COL 
the confidence the king had repofed in him. He luppref- 
fed feveral offices, which were chargeable, but uielefs; 
and, in the mean time, perceiving the king’s zeal for the 
extirpation of herefy, he fit tit up the chamber inllituted 
by the edifts of Paris and Rouen. He propofed feveral 
new regulations concerning criminal courts; and was 
extremely fevere with the parliament of Thouloufe, for 
obllrufting the meafures he took to carry the fame into 
execution. His main defign in reforming the tedious 
method of proceedings at law, was to give the people 
more leifure to apply themfelves to commerce; for the 
advancement of which he procured an edift, to ereft a 
general infurance-office at Paris, for the fafety and bene¬ 
fit of merchants. In 1672, he was made minifter of ftate ; 
for, how bufied foever he might be' iri the regulation of 
public affairs, yet he never neglefted his own or his fa¬ 
mily’s interelt and grandeur, or milled any opportunity 
of advancing either. He had been married many years, 
had fons and daughters grown up; all of which, as op¬ 
portunity offered, he took care to marry to great perfons: 
for, though he had no reafon to doubt of his mailer’s fa¬ 
vour, yet he wifely fecured his fortune by powerful alli¬ 
ances. Bufinefs was certainly Colbert’s natural delight; 
and he not only loved it, but was very ijnpatient of in¬ 
terruption in it, as the following anecdote may ferve to 
ihew : A Indy of quality was one day ufging him, when 
lie was in the plenitude of power, to do herlome favour; 
and, perceiving him inattentive and inflexible, threw her- 
felf at his feet, in the prefence of above one hundred per¬ 
fons, crying, “ I beg your greatnefs, in'the name of God, 
to grant my requelt !” Upon which, Colbert, kneeling 
down over againft her, replied, in the fame mournful 
tone, “ I conjure you, madam, in the name of God, not 
to difturb me !” 
This great minifter died of the ftone, Sept. 6, 1683, in 
his fixty-fifth year; leaving behind him fix fons and three 
daughters. He was of a middle ftature, rather lean than 
fat. His mien was low and dejefted, his air gloomy, and 
his afpeft Item. He flept little,and was very lbber. Though 
naturally lour and morofe, he knew how to aft the lover, 
and had miftreffes. He was of a flow conception, but 
fpoke judicioufly of every thing after he had once com¬ 
prehended it. He underftood bufinefs well, and purfued 
it with unwearied application. Thus he filled the moll 
important places with reputation, and his influence dif- 
fufed itfelf through every part of the government. He 
reftored the finances, the navy, the commerce of France; 
and he erefted thofe various works of art, which have 
ever lince been monuments of his tafte and magnificence. 
He was a lover of learning, though he never applied to it 
himfelf; and therefore conferred donations and penfions 
upon fcholars in other countries, while he eltablilhed and 
protefted feminaries of learning in his own. He invited 
into France, painters, ftatuaries, mathematicians, and ar- 
tills, of all kinds who were eminent; thus giving new 
life to the fciences, and making them flourifh. Upon the 
whole, he was a wife, aftive, generous, and impartial, mi- 
nifter; ever attentive to the prerogatives of the king, the 
happinels of the people, the progrefs of arts and manu- 
faftures, and, in Ihort, to every thing that could advance 
the credit, and promote the welfare of his country. 
COL'BERT (John Baptift), marquis of Torcy, fon of 
the preceding, born September 19, 1665. .Being lent early 
in life to feveral foreign courts, he was delervedly ap¬ 
pointed fecretary of ftate for the foreign department in 
3686, director-general of the polls in 1699, and counfel- 
lor to the regency during the minority of Louis XV. all 
which offices lie filled with great dillinftion. His embaf- 
fies to Portugal, to Denmark, and to England, put him 
upon a level with the moll able negociators. He died at 
Paris the 2d of September 1746, at the age of eighty-one, 
an honorary member of the academy of fciences. lie had 
married a daughter of the minifter of ftate Arnauld de 
Pomponne, by whom he had feveral children. Ten years 
after his death, in 1756, were publilhed his Memoirs of 
COL 763 
the Negociations from the Treaty of Ryfwic to the Peace 
of Utrecht, 3 vols. nmo. divided into four parts. Ti e 
firlt is afligned to the negociations for the Spanilh fuc- 
ceflion j the fecond to the negociations with Holland ; 
the third to thofe carried on with England; and the fourth 
to the affairs concerning the treaty of Utrecht. 
