John Brown (1715-1766) was a playwright and essayist. David Garrick performed in his plays Barbarossa (1754) and Athelstane (1756). His Essays on the Characteristics of Lord Shaftesbury (1751) was a defence of utilitarianism, and was later praised by John Stuart Mill (Westminster Review, Vol xxix, p.477). He wrote an attack on luxury, and attempted to reform the art of oratorio. Catherine the Great invited him to Russia to advise her on a scheme of education, but he was persuaded not to travel. He suffered from gout and depression, and committed suicide on 23 September 1766.