hand, f. 91 being a leaf inserted later.
*BrT 40
A quarto notebook chiefly in Sir Thomas Browne's hand, 90 leaves (plus blanks). Including [A] his autograph copies of 32 letters from his son, Dr Edward Browne, 1668-9 (ff. 22-88); [B] a copy in a scribal hand of a letter to Browne by M. Escaliot, 24 juanuary 1663/4, with Browne's autograph subscription (ff. 5-21); [C] an autograph list of seeds sown in Sir Thomas's garden, 1667 (ff. 1-4); a few additional notes on ff. 4 and 90 in Dr Edward Browne's hand.
Escaliot's letter [B] printed in Wilkin, I, 424-42. Facsimile example of f. 36 (erroneously described as an example of Dr Edward Browne's hand) in The Sloane Herbarium, ed. J.E. Dandy (London, 1958), No. 25.
*BrT 41
Including drafts of A Letter to a Friend (ff. 8-25) and Brampton Urns (ff. 26-37); ff. 2-7v, 38-94 comprising miscellaneous notes and observations by Browne including draft passages relating to Hydriotaphia (on ff. 3, 48v, 78v, 79v, 80v-81v) and to Christian Morals (on ff. 7r-v, 38-9, 42, 46, 52, 67-8, 72v-5).
In: the MS described under BrT 3. c.1668.
*BrT 42
A quarto notebook, entirely in Sir Thomas Browne's hand, 73 leaves (plus blanks). Including Browne's account of a thunderstorm at Norwich, 28 June 1665 (ff. 2-3v) and his notes and draft passages on Norwich steeple (f. 1), plants (ff. 2-4, 30), figures on nature (ff. 4-6v), opinions of the ancients (ff. 7-8), motion of bodies and ebullition (ff. 9-17), coagulation, congelation and other physical properties (ff. 19-29v) and extracts from Catullus, Horace, Juvenal and Plutarch (ff. 70v-31 (rev)) some of the passages on ff. 4-6 relating to The Garden of Cyrus.
Various of these notes edited selectively from this MS in Wilkin, IV, 353-4 (account of a thunderstorm) and 454-6 (some of classical passages), and in Keynes, III, 239-40, 246-8, 268, 396-400, 434-7, 457-62. The passages relating to The Garden of Cyrus recorded in Martin, p. 270, and see also Jeremiah S. Finch, ‘Early Drafts of The Garden of Cyrus’, PMLA, 55 (1940), 742-7 (p. 742).
*BrT 43
Including verses, a passage on angels (f. 17r), notes on medicines (f. 45) and miscellaneous memoranda and commonplaces on a variety of other topics (passim); some notes and passages on ff. 12v, 16r, 25r-6r relating to A Letter to a Friend, others on ff. 13r, 15v, 20v-1r, 23r, 26r relating to Christian Morals; passages on ff. 18r and 31v relating to Pseudodoxia Epidemica; ff. 60r-1r containing a draft of part of Brampton Urns.
In: the MS described under BrT 0.2. c.1668.
Extracts from this MS edited in Wilkin, IV, 381-425, and in Keynes, III, 234-6, 244, 269, 274, 283-330. The passages relating to A Letter to a Friend and to Christian Morals collated in part in Martin, pp. 270-1 and 271-88 (passim). The passages relating to Pseudodoxia Epidemica edited in Robbins, II, 670 and 1015. For Brampton Urns, see BrT 4.
*BrT 44
Autograph draft, untitled of Sir Thomas Browne's Oratio Anniversaria Harveiana, 19 quarto leaves.
Edited in part from this MS (with an English translation) in Keynes, III, 188-205. See BrT 22 and also BrT 21, BrT 31, BrT 36.
*BrT 45
A duodecimo notebook, 15 leaves. Containing extracts from various authors in Latin, Greek and Italian, in an unidentified hand (ff. 1-10), and memoranda of private expenses in 1661 in the hand of Sir Thomas Browne (ff. 13-15).
*BrT 46
A quarto composite volume, including autograph writings by Sir Thomas Browne, 112 leaves. [A] ff. 1-38 comprising three tracts by Thomas Golding (ff. 1-18v), Thomas, Lord Coventry (ff. 19-21v) and another (‘Brevis animalium’: ff. 22-38), in three different scribal hands; [B] ff. 39-91, comprising an autograph commonplace book of miscellaneous notes and drafts by Browne, including passages in Latin on sea fights (ff. 43-50), on dice (‘De Talo aut Astragalo’: ff. 54-7), on reading Athenaeus, Platin and Apicius on cookery (ff. 58-64), on a reading of Athenaeus (ff. 65-75), an epistle to a friend intending a difficult work (‘Amico opus ardu meditanti’: ff. 76-81) and notes on Aristotle (ff. 82-3); [C] ff. 93-112 comprising an autograph draft of Certain Miscellany Tracts No. XIII [‘Musaeum Clausum’].
The miscellaneous passages [B] edited (sometimes in part) from this MS in Keynes, III, 150-2, 155-8, 162-70, 175-8, 205; the notes on Aristotle also in Wilkin, IV, 360-6. The Miscellany Tract [C] collated in part in Keynes, III, 109-19.
