"Well Sir Thomas?": oration to commemorate the tercentenary of the death of Sir Thomas Browne.

Now that we celebrate the three hundredth anniversary of the death of Sir Thomas Browne rather than his birth I intend to concentrate not on Browne's melancholia but on his joy, not on Hydriotaphia but on his happiest, most difficult, and most challenging piece, The Garden of Cyrus. Of his five major works, the Religio Medici an acknowledged masterpiece-was written by a physician not quite 30 years of age. Browne's best known book, it has inspired by its quiet faith, detachment, and charming mixture of pride and humility millions of thoughtful people around the world. The young doctor seems to delight in his often very bad poetry while being oblivious to the fact that he could write perhaps the finest prose in the English language. Take, for example, this passage on Judgment Day: