Hydriotaphia and the Garden of Cyrus were published together in 1658, on which edition this web edition is based. (More on this in notes on the text.) They form a work that is somewhat difficult but rewarding to read. The number of critics who have a rock-solid grasp of the entire work can be counted on the fingers of one foot, so there's an open field out there for those inclined towards such work. Most critics read Hydriotaphia and comment on it as though they had in fact finished both sides. Among those whose comments are more interesting are Carlyle, Lytton Strachey, and, somewhat surprisingly, Virginia Woolf. Among those whose work seems to be based on something else the stand-out is Gosse, whose commentary is so unrelated to the text putatively in front of him that it becomes a case-study in itself (and will perhaps be on this site within a few months).

This page is maintained at the University of Chicago by James Eason

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