John Ross Browne

Thomas Browne was an ardent nationalist who ran afoul of the Dublin Castle administration and was sent to prison, but released on condition of his leaving Ireland.

[3] Browne briefly attended Louisville Medical Institute, an experience that inspired his first book, Confessions of a Quack (1841).

In 1846 he published the book Etchings of a Whaling Cruise at Harper & Brothers, New York,[4] which earned him recognition as an artist and writer, and is thought to have influenced Herman Melville.

[5] He then went on a trip to Europe and the Middle East, published his impressions serially at Harper's Magazine and then in book form as Yusef (1853).

[4] The style of his writings influenced a number of authors such as Mark Twain,[2] Bret Harte and Dan De Quille.