after its nomination, and which was afterwards printed by order of the house of Commons, in the shape of a large folio volume. One half of this report was drawn up by Mr. Brown, the other being simultaneously prepared by the chairman of the committee, with his occasional assistance. On the subject of this memoir devolved also the superintendence through the press, of this report, with its huge appendix of documents, furnished by our ambassadors and diplomatic agents, in nearly all the languages of Europe. For these labours, Mr. Brown was very liberally remunerated by the government. A series of papers which he subsequently wrote against the political inconsistencies, &c. of Wm. Cobbett, introduced him to the friendship of the late Right Honourable John Hiley Addington, then Under Secretary of State for the Home department, with whom he continued in close and intimate correspondence until the period of that gentleman's sudden removal from a circle of friends, by whom he was held in the highest estimation. other writers on the ccclesiastical history of the fourth century, to whose productions scarcely any reference is ever made in the days in which we live. The talent displayed by him in this inquiry, drew from even the conductors of those reviews which support the high church party of the country, and who have ever been most anxiously opposed to those claims which he has so strenuously advocated, the warmest eulogies; nor does the British Critic hesitate to declare, "that in depth and variety of research, and in display of testimony and docu- | ment, he is unrivalled, and that, as far as the work proceeds, it is a most valuable reservoir of ecclesiastical history, not only in the information which it actually gives, but in the means which it affords, by its numerous citations and references, of pursuing the inquiry to a still greater extent."* Nor will this praise, unqualified as it is, be suspected of partiality, when the Eclectic Review, the organ of the dissenters, whilst contending with great zeal against the interference of the civil power in the affairs of the Church, rates as highly Soon after this, namely, in Easter the value of this work, from the tem- Term, 1816, Mr. Brown was called to per, the talents, and the assiduity the Bar, and chose, as the sphere of displayed in its composition. To his professional exertions, the Northese testimonies to the talent and thern circuit, and Cheshire and Lanresearch, evinced in an inquiry as cashire sessions, in which he has been uninviting as it was laborious, was gradually rising into a considerable added, a very honourable mention of practice, very far beyond his standing it in the house of Commons, and a in the profession. list of subscribers, containing the names of the leading members of both houses of parliament; but, for some reason with which we are not acquainted, Mr. Brown never continued his project; and can now, we presume, have neither leisure nor inducement to resume it. His immediate attention was diverted from its continuance by the success of his friend Sir John Cox Hippisley's motion for an inquiry into the regulations of foreign states, with respect to their Roman Catholic subjects, on which his services were speedily put in requisition, under the express authority of the late Marquis of Londonderry, (then Lord Castlereagh) as Secretary of State for Foreign affairs, in assisting to prepare a report, which the committee so appointed presented, about six weeks To that profession, however, he devoted not exclusive attention, having, two years after his call to the Bar, published, in a quarto volume, "Memoirs of the Life of John Howard, the philanthropist," compiled principally from his own papers, and the communications of his surviving friends. This work was so very favourably received by the public, that, in the course of about two months from its first appearance, the greater part of the impression was disposed of, when its future circulation was unfortunately suspended by the failure of its publisher, and the impounding of the work for two or three years in the court of Chancery, in the course of a suit instituted there by its printer. The moment, however, that proceeding terminated, an arrangement was made with the assignees of the publisher, in consequence of which, a second edition in 8vo. was published in the year 1823. With the exception of two small works, we have now noticed the whole of Mr. Brown's publications; the first of these is, the volume of Poems by Three Friends," mentioned in our account of Mr. Wiffen, who formed, with Mr. Brown and the Rev. Dr. then Mr. Raffles, this poetical triad of contributors. From this we select the following elegant verses, by the subject of our memoir, with a view, at once, to give somewhat of relief to the dryness of detail, necessarily incident to the life of even a literary lawyer; and to enrich our pages with the reply to them, which, appearing first in the Morning Chronicle, was thence transferred into the preface to that edition of the poems, which assigned the different pieces to their respective authors. TO A FRIEND, On his expressing a Wish for the Possession of Poetical Talent. O! envy not the Muse's child, His ardent soul, his feelings wild, Nor wish that from the trembling wire, His is no pleasing task indeed, His sweetest notes but round him bring And he was marked for Passion's son, His is the heart that's wont to feel Hence, form'd to taste the highest bliss, And should his darling hopes be crost, Then envy not the Muse's child, THE REPLY. 