BROW I^J. 



iipi>:i Tynf, w itli ll.r office of oi.e of tlic king's chaplains in 

 crJiiiarv, coiidiluted the final (cm of liis church promo- 

 lijns. 'to 176 J, lit piibliihcd " An a.lJ!tioii;.l Dialogue of 

 the DcaJ, between IVi ides ana Colnio," uliich wasfuppof- 

 eJ to be a \indicati.)a »f Mr. I'itt's politicsl condua agamll 

 fonic udcxioiK of lord LMtclton : and tliis was followed in 

 i;6.;, b) '-'I'lie Cure of Saul, a facrcd Ode," which was 

 fct to iiiufic, and performed as an ora'orio j and by an in- 

 genious and cle^rani pcrfoiniancc, entitled " A Diflertation 

 on the IMV, Union, and Power, the Pro^ re (lions, Sipara- 

 lioni, and Corruptions of Poetry and Mufic." This diiFcr- 

 tation, thouj;h ingenious and critical, advanced fanciful 

 principles, and r.unifciled a (:ei;ice of credulity, with re- 

 fptCt to the fiippofed eficd ot cerlziu pubhc iiillitutlon:i 

 among the ancients, which gave rife to a variety "f jtric- 

 tures. In 1764, Dr. Brown lietached from his '• Dillerta- 

 aion" the fuhllancc of that part which related to poetry, ami 

 ■i)ub!ilh<.d it f.-pu-atcly in ^n oftavo treatifc, entitled " The 

 Hillory of the Rife and PiOjjrefs of Poetry through its le- 

 vcral Sp -cies ;" and, in the fame year, he publlfhcda volume 

 of " Sermons" being chicliy a collection of thofe which 

 )iad b.fore been printed lingly. Of th>: new are thnfe ex- 

 cclle;it difcourfcs on education, in which the author has 

 fcraiifwenibly refuted fomc of the po'.itionsof Rouffcau in his 

 "niilius, and other fpeculatills, and fatisfaftorily evinced the 

 iieceffity and importance of forming the minds of children 

 to early habits of piety and virtue. The author's attention 

 was a^ain dircded towards politics, and in I76-;, appeared 

 bis '■'Thoughts on civil Liberty, Licentioufnefs, and Fac- 

 tion," containing cenfurcs on thofe perfons, who, at that 

 time, oppofed the meafures of adniiniilration, and clohng 

 with a piefcribcd code of education. As he propofed that 

 this code fliould be adopted and enforced by government, it 

 pRiduced the animadverfions of Dr. Pritllley, in his " Effay 

 on the Courfe of a liberal Education, for civil and ?.£tive 

 Life." The author's difcourfcs on education in general, 

 were followed by a ftrmon " On the Female character and 

 education," to which is aiuiexed an appendix, in which he 

 ftates, in a very liberal maniKr, the moral and political prin- 

 ciples which flionld be inculcated on the attention of young 

 perfons; and, in his opinion, thefe are fuch as are evidently 

 founded on the precepts of chrillianity, and the laws of 

 freedom. He proceeds further to difcufs the quelUon, 

 " whether there be any opinions or principles which ought 

 not to be tolerated (or fulTercd to be taught) in a well-or- 

 dered, free community ?" and to this qutllion, he replies, 

 that, in his judgment, there are many opinions or prin- 

 ciples, tending evidently to the dellruftion o! focitty or free- 

 dom, and which, therefore, ought not to be tolerated in fuch a 

 community. Accordingly, he alleges inftances in the three 

 principal kinds, religious, moral, and political, taken from 

 Mr. Locke, and fi:ppnrted by his authority. In 1766, ap- 

 peared Dr. Brown's lail publication, which was " A Letter 

 to the Rev. Dr. Lowth, occafioned by his late Letter to the 

 right Rev. Author of the divine Legation of Mofes," and 

 repelling iiifiiuitions, uiijulUy fuppofed to have been aimed 

 at his moral character, on account of his adulation and de- 

 fence of Dr. Warbntton. Bel'ides the works already men- 

 tioned. Dr. Brown publiflied a " Poem on Liberty," and 

 fome anonymous pamphlets. He had alfo announced an 

 intention of publilhing " Principles of Chrillian Legifla- 

 tion ;" but his defign was fruftrated by his death. In his 

 will, however, he gave orders, among other particulars re- 

 Idting to the arrangement and publication of his works, that 

 this treatifc fhoidd be finilhed ; but this part of his will was 

 never executed. 

