THE Emperial Magazine; OR, COMPENDIUM OF RELIGIOUS, MORAL, & PHILOSOPHICAL KNOWLEDGE. READING IS THE CIRCULATING MEDIUM OF INTELLECTUAL COMMERCE." TRITE as this quotation is, it always comes recommended to the fancy by its truth, which is of universal recognition. In proportion to the difficulty of such an ascent as is here alluded to, is the pleasure which we derive in seeing it effected; and when it is accomplished by the unaided efforts of genius, through long discouragement and toil, by one of the most rugged paths that lead to that envied height, we can neither regard without admiration the success of the young aspirant, nor trace the steps which conducted him to eminence, without the liveliest curiosity. JAMES BALDWIN BROWN, the subject of the present memoir, was born on the 6th of June 1790, at Enfield, in Middlesex, where his mother's family resided, that of his father having for some time been engaged in the crape, which is also the staple manufactory of the county of Suffolk, though its members were not of the number of those who made large fortunes in it. Being an only child, he received a liberal education, the foundation of which was laid by a maternal uncle in his native town. At the age of ten, he was removed to the academy at Peckham, then under the care of the late Rev. Martin Ready, with whom, as his preceptor, he passed as much of the short peace of 1802 and 1803, as the speedy renewal of hostilities would allow, in France, where, as some drawback on the advantage of acquiring a thorough knowledge of the language of that country, he ran no slight risk of being one of those who were there detained, in opposition to the rules of war and the law of nations. Soon after his return, he was removed to Aspley, in Bedfordshire, at that 79.-VOL. VII. 1825. time one of the largest boardingschools in England, where he finished that part of his education for which he is not indebted to his own unaided exertions. His earliest inclination was for the bar, and in the mimic courts of justice established, mainly by his influence, amongst his schoolfellows at Peckham, this bias of his genius marked him out for the leading advocate, under the title of Attorney-general; though he had a formidable opponent in his school-fellow and friend, Dr. Raffles, whose talents were destined, as perhaps they were more fitted, for that sublimer field of eloquence in which they have since been exerted with such distinguished success. Prudential motives forbad, however, the indulgence of this deeply-rooted predilection, until the death of his father left him at liberty, at the period when he came of age, to devote himself to a pursuit from which his mind could never be diverted, and to embark in his preparation for it the very slender patrimony to which he succeeded. He was accordingly entered a student of the Inner Temple, and devoted himself most assiduously to legal studies; though, partly as a relief from the application which these required, and partly, it is to be presumed, to augment his very limited finances, he employed the fragments of his time, those, namely, which were spent in his walks to and from Westminster-hall, in preparing for the press a poem on the battle of Albuera. Though a hasty production, and published anonymously, "The Battle of Albuera" was most favourably received by the public, and by the directors of the public taste, all of whom spoke of it in terms of the highest commendation. The poem, indeed, was very generally attributed to an individual, the productions of whose muse had already secured for him a large share of public approbation. The real author meanwhile continued in concealment, except to the more intimate of his friends, and a few of 2 P the most eminent poets of the day, to | whose notice it was the medium of advantageously introducing him. This elaborate production was the means also of introducing Mr. Brown to the favourable notice of the Marquis of Wellesley, to whom the work was dedicated, to Mr. Canning, the late Mr. Grattan, and other supporters of Catholic Emancipation, in both houses of parliament, no less than to Lords Shrewsbury and Fingal, the leading Catholic peers of England and Ireland; but what was eventually of yet greater advantage to him, it procured for him the acquaintance of Sir John Cox Hippisley, who afterwards became one of the warmest and most useful of his friends. The author," they observe," has drawn his materials from the best sources, and has evinced a degree of diligence This, his first appearance before the in his research, which is highly creditpublic as an author, was made in the able to himself, and which the reader year 1812, and the poem soon passed will see good reason to commend in through a second edition. Scarcely, the variety of important and interesthowever, had its transient interesting particulars which he has brought subsided, than Mr. Brown published together for his instruction and amusea work of a very different nature, and ment."+ calculated to procure for its author a more enduring reputation. This was "An Historical Account of the Laws enacted against the Catholics, both in England and Ireland; of the ameliorations which they have undergone, and of their existent state;" to which were added, "A short account of the Laws for the Punishment of Heresy in general; a brief Review of the merits of the Catholic Question; and copious notes, tending principally to illustrate the views and conduct of the Church of England, the Presbyterians, and Sectarians, with regard to toleration, when in the enjoyment of power." Herein he established a character for patience of At the entreaty of that gentleman, investigation and liberality of senti- who perhaps studied the question ment, that procured for him the highest in all its bearings, more deeply, and commendations from the leading re-obtained more information to illustrate views in favour of this important it, than any man living, he commenced question; and the views which he a task, which some of the reviewers adopted, he advocated with all the very aptly designated as Herculean, in ardour of a young man who had not an "Historical Inquiry into the Ecclepassed his two-and-twentieth year. siastical Jurisdiction of the Crown of He illustrated, moreover, his subject Great Britain, from the earliest period with much more depth of historical to the Reformation," where he intendresearch than could have been expect- ed to put a close to an investigation, ed from the time devoted to its com- the object of which was to prove to position; to which, however, he gave the Catholics, that the concession of himself with the greatest industry, ar- a Veto to the crown, upon the apranging by night the materials he had pointment of the Irish bishops of that rescued from the dusty recesses of the church, was in strict accordance with public libraries, during those hours of the practice of ancient days, when the the day which were not occupied, in whole Christian world was of its perterm time, by his attendance on the suasion. He printed, however, but a courts, where he was a sedulous note- very small portion of this most extentaker. For these great exertions, he sive and erudite inquiry, embracing was rewarded by the praises of the that part of the reign of Constancritics, who declared, with justice, tine the Great which related to the innot only that "learning, judgment, terference of that emperor in the Donatemper, and industry, unite in recom- tist and a portion of the Arian schism, mending the work to general perusal," in the proceedings relative to which but that "it contains all the informa- the British bishops took a part. In tion which can be desired, relative to the illustration of this very limited and the disabilities to which the Roman very obscure portion of ecclesiastical Catholics of England and Ireland have history, Mr. Brown appears to have been heretofore, or are at present sub-consulted and cited some hundreds of jected, on account of their adherence authors, many, perhaps the majority, to the religion of their ancestors. of the Fathers of the Church, and Monthly Review, July 1813. + Critical Review, Nov. 1813. other writers on the ccclesiastical his- | tory 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 document, 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 the value of this work, from the temper, the talents, and the assiduity displayed in its composition.t To these testimonies to the talent and research, evinced in an inquiry as uninviting as it was laborious, was added, a very honourable mention of it in the house of Commons, and a 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 pre-instituted there by its printer. pare a report, which the committee so appointed presented, about six weeks 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. British Critic, May 1816. + Vide Eclectic Review, June 1817. Soon after this, namely, in Easter Term, 1816, Mr. Brown was called to the Bar, and chose, as the sphere of his professional exertions, the Northern circuit, and Cheshire and Lancashire sessions, in which he has been gradually rising into a considerable practice, very far beyond his standing in the profession. 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 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. |