Brown, Tom

▪ British author

byname of  Thomas Brown 

born 1663, Shifnal, Shropshire, Eng.

died June 16, 1704, London

      British satirist best known for his reputedly extemporaneous translation of Martial's 33rd epigram beginning “Non amo te, Sabidi . . . .” Brown entered Christ Church, Oxford, in 1678, but the irregularity of his life there brought him before Dr. John Fell, dean of Christ Church, who agreed to stay Brown's expulsion if he could translate the epigram on the spot. Brown's reply was:

I do not love thee, Dr. Fell,

The reason why I cannot tell;

But this I know, and know full well,

I do not love thee, Dr. Fell.

      Brown later left Oxford without taking a degree and settled in London, where his life combined pugnacity in literary argument with a licentious personal life. He translated works from Latin and French and wrote many epigrams, lampoons, and satires. Under the pseudonym of Dudly Tomkinson he wrote three satires upon John Dryden. His prose Amusements Serious and Comical, Calculated for the Meridian of London (1700; mod. ed., 1927) presents a vivid picture of the city and its inhabitants. It is particularly attentive to the follies of the upper classes.

Additional Reading

A selection of Brown's satirical writing is available in Philip Pinkus, Grub St. Stripped Bare (1968).

* * *