THE WORKS

1863.

OF

SIR THOMAS BROWNE.

EDITED BY

SIMON WILKIN, F.L.S.

VOLUME II.

CONTAINING

THE THREE LAST BOOKS OF VULGAR ERRORS,
RELIGIO MEDICI, AND THE GARDEN OF CYRUS.

LONDON:

HENRY G. BOHN, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN.

MDCCCLII.

HARVARD COLLEGE LIBRARY

FROM THE LIBRARY OF
NORWOOD PENROSE HALLOWELL
SEPTEMBER 28, 1934

PRINTED BY

COX (BROTHERS) AND WYMAN, GREAT QUEEN STREET,
LINCOLN'S-INN FIELDS.

CONTENTS OF VOL. II.

PSEUDODOXIA EPIDEMICA, BOOKS V. TO VII.

THE FIFTH BOOK; the particular part continued. Of many things questionable as

they are commonly described in pictures. Of many popular customs, &c.

Chap. 10. Of the scutcheons of the twelve tribes of Israel

Chap. 11. Of the pictures of the sibyls

..

Chap. 6.

Of the pictures of the Jews and Eastern nations, at their feasts,

especially our Saviour at the Passover

17

Chap. 7.

Of the picture of our Saviour with long hair

26

Chap. 8.

Chap. 9.

Of the picture of Abraham sacrificing Isaac

Of the picture of Moses with horns

28

29

32

38

39

42

47

50

52

54

56

59

65

Chap. 21. Of the picture of Haman hanged

69

72

Chap. 12. Of the picture describing the death of Cleopatra

Chap. 13. Of the pictures of the nine worthies

Chap. 14. Of the picture of Jephthah sacrificing his daughter

Chap. 15. Of the picture of John the Baptist in a camel's skin

Chap. 16. Of the picture of St. Christopher

Chap. 17. Of the picture of St. George

Chap. 18. Of the picture of St. Jerome

Chap. 19. Of the pictures of mermaids, unicorns, and some others

Chap. 20. Of the hieroglyphical pictures of the Egyptians

Chap. 22. Of the picture of God the Father; of the sun, moon, and winds,

with others

Chap. 23. Compendiously of many popular customs, opinions, &c. : viz. of an

hare crossing the high-way; of the ominous appearing of owls and

ravens; of the falling of salt; of breaking the egg-shell; of the

true lovers' knot; of the cheek burning or ear tingling; of speaking

under the rose; of smoke following the fair; of sitting cross-

legged; of hair upon moles; of the set time of paring of nails; of

lions' heads upon spouts and cisterns; of the saying, ungirt,

unblest; of the sun dancing on Easter-day; of the silly-how; of

being drunk once a month; of the appearing of the devil with a

cloven hoof.

Chap. 24. Of popular customs, opinions, &c.; of the prediction of the year en-

suing from the insects in oak apples; that children would naturally

speak Hebrew; of refraining to kill swallows; of lights burning dim

at the apparition of spirits; of the wearing of coral; of Moses' rod

in the discovery of mines; of discovering doubtful matters by book

or staff..

THE SIXTH BOOK; the particular part continued. Of popular and received tenets,

cosmographical, geographical, and historical.

Chap. 1. Concerning the beginning of the world, that the time thereof is not

precisely known, as commonly it is presumed

Chap. 2.

Of men's enquiries in what season or point of the Zodiack it began,

that, as they are generally made, they are in vain, and as

particularly, uncertain

Chap. 3. Of the divisions of the seasons and four quarters of the year,

according unto astronomers and physicians; that the common

compute of the ancients, and which is still retained by some, is very

questionable

103

119

122

Chap. 4.

Chap. 5.

Of some computation of days, and deductions of one part of the year

unto another

Page 127

A digression of the wisdom of God in the site and motion of the sun 130

Chap. 6. Concerning the vulgar opinion, that the earth was slenderly peopled

before the flood

136

153

163

176

180

192

197

204

207

THE SEVENTH Воok; the particular part concluded. Of popular and received

tenets, chiefly historical and some deduced from the Holy Scriptures.

Chap. 5.

Of Shem, Ham, and Japheth

222

Chap. 6.

Chap. 7.

That the tower of Babel was erected against a second deluge

Of the mandrakes of Leah

225

227

Chap. 8.

Of the three kings of Collein

232

Chap. 9. Of the food of John Baptist, locusts and wild honey

Chap. 10. That John the Evangelist should not die

Chap. 14. Of the wish of Philoxenus to have the neck of a crane

Chap. 15. Of the lake Asphaltites

Chap. 16. Of divers other relations: viz. of the woman that conceived in a

bath; of Crassus that never laughed but once; that our Saviour

never laughed; of Sergius the Second, or Bocca di Porco; that

Tamerlane was a Scythian shepherd

Chap. 17. Of some others: viz. of the poverty of Belisarius; of fluctus decu-

manus, or the tenth wave; of Parisatis that poisoned Statira by

one side of a knife; of the woman fed with poison, that should

have poisoned Alexander; of the wandering Jew; of pope Joan;

of friar Bacon's brazen head that spoke; of Epicurus

Chap. 18. More briefly of some others: viz. that the army of Xerxes drank

whole rivers dry; that Hannibal eat through the Alps with vinegar ;

of Archimedes his burning the ships of Marcellus; of the Fabii

that were all slain; of the death of Eschylus; of the cities of

Tarsus and Anchiale built in one day; of the great ship Syracusia

or Alexandria; of the Spartan boys

Chap, 19. Of some relations whose truth we fear

PSEUDODOXIA EPIDEMICA.

THE FIFTH BOOK:

THE PARTICULAR PART CONTINUED.

OF MANY THINGS QUESTIONABLE AS THEY ARE COMMONLY DESCRIBED IN PICTURES; OF MANY POPULAR CUSTOMS, ETC.

CHAPTER I.

Of the Picture of the Pelican.

AND first, in every place we meet with the picture of the pelican, opening her breast with her bill, and feeding her young ones with the blood distilled from her. Thus is it set forth not only in common signs, but in the crest and scutcheon of many noble families; hath been asserted by many holy writers, and was an hieroglyphick of piety and pity among the Egyptians; on which consideration they spared them at their tables.1

1 And first, &c.] These singular birds are said to fish in companies; they form a circle on the water, and having by the flapping of their huge wings, driven the terrified fish towards the centre, they suddenly dive all at once as by consent, and soon fill their immense pouches with their prey. In order subsequently to disgorge the contents, in feeding their young, they have only to press the pouch on their breast. This operation may very probably have given rise to the fable, that the pelican opens her breast to nourish her young.

As to its hieroglyphical import, Horapollo says that it was used among the Egyptians as an emblem of folly; on account of the little eare it takes to deposit its eggs in a safe place. He relates that it buries them in a hole; that the natives, observing the place, cover it with dry cow's dung, to which they set fire. The old birds immediately endeavouring to extinguish the fire with their wings, get them burnt, and so are easily caught.-Horap. Hierogl. cura Pauw, 4to. Traj. ad Rh. 1727, pp. 67, 68.