The Garden of Cyrus

Partly because of a biased publishing trend which has persisted since the Victorian era the stoical Christian morality of Urn-Burial remains the better-known half of Sir Thomas Browne's 'twin' Discourses of 1658, namely Urn-Burial and The Garden of Cyrus. This publishing trend, totally against Browne's artistic intentions, has been a factor in obscuring to many readers throughout the centuries an introduction to Browne's contribution to the treasure house of Hermetic wisdom. In addition the difficulty of the text itself which swings from passages of sublime purple prose to crabbed note-book formulation has also impeded an appreciation of The Garden of Cyrus as a mystical vision of the interconnection of art, nature and the Universe.

Though little recognised The Garden of Cyrus is strong evidence of Sir Thomas Browne's thorough understanding of a fundamental quest of Hermetic philosophy, namely 'proof' of the wisdom of God; it may quite rightly be defined as a work of 'hermetic phantasmagoria[?] and it is not improbable that it was planned to be the obverse and not reverse of the Coin consummately crafted by the Norwich physician.

It is in the often humorous dedicatory preface to his patron Nicolas Bacon[?],who is described by Browne as 'a serious student in the highest arcana[?]'s of Nature',that the essence of Browne's 'nature philosophy' can be discerned. From the detection of nature's arcana the alchemist-physician penetrated Nature's secrets to apprehend a fundamental tenet of alchemy - the Universal Spirit of Nature, the anima mundi[?] or World-Soul responsible for all phenomena and which binds all to all. Browne speculated upon the existence of the anima mundi in his Religio Medici (The Religion of a Doctor)of 1643 thus-

'Now besides these particular and divided Spirits, there may be (for ought I know) an universal and common Spirit to the whole world. It was the opinion of Plato, and is yet of the Hermeticall philosophers; if there be a common nature that unites and ties the scattered and divided individuals into one species, why may there not be one that untyes them all?'

The opening lines of The Garden of Cyrus depicts the creation of the cosmos. Like many alchemist-physician's Browne was fascinated with life's beginnings, thus cosmic imagery opens his joyous Discourse upon life, light and beauty. The act of the Creation itself is likened to the alchemical opus - God is viewed as a cosmic alchemist. - The opening paragraph of Cyrus also alludes to the 'deity' associated with Paracelsan alchemy, namely Vulcan, and to 'the divine philosopher' namely Plato, author of the 'Bible' of alchemy, the Timaeus. As ever highly original optical imagery is employed:

That Vulcan gave arrows unto Apollo and Diana the fourth day after their Nativities, according to Gentile Theology, may pass for no blind apprehension of the Creation of the Sunne and Moon, in the work of the fourth day: When the diffused light contracted into Orbs, and shooting rays, of those Luminaries'.

Throughout The Garden of Cyrus Browne tirelessly supplies his reader with proof of the 'higher geometry of nature' using evidence of the closely related symbols of the number five, the Quincunx pattern, the figure X and the network lozenge[?] shape in art, nature and mystically. In many ways Cyrus with its numerous examples of 'sacred geometry' is arguably one of the greatest examples of the alchemical imagination in operation extant in English literature, a fine example occurring in chapter two, not unlike modern 'stream of consciousness' style:

In Chess-boards and Tables we yet find Pyramids and Squares I wish we had their true and ancient description, far different from ours, or the Check-mate of the Persians, which might continue some elegant remarkables, as being an invention as High as Hermes the secretary of Osyris, figuring the whole world, the motion of the Planets, with Eclipses of the Sun and Moon.

Browne was a keen botanist and the central chapter of The Garden of Cyrus contains many of his acute botanical observations; in total over 140 plants are mentioned. Botany was a much favoured past time of alchemists, not only because plants possessed medicinal properties useful to the physician, but also because plant-life demonstrated nature's organic ways. Page after page of detailed descriptions of plants, speculations upon germination and growth and considerations upon embryology, generation and heredity -- the alchemy of nature and transformation are placed at the heart of the Discourse. It may also be noted that many flowers are indeed cinque-foiled, that is consisting of five petals. If ever there were an example of a physician 'seeking truth in the light of nature' as exhorted by Paracelsus this central chapter with its many sharp-eyed observations on plant-life is it. The Swiss alchemist-physician's encouraging of fellow physicians to 'seek truth in the Light of Nature' is in fact a dualistic concept in which both the apprehending of Nature's esoteric arcana and the beginnings of modern biological research are inextricably linked. In Browne's day these two pursuits were quite indistinct from each other.

Having explored the worlds of Art and Nature for evidence of the Quincunx pattern Browne in chapters four and five delves into mystical contemplation of esoteric topics such as the healing properties of music, astrology and physiognomy, revealing himself to be particularly well-versed in the Cabbala. In the short apotheosis and 'rubedo' phase of the opus he delivers his scientific credentials for obtaining truth, these being 'rational conjecture', 'occular observation' and 'discursive enquiry', before the much-celebrated drowsy conclusion in which the orbit of his 'soul-journey' splashes down to earth and hard reality.

But the Quincunx of Heaven runs low, and 'tis time to close the five ports of knowledge. We are unwilling to spin out our awaking thoughts into the phantasms of sleep, which often continueth precogitations; making Cables of Cobwebs and Wildernesses of handsome Groves. Besides Hippocrates hath spoke so little and the Oneirocriticall Masters, have left such frigid Interpretations from plants that there is little encouragement to dream of Paradise it self. Nor will the sweetest delight of Gardens afford much comfort in sleep; wherein the dullness of that sense shakes hands with delectable odours; and though in the Bed of Cleopatra, can hardly with any delight raise up the Ghost of a Rose.

Consciously evoking the basic mandala of alchemy , the tail-eating Uroboros, The Garden of Cyrus concludes in night, darkness and unknowingness thematically uniting it to Urn-Burial.

'All things began in order, so shall they end, so shall they begin again according to the mystical mathematics of the City of Heaven';

Difficult as it is to read The Garden of Cyrus remains an important work in English literature for the following reasons. With its vertiginous procession of visual imagery and objects, its constant reinforcement of evidence of 'how God geometrizes' via the ubiquitous symbols of the number five and Quincunx pattern, 'Cyrus' remains a fine example of what has been termed 'hermetic phantasmagoria' and is evidence that great minds as late as the mid-seventeenth century continued to endorse the tenets and teachings of hermetic philosophy. With its hasty, fractured and breathless style Cyrus may also be considered a stylistic forerunner of 'stream of consciousness' writing . Browne's excited scribbling of ideas which race in his mind quicker than pen can write stream across the pages of Cyrus. Finally in their inter-related themes, imagery and style, Browne's 'binary' discourses are in their construction quite unique and anticipate many thematically related modern literary works.