THE CONFLICT OF OLD AND NEW IDEAS 31 



but particular persons, have their tutelary or Guardian Anj^els".^° 

 Nor had the stars yet been silenced for him : ' ' For there is a 

 Musick wherever there is harmony, order, or proportion ; and thus 

 far we may maintain the Musick of the Spheres ".^^ This frank 

 adherence to the old doctrines is given, although the new ideas 

 were not unknown to him. While Browne writes in the terms of 

 the old astrology, for instance, the new astronomy is familiar to 

 him. "I conclude, therefore, and say, there is no happiness under, 

 or (as Copernicus WILL have it, above) the sun"." 



It may be seen, therefore, that Sir Thomas Bro\\Tie has given his | 

 allegiance to the old faith. There is only a faint hint of "the free- 1 

 dom of the scientific spirit" in the Religio Medici. So equivocal, ' 

 however, is his position on certain points that the reader suspects 

 the mind of the man to be outgro\Wng the ' ' ancient faith ' ' ; but no- 

 where in this book does he take the new attitude. The new mental 

 impulse was yet to come to him, the impulse destined to destroy 

 entirely the attitude of non-reason and most of the beliefs in this 

 book. 



The ten years from 1635 to 1645 made a radical change in the 

 point of view of Sir Thomas Browne. Early in the Vulgar Errors 

 (published in 1616) the most typical characteristic of the new phil- 

 osophers finds expression ; — namely, a defiance of ancient authority. 

 "But the mortalest enemy unto- knowledge, and that which hath 

 done the greatest execution upon truth, hath been the peremptory 

 adhesion unto authority, and more especially of our belief upon the 

 dictates of Antiquity ".^^ Against the unqualified acceptance of the 

 "dictates of Antiquity" Browne finds seven reasons, which any 

 member of the Royal Society would have endorsed. 1. Men im- 

 pose a thraldom upon their times by too great reverence for antiq- 

 uity. 2. The ancient times were once present times (from Bacon 

 himself). 3. The testimonies from antiquity are not always ex- 

 act. 4. The fabulous condition of the accounts should be con- 

 sidered. 5. Men applaud merely ordinary things in the Ancients. 

 6. Men argue the authority of the Ancients on points that do not 



" Ibid. vol. I, p. 48. 



^ Religio Medici, vol. I, p. 100. 



i=Ibid. vol. I, p. 111. 



" Vulgar Errors, vol. I, p. 152. 



