The Digital Ark: Early Modern Collections of Curiosities in England and Scotland, 1580-1700
Monument to the Memory of Sir Thomas Browne
The Monument to the Memory of Sir Thomas Browne [Photograph].Click image for full-size. Subject of/in a documentEdward Brown (1644-1708) Subject of/in a documentDorothy Browne (c.1622-24 Feb 1685) Subject of/in a documentThomas Browne (19 Nov 1605-19 Oct 1682) In Print: Souvenir of Sir Thomas Browne, With Twelve Illustrations, and Notes, n.p. Description:Sir Thomas Browne died October 19th, 1682, the day of his nativity; as did Shakespeare, Raphael, and William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke.
Upon this circumstance Sir Thomas observes, ‘That the first day should make the last, that the Tail of the Snake should return into its Mouth precisely at that time, and they should wind up upon the day of their Nativity, is indeed a remarkable Coincidence, which the Astrology hath taken witty pains to salve, yet hath it been very wary in making Predictions of it.’
Sir Thomas was buried in a vault in which many of his family had been interred, situated on the south side of the chancel of St.
Peter Mancroft. On one of the south pillars, there is a Monument to his memory erected by Lady Dorothy Browne, "who had been his
affectionate wife for 41 years." To show the estimation in which this learned man was held by his contemporaries, it is only necessary to quote the concluding words of the inscription on his Monument: ‘Per Orbem Notissimus, Vir Pientissimus, lntegerrimus, Doctissimus.’
On the opposite pillar of the chancel is a mural Monument to the memory of Lady Browne, who died February 24th, 1685, aged 63:
Reader, thou maist believe this pious stone,
It is not common dust thou treadst upon,
'Tis hallowed earth, etc.
These lines were composed by her son, Dr. Edward Browne, Physician to Charles II, and President of the Royal College of Physicians, as well as Physician to Saint Bartholomew's Hospital.