Religio Medici: The Religion of a Doctor

Three and a half centuries old, and handsomely resurrected this autumn by New York Review of Books, Religio Medici and Urne-Buriall are probably the works that have secured Sir Thomas Browne's afterlife. Had the vagaries of time robbed us of them, however, this 17th-century doctor would still have a......more

Possibly the greatest prose stylist the English language can claim also possesses a strong sense of courage, depth of discourse and musical sense of crescendo. What can't this be a five? Perhaps it's fair to suggest that it's only chapter five of Urn Burial that warrants the claim but the work doesn......more

I have been told that the style of Sir Thomas Browne's prose surpasses anything else written in the English language. After finishing this beautiful NYRB edition, I am inclined to add my support to that claim. It's sheer playfulness. I often find embellished writing tedious and suspicious, as if the......more