4*6 BROWNE. 
that appeared toothers rational, he hath all the while no 
more notion of what he laid than a parrot; that it was 
therefore profane in him to pray, and incongruous to be 
prevent at the prayers of others and very confidently 
with this, he confidered himfelf no longer as a moral agent, 
or the f abject of either reward or punifhment. In this way 
of thinking and talking he unalterably and obftinatelv per¬ 
illed to the end of his life ; though he afterwards dif¬ 
fered, and even requefied, prayers to be made for him. 
He retired to Shepton-Mallet, his native place ; and, tho’ 
in his retirement he was perpetually contending, that his 
powers of reafon were gone, yet he was as conftantly ex¬ 
erting both with much activity and vigour. He compo- 
fed an Englifh grammar and fpelling book; an abftraCt of 
the feripture-hiftory, and a collection of fables, both in 
metre ; and with much learning he brought together into 
a (liort compafs all the themata of the Greek and Latin 
tongues, and alfo compiled a dictionary to each of thofe 
works, in order-to render the learning of both thefe lan¬ 
guages more eafy and compendious. But what fliewed the 
ftrength and vigour of his underftanding, wdiile he was 
daily bemoaning the lofs of it, were two works, compoled 
during the two laft years of his life, in defence of Chrilti- 
anity, againft Wooldon and Tindal; the latter of which 
lie propofed to dedicate to queen Caroline; hut, as the 
unhappy hate of his-mind appeared in the dedication, his 
friends very wilely fupprejled it, as hire to defeat the ufe 
and intent of his work. Thefe pieces were publifhed un¬ 
der the direction of Dr. W. Harris. Mr. Browne fur- 
vived the publication but a very fhort time. A compli¬ 
cation of diftempers, contracted by his fedentary life, 
brouglit on a mortification, which put a period to his bor¬ 
rows about the latter end of 1732. 
BROWNE (Peter), a native of Ireland, was at firft 
provoft of 1 rinity-college in Dublin, and afterwards bi- 
ihop of Cork : where he died in 1735, after having diftin- 
guifhed himfelf by the following writings : 1. A Refuta¬ 
tion of Toland’s Chriftianity not mvfterious This was 
#he foundation of his preferment ; which occafiuned him 
<0 fay to Toland, that it was he who had made him bilhop 
of Cork. 2. The Progrefs, Extent, and Limits, of the 
Human Underftanding. This was meant as a fupplemental 
work, difplaying more at large tire principles on which 
he had confuted Toland. 3. Sermons. 4. A little volume 
againft the cuftom of drinking to the memory of the dead. 
3 t was a fafhion among the whigs of His time, to drink to 
the glorious and immortal memory of king William 111 . 
which greatly difgufted him, and is fuppofed to have gi¬ 
ven rife to the piece in queftion. 
BROWNE (lfaac Hawkins), an ingenious Englifh poet, 
"born at Burton-upon-Trent, in 1706, of which place his 
father was minifter. He received his grammatical rudi¬ 
ments firft at Litchfield, then at Weftminfler; whence, at 
lixteen years of age, he was removed to Trinity-college, 
Cambridge, of which his father had been fellow. He re¬ 
mained there till he had taken a degree of M. A. and, 
about 1727, fettled in Lincoln’s-inn, where he feems to 
have devoted more of his time to the mufes than to the 
law. Soon after his arrival there, he wrote a poem on 
Defign and Beauty, which he addrefted to Mr. Highmore 
the painter, for whom he had a great friendfhip. Several 
other poetical pieces were written here, and particularly 
his Pipe of Tobacco. This is an imitation of Cibber, Am- 
brofe Phillips, Thomfon, Young, Pope, and Swift, who 
were then all living; and is reckoned one of the mod plea- 
fing and popular of his performances. In 1744, lie mar¬ 
ried the daughter of Dr. Trimnell, archdeacon of Leicefi- 
Icr. He was cliofen twice to ferve in parliament, firft in 
1744, and afterwards in 1748, for the borough of Wen- 
lock in Shropfhire, near which place he had a confiderable 
eftate. In 1734 lie publifhed, what lias been deemed his 
capital work, De Animi Immortalitate, in two books; in 
which, beftdes a moft judicious choice of matter and ar¬ 
rangement, lie is thought to have fliewn himfelf not a 
iemle but a happy imitator of Lucretius and Virgil, The 
univerfal applaufe and popularity of this poem produced 
feveral Englifh tranflations of it, in a very fhorttime; the 
heft of which is done by Soame Jenyns, and printecTin his 
Mifcellanies. Mr. Browne intended to have added a third 
part, but went no farther than to leave a fragment. A 
tranflation has fince appeared, in 1795, by the Rev. Mr. 
