311 



COLUN3, WILLIAM WILKIK. 



COLON N.\, KltA FRANCESCO. 



librni patron*. A* riy u 1818 CUM of hi< Norfolk oot scene* 

 obtain*) a pUo* in the Roy.l Collection, aad George IV. Mibeouently 

 oomtuiwiuo*! a eoiu|Muiioa to it- 1 Prawn Fiahr* at Hasting*. Yet, 

 thoufh to much in request, the painter never obtainad any of tboM 

 extravagant mm* for hi work* which wo soraetiniea and popular 

 painter* dcman Hog. The Urgeat ram he tier received for a picture 

 wa* 400 guUMaa. rroin Sir Robert l'cl. for his Urge and admirable 

 Fro*t Some.- Th* paintingi of Collin* are to be met with in most of 

 the great priraU collection* m thu country. la the National Gallery 

 the foreigner would look in Tain for a specimen of tbi*, on of tho 

 most thoroughly nation*! of KogUah painter*. Fortunately, the Vernon 

 collection to a certain extent supplic* tlie deficiency : there may be 

 an notUrot example of hu delineation* of rustic enjoyment in 



y a* a King.' painted in 1 -30 ; one of hi* pleasant eoast-eoene*, 

 Shrimper* Evening.' painted in 1331 ; and hia ' Fisherman'* 

 Widow.' painted iu 1535. Mr. Collini married in 1822 the daughter 

 of Mr. Ol.i, A.U.A., and aiatrr of Mr*. Carpenter, the well-known 

 portrait-painter; and by bar b.d two on, who claim a brief notice. 



WILLIAM WILKIE Cou-I.xs wa* born in IS'.'a, an I hu studied with 

 a view to the bar, but ii known to the public a* a writer, chiefly of 

 work* if fiction. The principal work* published with hi* name aro, 

 an excellent Life of William Colling, R.A.,' * vola. 8vo, 1848, from 

 which we have drawn the mateiial* for the preceding notice; the 

 novel* ' Antoninn,' ' Hail.' ' Hide and Seek,' and a terie* of stories 

 originally publiahed in 'Houaebold Word*;' with aome descriptive 

 kitchM of ( '.irui-h loenery, entit ed ' Kamble* beyond Railways ;' but 

 Mr. Collins ba* alao contributed extensively to various periodical*. 



CHARLES ALLCTOK COLLINS, who U some two yean younger, i* a 

 painter, and ha* acquired aomo distinction a* a disciple of the school 

 known a* that of the Pre-Raflaellite*. 



.l.iiT Ii'HKKBOIS, JEAN MARIE, w.* born at Pan* in 1750. 

 He was in hi* fortieth year at the taking of the Bastille (July 14, 17S9), 

 having for twenty year* led the life of a (trolling player. During this 

 part of his career he had visited Geneva, where he Brat imbibed Ids 

 republican ideas ; and then Lyon, where ho wa* hissed off the stage 



.ic-- which he afterwards most fearfully avenged. Some natural 

 teleut* however he must have possessed, for he produced many 

 dramatic piece* ; and one of these, ' Le Paysan Magistral,' was very 

 (uceeuful, and kept the stage for more than -ten years. He first 

 attracted public notice by his popular ' Aim mach du Pere Gerard,' iu 

 January 1782, for which he received a prize from tho Jacobin Society. 

 Hi* next *tp wa* hia public display of forty liberated convicts, whom 

 he had caused to be released from Brest, and whom he paraded along 

 the whoie line of the Boulevards, in a grand triumphal car, surmounted 

 with flags and laurel-wreaths. Collot stood up iu the centre of the 

 group, and harangued the multitude. These convicts wore their red 

 caps, to wear which soon after became the fashion. This audacious 

 exhibition made Collot a public man. He was elected in September 

 to tit in the Convention aa one of the deputies for Paris. Absent on 

 a minion in December, he did not take part in tho trial of Louis X VL, 

 but wrote to the Convention that he voted for the king's death. When 

 the Committee of Public Safety was formed, Collot became a leading 

 member, and hi* aanguinary proscriptions far exceeded those of 

 Robespierre. It waa thi* fiery zeal, and a certain inflated arrogance 

 of speech, joined to a stentorian voice, which caused him to be Kent 

 on -t veral uiiaaious into the departments, to propagate the principle* 

 of the revolution. 



