BROWNE

This article appears in Volume V04, Page 664 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: BRI-BUN

BROWNE , HAI#LOT KNIGHT (18151882), English artist, famous as " Phiz," the illustrator of the best-known books by Charles Dickens, Charles Lever and Harrison Ainsworth in their

original

ORIGINAL

editions. His talents in other directions of art were of a very

ordinary

ORDINARY (med. Lat. ordinarius, Fr. ordinaire)

kind. As an interpreter and illustrator of Di'cken's characters, " Phiz," as he always signed his drawings, was in some respects the equal of his rivals Cruikshank and Leech, while, in his own way, he excelled them both. Of Huguenot extraction, he was born in Lambeth on the 1 rth of June 1815. His father died early and left the family badly off. Browne was apprenticed to Finden, the eminent engraver on steel, in whose studio he obtained his only artistic education. To engraving, however, he was entirely unsuited, and having in 1833 secured an important prize from the Society of Arts for a drawing of " John Gilpin," he abandoned engraving in the following year and took to other artistic

work

WORK

, with the ultimate object of becoming a painter. In the

spring

SPRING (from " to spring," " to leap or jump up," " burst out," O. Eng., springau, a common Teut. word, cf. Ger. springer, possibly allied to Gr. QnrFpxecOac, to move rapidly)

of 1836 he met Charles
Dickens. It was at the moment when the serial publication which place his father was vicar. He was educated at Lichfield, at Westminster school, and at Trinity College,

Cambridge

. After taking his M.A. degree he removed to Lincoln's Inn, and was called to the bar, but never practised. He was the author of Design and Beauty," a poem addressed to his friend Joseph Highmore the painter; and of " The Pipe of Tobacco " which parodied Cibber,

Ambrose

Philips, Thomson,

Young

, Pope and Swift, who were then all living. He was elected to

Parliament

PARLIAMENT (Anglo-Lat. parliamentum, Fr. parlement, from parler, to speak)

through private

interest

INTEREST

in 1744 and again in 1747 for the borough of Wenlock in Shropshire. In 1754 he published his

chief

CHIEF (from Fr. chef, head, Lat. caput)

work

WORK

, De Animi Immortalitate, a Latin poem much admired by the scholars of his time. The best of the many translations of these verses is by Soame Jenyns. Browne is said by Johnson to have been " one of the first wits of this country." He was a brilliant talker in private life, especially when his tongue was loosed by wine; but he made no mark in public life. He died in London on the 14th of February 176o.
Two editions of his Poems on Various Subjects, Latin and English, were published in 1767 by his son Isaac Hawkins Browne (1745-1818), the author of two volumes of essays on religion and morals. One of these was printed for private circulation, and is said to have contained a memoir. A full account by Andrew Kippis in Biographia Britannica (178o) includes large extracts from his poems.

End of Article: BROWNE

If you wish, you can link directly to this article.

<a href="http://jcsm.org/StudyCenter/Encyclopedia/BRI_BUN/BROWNE.html">
BROWNE
</a>

(Previous)
BROWN, WILLIAM LAURENCE (17551830)

(Next)
BROWNE, EDWARD HAROLD (18,11891)

JCSM was founded in 1997 and exists to help the community and bring people into a life-changing and productive relationship with Jesus Christ. JCSM offers over 200,000 free web pages, including its weekly inspirational emails that were sent continuously for over a decade.

Jesus Christ Saves Ministries
P.O. Box 9297
San Diego, CA 92169
1-888-887-0417 or Email