'Twas cruel in so sweet a lay, Ah! sure in every speaking line, Spare but the minstrel's tuneful lyre, "Tis not the sensual, low delight, But virtuous love his bosom fires, And while to his expanded heart Who, that the minstrel's rapture shares, Then never, in so sweet a lay, The lines which gave occasion to this elegant tribute, were addressed to the late Charles Edward Newberry, Esq. the author's earliest friend, a young man whose talents and enterprise led him to visit, in a medical capacity, the retired mountains of the Druses, in Syria, and the distant shores of China, whence he returned but to be snatched, in the prime of life, by the slow but certain inroads of an hereditary consumption, from a large circle of friends who knew and loved him well. The author was never discovered, but it was strongly suspect-ed to be the production either of Campbell or of Moore, more probably of the former, to whose friendship Mr. Brown and his colleagues were introduced by the dedication to him of their poetical volume. The other unnamed production of this gentleman's pen, is "An Appeal to the Public and Legislature on the tendency of Mr. Brougham's Educa tion Bill to interfere with the Rights of Conscience, and infringe the spirit of the Toleration Act." Published, as this work avowedly was by its author, as one of the committee of the Protestant Society for the protection of Religious Liberty, and advocating, as it did, the cause of the dissenters, who were strongly opposed to the principle of this bill, it was, naturally, received with great cordiality by the powerful party whose views it espoused. But even the opponents of those views treated the work with great respect; the Edinburgh Review itself, the organ of Mr. Brougham's peculiar sentiments upon the question, characterizing it as the most elaborate and best publication of those which had opposed them; nor are its arguments supposed to have been altogether inefficient or powerless in convincing that learned gentleman of the impossibility of carrying a measure, which, soon after the appearance of this minute examination into the different bearings of its various provisions, he abandoned for ever. To his name, upon the title-page to this pamphlet, Mr. Brown, for the first time, affixed the degree of LL.D. which he received shortly after the appearance of the "Life of Howard," from the University and Marischal College of Aberdeen, the principal of which, Dr. William Lawrence Brown, had furnished most valuable materials from his manuscript memoranda, of conversations with his philanthropic friend, with the memoirs of whose life he was so pleased, that he himself proposed the passing of the grace by which this degree was gratuitously conferred. The testimonials of personal knowledge were signed by His Royal Highness the Duke of Sussex, and Sir John Cox Hippisley. ments of Dr. Brown, upon whom nearly the whole labour of conducting it had devolved from its commencement. In the articles which this work contains, extensive research, acute investigation, and manly argument, are alike conspicuous, and its discontinuance can only be reflected on with regret. We have now done with Dr. Brown as a literary man; and upon his merits as a lawyer it is alike out of our province and our power to give any accurate opinion. With one qualification for success in his profession, his works themselves abundantly evince that he is eminently endowed; viz. an indefatigable industry and patience of research, which nothing can damp or overcome. As a speaker, too, we recollect with satisfaction, the develop→ ment of his powers at the Philosophical Society of London, where, for four or five years, he took a leading part in its discussions and management, under the presidency of his friend, the late Dr. John Coakley Lettsom; and some of his later exertions at various publicmeetings in the metropolis. Forcible, energetic, with little fondness for metaphor, though somewhat more of action than we have usually wit nessed at the Bar, readily perceiving the point pressing against him, and dexterous in averting it, throwing into the shade, or treating with ridicule, the arguments of his opponent,-he can want, as far as we are able to form a judgment upon a subject out of the usual range of our observations, but an aptitude at cross-examination, to render him an advocate likely, in due time, to attain a high rank in his profession. Whether he is an adept in this part of his