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PREFACE

N editing Religio Medici I have had three aims especially in view: first, to make clear Browne's numerous biblical and classical allusions and quotations to a century less familiar than Browne's was with the Bible and with Greek and Roman authors; next, to illustrate Religio Medici by means of passages from Browne's other works; and to explain as precisely as possible strange words and phrases. This last aim has been rendered comparatively easy through the invaluable help of the Oxford English Dictionary.

For further study the following are recommended: Browne's Works edited by Wilkin, and by Sayle; Religio Medici edited by Greenhill, by St John, and by Waller; Life in Dictionary of National Biography, and by Gosse ("English Men of Letters"); Leslie Stephen's Hours in a Library, 2nd Series; Cambridge History of English Literature, vol. VII.

I wish to acknowledge helpful advice and other assistance generously given by Mr A. R. Waller.

W. M.

June 1922.