Page:A biographical dictionary of modern rationalists.djvu/96

 BROWNE

BEUNO

Lacaze Prize of the French Academy of Sciences, the Daly Medal of the Eoyal College of Physicians, and a large number of other honours. Throughout his dis tinguished and laborious career Brown- Sequard remained a poor and modest man, sacrificing for research his chances of a very lucrative practice. D. Apr. 1, 1894.

BROWNE, Sir Thomas, M.D., physi cian. B. Oct. 19, 1605. Ed. Winchester, Leyden, and Oxford. He graduated at both Leyden (1633) and Oxford (1637) Universities, and settled in practice at Norwich. His famous Eeligio Medici was probably written in 1635, and was pub lished in 1642. It was translated into Latin, Dutch, French, German, and Italian, and, although it was put on the Index at Rome, has given rise to endless controversy in regard to the author s views. Even J. A. Symonds describes him as a &quot; pas sionate Christian &quot; and a &quot; God-intoxicated man,&quot; while the German authority, W. Schmach, describes the book as a &quot;monu ment of English Deism.&quot; Browne certainly professed to be orthodox, believed in witch craft, and went to church regularly ; but when one compares the Eeligio Medici with his more outspoken Urn Burial and Pseudodoxia Epidemica one sees that the passages which Symonds had in mind must not be taken literally. In Urn Burial he says : &quot; A dialogue between two infants in the womb concerning the state of this world might handsomely illustrate our ignorance of the next, whereof methinks all yet discourse in Plato s den, and are but embryo philosophers&quot; (1886 ed., p. 158). In Section viii he says : &quot; I perceive the wisest, heads prove, at last, almost all Scepticks, and stand like Janus in the field of knowledge,&quot; and he thinks that, since it is &quot; vanity to waste our days in the pursuit of knowledge,&quot; we had better wait until we die to learn the truth. He entirely ignores &quot;revelation,&quot; and is plainly sceptical about a future life. D. Oct. 19, 1682.

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BROWNE, William George, traveller. B. July 25, 1768. Ed. privately and at Oxford (Oriel College). He adopted law as a profession, but, becoming independent, turned to African exploration (1792-98). The work in which he describes his travels (1800) contains many sarcastic observa tions on Christian Europe. &quot; In politics he was a republican, in religion a Free thinker &quot; (Diet. Nat. Biog.). He set out in 1812 for a journey across Asia, and was murdered in Persia in 1813.

BROWNING, Robert, poet. B. Lon don, May 7, 1812. Ed. private school and London University College. He began to write verse at the age of twelve, and in 1833 published Pauline. Paracelsus was written in 1834-35, and Sordello in 1838. It was not until about 1845 that his peculiar poetical genius gained wide recog nition. In 1868 Oxford University granted him a degree, and he became a Fellow of Balliol. The strict orthodoxy of his early years began to waver during his association with W. J. Fox (SEE) in 1830-35, and his Christmas Eve and Easter Day (1850) reflects the growing trouble of his faith. After the death of his wife in 1861 the last relics of his Christian orthodoxy disappeared. Mr. Benn, in his History, finely traces the development through his successive poems (especially A Death in the Desert, 1864 ; The Bing and the Book, 1868; The Inn Album, 1875; and La Saisiaz, 1875). In the latter poem he professes a pure Theism : &quot; Soul and God stand sure.&quot; He plainly intimates that all else has gone. D. Dec. 12, 1889.

BRUNO, Giordano, Italian philosopher and martyr. B. 1548. He entered the Dominican Order at Naples in his fifteenth year, taking the name of Giordano instead of his baptismal name, Filippo. Accused of heresy, he fled from his convent and wandered over Europe from 1576 to 1592. From 1583 to 1585 he was in England. Bruno was a warm admirer of the Greek philosophers, especially Epicurus and the 120