Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 1.djvu/347

 original genius, but on the other hand too ready, it may be, to submit the freedom of his mind to system and authority, he was endowed with a strong aptitude for acquisition, and great power of arrangement, a sound and generally sober judgment, and a rich and vivid fancy, though united with a defective, or rather, perhaps, an uncultivated taste. The selection of subjects, and general conception of almost every one of them, are very happy, and in many cases the execution proves his high endowments for the task he undertook.

The time now drew near that he should die. For some years previous, he had been greatly annoyed with a gradual failure, at once in the bodily power of digestion and the mental faculty of memory the symptoms of a constitution fairly worn out by the intense and incessant labours to which it had been subjected. In the beginning of 1787, his complaints increased in such an alarming degree, accompanied by a general and extreme debility, that he found it necessary to abandon the pulpit During the months of spring, he lived in a continual state of earnest and active preparation for the great change he was about to undergo. He expired on the 19th June, and on the 24th his remains were followed to their place of repose in Haddington church-yard, by nearly the whole inhabitants of the town, and a large concourse of his friends and brethren from a distance. At the first meeting of the Associate Synod after his decease, "the Synod," as their minute bears, "unanimously agreed to take this opportunity of testifying (heir respect to the memory of the Rev. John Brown, their late Professor, whose eminent piety, fervent zeal, extensive charity, and unwearied diligence in promoting the interests of religion, will be long remembered by this court, especially by those members of it who had the happiness of studying divinity under his inspection."

, M.D. founder of what is termed the Brunonian system in medicine, and one of the most eccentric and extraordinary men of his time, was a native of the parish of Bunkle, in Berwickshire, where he was born, in the year 1735, or, as others assert, in 1737. Though only the son of a day-labourer, he contrived to obtain an excellent classical education at the school of Dunse, which was then taught by Mr William Cruickshank, one of the most celebrated teachers that Scotland has produced. The genius and application of Brown were alike so great, that, at an age when the most of children are only beginning their letters, he was far advanced in a knowledge of Latin. His studies, after some time, were broken off in consequence of the inability of his father to maintain him at school. He was bound apprentice to the gloomy and monotonous craft of a weaver, which must have been peculiarly unsuitable to his lively faculties. However, he seems to have afterwards been enabled by the kindness of his teacher to renew his studies; and it is known that for this purpose he had employed himself on the harvest-field. His proficiency in the Latin recommended him, first to the situation of usher in the school, and afterwards to that of tutor in a neighbouring family. When about twenty years of age, he removed to Edinburgh, and entering the university, advanced so far in the study of divinity, as to deliver a discourse preparatory to commencing his trials before the presbytery. Brown, however, was not destined to be a member of this profession. Owing to some unexplained freak of feeling, he turned back from the very threshold, and for some years supported himself in the humble capacity of a grinder in the university. His services in this capacity to the medical students introduced him to a knowledge of medicine, which he suddenly resolved to prosecute as a profession. His natural ardour of mind enabled him very speedily to master the necessary studies, in which he was greatly assisted by the particular kindness and attention of Dr Cullen, then professor of medicine in the university. At one period, he acted as Latin secretary to this great