BROWN, Thomas, an eminent metaphysician, was born at Kirkmabreck, in the stewartry of Kirkcudbright, on the 9th of January 1788, and was the youngest son of the Rev. Samuel Brown, minister of the parish of Kirkmabreck, and of Mary Smith, daughter of John Smith, Esq. of Wigton. His father survived his birth only a short time, and he received the first rudiments of his education from his mother. In the first lesson he learned all the letters of the alphabet, and every succeeding step was equally remarkable. From his seventh till his fourteenth year he was placed, under the protection of a maternal uncle, at different schools in the neighbourhood of London, at all of which he distinguished himself, and made great progress in classical literature. Upon the death of his uncle in 1792, he returned to his mother's house in Edinburgh, and entered as a student in the university.
His attention was first directed to metaphysical subjects by the elegant and benevolent biographer of Burns, Dr Currie of Liverpool, to whom he was introduced in the summer of 1793. About that time the first volume of Mr Stewart's Elements of the Philosophy of the Human Mind was published. Dr Currie put a copy of the work into his hands, and was struck not more with the warmth of admiration which the young philosopher expressed, than with the acuteness he displayed in many of his remarks. The next winter he attended Mr Stewart's class; and at the close of one of the lectures of that celebrated philosopher, he went up, though personally unknown, and modestly submitted some difficulties which had occurred to him respecting one of Mr Stewart's theories. Mr Stewart listened to him patiently, and, with a candour which did him infinite honour, informed him that he had just received a communication from the distinguished M. Prevost of Geneva, containing a similar objection. This proved the commencement of a friendship which Dr Brown continued to enjoy till the time of his death.
It has already been mentioned in one of the preliminary dissertations to this work (p. 395), that at the age of nineteen he took a part with others, some of whom became the most memorable men of their time, in the foundation of a private society in Edinburgh under the name of the Academy of Physics. This society is interesting in the history of letters, as having given rise to the publication of the Edinburgh Review. Some articles in the early numbers of that work were written by Dr Brown, and bear the marks of his genius.
In 1798 he published "Observations on the Zoonomia of Dr Darwin." When it is considered that the greater part of this work was written in his eighteenth year, it may perhaps be regarded as the most remarkable of his productions; and it may be doubted if, in the history of philosophy, there is to be found any work exhibiting an equal prematurity of talents and attainments. Those who take an interest in tracing the progress of intellect will find in it the germ of all his subsequent views in regard to mind, and of those principles of philosophizing by which he was guided in his future inquiries.
In 1803, after attending the usual course pursued by medical students, he took his degree of doctor of medicine.
In the same year he brought out the first edition of his poems, in two volumes. The greater number of the pieces contained in them were written while he was at college. They are of a very miscellaneous description, and are certainly inferior to many of his subsequent compositions; at the same time they all exhibit marks of an original mind, and of a singularly refined taste.
His next publication was an examination of the principles of Mr Hume respecting causation. Though this tract was occasioned by a local controversy, it is entirely of an abstract nature, and all reference to the circumstances that led to the publication is studiously avoided. Its great merits have been universally acknowledged. It was alluded to in the most flattering manner in the Edinburgh Review, in a very able article by Mr Horner; Mr Stewart also gave a valuable testimony as to its excellence; and Sir James Mackintosh has pronounced it the finest model in mental philosophy since Berkeley and Hume. A second edition, considerably enlarged, was published in 1806; and in 1818 it appeared in a third edition, with so many additions and alterations, as to constitute it almost a new work, under the title of "An Inquiry into the Relation of Cause and Effect."
From the time when Dr Brown had taken his degree, he continued for several years to practise as a physician in Edinburgh. In 1806 he was associated in partnership with the late Dr Gregory; and there was every prospect of his attaining in due time the highest eminence in his profession. But success as a physician was not sufficient to satisfy his ambition. The discharge of his professional duties was marked by that assiduous tenderness of attention which might have been expected from a disposition so truly amiable; but still philosophy was his passion, from which he felt it as a misfortune that his duty should so much estrange him.
The period, however, at last arrived when he was to be elevated to a situation suited to his tastes and habits, and where his public duties corresponded with his inclinations. Mr Stewart, in consequence of the gradual decline of his health, being frequently prevented from attending to the duties of his class, found it necessary to have recourse to the assistance of some of his friends during his temporary absence. He therefore applied to Dr Brown, who undertook the arduous task of supplying his place with lectures of his own composition. He first appeared in the moral philosophy class in the winter of 1808-9. At this time, however, there was no great call for his exertions, as Mr
Stewart was soon able to resume his professional duties. Bro In the following winter he again presented himself as Mr Stewart's substitute, and by a succession of eloquent lectures during several weeks, he so decidedly established his character, that when Mr Stewart signified a desire to have Dr Brown united with him in the professorship, but little opposition was made, and in 1810 he was appointed professor of moral philosophy in conjunction with Mr Stewart.
