A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature. John W. Cousin
truly noble poem."
COLLINS, JOHN CHURTON (1848–1908).—Writer on literature and critic, b. in Gloucestershire, and ed. at King Edward's School, Birmingham, and Oxf., became in 1894 Prof. of English Literature at Birmingham. He wrote books on Sir J. Reynolds (1874), Voltaire in England (1886), Illustrations of Tennyson (1891), and also on Swift and Shakespeare, various collections of essays, Essays and Studies (1895), and Studies in Poetry and Criticism (1905), etc., and he issued ed. of the works of C. Tourneur, Greene, Dryden, Herbert of Cherbury, etc.
COLLINS, MORTIMER (1827–1876).—Novelist, s. of a solicitor at Plymouth, was for a time a teacher of mathematics in Guernsey. Settling in Berkshire he adopted a literary life, and was a prolific author, writing largely for periodicals. He also wrote a good deal of occasional and humorous verse, and several novels, including Sweet Anne Page (1868), Two Plunges for a Pearl (1872), Mr. Carrington (1873), under the name of "R.T. Cotton," and A Fight with Fortune (1876).
COLLINS, WILLIAM (1721–1759).—Poet, s. of a respectable hatter at Chichester, where he was b. He was ed. at Chichester, Winchester, and Oxf. His is a melancholy career. Disappointed with the reception of his poems, especially his Odes, he sank into despondency, fell into habits of intemperance, and after fits of melancholy, deepening into insanity, d. a physical and mental wreck. Posterity has signally reversed the judgment of his contemporaries, and has placed him at the head of the lyrists of his age. He did not write much, but all that he wrote is precious. His first publication was a small vol. of poems, including the Persian (afterwards called Oriental) Eclogues (1742); but his principal work was his Odes (1747), including those to Evening and The Passions, which will live as long as the language. When Thomson died in 1748 C., who had been his friend, commemorated him in a beautiful ode. Another—left unfinished—that on the Superstitions of the Scottish Highlands, was for many years lost sight of, but was discovered by Dr. Alex. Carlyle (q.v.). C.'s poetry is distinguished by its high imaginative quality, and by exquisitely felicitous descriptive phrases.
Memoirs prefixed to Dyce's ed. of Poems (1827), Aldine ed., Moy Thomas, 1892.
COLLINS, WILLIAM WILKIE (1824–1889).—Novelist, s. of William C., R.A., entered Lincoln's Inn, and was called to the Bar 1851, but soon relinquished law for literature. His first novel was Antonina (1850), a historical romance. He found his true field, however, in the novel of modern life, in which his power lies chiefly in the construction of a skilful plot, which holds the attention of the reader and baffles his curiosity to the last. In Count Fosco, however, he has contributed an original character to English fiction. Among his numerous novels two, The Woman in White (1860), and The Moonstone (1868), stand out pre-eminent. Others are The Dead Secret (1857), Armadale (1866), No Name (1862), After Dark, "I say No," etc. He collaborated with Dickens in No Thoroughfare.
COLMAN, GEORGE, THE ELDER (1732–1794).—Dramatist, b. at Florence, where his f. was British Envoy, he was a friend of Garrick, and took to writing for the stage with success. He wrote more than 30 dramatic pieces, of which the best known are The Jealous Wife (1761), and The Clandestine Marriage (1766). C. was also manager and part proprietor of various theatres. He was a scholar and translated Terence and the De Arte Poetica of Horace, wrote essays, and ed. Beaumont and Fletcher and B. Jonson.
COLMAN, GEORGE, THE YOUNGER (1762–1836).—Dramatist, s. of the preceding, wrote or adapted numerous plays, including The Heir at Law and John Bull. He was Examiner of Plays (1824–1836). Many of his plays are highly amusing, and keep their place on the stage. His wit made him popular in society, and he was a favourite with George IV.