duties, for the discharge of which we have no reason to apprehend that he wants a due confidence in himself, we have no op portunity of knowing, never having heard him in court; but as his name frequently occurs, as successfully defending prisoners on the most serious capital charges, it is but justice to him to presume, that he is by no means In the year 1820, Mr. Brown commenced the publication of a Quarterly Review and Magazine, entitled "The Investigator," of which he was avowedly joint editor with his early and intimate friend, Dr. Collyer, and Dr. (then Mr.) Raffles, whose only sister he had married the year after he was call-deficient in this respect. ed to the Bar. Its object was to unite sound literature and genuine piety, without regard to sect or party; and on these principles it was successfully conducted, until discontinued, at the close of last year, from the rapid increase of the professional engage | As a lawyer, therefore, as well as an author, Dr. Brown is likely, we conceive, to earn a fame sufficiently gratifying to his honourable ambition for distinction, and to repose, we trust, for many years to come, under the shadow of his well-earned laurels. ON THE PROVINCE OF REASON RE- indelible brand of inanity. But the error of her zealous devotees lies here, and it is a hold of which they are exceedingly tenacious, in making her the sole arbitrator of their belief in any statements of professed facts: consequently, when any proposition containing a fact to be credited, clashes, or appears to clash, with the dictates of this goddess Reason, when any moral or metaphysical crudity, falsely so called, resists the dissolving properties of this universal menstruum, it is immediately discarded as unworthy of belief. repugnant to reason, and what is beyond the reach of reason, maintaining that all propositions which may appear to belong to the latter class, do indeed resolve themselves into the former; but it is my object strenuously to insist, in this place, that between these two contrarieties there does really exist as positive and essential a difference, as between the opposites of right and wrong, perfection and imperfection. In this enlightened age of the world, when mankind are making such rapid advances in the paths of science, when the secrets of nature are being gradually developed to our astonished view -when literary researches are so universally pursued, and their results applied to the augmentation of our comforts and luxuries in domestic and political economy-in this state of things, the goddess Reason, as she has been denominated, from whose Another, and a most fatal error, of subtile operations these scientific these persons, consists in not distinachievements have originated, is ex-guishing between what is contrary or alted by her possessors to the pinacle of fame, and her worship so effectually engrosses the faculties of some of her votaries, as to exclude from their minds even the most distant idea of paying adoration to that Being to whom the object of their idolatry is herself continually indebted for her existence; who is, even by themselves, the acknowledged creator and sustainer of the universe; and consequently most justly entitled to their supreme veneration and regard. It is true indeed, that reason, being the noblest gift of the great God to his creature man, claims our earnest attention and solicitude; and he that neglects to cultivate this endowment, being influenced by the feeling of base and servile submission to the judgment of others, in matters about which, if properly alive to their importance, he is able to form as correct ideas as any of those before whom he so degrading- | ly prostrates his faculties; this man, I say, deserves our sincerest pity, and at the same time our most unqualified contempt. But not only is reason thus inadequately exalted by one class, and improperly depressed by another, by a third she is wrested from her proper province and jurisdiction, and made the touchstone in religious, as well as in civil and literary, con cerns. It is most readily conceded, that it would be the climax of folly, presumption, and ignorance, to maintain that reason ought not to be the sole agent in dictating to us a proper procedure in matters of religious faith, as far as she is able to go; when she is excluded in the formation of a creed, the forehead of such a slave displays the It is maintained by the extravagant eulogists of reason, that all revelation must be subjected to the test of reason, for, if in judging of any part we lay aside this faculty of the mind, we do, by that very act, render ourselves incapable of judging; we discard the greatest gift, the richest blessing, that Heaven has bestowed upon man-that very principle which raises him above, and distinguishes him from, the brute creation-that alone enables him to determine what is true and what is false. This argument assumes false data; it proceeds on the erroneous supposition that some statements and doctrines in holy