COLLINS, THE POET. 



255 



and manner of expression, they far 

 surpassed the most elaborate com- 

 positions of other men. For such 

 was the comeliness of his person, 

 the melody of his voice, the decency 

 of his action, and the majesty of his 

 whole appearance, that he might 

 well be pronounced the most com- 

 plete pulpit orator of his age." He 

 was the author of several works, 

 and died in 1724. 



The following story is told as a 

 proof of the Archbishop's good 

 nature and fondness of a pun. His 

 clergy dining with him, for the 

 first time after he had lost his lady, 

 he told them, he feared they did 

 not find things in so good order as 

 they used to be in the time of poor 

 Mary ; and, looking extremely sor- 

 rowful, added with a deep sigh, 

 " She was, indeed, Mare Pacificum!" 

 A curate, who pretty well knew 

 what she had been, called out, 

 " Ay, my Lord, but she was Mare 

 Mortuum first." Sir William gave 

 him a living of 200 per annum 

 within two months afterwards. 



LATINIZED NAMES. 



The custom of persons Latinizing 

 their names was formerly very 

 common. Of Oxford men, who 

 frequently wrote their names in 

 Latin, the following occur to my 

 recollection: Andrew Borde, An- 

 dreas Perforatus ; Nightingale, Phi- 

 lomelus ; Bridge water, Aquepon- 

 tanus ; Gayton, De Speciosa Villa; 

 Turberville, De Turbida Villa; 

 Flood, De Fluctibus ; Holyoke, De 

 Sacn'i Qwrcu; Payne Fisher, Pa- 

 ganus Piscator ; and John Aubrey, 

 Joannes Albericm. (Oxoniana.) 



COLLINS, THE POET. 



Collins was sent very young to 

 Winchester College, where he was 

 soon distinguished for his early 

 proficiency, and his turn for ele- 

 gant composition. In the year 1740. 

 he came off first on the roll for New 

 College, but there being no vacancy 



in that society, he entered a com- 

 moner of Queen's. On the expira- 

 tion of the year, no vacancy having 

 happened during that time at New 

 College, he left Queen's on being 

 elected a Demy of Magdalen. He 

 was soon tired of a college life, re- 

 signed his demyship, and went to- 

 London, where he commenced a 

 man of the town, and was roman- 

 tic enough to suppose that his su- 

 perior abilities would draw the 

 attention of the great world, by 

 means of whom he was to make his 

 fortune. In this pleasurable way of 

 life he soon wasted his little pro- 

 perty, but was relieved by a con- 

 siderable legacy left him by a ma- 

 ternal uncle, a colonel in the army. 

 He soon afterwards fell into a most 

 deplorable state of mind. 



Without books, or steadiness and 

 resolution to consult them if he had 

 been possessed of any, he was al- 

 ways planning schemes for elabo- 

 rate publications, which were car- 

 ried no further than drawing up 

 proposals for subscriptions, some 

 of which were published ; and in 

 particular one for "A History of 

 the Darker Ages." 



He was passionately fond of 

 music ; good-natured and affable ; 

 warm in his friendships, visionary 

 in his pursuits, and temperate in 

 his diet. He was of moderate sta- 

 ture, of a light and clear com- 

 plexion, with gray eyes, so very 

 weak at times as hardly to bear a, 

 caudle in the room, and to give him 

 apprehensions of blindness. 



The following story is told of 

 him while he was resident at Mag- 

 dalen College : It happened one 

 afternoon, at a tea-visit, that seve- 

 ral intelligent friends were assem- 

 bled at his rooms to enjoy each 

 other's conversation, when in comes 

 a certain member of the university, 

 as remarkable at that time for his 

 brutal disposition as for his good 

 scholarship ; who, though he met 

 with a circle of the most peaceable 



