Chapter Broughton to Browne of B by Biographical Dictionary of English Literature

Broughton to Browne

Broughton, John Cam Hobhouse, 1st Lord (1786-1869).—Eldest son of Sir Benjamin Hobhouse, born at Redland near Bristol, educated at Westminster School and at Cambridge, where he became intimate with Byron, and accompanied him in his journeys in the Peninsula, Greece, and Turkey, and acted as his “best man.” In 1816 he was with him after his separation from his wife, and contributed notes to the fourth canto of Childe Harold, which was dedicated to him. On his return he threw himself into politics with great energy as an advanced Radical, and wrote various pamphlets, for one of which he was in 1819 imprisoned in Newgate. In the following year he entered Parliament, sitting for Westminster. After the attainment of power by the Whigs he held various offices, including those of secretray at War, Chief secretray for Ireland, and president of the Board of Control. He published Journey through Albania (1813), Historical Illustrations of the Fourth Canto of Childe Harold (1818), and Recollections of a Long Life (1865), for private circulation, and he left in MS. Diaries, Correspondence, and Memoranda, etc., not to be opened till 1900, extracts from which were published by his daughter, Lady Dorchester, also under the title of Recollections from a Long Life (1909).

Brown, Charles Brockden (1771-1810).—Novelist, born in Philadelphia, belonged to a Quaker family, became a lawyer, but exchanged law for literature, and has the distinction of being the first American to adopt a purely literary career. He wrote several novels, including Wieland (1798), Ormond (1799), Arthur Mervyn (1800-1), and his last, Jane Talbot (1801). With a good deal of crudeness and sentimentality he has occasional power, but dwells too much on the horrible and repulsive, the result, perhaps, of the morbidity produced by the ill-health from which he all his life suffered.

Brown, George Douglas (1869-1902).—Novelist, wrote The House with the Green Shutters, which gives a strongly outlined picture of the harder and less genial aspects of Scottish life and character. It may be regarded as a useful supplement and corrective to the more roseate presentations of the kail- yard school of J. M. Barrie and “Ian Maclaren.” It made a considerable impression. The author died almost immediately after its publication. There is an edition with a memoir by Mr. Andrew Lang.

Brown, Dr. John (1810-1882).—Physician and essayist, son of John Brown, D.D., a distinguished dissenting minister in Edinburgh born at Biggar, he was educated at the High School and University of Edinburgh, where practically the whole of his uneventful life was spent as a physician, and where he was revered and beloved in no common degree, and he was the cherished friend of many of his most distinguished contemporaries, including Thackeray. He wrote comparatively little; but all he did write is good, some of it perfect, of its kind. His essays, among which are Rab and his Friends, Pet Marjorie, Our Dogs, Minchmoor, and The Enterkine, were collected along with papers on art, and medical history and biography, in Horœ Subsecivœ (Leisure Hours), 3 vols. In the mingling of tenderness and delicate humour he has much in common with Lamb; in his insight into dog-nature he is unique. His later years were clouded with occasional fits of depression.

Brown, Thomas (1778-1820).—Metaphysician, son of the Rev. Samuel Brown, minister of Kirkmabreck, practised for some time as a physician in Edinburgh, but his tastes and talents lying in the direction of literature and philosophy, he devoted himself to the cultivation of these, and succeeded Dugald Stewart as Professor of Moral Philosophy in the University of Edinburgh, in which position he had remarkable popularity as a lecturer. His main contribution to literature is his Lectures, pub. after his death. Brown was a man of attractive character and considerable talents, but as a philosopher he is now largely superseded. He also wrote poetry, which, though graceful, lacked force, and is now forgotten.

Brown, Thomas Edward (1830-1897).—Poet, born at Douglas, Isle of Man, son of a clergyman, and educated there and at Oxford, entered the Church and held various scholastic appointments, including a mastership at Clifton. His later years were spent in his native island. He had a true lyrical gift, and much of his poetry was written in Manx dialect. His poems include Fo’c’sle Yarns (1881), The Doctor (1887), The Manx Witch (1889), and Old John (1893). He was also an admirable letter-writer, and 2 vols. of his letters have been published