In November 1793 Collot wa* despatched to Lyon, with hi* colleague 

 Fuuchd, and iu this il!-fi. d city 1600 person* were destroyed, aa well 

 by discharge* of artillery a* liy the guillotine. Moreover, on the 21st 

 Vondemiaire, a decree wa* iasued that Lyon wa* to be razed to the 

 ground. Thi* ferocious monster made it a crime to look even dejected, 

 and ordered " that oil persons were to be treated a* suspected in whose 

 countenance* any signs of either grief or pity could be traced." On 

 tb 23rd of May 1794 Collot waa attacked, on hi* return home after 

 midnight, by a man named Admiral, who discharged two pistols at 

 him, but without effect. The dclat produced by tiiis event increased 

 ' li'it influence in the Convention, and from that hour the fatal eye 

 of the dictator wa* fixed upon him. During the struggle which followed 

 between them, Collot became President of the Convention, July 19, 

 1791 ; and nine day* after, Itobeapierre (the remnant* of all the discom- 

 fited faction* having united to overthrow him) wa* sent to the scaffold. 

 But now LU owu fall wa* at hand. Denounced first by L-cointre of 



ill**, AII.I then by the butcher Legendre, October 8, 1791, Collot 

 wa* condemns! in the following March to be transported to Cayenne, 

 rli Uillau.1 Varcnnea, and Barere. Here be lingered for a few mouths, 

 and having caught t ,. fever natural to the climate, he expired amidst 



l.ioo of gnat agony, January 8, 1796. 



i.ionly called ' the Elder,' wa* the *on of 



Francis Colinan, K*q., BritUh resident at tho court of the Grand 



l>uke of TuaeaiiT, by a iter of Anna-Maria Pulliney, countess of 



lietn. Ho WM born at Florence about 1733, and WM educated at 



:-. He afterwards became a ttudenl of t'hrint Ciiuroh, 



forming an acquaintance with Mr. l;.nui> 1 Thornton, pub- 



ith that ^rmlctnvi. the ] nodical paper called 



. .*Mir.' Fixing on the law for a profruiou, he wa* entered 



and duly called to the l,., r . In 1760 he produced 



hi* fint dramatic piece, entitled - Poliy llou-ycouib,' at Drury l,ane 



with great suoowe. Thi* was followed in 1701 by the comedy of 



' Tho Jealoui Wife,' and i hat of ' The Clandestin 



written iu conjunction with Mr. Uarrick. In 17u7 h united with 



Messrs. Harris Uutherfurd, and Powell in the purchase of i 



Garden Theatre, and became the acting manager, in which situ 



lie continued seven yean, when he sold hU share to Mr. I.'uki-. In 



1777 he purchased of Mr. Foote the little theatre iu the i 



In 173J air. Colinan waa seized with tho palay, and four jx-ar 



ward* manifested symptom* of an alienation of mm I, which gradu Jly 



Increasing terminated in a state of idiuti-m. Ho dud at . 



on tho 14th of August 1794, aged sixty two. Mr. Column, besides 



writing and adapting upward* o: thirty dramatic pieces, wa* the 



author of a very spirited translation iu blank verse of Ten-net", a 



translation of and commentary on Horace'* ' Art of Poetry,' and 



several fugitive piece*. 



COLMAN, GEORGE, 'the Younger,' son of the preceding, was 

 born October -'. , 17'IJ. He proceeded from Westminster school to 

 Christ Church, Oxford, and was thence sent by his father to King's 

 College, Old Aberdeen, and ou his return to London was enter 

 the Temple. The law however had few charms for him, ami followin.; 

 the example of hi* father, he soon commence 1 writing lor tho stage. 

