B R O 



B R O 



the Italian Opera," were piibliflied in lamo., totjetlier with 

 an introduftion, by h)rd Monboddo, in one volume, umo., 

 1789, for the benelit uf his widow. Mr. Brown left beliind 

 him ftveral very highly finifhed portraits in pencil, and many 

 cxqmlite Iketches in pencil, and in pen and ink, wliicii he 

 had taken of perfons and places in Italy. The peculiar 

 charafteriftics of his hand were delicacy, correftnefs, and 

 talle ; and the leading features of his mind were acutenefs, 

 liberality, and fenlibility, joined to a charafter firm, vigorous, 

 and energetic. His lail p^;rforniances were two exquifite 

 drawings, one from Mr. Townley's celebrated bulh of 

 Homer, and the other from a fnie original bull of Mr. I'ope, 

 generally fuppofed to have been the work of Ryibrack. 

 From thefe two drawings, two very beautiful engravings 

 have been made by Mr. liartolozzi, and his pupil, Mr. 

 Bovi. liiog. Did.' 



Brown, Aurah.-vm, one of the principal performers on 

 the violin, before the arrival of Giardini, in this country. 

 After the death of Felling, in i~j2, he fucceeded him at 

 llanelagh, as leader of the king's band, and at feveral con- 

 certs. But this performer, who had a clear, fprightly, and 

 loud tone, with a ftrong hand, and had travelled through 

 Italy, was ignorant of mufic, and the pieces he played con- 

 ii'led of ncla, el ricn que ties notes : for he had no loul or fenfe 

 of expreffion. He brouglit over a favourite folo of Tartini 

 (the fecond in the fecond fet, publifhed by Walfh), with 

 which alone he figured at all concerts, for at lead i'tx. or fevcn 

 years, without ever entering into Tartini's true llyle of play- 

 ing it, or that of any perfonner of his Ichool. Mr. Brown, 

 h-owever, had not the mortification either to feel or know his 

 defefts ; but, on the contrary, was comforted with a full con- 

 viftion of his fuperiority. 



Brown F, George, an Irifli prelate, and the firft bidiop 

 that efpoufed and promoted the reformation in that coun- 

 ti-y ; was originally an Auguftine friar of London, and edu- 

 cated in the houfe of his order, near Holywell, in Oxford- 

 Ihire. He afterwards became provincial of the Auguftine 

 monks in England. Having taken the degree of dotlor of 

 divinity at fome foreign univerfity, he was admitted to the 

 fame degree at Oxford in i',i-\, and foon after at Cambridge. 

 ITpoii the periifal of fome of I^uther's writings, he enter- 

 tained a favourable opinion of his doftrine, and recommended 

 to the people to make their fupplications folely to Chrift, 

 and not to the Virgin Mary, or the Saints. Thefe fenti- 

 inents procured for him the favour of Henry VIII., who 

 promoted hiui in March, i yj ", to the archbilhopric of Dub- 

 lin, and foon after appointed him one of the coniiniffioners 

 for executing the royal mandate, that obliged the Irilh to 

 renounce the papal fupremacy. In the conduft of this 

 bufinefs he encountered many difficulties ; as he alfo did in 

 carrying through the parliament, which met in Dublin, 

 May I, i53f>, the bill for eftablilhing the king's fupremacy 

 over the church of Ireland. During the progrefs of tl>e 

 reformation, when Henry began to fupprefs the monalleries 

 in England and Ireland, archbifhop Browne completed the 

 defign which he had formed of removing all fuperllitious 

 relics and images out of the two cathedrals of St. Patrick's 

 and the Holy Trinity, in Dublin, and out of the other 

 churches in his diocefe ; and he placed, in their room, the 

 creed, the Lord's prayer, and the ten commandments, in 

 gold letter.'!. In 1541, the king converted the priory of 

 the Holy Trinity into a cathedral cliurch, confiding of a dean 

 and chapter; and the archbidiop, three years after, founded 

 in it three prebends, from which time it has been denomi- 

 nated Chriil-Church. The order of king Edward VI. for 

 introducing into all the churches of Ireland the Englidi 

 Hturgy, and the Bible in the vulgar tongue, though warmly 



Vol. V. 



