in the printed copy of William of Malmesbury from a manuscript copy in the hands of his 'very learned friend Mr. Selden.' Michael Drayton in the Epistle to Henry Reynolds speaks of Browne as one of his 'dear companions' and 'bosom friends.' To the second edition of the 'Polyolbion' (1622) Browne prefixed a copy of laudatory verses; and Drayton showed his respect for Browne by dedicating to him an elegy. Christopher Brooke's 'Ghost of Richard the Third,' 1614, and the later editions of Overbury's 'Wife,' contain poetical tributes by Browne, to whom may be safely assigned the commendatory verses, bearing the signature 'W. B.,' prefixed to Massinger's 'Duke of Millaine' (1623) and ' Bondman '(1624). Browne was also a contributor to 'Epithalamia Oxoniensis,' 1625. Like his friend Michael Drayton, whom he resembled in many respects Browne possessed a gentleness and simplicity of character which secured him the affection and admiration of his contemporaries. Prince tells us that 'he had a great mind in a little body.' Whether this description is to be taken merely as a flower of speech, or whether the poet was of short stature, it would be difficult to determine.
Browne's works were edited in 1773, 3 vols. 12mo, by Thomas Davies the bookseller. The poems in Lansdowne MS. 777 were first printed by Sir Egerton Brydges at the Lee Prioty Press. In 1868 a complete edition of Browne's works was edited for the Roxburghe Club, in 2 vols. 4to, by Mr. W. Carew Hazlitt.
[Memoir by W. C. Hazlitt prefixed to vol. i. Browne's works, ed. 1868; Wood's Athenæ (Bliss). ii. 364-7; Wood's Fasti, i. 419; Boase's Reg. Exeter Coll. Oxon.; Prince's Worthies of Devon; Carpenter's Geographia, 1635, p. 263; Beloe's Anecdotes. vi. 58-85; Warton's Hist. of English Poetry. ed. 1871, iii. 321; Retrospective Review, ii. 149; Corser's Collectanea.]
BROWNE, WILLIAM (1628–1678), botanist, was born at Oxford, and trained at that university, where he graduated B.A. on 2 Nov. 1647, being described as of Magdalen College. On 2 July 1652 he was one of the examiners of Anthony à Wood for B.A. Conjointly with Dr. P. Stephen, principal of Magdalen Hall, he edited a new edition of Hobart's 'Catalogue of the Oxford Garden.' This is notable as being the first botanical book issued in this country which cites the pages of quoted. He took the degree of B.D. on 8 July 1665, and preached one of the university sermons at St. Maty's on 32 Aug. 1671. He died suddenly on 25 March 1678, and was buried in the outer chapel of Magdalen College, of which he waa senior fellow.
[Wood's Fasti (Bliss). ii. 104. 282; Wood's Atheæ Oxon. (Bliss) Life, xx, lxx; Pulteney's Biog. Sketches of Botany (1790), i. 166-9.]
BROWNE, Sir WILLIAM (1692–1774), physician, was born in the county of Durham, and was the son of a physician. He entered Peterhouse, Cambridge, in 1707; graduated B.A. 1711, and M.A. 1714. In 1716, having received a license from the university, he began to practise medicine at Lynn, Norfolk, where he lived for over thirty years. He was considered to be eccentric, but he succeeded in making a fortune, and in 1749 he moved to London, where he lived for the rest of his life in Queen Square, Bloomsbury. In 1721 he took his M.D. degree at Cambridge. In 1725 he waa admitted a candidate at the College of Physicians, and in the next year a fellow. On 1 March 1738-9 he was admitted a fellow of the Royal Society, and in 1748 he was knighted through the interest of the Duke of Montagu. After settling in London he passed through the various offices of the College of Physicians, and in 1765 and 1766 was president. At this time there was a violent dispute between the college and the licentiatea. Browne was a defender of the privileges of the universities, and had offended the licentiates by a pamphlet in the dispute with Dr. Schomberg (a 'Vindication of the Royal College of Physicians,' 1753). Foote caricatured him on the stage in his farce 'The Devil on Two Sticks.' Browne sent Foote a card complimenting him on his accuracy, but sending his own muff to complete the likeness. He found it difficult to maintain his dignity at the college, and on one occasion, when he was holding the comitia, the licentiates forced their way tumultuously into the room. Resolving to avoid such an affront in future, he determined to resign his office instead of holding it for the usual term of five years. On quitting the chair he delivered a humorous address, which was published in Latin and English. In this he declared that he had found fortune in the country, honour in the college, and now proposed to find pleasure at the medicinal springs. He accordingly went to Bath, where he called upon Warburton at Prior Park. Warburton gives a ludicrous description of the old gentleman, with his muff, his Horace, and his spy-glass, who showed all the alacrity of a boy both in body and mind. He returned to London, where, on St. Luke's day 1771, he appeared