Lettice. Pie died, after a lingering illnefs, the 14th of 
February, 1760, in his fifty-fifth year ; and, in 1768, his 
fon, Hawkins Browne, Efq. obliged the public with an 
elegant edition of his father’s poems, in large oCtavo. 
BROWNE (Sir William), an eminent phyfician, fettled 
originally at Lynn in Norfolk, where he publifhed Dr. 
Gregory’s Elements of Catoptrics and Dioptrics ; tranfla- 
ted from the Latin original. To which he added, 1. A 
Method for finding the Foci of all Specula, as well as 
Lenfes univerfally ; as alfo magnifying or leflening a given. 
objeCt, by a given fpeculum, or lens, in any aftlgned pi o- 
portion. 2. A Solution of thofe Problems which Dr. 
Gregory lias left undemonftrated. 3. A particular Ac¬ 
count of Microfcopes and Telefcopes, from Mr. Fluygens. 
Having acquired a competency by his profeftion, he remo¬ 
ved to (Lpeen-fquare, Ormond-ftreet, London, where he 
refided till his death, which happened March 10, 1774, 
at tlie age of eighty-two. By his will he left three prize- 
medals to be annually contended for in the University cf 
Cambridge ; and alfo a claftical fcholarfliip, of 20I. per 
annum. By his lady, who died July 25, 1763, in her 60th 
year, lie had one daughter, grandmother to the prefent 
Sir Martin Browne Folkes, Bart. Sir William Browne 
w as a very facetious man ; and the aCtive part taken by 
him in the conteftwith the licentiates, in 1768, occafioned 
his being brought on the ftage in the Devil upon Two 
Sticks. Upon Foote’s exaCt reprefentation of him, in this 
farce, with his identical w : ig and coat, tail figure, and 
glafs ftiffly applied to his eye, he lent him a card compli¬ 
menting him on having fo happily reprefented him ; but, 
as he had forgot his muff, he had fent him his own. He 
ufed to frequent the annual ball at the ladies’ boarding- 
fchool, Osteen-fqua re, merely as a neighbour, a good na- 
tured man, and fond of the company of fprightly young 
folks. A dignitary of the church being there one day to 
fee his daughter dance, and finding this upright figure 
ftationed there, told him he believed he was Hermipput 
Tedivivusy who lived anhelitu pucllarum, “ by the breath of 
girls.” When lie lived at Lynn, a pamphlet was written 
againft him ; which he nailed up againft his lioufe-dcor. 
At the age of eighty, on St. Luke’s-day, 1771, became- 
to Batfon’s coffce-houfe in his laced coat and band, and 
fringed white gloves, to fhew himfelf to Mr. Crofby, then 
lord-mayor. A gentleman prefent obferving that he look¬ 
ed very well, he replied, “ he had neither wife nor debts.” 
A great number of lively eifays, both in profe and verfe, 
the production of his pen, were printed and circulated 
among his friends. Among thefe W'ere, 1. Ode in imita¬ 
tion of Horace, ode 3, lib. iii. addrelfed to the right ho¬ 
nourable Sir Robert Walpole, on ceafing to be minifter,. 
Feb. 6, 1741. 2. Opufcula varia utriufque Linguae, Me- 
dicinam, 1763, 4to. 3. Appendix altera ad Opufcula, 
1768, 4to. 4. A farewell Oration, &e. (a tranflation of 
the preceding article,) 1768, 4to. 5. Fragmentum Ifaaci 
Hawkins Browne, arm. five Anti-Bolinbrokius, liber pri¬ 
mus. Tranflated for a fecond Religio Medici, 1768, 4to.. 
6. Fragmentum Ifaaci Hawkins Browne completum, 1769, 
4to. 7. Appendix ad Opufcula; fix Odes, 1770, 4to. 
8. Three more Odes, 1771, 4to. 9. A Propofal on our 
Coin ; to remedy all prefent, and prevent all future, dif- 
orders. To which are prefixed, preceding propofals of 
Sir John Barnard, and of William Shirley, Efq. on the 
fame fubjeCt: with remarks, 17.74, 4to. 10. A New 
Year’s Gift: a Problem and Demonftration on the Thirty- 
nine Articles, 1772, 4to. 11. The Pill Plot: to DoCtor 
Ward, a quack of merry memory ; written at Lynn, No¬ 
vember 30, 1734, 4to. 1772. 12. Corrections in Verfe, 
from the father of the College, on fon Cadogan’s Gout 
DifTertation: containing fulfe Piiyfic, falfe Logic, falfe- 
Philofophy* 
