BROWN. 



which w?8 farther improved at Chrift-church, in the iiniver- 

 fity of Oxford. But notwithllanding his hterary attain- 

 mtnts, his conduft was fo irregular, that he was under a 

 nectiTity of quitting the univerfity ; and, inftead of retnrn- 

 inij to hia father, he removed to London, where he was in 

 danger of iLirving. In tiiefe circumltances of penury and 

 dillrefs, he was relieved, l)y being appointed fcliool-mafter 

 at Kingllon upon Thames; a profilliou, liowever, which, 

 heing very unfuitable to his diipofition, he foon n'.)andoned. 

 Returning to London, he commenced author; and em- 

 ployed himfelf in writing for the booklellers. His jjublica- 

 tions were very numerous, and eonfiltcd of dinlognts, letters, 

 poems, &c. in which his erudition was enlivened by his hu- 

 mour ; for, in his writings, as well as in his converfation, 

 he was always fprightly and facetious. But though he h?.d 

 the reputation ot a fcholar, he was deftitute of prudence ; 

 and, as he indulged his genius for fatire to an extravagant 

 degree, he was more hkely to forfeit than to conciliate the 

 friendfliip of thole who were able to alfill him ; and it was 

 faid of him, that he rather chofe to lole his friend than his 

 joke. He took pleafure in libelling both the clergy and 

 laity, and his indecorous treatment of religion laid the foun- 

 dation tor remorfc, which is faid to have embittered the laft 

 moments of his life. Mr. JlK^ob informs us, that towards 

 the clofe of his career, he was favoured by the tarl of Dor- 

 fet ; that being invited to dine with him in company with 

 Drydtn, and fome other gentlemen of fimilar defcription, he 

 found, to his agreeable furprife, a bank note of 50I. ui>der 

 his plate, at which time Dryden was preftnted with another 

 of tool. Brown died in 1704, and was interred in the 

 cloiller of Wellniinller abbey, near the remains of Mrs. 

 Behn, with whom he had been intimate. His works, con- 

 fiding of dialogues, cflTays, declamations, fatires, letters 

 from the dead to the hving, traiiflalior.s &c. were printed 

 in 4 vols. iimo. in 1707. They are not deftitute of learn- 

 ing, and abound with humour, which is julliy charged with 

 want of delicacy. Biog. Dift. 



Brown, Moses, vicar of Olney, Berks, and chaplain 

 of Mordcn college, was born in 1703, and was i riginally a 

 pen cutter. In 1723, he publiflied two dramatic pieces, 

 called " Polidus, or drllreffed Love," a tra;^-edy, and " All 

 bedevilled," a farce, both aftcd at a private theatre in St. 

 Alban's ilreet. On the inllitution of the Gentleman's Ma- 

 gazine, he became a contributor to it ; and obtained fome 

 of the prizes, offered by Mr. Cave, for the beil poems ; 

 and, in 1739, he pnblillicd a volume of poems in 8vo., and, 

 in 1749, " Sunday Thoughts," a poem, i2mo. In 17,56, 

 he publiflied " Percy Lodge," a dcfcriptive poem ; he alfo 

 edited " Wahon's complete Angler;" and, in 1773, re- 

 publifhed his " Pifcatory Eclogues." He alfo trandated 

 Zimmermann, and was the author of fome fermons. He died 

 Sept. 13th, 1787. Biog. Did. 



Brown, John, a clergyman of the church of England, 

 and an ingenious writer, was born in 1715 at Rothbury, in 

 Northumbeiland, and educated, tirit at Wigton, and after- 

 wards at St. John's college, Cambridge, where he acquired 

 great reputation. Upon his quitting the univerfity in 17,55, 

 he took orders, and firll fettled as minor canon and lefturer 

 in the city of Carlifle. In 1739, he took his degree of 

 mafter of arts at Cambridge ; and in the year of the rebel- 

 lion 1745, he dillmguirtied himfelf by his zeal for govern- 

 ment, and by the intrepidity with which he entered as a 

 volunteer at the fiege of Carlifle. In the following year, 

 he preached, on occafion of the trial of fome of the rebels, 

 two admirable difeourfcs on the conneftion between religious 

 truth and civil liberty, and between fuperftition, tyranny, 

 irreligion, and licentioufnefs ; and his avowed attachment 



to the principles of whiggifni recOTnmended him to ttr? 

 patronage of Dr. Ofbaldelton, bilhop of Cavlillc, who ob- 

 tained for him a living in "Weiln-ioreland. About this time, 

 his talents for correct and elegant vcrtilication were evinced, 

 iu a poem on " Honour," iiiferibed to lord Lonfdale, and 

 in an " Isd'ay on Satire," addveflVd to Dr. Warburton, and 

 pielixtd to this eminent critic's edition of Pope's works. 

