At the close of the year 1810, on the death of his learned and intimate friend Dryander, Mr. Brown succeeded to the office of Librarian to Sir Joseph Banks, who (on his death in 1820) bequeathed to him for life the use and enjoyment of his library and collections. These were subsequently, with Mr. Brown's consent, and in conformity with the provisions of Sir Joseph's will, transferred, in 1827, to the British Museum; and from this latter date, until his death, he continued to fill the office of Keeper of the Botanical Collections in the National establishment. In 1849 Mr. Brown was elected President of the Linnean Society, of which, soon after the death of Sir Joseph Banks, he had resigned the Librarianship, and had become a fellow. In 1811 he had been made a fellow of the Royal Society; and in 1839 received its highest honour in the Copley medal, awarded to him "for his discoveries during a series of years on the subject of vegetable impregnation." In the meantime, honours and titles flowed in upon him from all quarters. In 1832 the University of Oxford conferred on him, in conjunction with Dalton, Faraday, and Brewster, the honorary degree of D.C.L.; and, in the succeeding year, he was elected one of the eight foreign associates of the Academy of Sciences of the Institute of France, his name being selected from a list, including those of nine other savans of world-wide reputation, nearly every one of whom has since been elected to the same distinguished honour. During the administration of Sir Robert Peel, he received, in recognition of his great eminence in botanical science, a pension on the Civil List of 200_l_. per annum, and shortly afterwards the King of Prussia decorated him with the cross of the highest Prussian Civil Order--'Pour le Merite.'