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Myers Literary Guide:
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The North-East
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JOHN BROWN (1715 - 1766) Brown, born in Rothbury, made his career in the church, though he also wrote essays and poetry as well as two plays in which David Garrick acted. His Estimate of the Manners and Principles of the Times (1757-58) castigating luxury during a time of war, was a popular success and earned him the title of 'Estimate Brown'. Brown's work was of abiding interest in France, acquiring its greatest local resonance in the works of the philosopher Condillac's brother, Gabriel Monnot de Mably. For him, Brown's work was more profound than anything else he knew. According to Hilary Mantel in her novel A Place of Greater Safety, Robespierre named his dog 'Brown' (Broun) after John Brown of Newcastle. Another famous French revolutionary, Jean Paul Marat (q.v.) may well have come into contact with Brown's works when he was in Newcastle in the 1770s. Brown became vicar of St Nicholas in January 1761. Invited, two years later, by Catherine the Great to be her adviser on education, he purchased a carriage and much else before the trip was cancelled at the last moment, supposedly because of a gout attack. It is thought that disappointment over all this, coupled with a melancholic temperament prompted his suicide in London.
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