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of the Tm'morality'and Profanenefs of the Englifh Stage ; 
which engaged, him in a controverfy with tlie wits of the 
time : but, as Mr. Collier defended his cenfures not only 
with wit, but with learning and reafon, it is allowed that 
the decorum oblerved, for the molt part, by fucceeding 
dramatic writers, has been owing to his animadverfions. 
He nsxt undertook .a tranllati m of' M-orreri’s 'great Hif- 
torical and Geographical Dictionary ; a work of extra¬ 
ordinary labour, and which appeared in four volumes 
folio. After this he publiflied An Ecclef.aitical Hiftory 
of Great Britain, chiefly of England, in two volumes 
folio ; which is allowed to be written with great judgment 
and impartiality. He was belides engaged in feverai con- 
troverfiep, which his condufl: and writings gave rife to, 
not material to mention. In queen Anne’s reign, Mr. 
Collier was tempted, by offers of confiderable preferment, 
to a fub million; but as he was a nonjuror upon principle, 
he could not be brought to liften to any terms. 
COL'LIERY,/. The place where coals are dug. The 
coal trade. 
COL'LIFLOWER, f [ jlos brafica:-, from capl, Saxi 
cabbage, andy?ow/?r; properly cauliflower.] A fpecies of 
cabbage. See Bras sic a. 
COLLIGA'TION, /. [ colligatio, Lat.] A binding to¬ 
gether.—Thefe the midwife contriveth into- a knot, 
whence that tortuofity ornodoflty in the navel, occafioned 
by the colligation of vefiels. Brown. 
COLLIGENTHJM BONA DEFUNCTI, (Letters ad.) 
In defedt of reprefentatives and creditors to adminifter to 
an inteftate, &c. the ordinary may commit adminiftration 
to fuch difcreet perfon as he approves of, or grant him 
thefe letters , to colled the goods of the deccafed, which nei¬ 
ther make him executor nor adminiftrutor ; his only bu- 
linefs being to keep the goods in his fafe cuftody, and to 
do other adds for the benefit of filch as are entitled to the 
property of the deceafed. 2 Comm. 505. 
COLLIMA'TION, J. [fmmcoUimo, Lat’.] The afl of 
aiming at a mark ; aim.—The collimation line, in a tele- 
fcope, is a line pairing through the interfedlion of thofe 
wires that are fixed in the focus of the objefl-glafs, and 
the centre of the fame glnfs. Hutton. 
COLLINEA'TION,/ [from collineo , Lat.] The adc of 
aiming. 
COL-'LINS (Antony), a polemical writer, born at 
Heften near Hounllow in Middlefex, in 1676, wa-s the fon 
of Henry Collins, a gentleman of about 1500I. a-year. 
He was firft 1 bred at Eton-fchool, and then went to king’s- 
college Cambridge, where he had for his. tutor Mr. Fran¬ 
cis Hare, afterwards bilhop of Chichefter. He became a 
ftudent of the Temple ; but not relifning the law, foou 
abandoned that ftudy. He was an ingenious man, and 
author of feverai curious books. His firft remarkable 
piece Was publiflied in 1707, An Eflfay concerning the 
life of Reafon in Propofitions, the Evidence whereof de¬ 
pends on Human Teftimony. In 1702, he entered into 
the controverfy between Mr. Clark and Dr. Dodwell, 
concerning the immortality of the foul. In 1713, he 
publiflied his difcourle on free-thinking; which made a 
prodigious noife. In 1715, he retired into the county of 
Elfex," and adted as a juftice of peace and deputy lieute¬ 
nant for the fame county," as he had done before for that 
of Middlefex and liberty of Weftminfter. The fame 
year, he publiflied a Philofcphical Eftay concerning Hu¬ 
man Liberty. In 1718, he was chofen treafurer of the 
county of Effex; and this o'lice he difcharged with great 
honour. In 1724, he publiflied his Hiftorical and Criti¬ 
cal Eflay on the Thirty-ninejArticles. Soon after, he pub- 
lifhed liis Difcourfe of the Grounds and Reafons of the 
Chriftian Religion ; to which is prefixed, An Apology 
for Free Debate and Liberty of Writing; which piece 
was immediately attacked by.a great number of writings. 
