Introduction

Biography

Moses was the hus­band of Ann Eli­za­beth Win­bourne (mar­ried 1738, Clerk­en­well).

Born in­to hum­ble cir­cum­stanc­es, he was known as a po­et and mis­cel­la­ne­ous writ­er.

A friend of Ed­ward Cave, Browne was a main po­et­ic­al con­trib­ut­or to the Gen­tle­man’s Ma­ga­zine, and won a £50 prize of­fered by Cave for the best theo­lo­gic­al po­em.

Browne pro­duced his ear­ly po­et­ry un­der the pa­tron­age of Ro­bert, Vis­count Moles­worth. Af­ter Moles­worth died in 1725, Browne be­came a pen cut­ter.

In 1753, en­cour­aged by James Her­vey, he took Ho­ly Or­ders, and be­came cur­ate to Her­vey at Col­ling­tree, North­amp­ton. He re­ceived the post of vi­car of Ol­ney from Lord Dart­mouth that same year, and be­came chap­lain of Mor­den Col­lege, Black­heath in 1764. One reason for ac­cept­ing the chap­lain-cy was prob­ab­ly that the small in­come from Ol­ney could not sup­port his large fa­mi­ly (said to have been 13 child­ren).

Later, Browne was vi­car of Sut­ton (prob­ab­ly Long Sut­ton, Lin­coln­shire), serv­ing there the rest of his life.

Works

• Piscatory Ec­logues, 1729, de­di­cat­ed to Dod­ing­ton, af­ter­ward Lord Mel­combe
• A trans­la­tion of John Li­bo­ri­us Zim­mer­man’s Ex­cel­len­cy of the Know­ledge of Je­sus Christ, 1732
• Poems on Va­ri­ous Sub­jects (Lon­don: Ed­ward Cave, 1739)
• The Universe, 1742
• An edi­tion of Wal­ton and Cot­ton’s Com­pleat Ang­ler, 1750
• The Works, and Rest of Crea­tion, 1752, 6th edi­tion 1805