*BrT 47
A quarto notebook entirely in Sir Thomas Browne's hand, 102 leaves. Containing miscellaneous drafts and observations, including notes on coagulation and other physical properties (ff. 1-4, 10-17, 20-40, 94), on natural history (ff. 2-3, 19-20, 48-6, 64-5, 82, 87-93, 95-7, 98, 100, 102), on plants (ff. 4, 44-5, 57-8, 60, 62, 66-9, 70-81, 82v-6), on the motion of bodies and ebullition (ff. 6-9), on bubbles (ff. 41-4) and on scripture criticism (ff. 46-7v); a passage on f. 100 relating to The Garden of Cyrus.
Extensive extracts from this MS edited in Wilkin, IV, 425-53, and in Keynes, III, 258-61, 352, 358-73, 379, 382-96, 432-4, 438-62. The passage relating to The Garden of Cyrus edited from this MS in Jeremiah S. Finch, ‘Early Drafts of The Garden of Cyrus’, PMLA, 55.i (1940), 742-7 (pp. 742-3). See also BrT 52.
*BrT 48
A quarto notebook. entirely in Sir Thomas Browne's hand, 97 leaves. Comprising a series of miscellaneous Observations upon several subjects (ff. 1-57, 97), including draft passages on dreams (ff. 2-10), on the search for truth (ff. 44-6), pleasure (ff. 11-13), the line of our lives (ff. 17v-20), dying (ff. 21-3), aggregation and coacervation (ff. 25-6), intention, imitation and coincidence (ff. 26-8) and guardian angels (ff. 56-7), and passages relating to Christian Morals (ff. 42-7), together with a series of passages relating to the European travels of his son Dr Edward Browne (ff. 59-96).
The passages on dreams edited from this MS in Keynes, III, 230-3, and in Endicott, pp. 455-9; this and other passages possibly edited in part from this MS in Wilkin, IV, 355-9, 381-425 (where Sloane MS 1874 is questionably cited as a source). The passages relating to Christian Morals discussed and edited in part in Arno Löffler, ‘Sir Thomas Browne at Work: An Unpublished Early Section of “Christian Morals”’, N&Q, 218 (October 1973), 391-2. Other passages edited in Endicott, pp. 460-71, and the MS briefly discussed by Endicott (as ‘one of the most interesting of the Browne MSS’) in UTQ, 36 (1966-7), 68-86, 89-91.
*BrT 49
A quarto notebook, entirely in Sir Thomas Browne's hand, 27 leaves. Including his observations on plants (ff. 2-9, 12,-14), medals (ff. 15-18v), fossil remains in Norfolk (ff. 19-20), insects (ff. 23-6) and ashes (f. 27); a few passages on ff. 1r-v, 4v-5 relating to The Garden of Cyrus.
Various of these observations edited from this MS in Wilkin, IV, 454, and in Keynes, III, 246, 256-8, 350-1, 356-7, 374-5, 377-82. The passages relating to The Garden of Cyrus discussed and edited in part in Jeremiah S. Finch, ‘Early Drafts of The Garden of Cyrus’, PMLA, 55.i (1940), 742-7 (with facsimiles of ff. 1 and 4v), and in Martin, pp. 269-70.
*BrT 50
Including a draft of Repertorium (ff. 1-4v, 33-41v), a series of draft passages relating to Christian Morals (ff. 5-21, 24-5, 29-32), and notes relating to his son Edward's travels in Germany (ff. 42r-v, 44v), a drawing and notes on f. 43 in another hand.
In: the MS described under BrT 15. c.1680.
The passages relating to Christian Morals collated in part in Keynes, I, 291-2, and in Martin, pp. 271-88 (passim), and ff. 45r-7r edited and discussed in Arno Löffler, ‘Sir Thomas Browne at Work: An Unpublished early Section of “Christian Morals”’, N&Q, 218 (October 1973), 391-2. For Repertorium, see BrT 15.
*BrT 51
Comprising: 37 original letters from Edward to his father, the majority written on his European travels in 1668-9 (ff. 3-75v); a letter from Edward in another hand with subscribed autograph letters from Sir Thomas and his wife to their son Thomas, 1664 (ff. 1-2v); a series of original letters written to Sir Thomas and to Dr Edward Browne by various correspondents, including Henry Power, Theodor Jonas, Sir William Dugdale and Henry Oldenburg (ff. 76-88v, 92-102v, 104-5v, 108-41v); autograph drafts of two letters by Sir Thomas to Dugdale (ff. 103r-v, 106-7); Sir Thomas's autograph draft account of Iceland (ff. 90-1) and his autograph remarks on Ostend and Newport (f. 132); ff. 142-212 comprising a series of queries and observations on natural philosophy, mining, aspects of Europe, anatomy and other matters, some relating to the Royal Society, largely in the hand of Dr Edwarde Browne, some pages in other hands including part of a journal of 1693 by Sir Thomas's grandson, Dr Thomas Browne (ff. 195-201v), and some miscellaneous and political papers at the end (ff. 203-12).
