It is a great error of some writers to reckon Dr. Browne
amongst the Catholic successors of St. Laurence OToole.§ He
had no more, claim to the title of Catholic archbishop of Dublin
than has Dr. Whately at the present day.|| Even Ussher,
in his sketch of the early career of Dr. Browne, attributes
his favour with the king to his having rejected the doctrines of
Rome ; and Dr. Mant describes him before his appointment to
the see of Dublin, as a man ** whose mind was happily freed
from the thraldom of popery," whilst he adds, that ** the arrival
of the archbishop in his diocese was the first step taken by the
reformation in Ireland."1[

Were further evidence required on this head, we would find
it in the letter of king Henry to the archbishop on the 7th of
July, 1537, from which we give some extracts, as it clearly

• State Pap. See Haverty, "History of Ireland," page 360.
+ Haverty, page 378, well remarks that Browne, at the time he was conse-
crated, was a professing Protestant,

% Harris's Ware, page 348.
