Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Browne, Joseph (fl.1706)
BROWNE, JOSEPH (fl. 1706), physician, has been generally described as a charlatan. His origin is unknown, and the particulars of his personal history are scanty, but it is probable that he was the Joseph Browne of Jesus College, Cambridge, who proceeded M.B. 1695 ; that he took the degree of M.D. does not appear, though he assumed the title. In 1706 he was twice convicted for libelling Queen Anne's administration. The first of these occasions, when he was fined forty marks and ordered to stand in the pillory, was for the publication of 'The Country Parson's Honest Advice to that judicious and worthy Minister of State my Lord Keeper.' In a letter addressed to Secretary Harley, 'occasioned by his late committment to Newgate,' he denies the authorship of this pamphlet, of which at the same time he gives a professedly disinterested explanation. He also speaks of Harley as having 'not only treated him like a patriot, but given him friendly advice.' For thus undertaking the office of political interpreter he was again fined forty marks and ordered to stand in the pillory twice. He has been described 'as a mere tool of the booksellers and always needy' (Granger, Biog. Hist. of England (Noble's continuation), ii. 232). It is at any rate certain that he was an industrious writer, and that his effrontery may be discerned through an obscure and rambling style. He wrote and lectured against Harvey's theory of the circulation of the blood, and he continued the 'Examiner' after it had been dropped by Mrs. Manley, who had succeeded Swift and others ; 'consequently it became as inferior to what it had been as his abilities were to theirs' (ib.) Following the fashion of the time, he sought the patronage of great people, and was bold and importunate in his applications. Thus his 'Modern Practice of Physick vindicated' (two parts, 1703-4) is dedicated to the Duke of Leeds without permission, for he was 'jealous it might be denied him.' He hopes, however, the duke will 'pardon the ambition I have of publishing to the world that I am known to your grace.' A similar motive led him to dedicate his 'Lecture of Anatomy against the Circulation of the Blood' (1701) to 'His Excellency Heer Vrybergen, Envoy Extraordinary from the States-General.' His 'Practical Treatise of the Plague' (1720) has a prefatory epistle to an eminent medical authority of that day, Dr. Mead, and his last known publication, also on the plague, was addressed to the president and members of the Royal College of Physicians, with which body he was not affiliated. Beyond the date of this publication (1721) there is no trace of him.
[Brit. Mus. Cat.; Granger's Biog. Hist. of England, continuation by Noble, ii. 232; Notes and Queries, 3rd ser. i. 465, ii. 13.]