In: the MS described under BrT 1.
Various of Edward Browne's letters edited selectively from this MS in Wilkin, I (passim); those by Sir Thomas edited in Keynes, IV, Nos. 15, 197 and 213, with those from Dugdale in IV, Nos. 194, 196, 198, 201, 203. For the account of Iceland, see BrT 1.
*BrT 52
Autograph draft note by Sir Thomas Browne on insects, on a single quarto leaf, together with a brief autograph note in Latin on frogs (relating to an English passage in BrT 47, ff. 19-20 [= Keynes, III, 352]), on a tiny slip of paper.
In: A folio composite volume of MSS, 328 leaves.
The note on insects edited from this MS in Keynes, III, 358.
*BrT 54
Collection of autograph notes and drafts, including observations on anatomy (the pericardium and diaphragma), a draft letter, and notes on Plutarch and Plato's Year, on twenty leaves. Late 17th century.
This MS largely edited in Keynes, III, 261-2, 267-8, 343-4; IV, 85-6.
*BrT 55
A large volume containing a collection of ‘Plants gathered by Sir Thomas Brown of Norwich and Dr Edward Brown’, various of the plant specimens labeled in Sir Thomas's hand, some others labeled in Edward's hand, 117 leaves.
Later owned by Sir Hans Sloane (1660-1753).
Briefly described in The Sloane Herbarium, ed. J.E. Dandy (London, 1958), p. 99. The volume probably corresponds to the ‘Collection of Plants’ listed as Miscellaneous Papers No. 11 in the Rawlinson ‘Catalogue’ of Browne's MSS printed in Wilkin, IV, 476.
Miscellaneous
Medical prescriptions
BrT 56
Medical prescriptions by Browne in a household book. Mid-late 17th century.
Among papers of the Harbord family, Barons.
Edited in R.W. Ketton-Cremer, ‘Sir Thomas Browne Prescribes’, TLS (2 November 1951), 700, and are thence reprinted in The Works of Sir Thomas Browne, ed. Geoffrey Keynes [1st edition, 6 vols, London, 1928-31], 2nd edition, 4 vols (London, 1964), III, pp. 463-5.
Sir Kenelm Digby's Observations on Religio Medici
Written as a letter to the Earl of Dorset, 23 December 1642. First published in London, 1643. Edited in Wilkin, II, 118-52.
BrT 57
Copy, following (on pp. 302-24) an attack on Religio Medici‘By an Author in Distresse’.
In: the MS described under BrT 5.92. c.1720.
BrT 58
Autograph letter signed by Digby, to Thomas Browne, concerning Digby's Observations on Religio Medici, 20 March 1642/3. 20 March 1642/3.
In: the MS described under BrT 2.
Keynes, IV, No. 168.
BrT 59
Copy in: A folio volume of miscellaneous tracts and papers, 239 leaves.
Cited (erroneously) as ‘Digby's manuscript’ in Keynes, Bibliography, p. 174.
BrT 60
Copy, 30 leaves. Copy, on 30 quarto leaves. Mid-17th century.
Among the manuscripts of the Coke family, Earls of Leicester.
Recorded in HMC, 9th Report (1883), Appendix, p. 371.
Documents
Will
*BrT 61
Browne's autograph and signed last will and testament, dated 2 December 1679. 1679.
An unfolding lithograph facsimile appears in Wilkin, II, after p. viii, whence the text is edited in Keynes, IV, 403.
Editorial Papers
BrT 62
Papers relating to Sir Thomas Browne and his works. c.1902-22.
BrT 63
A collection of modern papers and printed materials relating to Sir Thomas Browne.
BrT 64
Collection of John Carter (1905-75), bibliographer and bookseller, relating to Sir Thomas Browne, including various proof and working exempla of the 1929 edition by W. A. Greenhill and his own 1932 and 1958 editions of Hydriotaphia and The Garden of Cyrus. c.1929-58.
Sotheby's, 24 March 1976 (Carter sale), lots 18-20, variously to G.F. Sims and to Sanders of Oxford.
Extracts from Works by Sir Thomas Browne
Extracts
BrT 65
Extracts from Religio Medici and Pseudodoxia Epidemica.
In: A quarto miscellany of ‘Collections out of severall Authors’, predominantly in a single hand, 94 leaves, in modern half-morocco gilt. ‘by Dr. Stanley’ added in black ink.
BrT 66
An extract from ‘Dr Thomas Browne’.
In: A quarto miscellany of extracts in verse and prose, in a single largely italic hand, 142 pages, in contemporary mottled calf gilt. Compiled by Sir John Cotton, Bt (1621-1702). Mid-17th century.
BrT 67
Extracts.
In: A small quarto commonplace book of extracts, compiled by probably two members of the Fane family, Earls of Westmorland, of Apethorpe, Northamptonshire, 120 leaves. Mid-17th century.
Later owned by Professor A. Stanton Whitfield. Christie's, 8 October 1975, lot 271.