 'I'he friendlhip ot Warburton was foon followed by that of 

 I/Ir. Ralph Allen of Prior-Park, who entertained Mr. Brown 

 ?t his houfe, and oflered him pecuniary affiltance. During 

 his vifit at Prior Park, he preached two fermoiis at the ab- 

 bey-church of B.ith ; one of which, expofing the mifchiefs 

 of immoderate gaming, is faid to have induced the magif- 

 tratet to illue an order for the fiippicfTion of the public gam- 

 ing tables. In 1751, he pubhihcd a work which maybe 

 Hill re;':ardcd as one of his moll capital produi^tionb : viz. 

 *' Ed'ays on the CharaA/rillics of the earl of Shafl(bury," 

 (.Mmprdicnding one " On Ridiculf, coulidered as a Tell of 

 Truth ;" another, " On the Motives to Virtue, and the Ne- 

 ccITity of religious Principle ;" and a third, " On revealed 

 Rshgion and Ctniftianity." Thefe tlfays are written with 

 elegance and fpirit, and, at the fame time, with candour 

 and politenefs. They were of courfe much read, and frA 

 quently re-pnhlifhed, fo that a litth edition of them appear^fc 

 in 1764. In 1755, Mr. Biown was honoured with the 

 title of doflor of divinity at Cambridge ; and, in the fame 

 year, he ventured to appear before the public under the 

 new charafter of a dramatic writer. With the afTillance of 

 Mr. Garrick, his tragedy of " BarbarofTa" was exliibited 

 on the ftage with advantage ; and this v\as fuccctded in the 

 enfuing year by " Athellhin." Both thefe performances 

 were publifhed without his name. 



The next publication wliich we fhall mention, forms a 

 kind of Ten in the author's life; it appeared in 1757, and 

 was entitled " An Eftimate of the Manners and Principles 

 of the Times." This work was publifhed at a time, when 

 the fpirits of the people were extremely deprcfTed by fome 

 uiiprofperous events that had occurred at the commence- 

 ment, and during the progrefs of the war, in which the na- 

 tion was engaged ; and it was defigned to fhew, that a vain, 

 luxurious, and felfilh effeminacy, in the higher ranks of life, 

 marked the charafter of the age, and to point out the 

 caufes and the effefts of this ere:ninacy. The " Ellimate," 

 adapted to the circumllances and difpofition of the people, 

 at the time when it appeared, was read with avidity, and 

 feven editions of it were called for, in little more than a 

 year. It did not pafs, however, unnoticed ; it was attack- 

 ed in a variety of publications ; but the moll effectual reply 

 to it was, as Voltaire obferves, that the Englifh, from that 

 period, began to beat their enemies in every quarter of the 

 globe. In 175S, Dr. Brown publifhed a fecond volume of. 

 the " Ellimate," and afterwards, "An explanatory De- 

 fence of the Eftimate, by way of Appendix ;" but thecir- 

 cumftances of the country were changed, and the public 

 atcention drooped, fo that thefe pieces, though well written, 

 were much lefs popular. Befides, the vanity and fuperior 

 confidence of the author, which had not e.O:aped notice in 

 his firft publication, became now more confpicuous, and dif- 

 guiled even many of his admirers ; nor could the avowal of 

 the integrity of his intentions, and the greater modclly with 

 which he vindicated himfelf, in the " Explanatory De- 

 fence," avail to remove the prejudices that had been con- 

 ceived againft him. Dr. Brown manifefled an irritability of 

 temper, and a propenlity to quarrel with his friends and pa- 

 trons, which prevented him from obtaining thofe ccclefiafti- 

 cal preferments, to which his literary reputation entitled 

 him ; fo that the vicarage of St. Nicholas, in Newcaftle 



upon 



