WorkThomas Browne

Religio Medici

Religio Medici (1642, authorized ed. 1643) Inferred

Thomas Browne (1605–1682) · 1643

ExcerptedQuotedReadMentioned

Documented 1834

Books • Journals • Notebooks

Selected engagements, in chronological order.

Totals count documented engagements, once at the earliest witness. How we count →

Reprints, Memoirs passages, and repeat notes within a single manuscript are shown but never counted twice. Evidence for this work is selective, not exhaustive. Methodology →

DemonstratedConfirmed readingEvidence ↓

Confirmed reading

Passages where the evidence goes beyond allusion to indicate that Fuller had this work in hand — an explicit statement of reading, sustained excerpting or translation, or a specific reading episode recorded by those who knew her.

undatedReligio MediciDemonstrated
“A noble and accomplished man, of a later day, has said, "To credit ordinary and visible objects is not faith, but persuasion...”
Life Without and Life Within (essays)
MERGED 2026-10-11: absorbed duplicate witness(es) re633 (B-1 Life Without and Life Within (essays), B-1-33; tier B; same passage) — counted once here. Substantial multi-sentence prose quotation from Religio Medici (~7-line span).

When Fuller engaged with this work

I. Childhood

II. Adolescence

III. Self-Directed1record

IV. Transcendentalist

V. New York

VI. Europe

✦. Memoirs (1852)

1810

1820

1832

1836

1844

1846

1850

1834—

Journal 1833–1834

p57

quoted · read

“Another noble and accomplished man of a later day has said "To credit ordinary and visible objects is not faith but persuasion.”

Fuller, Margaret. "Journal 1833–1834." Houghton Library, Harvard University; bMS Am 1086 (4); Box 5 (83).

Inferred I bless myself and am thankful that I lived not in the age of miracles...’ is from Religio Medici, Part I, Section IX (1642/43); author is not named by Fuller but the passage is verbatim Browne. Author identified through unique phrasing. The passage is a close quotation from Sir Thomas Browne, Religio Medici, Part I, Section IX: ‘I desire to exercise my faith in the difficultest point, for to credit ordinary and visible objects is not faith, but perswasion.

Author identified through unique phrasing.

Undated

Pieces with no legible date. They are part of the record but cannot be placed on the lifeline.

n.d.—

Notebook: Sir Thomas Browne

pp. 3–55

excerpted · quoted · readManuscript page

“I could never divide myself from any man upon the difference of opinion … … 'Religio Medici.' [explicit title on p. 55]”

Fuller, Margaret. "Notebook: Sir Thomas Browne." Houghton Library, Harvard University; bMS Am 1086 (87); Box 6 (87).

Inferred The work is identified by its full title 'Religio Medici.' on p. 55 (LII–LIII).

The bulk of the notebook (pp. 3–55, pages I–LIII) consists of extensive excerpts from Religio Medici, organised across more than fifty notebook pages. The first pirated edition appeared 1642; Browne's authorized edition 1643. The excerpts span both Part I (on faith, reason, and philosophy) and Part II (on charity, friendship, and happiness), including the night-prayer poem ('The night is come, like to the day', pp. 58–60), which is embedded in Religio Medici Part II and is also attributed 'From Sir T. Browne on early death' in the notebook heading (p. 58/LVI–LX). The early-death sections on pp. 58–64 derive from Religio Medici Part II, section 11 ('Of death').

n.d.—

Life Without and Life Within; or, Reviews, Narratives, Essays, and Poems

“Sunday Meditations on Various Texts”

quoted · read

“To credit ordinary and visible objects is not faith, but persuasion.”

Fuller, Margaret. Life Without and Life Within; or, Reviews, Narratives, Essays, and Poems. Edited by Arthur B. Fuller. Boston: Brown, Taggard and Chase, 1860. · p278

Inferred Fuller attributes this passage to "A noble and accomplished man, of a later day," without naming him. The quotation is nearly verbatim from Sir Thomas Browne's Religio Medici, Part I, Section 9: "I bless myself and am thankful that I lived not in the days of miracles [...] I have no motive to believe the truth or divinity of his Gospel [...] nor should I enjoy that greater blessing pronounced to all that believe and saw not." Fuller was well acquainted with Browne's prose, suggesting this as the likely source despite the absence of a direct attribution.