Immediately after his appointment he retired to the country, where he remained till within a few weeks of the meeting of the college; judging that, with a constitution not naturally strong, nothing was so important for his approaching labours as a confirmed state of health and spirits. For many years he had devoted his attention to the science of mind, and was intimately acquainted with the subject; and, from the experience of the two preceding winters, he had acquired sufficient confidence in his own powers to be assured that he could prepare his lectures upon the spur of the occasion. Accordingly, when the college opened, except the lectures that were written during Mr Stewart's absence, he had no other preparation in writing. His exertions during the whole of the winter were very great, and completely successful. The expectations that had been excited among his friends were more than realized, and he secured the highest place in the respect and affections of his students.
For some years after his appointment to the moral philosophy chair, Dr Brown had little leisure for engaging in any literary undertaking. Even the long summer vacation he found to be no more than sufficient for restoring his energies for the exertions of the succeeding season. By degrees, however, he became familiarised with the duties of his situation, and was enabled to indulge occasionally in other pursuits. In the summer of 1814 he brought to a conclusion his "Paradise of Coquettes," which he published anonymously, and which met with a favourable reception. In succeeding seasons he published various other poetical works.
Any notice of the life of Dr Brown would be incomplete if it did not contain a reference to his mother, whom he loved with a tenderness and reverence of affection that formed a distinguishing feature of his character. This excellent woman died in 1817. Her character is faithfully delineated in the beautiful lines addressed to her memory, prefixed to one of his poetical productions.
In the autumn of 1819, at a favourite retreat in the neighbourhood of Dunkeld, he commenced his text-book, a work which he long intended to prepare for the benefit of his students. At that time he was in excellent health; but towards the end of December of the same year he became indisposed, and after the recess he was in such a state of weakness as to be unable for some time to resume his official duties. When he again met his class his lecture unfortunately happened to be one which he was never able to deliver without being much moved, and from the manner in which he recited the very affecting lines from Beattie's Hermit, it was conceived by many that the emotion he displayed arose from a foreboding of his own approaching dissolution.
'Tis night, and the landscape is lovely no more,—
I mourn, but, ye woodlands, I mourn not for you,
For morn is approaching your charms to restore,
Perfumed with fresh fragrance, and glittering with dew;
Nor yet for the ravage of winter I mourn,
Kind nature the embryo blossom shall save;
But when shall spring visit the mouldering urn,
O when will it dawn on the night of the grave.
This was the last lecture he ever delivered. From this period his health rapidly declined. Having upon a former occasion derived great benefit from a sea
voyage, he proceeded, by the advice of his medical attendants, to London, accompanied by his two sisters, with the intention of removing, as soon as the season allowed, to a milder climate. But all means of remedy were now too late, and nothing could permanently retard the progress of his disease. Day after day he became weaker.
During the whole period of his illness he was never heard to utter a complaint. Gentle as he ever was, sickness and pain made him still more so. His only anxiety seemed to be the distress which his sufferings occasioned to those around him. A few days after his arrival in London he went to Brompton, where he died on the 2d of April 1820. His remains were put into a leaden coffin, and laid, according to his own request, in the church-yard of his native parish, beside those of his father and mother.
Dr Brown was in height rather above the middle size. The expression of his countenance was that of calm reflection. His likeness is well preserved in a picture by Watson in 1806. Among the more prominent features of Dr Brown's character may be enumerated the most perfect gentleness, and kindness, and delicacy of mind, united with great independence of spirit, a truly British love of liberty, and a most ardent desire for the diffusion of knowledge, and virtue, and happiness among mankind. All his habits were simple, temperate, studious, and domestic; and he was remarkable for nothing more than his love of home, and the happiness he shed around him there.
As a philosopher he was possessed in an eminent degree of that comprehensive energy which, according to his own description, "sees, through a long train of thought, a distant conclusion, and separating at every stage the essential from the accessory circumstances, and gathering and combining analogies as it proceeds, arrives at length at a system of harmonious truth." The predominating quality of his intellectual character was unquestionably the power of analysis, in which he has had few equals. In all his prose Dr Brown has shown great powers of eloquence. His poetry has never been popular, though it contains many passages of exquisite beauty. As a writer, simplicity is the quality in which he is most deficient, and subtlety that in which he most excels.
His character as a philosopher will chiefly rest upon his lectures, which were published after his death. It would be foreign to the object of the present sketch to give an account of the principles of his philosophy, or to enter upon a discussion of any of the questions that have been agitated upon the subject. We shall merely observe that the estimation in which his lectures are held by the public appears from the number of editions which, under all the disadvantages of a posthumous publication, have been called for; and his virtues as a man are almost universally allowed to have been in beautiful accordance with his talents as a philosopher.
An account of the life and writings of Dr Brown was published in 1825, in Svo, by the Rev. Dr Welsh. (w. w.)