COLTON, CHARLES CALEB (1780–1832).—Miscellaneous writer, ed. at Eton and Camb., took orders and held various livings. He was an eccentric man of talent, with little or no principle, took to gaming, and had to leave the country. He d. by his own hand. His books, mainly collections of epigrammatic aphorisms and short essays on conduct, etc., though now almost forgotten, had a phenomenal popularity in their day. Among them are Lacon, or Many Things in Few Words, and a few poems.
COMBE, GEORGE (1788–1858).—Writer on phrenology and education, b. in Edin., where for some time he practised as a lawyer. Latterly, however, he devoted himself to the promotion of phrenology, and of his views on education, for which he in 1848 founded a school. His chief work was The Constitution of Man (1828).
COMBE, WILLIAM (1741–1823).—Miscellaneous writer. His early life was that of an adventurer, his later was passed chiefly within the "rules" of the King's Bench prison. He is chiefly remembered as the author of The Three Tours of Dr. Syntax, a comic poem (?). His cleverest piece of work was a series of imaginary letters, supposed to have been written by the second, or "wicked" Lord Lyttelton. Of a similar kind were his letters between Swift and Stella. He also wrote the letterpress for various illustrated books, and was a general hack.
CONGREVE, WILLIAM (1670–1729).—Dramatist, was b. in Yorkshire. In boyhood he was taken to Ireland, and ed. at Kilkenny and at Trinity Coll., Dublin. In 1688 he returned to England and entered the Middle Temple, but does not appear to have practised, and took to writing for the stage. His first comedy, The Old Bachelor, was produced with great applause in 1693, and was followed by The Double Dealer (1693), Love for Love (1695), and The Way of the World (1700), and by a tragedy, The Mourning Bride (1697). His comedies are all remarkable for wit and sparkling dialogue, but their profanity and licentiousness have driven them from the stage. These latter qualities brought them under the lash of Jeremy Collier (q.v.) in his Short View of the English Stage. Congreve rushed into controversy with his critic who, however, proved too strong for him. C. was a favourite at Court, and had various lucrative offices conferred upon him. In his latter years he was blind; otherwise his life was prosperous, and he achieved his chief ambition of being admired as a fine gentleman and gallant. Life, Gosse (1888). Works, ed. by Henley (1895), also Mermaid Series (1888).
CONINGTON, JOHN (1825–1869).—Translator, s. of a clergyman at Boston, Lincolnshire, where he was b., ed., at Rugby and Magdalen and Univ. Coll., Oxf., and began the study of law, but soon relinquished it, and devoting himself to scholarship, became Prof. of Latin at Oxf. (1854–1869). His chief work is his translation of Virgil's Æneid in the octosyllabic metre of Scott (1861–68). He also translated the Satires and Epistles of Horace in Pope's couplets, and completed Worsley's Iliad in Spenserian stanza. He also brought out valuable ed. of Virgil and Perseus. C. was one of the greatest translators whom England has produced.
CONSTABLE, HENRY (1562–1613).—Poet, s. of Sir Robert C., ed. at Camb., but becoming a Roman Catholic, went to Paris, and acted as an agent for the Catholic powers. He d. at Liège. In 1592 he pub. Diana, a collection of sonnets, and contributed to England's Helicon four poems, including Diaphenia and Venus and Adonis. His style is characterised by fervour and richness of colour.
COOKE, JOHN ESTEN (1830–1886).—Novelist, b. in Virginia, illustrated the life and history of his native state in the novels, The Virginia Comedians (1854), and The Wearing of the Gray, a tale of the Civil War, and more formally in an excellent History of the State. His style was somewhat high-flown.
COOPER, JAMES FENIMORE (1789–1851).—Novelist, b. at Burlington, New Jersey, and ed. at Yale Coll., he in 1808 entered the U.S. Navy, in which he remained for 3 years, an experience which was of immense future value to him as an author. It was not until 1821 that his first novel, Precaution, appeared. Its want of success did not discourage him, and in the next year (1822), he produced The Spy,