BROW N E. 
ing afterwards taken that of matter, he turned his (Indies 
to phyftc, and p radii fed for lome time in Oxfordlhire. He 
quitted Jiis fettlement here to accompany his father-in-law 
to', Ireland; which country offering, at that time, very 
little worthy of the obfervaiion of a man of. letters, he 
patted into France and Italy; and after making fome (fay 
at Montpellier and Padua, at that time the celebrated 
fchools of medicine, in his return home through Holland, 
he was created M. D. at Leyden, it is fuppofed that he 
arrived in London about 1634, and that the next year he 
wrote his celebrated piece, called Religio Medici, The Re¬ 
ligion of a Phyfician. “ This work was no fooner pub- 
lifhed,’* fays Dr. Johnfon, “ than it excited the attention 
of the public, by the noveltv of paradoxes, the dignity of 
fentiment, the quick fnccellion of images, the multitude 
of abttrule allufions, the fubtlety of difquifition, and the 
ftrength of language. What is much read will be much 
criticifed. The earl of Dorfet recommended this book to 
the peril fa 1 of Sir Kenelm Dfgby, who returned his judg¬ 
ment upon it, not in a letter, but in a book ; in which, 
though mingled with fome petitions fabulous and uncer¬ 
tain, there are acute remarks, jutt cenfures, and profound 
fpeculations ; yet its principal claim to admiration is, that 
it was written in twenty-four hours, of which part was 
fpent in procuring Browne’s book, and part in reading it. 
Of thefe animadvei (ions, when they were not yet all print¬ 
ed, either officioufnefs or malice informed Dr. Browne, 
wlio wrote to Sir Kenelm with much foftnefs and cere¬ 
mony, declaring the unworthinefs of his work to engage 
fitch notice, the intended privacy of the corapofition, and 
the corruptions of the impreflion ; and received an anfwer 
equally gentle and refpe< 5 lful, containing high commenda¬ 
tions of the piece, pompous profettions of reverence, meek 
acknowledgments of inability, and anxious apologies for 
the haftinefs of his remarks. The reciprocal civility of 
authors is one of the moll rifible feenes in the farce of life. 
Who would not have thought, that thefe two luminaries 
of their age had ceafed to endeavour to grow bright by 
the obfeuration of each other : yet the animadverlions thus 
weak, thus precipitate, upon a book tints injured in the 
t ranfeription, quickly patted the prefs: and Religio Me¬ 
dici was more accurately publifhed, with an admonition 
prefixed, to thofe who have or (hall perufe the obferva- 
tions upon a former corrupt copy; in which there is a fe- 
vere cenfure, not upon Digby, who was to be ufed with 
ceremony, bitt upon the obfervator who had ufurped his 
name; nor was this invedtive written by Dr. Browne, who 
was fuppofed to be fatislied with his opponent’s apology, 
but by fome officious friend, zealous for his honour, with¬ 
out his confent.” The fuccefs of this performance was 
fuch as might naturally encourage the author to new un¬ 
dertakings. In 1636 lie fettled at Norwich, by the per- 
fuafion of Dr. Lufliington his tutor, who was redlor of 
Barnham-Weffgate in that neighbourhood; and, in 1637, 
he w’as incorporated doctor of phyftc at Oxford. In 1641 
he married Mrs. Dorothy Micham, of a good family in 
'Norfolk: but this marriage could not but draw the rail- 
' Jery of cotemporary wits upon a man, who had been wjfh - 
iitg in the above celebrated book, that we might procreate, 
like trees, without conjunction ; and had lately declared, 
that the whole world was made for men, but only the 
twelfth part of men for women; and, that man is the 
whole world, but women only the rib or crooked part of 
men. Whether the lady had been yet informed of thefe 
contemptuous politions, or whether file was pleafed with 
the conqueft of fo formidable a rebel, and conlidered it as 
a double triumph to attradl fo much merit, and overcome 
fuch powerful prejudices ; or whether, like mod others, 
file married upon mingled motives, between convenience 
and inclination, flic had no reafon to repent; for die 
lived happily with him one-and-forty years, and bore 
him ten children, of w hom one fon and three daughters 
outlived their parents; (lie fnrvived him two years, and 
patted Iter widowhood in plenty, if not in opulence. Five 
years after his marriage, he fent abroad his Treadle on 
You III. No. 140. 
41 ? 
