servations upon a former corrupt copy;" in which there is a severe
censure, not upon Digby, who was to be used with ceremony, but upon
the observator who had usurped his name; nor was this invective
written by Dr. Browne, who was supposed to be satisfied with his
opponent's apology; but by some officious friend, zealous for his
honour, without his consent.

Browne has, indeed, in his own preface, endeavoured to secure himself
from rigorous examination, by alleging, that "many things are
delivered rhetorically, many expressions merely tropical, and,
therefore, many things to be taken in a soft and flexible sense, and
not to be called unto the rigid test of reason." The first glance upon
his book will, indeed, discover examples of this liberty of thought
and expression: "I could be content," says he, "to be nothing almost
to eternity, if I might enjoy my Saviour at the last." He has little
acquaintance with the acuteness of Browne, who suspects him of a
serious opinion, that any thing can be "almost eternal," or that any
time beginning and ending is not infinitely less than infinite
duration.

In this book he speaks much, and, in the opinion of Digby, too much of
himself; but with such generality and conciseness, as affords very
little light to his biographer: he declares, that, besides the
dialects of different provinces, he understood six languages; that he
was no stranger to astronomy; and that he had seen several countries;
but what most awakens curiosity is, his solemn assertion, that "his
life has been a miracle of thirty years; which to relate were not
history, but a piece of poetry, and would sound like a fable."

There is, undoubtedly, a sense in which all life is miraculous; as it
is an union of powers of which we can image no connexion, a succession
of motions, of which the first cause must be supernatural; but life,
thus explained, whatever it may have of miracle, will have nothing of
fable; and, therefore, the author undoubtedly had regard to something,
by which he imagined himself distinguished from the rest of mankind.

Of these wonders, however, the view that can be now taken of his life
offers no appearance. The course of his education was like that of
others, such as put him little in the way of extraordinary casualties.
A scholastick and academical life is very uniform; and has, indeed,
more safety than pleasure. A traveller has greater opportunities of
adventure; but Browne traversed no unknown sea