COLCHAGU'A, or Collagua, a town of South A- 
merica, and capital of a jurifdiftion, in the country of 
Chili. 
COL'CHESTER, the principal town of the county of 
Effex, pleafantly fituated upon an eminence, gradually 
riling on the fouth fide of the river Colne. It is the 
ancient Colonia Co.mulodunum, from which word Colonia, 
both the town and the river Colne, received their names. 
The Saxons called it Colneceajler. That it flourilhed 
under the Romans, feveral pavements of their bricks, and 
varieties of their coin dug up in and about it, fully 
evince. In 1763, a curious teffellated Roman pavement 
was found in the garden of Mr. Barnard, about three 
feet under the furface of the earth. ’The emperor Con- 
Ilantine the Great was born at Colclieller, his mother 
Helen being daughter of Cool, governor of this diltrift 
under the Romans. She is faid to have difeovered the 
crols of Chrilt at Jerulalem; whence the arms of this 
town are a crofs regulee between three ducal coronets, 
two in chief and one in bafe, the coronet in bafe palling 
through the crofs. 
The walls wherewith the town was encompaffed are 
Hill tolerably entire on the fouth, eall, and well lides, 
but much decayed on the north ; they are generally about 
nine feet thick. By a llatute of Henry VIII. this town 
was made the fee of a fuffragan bilhop. In the conclu- 
fion of the civil war in 1648, it l’ullained a fevere liege of 
ten weeks ; and in confequence of a very refolute defence, 
the fiege was turned into a blockade, wherein the garri- 
fon and inhabitants fuffered the utmoll extremity of hun¬ 
ger, and were at lalt obliged to furrender at difcretion, 
when their two valiant chief officers, fir Charles Lucas 
and fir George Lille, were fliot under the caltle walls in 
cold blood. Colclieller is a borough by prefeription, and 
under that right fends two members to parliament, all 
their charters being filent upon that head. The charter 
was renewed in 1763. 
The famous abbey gate of St. John is Hill Handing, 
and allowed to be a curious and beautiful piece of Go¬ 
thic architefture. It was built, together with the abbey, 
in 1097, and Gudo, fteward to king William Rufus, laid 
the firlt Hone. St. Ann’s chapel, Handing at the eall 
end of the town, is valuable in the elleem of antiquarians 
as a building of great note in the early days of Chriltian- 
ity : it is ilill pretty entire. St. Botoiph’s priory was 
founded by Ernulphus in the reign of Henry I. in the 
year 1110. It was demolilhed in the wars of Charles I. 
by the parliament army under fir Thomas Fairfax. The 
ruins Hill exhibit a beautiful (ketch of ancient mafonry, 
much admired by the lovers of antiquities. The caftle 
is Hill entire, and is a magnificent itrufture, in which 
great improvements have of late been made. 
The river Colne, which paffes through the town, en- 
compaffes it on the north and eall. There are three bridges 
over it, and it is navigable within three miles for lliips of 
large burthen ; a little lower it may even receive a royal 
navy; and up to the town, and clofe to the houfes, it is 
navigable for hoys and linall craft. Colchelter chiefly 
fubfiits by the trade of making baize ; and the whole 
country round it may be faid to be employed, and in part 
maintained, by the lpinning of wool for the baize-manu- 
faftory carried on here. Colcheller has long been famous 
for good oyfters; the bed of which are diitinguilhed by 
the name of Pyefleet. Here is alio a mineral lpring, for¬ 
merly in high repute. Its water is of the bitter purging 
kind, fimilar to that atEpfom, but not fo llrong. 
This town has been fuppofed to contain about 40,000 
people, including the out-villages within its liberty, of 
which there are many, the liberty being of a large extent. 
The 