Vulgar Errors which was received with great applaufe, 
and, with his Religio Medici, tranflated into all the mo¬ 
dern languages. 
Wood informs 11s, that his pra6fiee as a phyfician was 
very extenfive, and that many patients reforted to him. 
I' 1 '6.55, he was chofen honorary fellow of the college of 
phyficians,. as a man virtutc et Uteris ornamenti.fjimus , emi¬ 
nently etnbellifhedjwith literature and virtue. I11 1638, 
tlie difeovery of fome ancient urns in Norfolk gave him 
occafioti to write Hydriotaphia, Urn-burial; or, a difeourfe 
offepulchral urns, together with the garden of Cyrus, or 
the quincunxial lozenge, or network plantation of the an¬ 
cients, artificially, naturally, myftically, conlidered. In 
1671, he received at Norwich the honour of knighthood 
from Charles II. Thus he lived in high reputation , when 
in his feventy fixtli year lie was feized with a cholic which 
put an end to his life at Norwich, on his birth-day, 061 . 19, 
1682. Dr. .Browne left feveral traits in his clofet, which, 
Whitefoot fays, he defigned for the prefs. Of thefe, two 
colledtions have been publifhed, one by Dr. Tenifon, the 
other in 1732, by a namelefs editor. “It is not on the 
pr.tifes of others, but on his own writings, that lie is to 
depend for the elteem of pollerity, of which he will not 
ealily be deprived, while learning fhall have any reverence 
among men : for there is no fcience, in which he does not 
difeover fome (kill; and fcarcely any kind of knowledge, 
profane or facred, abftrufe or elegant, which he does not 
appear to have cultivated with fuccefs.” Dr. Johnfon. 
BROWNE (Edward), an eminent phyfician, fon of the 
preceding, born about 1642. He was inftrudted in gram¬ 
mar learning at the fcliool of Norwich, and in 1665 took 
the degree of bachelor of phyftc at Cambridge. Remo¬ 
ving afterwards to Merton-college, Oxford, he was there 
admitted to the fame degree in 1666, and the next year 
created dodtor. I11 1668, he vifited part of Germany, and 
the year following made a wider excurfion into Auftria, 
Hungary, and Theflaly, where the Turkifii fultan then 
kept his court at Lari ("fa : he afterwards palled through 
Italy. Upon his return, he pradtifed phvfic in London ; 
was made phyfician to Charles II. and to St. Bartholo¬ 
mew’s hofpital. About the fame time, he joined his name 
to thofe of many other eminent men, in a tranflation of 
Plutarch’s Lives. He was firft cenfor, then eledt, and 
treafmer, of the college of phyficians; of which, in 1703, 
he was chofen prelident, and held this office till his death, 
v. iiich happened in Auguft, 1708, after a very fliort ill- 
nefs, at his feat at Norchfleet, near Greenhithe, in Kent. 
He was acquainted with Hebrew, was a critic in Greek, 
and no man of his age wrote better Latin. German, Ita¬ 
lian, French, &c. he fpoke and wrote with as much eafe; 
as his mother tongue. Phyftc was his purfuit, and to the 
promotion thereof all his other acquifitions were referred. 
Botany, pharmacy, and chemiftry, he knew and pradtifed. 
King Charles laid of him, that “ he was as learned as any 
of the college, and as well bred as any at court.” He was 
married, and left a fon and a daughter. 
BROWNE (Simon), a diftenting minifter, whole un¬ 
common talents and lingular misfortunes entitle him to 
public notice. He was born at Shepton-iVIallet in Somer- 
fetfiiire, in 16S0, Excelling in.grammatical learning,-he 
early became qualified for the minittry, and adlually began 
to preach before he'was twenty. He was firft called to be 
a pallor at 'Portftnouth, and afterwards removed to the 
Old Jewry, where he was admired and eftcenled for a num¬ 
ber of years. But tiie death of his wife and only fon. 
Which happened in 1723, affedled him fo as to deprive him 
of his reafon: and he became from that time loft to him- 
felf and to the world. He'quitted the duties of his func¬ 
tion, and would not be' perfuaded to join in any adl of 
worfhip, public or private. Being urged for a reafon of 
this extraordinary change, he faid, “ that ’he had fallen 
under the fenlible difpleafure of God, who had caufed liis 
rational foul gradually to perifli, and left him only an ani¬ 
mal life in common with brutes ; that, though lie retained 
the human fliape^ and the faculty of fpeuking in a-manner 
5 X. that 