In 1726, appeared his Scheme ci Literary Prophecy Con- 
fidered, in a view of the controverfy occafioned by a late 
book entitled, A Difcourle of the Grounds, &c. I11 this 
difcourle, he mentions a manuicript diflertation of his to 
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fliow the Sibylline oracles to be a forgery made in the 
times of tlie primitive Chriftians, who, for that reafon, 
were called Sibylifts by the Pagans ; but it never appear¬ 
ed in print. His Scheme of Literary Prophecy was re- 
. plied to by feverai writers ; and particularly by Dr. Johu 
Rogers in his Neceflity of Divine Revelation afferted. 
In anfwer to whiclr Collins wrote A-Letter to the Reve¬ 
rend Dr. Rogers, on occafion, &c. His health began to 
decline fome years before his death, and’ he was very 
much afflicted with the Itone, which at laft put an end to 
his life at his houfein Harley fquare in 1729. He was 
interred in Oxford chapel, where.a monument was erefl¬ 
ed to him. His curious library was open to all men of 
letters, to whom he readily communicated alLthe affift- 
aiice in his power: he even furniflied his antagonifts 
with books to confute himfelf, and direfted them how to> 
give their arguments nil the force of which they were ca¬ 
pable. He was.remarkably averfe to indecency and ob- 
fcenity of difcourle; and was, independent of his lcepth- 
cifm, a fincerely good man. 
COL'LINS (John), an eminent mathematician, born 
at Wood-Eaton near Oxford, March 5, 1624. At fixteen 
years of age he was put apprentice to a bookfeller at Ox¬ 
ford ; but liis genius-appeared fo remarkable for the ftudy 
of the mechanical and mathematical fciences, that he was 
taken under the tuition of Mr. Marr, who drew feverai 
curious dials, which were placed in different poiitions in 
the king’s gardens j under whom Mr. Collins made no 
fmall progrefs in the mathematics. In the courfe of the 
civil wars, he travelled abroad, to profecute his favourite 
ftudy ; and on his return he took upon him the profeflion 
of an accountant, and publifhed, in 1652, a large work 
entitled, An Introduftion to Merchants Accompts; 
which was followed by feverai other publications on disk 
•ferent branches of accounts. In 1658, he publiftie.d a 
treatile called The Seftor on a Quadrant; containing the 
defcription and ufe of four feverai quadrants, each acco¬ 
modated to the making of fun-dials ; to which he after¬ 
wards added an appendix concerning reflefled dialling-, 
from a-glafs placed reclining. In 1659, he publiflied his 
Geometrical Dialling; and the fame year alfo his Mari¬ 
ner’s Plain Scale new plained, Collins now became 3 
fellow of the royal fociet)- in London, to which iie made 
various communications. 
He wrote alfo feverai commercial trafls, highly accep- - 
fable to the public; viz. A Plea for bringing over Iri/h 
Cattle, and keeping but the fifh caught by foreigners 1 
For the, promotion of the Englifh fifhery : For the work¬ 
ing the Tin-mines ; A Difcourle of Salt and Fifhery.,- 
He was frequently confulted in nice and critical cafes of 
accounts, of commerce, and engineering. On one of 
thefe occafions, being appointed to infipefl the ground 
for cutting a canal between the Ills and the Avon, he 
contrafted a diforder by drinking cider when he was 
too warm, which ended in his deatii, the 10th of Novem¬ 
ber 1683, at fifty-nine years of age. Mr. Collins was as 
it were the regilter of all the new improvements made in 
the mathematical fciences; the magazine to which the 
curious had frequent recourle: infomubh that he ac» 
quired the appellation of the Englifh Merfennus. 
COLLiNS (William), an unfortunate but admirable 
poet, born at Chichefter, December 25-, 1720, the fon of a 
reputable hatter in that city. In 1733 he was admitted 
fcholar of Winchefter college under Dr. Burton, and at 
nineteen was elefled upon the foundation to New-college 
in Oxford. He was.firft upon the lift ; and; in order to wait 
for a vacancy in that fociety, was admitted a commoner 
of queen’s college in the lame univerfify. But unfortu¬ 
nately, which is a cafe that feldom falls qut, no fuch va¬ 
cancy happened during the time limited, and he was thus 
alienated from the Wickhamilts. His tutor, very fenfi- 
ble of his defert, recommended him to the fociety of 
Magdalen; which recommendation, backed by an un¬ 
common difplay of genius and learning in the exercifes 
performed on the occafion, procured him to be elefled a 
1 demi" 