oppofed by the popilh party, was readily received by arch- 

 bifliop lirowne; and on the Eafter day following, the liturgy 

 was read at Chrift-Cluirch in the prcfence of the mayor and 

 bailiffs of the city, and the lord deputy St. Leger; on 

 which occalion the archbidiop preached a fcrmon agaii.ft 

 keeping the fcriptures in the Latin tongue, and agaiiiil the 

 wordiip of images. This fermon is annexed to the arcli- 

 bifliop's life. When Dowdall, the primate, was deprived 

 ol this dignity, on account of his oppofition to the royal 

 order, it was conferred in Odober, 15^1, on avchbilhop 

 Browne ; but upon the acccfiion of queen Mary, he alfo 

 was deprived both of the primacy and aichbiihopiic in i c;^4, 

 under pretence that he was married ; but in reality, becaufe 

 he had been zealous in promoting the reformation. He 

 died al)out the year 1556, leaving behind him the character 

 of a faitliful lubjcit, a zealous promoter of religion, and 3 pat- 

 tern of nieckneis, checrfulncfs, and benevolence. Biog. Brit. 

 Browne, William, an Englidi poet, was born atTavif- 

 tock in Devonlhire, in 1590, and admitted into Exeter col- 

 lege, Oxford, about the beginning of the reign of king 

 James I. Having made very conliderable proficiency in 

 cladical learning and polite literature, he left the college, 

 and removed to the Inner Temple, London, where he de- 

 voted himfelf to the inufes, and probably paid little attention 

 to the rtudy of the law. In 161. j, he piibliflied the llrd 

 part of his " Britannia's Paftorals," fol. ; a great part of 

 which he feenis to have written before he had attained 

 his 20th year. In the following year he publiflicd " 'i'hc 

 Shepiicrd's Pipe, in Seven Eclogues," 8vo. ; and in 1616, 

 tlie fecond part of his " Britannia's Paftorals," which were 

 well received, and gained him great reputation. He alfo 

 wrote the " Inner Temple Mafque," and fome other fmall 

 poems, which are included in the edition of his works pub- 

 lidied by Mr. Davies in 1772, in three fmall volumes. In 

 his Paftorals there is much poetical imagery, and fonietimes 

 beautiful defcription, and his verfification is often very har- 

 monious ; but though he knew how to move the heart by 

 ftrokes of genuine nature and palfion, his writings abound 

 with point and conceit, and other frivolous ornaments, which 

 indicate a vitiated tafte ; with a fertile imagination and a 

 vigorous mind, his judgment was perverted by thofe Italian 

 iiiodel.i, which it was the fadiion of his time to imitate. His 

 defcriptions, though pidurefque, are extravagant ; his con- 

 ception?, though ftrong, have marks of deformity ; and his 

 language never flows in a ibain of continued purity. He 

 could not plan with precifion and delicacy, and was unable 

 to join correftnefs with fpirit. Such is the account gives 

 of his writings by an anonymous critic. In J 624, he re- 

 turned to his college ; became tutor to that earl of Car- 

 narvon, who was killed at the battle of Newbury, and who 

 is highly extolled by Clarendon ; was created M. A. in that 

 year ; and was llylcd in the univerfity-regiftcr " Vir omni 

 humanalittratura et bonarum artium cognitione inftruflus." 

 He was afterwards taken into the family of the carl of Pem- 

 broke : and, as Wood fays, ♦' got wealth, and purchafed an 

 ellate." Towards the clofe of his life, he is fuppofed to 

 have retired into his own country, and to have died there 

 about the year i6^j. Biog. Brit. 



Browne, i'/V Thomas, more known now as an antiquary, 

 than as a doftor of phyfick, was born in the paridi of St. 

 Michael, in Cheapfide, the njth of November, 160^. Being 

 left by his father, who died when he was young, an ample 

 fortune, he was fciit to Winchcllcr fchool, and having 

 palled through the ufiial exercifes there in I'^a ;, he was 

 admitted a gentleman commoner in Pumbroke college, Ox- 

 ford. In 1627, he took his degree of bachelor, and three 

 years after of mafter of arts. During this time, bcfidesapply- 



: E ing 