 During tha illness of Mr. Colinan, sen., he directed the Haymarket 

 Theatre, and on tho death of his father, George III. transferred the 

 patent to him. Mr. Colinan, jun., was appointed by George IV. Exon 

 of the Yeoman Guard (an office which he afterwards by permission 

 disposed of), and by the Duke of Montrose, then Lord Chamber! tin, 

 Examiner of Plnys, which situation he held till his death, October ->J, 

 1836. He was twice married, his second wife being the popular a 

 Mrs. Gibb*. Mr. Colman was the author of several excellent plays 

 uud farces : amongst the most popular are ' John Bull ' (for which 

 comedy he received the largest sum of money up to that time ever 

 paid for any drama), 'The Poor Gentleman,' 'Heir at Law,' 'Inkla and 

 Yarico,' ' Iron Chest," ' Mountaineers,' ' Surrender of Calais,' ' Ways 

 and Means,' ' liuview,' ' Blue Beard,' ' X. Y. Z.,' and ' Love laughs at 

 Locksmiths.' He also wrote the well-known comic talei enl 

 ' Broad Grins,' ' Poetical Vagaiiei.'ic., and a variety of smaller poems. 

 His last literary work was the publication of his own memoirs up to 

 the time of bis entering ou the management of the Haymarket, in 

 2 vols. 8vo. 



COLONNA is the name of one of the oldest and most Uluitrious 

 families of Italy. About 1050 it became possessed of the : 

 estate of La Colouoa on the Tusculau mount. 1'ietro, lord of Colonna, 

 who lived iu the 12th century, is one of the earliest of the family 

 recorded in history. Hi* son Giovanni was mode cardinal by 

 Honorius III. in 1216. The family afterwards divided into several 

 branches, one of which became princes of Palestrina ; another dukea 

 of Zagarolo ; while others were made dukes of Traietto and counts of 

 Fondi, dukes of Paliano and Tagliacozzo, and princes of Sonnino and 

 Stigliano, in the kingdom of Naples. Moreri, art. ' Colouna,' gives 

 their respective genealogies. At one time they were possessed of a 

 great portion of the Campagna of Rome, besides Urge estates in 

 Abruzzo. The Colonna were of the Ghibeline party : their riv.ilry 

 with the Orsiui and other Konian barons, and their quarrels with 

 several popes, especially with Honiu-- VI II., are recur i> I in th - 

 history of the middle ages. In tho early part of the 1 ith c ntury, 

 one of the Colonna family was made pope under the nain-j of Martin V. 

 A century later, two cousins of the xnmu family, Fabri/.io ami l'i 

 Colonua, distinguished themselves in tho service of K< i-diu.ui I of 

 Aragon, and afterwards of Charles V., against tho French in Italy. 

 Several of the same family attained high honours in the kingdom of 

 Naples and in Spain, and others are numbered among the cardinals 

 of the Roman church. Some branches of the family have 1 

 extinct, but the Stigliano of Naples and the Sciarra Colonua at 

 continue to exist. The Colonna have an extensive palace with 

 gardens on the slope of thu Qutnnal at Home. 



i "I,0.\XA, 1'K.V l-'KANCESCO, a learned Dominican and archi- 

 tectural writer of the 15th century, was author of a very sin 

 strangely rhapsodical, mystical, and fantastical work, with the equally 

 fantastical title of ' Hypuerotomachia I'oliphili,' first printed by Aldus 

 in 1499. This extraordinary production, which is a sort of romance, 

 or rather vision, interwoven with descriptions of imaginary edifices, 

 has drawn forth the most opposite opinions, being treated as con- 

 temptuously by some as it has been extravagantly extolled by other*. 

 While Militia, NagU-r, and many more, speak of it as a mere tissue of 

 absurdities, others, who ought to "t judge* of it iu that 



respect, praise it a* a work highly deserving to be studied by 

 tecta. A* Kuch, Mr. Cockerel!, profmsor of architecture at the Royal 

 Academy, earnestly recommended it in one of his lectures (1845), 

 representing it to be equally calculated to inspire with a pasiion for 

 architecture, a* 'Robinson Crusoe' with a yearning after adventures 

 ou tho sen. From this it would naturally !> inferred th.it the work 

 must be at all event* uttr n tur and eii^agin^, and aboun d with highly 

 graphic and pirtur.'Mjn" deaoription* ; whereas it i* precisely the 

 rcverst) *o obscure in many parts as to b<i scarcely intelligible at all, 



infused jargon of lulian, Latin, and oth. 

 and dial'-'-- . Ho must bo rxoeeding.y . i.'v.r, obsurven 

 who can, 1 will not cay understand thu book, but even tell in what 

 language it i* competed. 