writ demand the servile prostration of our rational endowments, from their supposed incompatibility with common sense; but this is far from being the fact. All revelation ought most certainly to be subjected to the test of reason, where she is capable of forming a judgment, which she is, in every case of importance to man as a fallen and depraved creature. It is admitted, that there are some parts of the revealed will of the Deity, we are required to believe, the comprehension of which, our finite and feeble powers of ratiocination are not capable of grasping; they are subjects above the reach of our reason, which is very different from being contrary to it, and it is in confounding these two distinct ideas, that the difficulty arises in the minds of some persons. The introduction of moral evil into the creation, that is, the precise mode of its origination, and the assumption of the human by the divine nature, are the two grand doctrines which form the mighty foundation on which the whole superstructure of revelation is raised, with which it is as intimately connected, and on which it is as much dependent for its stability, as is the natural structure on its basis. These two inscrutable mysteries are not to be rejected because a clear comprehension of them is unattainable; they are subjects which we mortals cannot yet fully comprehend. They are situated without the boundary of reason; in endeavouring to solve these difficulties, she is bewildered and lost in the thick maze which surrounds her; they maintain an elevated position, in endeavouring to reach which, reason exerts her utmost efforts, but is obliged to abandon the giddy height, and descend abashed and confounded at her utter incapacity to compass her object. Yes, truly there are heights in the intellectual and physical world, which reason cannot scale, there are depths she cannot fathom. Let her be contented with solving ordinary problems in these departments, without pertinaciously, and, I had almost said, blasphemously, wearying herself with endeavouring to pry into the hidden mysteries of the providence of the Almighty,here she ventures on immortal and forbidden ground, and, therefore, it is no wonder that she so lamentably fails. Indeed, it is a wise provision of the Creator, that his creature man should be thus constituted; for if there were nothing but what he could fully understand, nothing but what he felt proudly conscious of his power to seize, then his depraved condition and entire dependence would not be so glaring, and in all probability he would be less willing than he even now is, to acknowledge and adore his Maker.. Let every philosophical, mataphysical, and ethical speculation be brought to the bar of reason, there to stand or fall, according to its individual merit or demerit, excepting such as are evidently too exalted for such tribunal; and further, in judging of any portion of the sacred writings, we should unequivocally submit it to the same test, and, if we meet with any thing that staggers us, we should be exceedingly careful to make the necessary distinction between what we may suppose to be hostile and repugnant to reason, and what is clearly without its province, and placed beyond its reach. We may illustrate this difference, to which we have just alluded, by a familiar example. Suppose any one should assert to a man of plain common sense, that it was possible for the same thing to be and not to be at the same instant-that a number of objects similar in size and shape to any given object, differed in those particulars from each other,→→ he would, with propriety, immediately reply, that he would not believe these assertions, because they were directly opposed to his understanding of the nature of things; but if any one were to tell the same individual that our earth, a globe eight thousand miles in diameter, was suspended in ether, merely by the exact balance of certain centrifugal and centripetal forces,-if he understood the terms in which the information was conveyed, he could not say he would not credit the account because the assertion clearly implied a contradiction in terms; but he might reply, he felt a difficulty in giving his assent to the statement, because he could in no way comprehend it. So limited indeed are our intellectual powers, that the most obvious phenomena in nature will furnish questions we can never solve; and he who is resolved to make his comprehension the criterion of his faith, must deny his own existence. In concluding, it may not be irrelevant to observe, that nothing can be more common than our belief, that the fertility of the earth depends on its being watered by dews or rain, yet we can form no correct idea of this process of nature; this simple and daily occurrence bids defiance to our proud reason to understand it. It is impossible for any thing to be more extensively seen and known, than that all sublunary objects are attracted by the earth; yet the utmost stretch of thought of the most acute philoso |