 _At the lime when Dr. Brown's difcourfcs on education 



were publillied, Dr. Dnniarefq had been invited to reftde in 

 lUiffu, and was employed by the emprefs in fuggefting 

 regulations for the ellablirtiment and conduct of feveral 

 fehools, which (he was about to ercdt in various parts of her 

 dominions. On this occalion, a correfpondeiice was pro- 

 pofed by a lady of England, between him and Dr. Brown, 

 who entered laigcly into the fubjct\, /ketched the outhne of 

 a grand fclieme of education, and alfo of legiflation, for the 

 Rufiian empire, and voluntarily offered to remove to RulTia 

 for the purpofc of aiding in the execution of it. Dr. Du- 

 marefq. after fome previous deliberation and conference with 

 Monf. .Mullcr, his affociate, on the bufinefs, tranflated Dr. 

 Brown's paper into Fiench, and prefented it to M. de Pa- 

 nin, who laid it before the emprefs. She was impreffcd by 

 the communication ; and Dr. Dumarefq was commiflion^d 

 to invite Dr. Brown to the Rullian court. He accepted 

 the invitation ; and received a remittance of loool. which 

 the emprefs had ordered towards defraying the expences of 

 his journey. The length of the journey, the changes of 

 climate, and various other circumltances alarmed his friends, 

 who obferved, that his conllitution was enfeebled by re- 

 peated attacks of the gout : and tiiey diCTuaded him from the 

 undertaking, which, after various preparations, he at length 

 determined to renounce. As he had received only 200I. of 

 the money that had been ordered, and returned above one 

 half of it, after dedufting the expences which he had un- 

 avoidably incurred ; his honour and integrity in the whole 

 tranfadion were unimpeachable ; more efpecially as he con- 

 tinued to tranfmit to the emprefs fuch obfervations as might 

 ferve to facilitate the execution of her plans, and lender 

 them effectual to the purpofc for which they were adopted. 

 This negotiation agitated the fpirits of Dr. Brown ; and its 

 iiTue, in which, however, he thought it prudent to acqui- 

 efce, difappointed and mortified him. The pride of his 

 temper, and the fenfe he entertained of his own importance, 

 contributed, in no fmall degree, to that dejeClion of mind, 

 which, concurring with a conilitutional tendency to infa- 

 nity, led him to put an end to his life with a razor, Sept. 

 2jd, 1766, in the 5 lit year of his age. Biog. Brit. 



Brown, Sir William, M.D. of a refpectable family in 

 the county of Norfolk,, was born in the year 1692. His 

 father, who was a phyfician, iirll infpired him with a talle 

 for the lludy of medicine. In 1707, when he was only 

 ij; years of age, he was admitted of Peterhoufe in Cam' 

 bridge ; and having paffed through the preliminary degrees, 

 he was in 1721 admitted dottor in medicine. Of the re- 

 fpedl he retained for liia alma inatcr, and of his fondncfs for 

 literature, he gave evidence, by leaving to the univerlity of 

 Cambridge a fnm of money, the interell of which he direfted 

 to be laid out every year, in furniniing three gold medals, 

 to be given to the three moil fuccefsful candidates in Greek, 

 and Latin poetry. Of the books left lum by his father, he 

 fays, he kept for his pocket companions, Bleau's Greek 

 Tcllament, Hippocrates's Aphorifms, and an Elzevir's 

 Horace ; " from the firll to draw divinity, from the fecond 

 phyflc, and from the lad good fenfe antl vivacity." Soon 

 after leaving college, he went to Lynn in Norfolk, where 

 he praclifed phylic nearly thirty years, ^nd as it appears, 

 with reputation and profit ; for ("peaking of his leaving that 

 town, to come to London, he fays, " The manly age and 

 inclination, with conformable (Indies, I diligently applied to 

 the practice of phylic, in the country ; where, as that age 

 advifeth, I fought riches and friendfhips. But being at 

 length fatiated with friends, whom truth, not flattery, had 

 procured ; fatiated with riches which Galen, not fortune, 

 had prefented ; I reforted to this college (of phyficiaos) 

 where I might addiCl myfelf totally to the Icrvice of honour." 



This 



