COL 
demy of that college in July 1741. During his refidence 
in this place, which was tiil he had taken a bachelor’s 
degree, he applied himfelf to poetry, and publifhed an 
epiltie to frr Thomas Hanmer on his edition of Shake- 
fpeare, and the Perfian, or, as they have been iince inti¬ 
tuled, Oriental Eclogues; with regard to which, it may 
juftly be afierted, that in fimplicity of defcription and ex- 
prellion, in delicacy and foftnefs of numbers, and in na¬ 
tural and unaiteCted tendernefs, they are not to be equal¬ 
led by any thing of the paftoral kind in the Englifli lan¬ 
guage. In 1744 he left the univeifity, and came to Lon¬ 
don, a literary adventurer, with many projects in his 
head, and very little money in his pocket. He defigned 
many works; but his great fault was irrefoluiion ; or the 
frequent calls of immediate neceffity broke his Ichemes, 
and buffered him to purfue no fettled plan. A man, 
doubtful of his dinner, or trembling at a creditor, is not 
much difpofed to abftraCted meditation, or remote en¬ 
quiries. He publifhed propofals for a Hiftory of the 
ICevival of Learning ; and Dr. Johnfon has heard him 
fpeak With great kindnefs of Leo X. and with keen refent- 
ment of his taftelefs fucceffor. But probably not a page 
of the hiftory was ever written. He planned leveral tra¬ 
gedies, but he only planned them. .He wrote now and 
then odes and other poems, and did fomething, however 
little. About this time Dr. Johnfon fell into his com¬ 
pany, who tells us, that “ the appearance of Collins was 
decent and manly ; his knowledge conliderable-; his views 
extenlive, his converfation elegant, and his difpofition 
cheerful. By degrees,” adds the doCtor, “I gained his 
confidence; and one day was admitted to him when he was 
immured by a bailiff that was prowling in the ftreet. On 
this occafion recourfe was had to the bookfeliers, who, on 
the credit of a tranflation of Ariftotle’s Poetics, which he 
engaged to write with a large commentaiy, advanced as 
much money as enabled him to efcape into the country. 
He fhewedme the guineas fafeinhis hand. Soon afterwards 
his uncle, Mr. Martin, a lieutenant-colonel, left him about 
2000I. a fum which Collins could fcarcely think exhaufti- 
ble, and which he did not live to exhaulf. The guineas 
•were then repaid; and the tranflation negleCted. But 
man is not born for happinefs: Coilins, who, while he 
itudied to live, felt-no evil but poverty, no fooner lived to 
itudy, than his life was affhiled by more dreadful calami¬ 
ties, difeafe and infinity.” 
Dr. Johnfon's character of him, while it was diftinClly 
Imprefted upon that excellent writer’s memory, is as fol¬ 
lows: “ Mr. Collins was a man of extenlive literature, 
■and of vigqrous faculties. He was acquainted, not only 
with the learned tongues, but with the Italian, French* 
and Spanilh languages, He had employed his mind chiefly 
■upon works of fiCtian, and fubjeCts of fancy; and by in¬ 
dulging fome peculiar habits of thought, was eminently 
delighted with thofe flights of imagination which pafs the 
bounds of nature, and to which the mind is reconciled 
only by a paflive acquiefcence in popular traditions. He 
loved fairies, genii, giants, and monfters; he delighted 
to rove through the meanders of inchantment, to gaze 
on the magnificence of golden palaces, to repofe by the 
water-falls of elyfian gardens. This was however the 
charafter rather of his inclination than his genius; the 
grandeur of wildnefs, and the novelty of extravagance, 
were always defired by him, but were not always attained. 
Yet as diligence is never wholly loft ; if his efforts fome- 
times caufed harfhnefs and obicuiity, they likewife pro¬ 
duced in happier moments fublimity and fplendour., 
This idea which he had formed of excellence, led him to 
oriental fictions and allegorical imagery; and perhaps, 
while he was intent upon defcription, lie did not fuffi- 
ciently cultivate fentiment. His poems are the produc¬ 
tions of a mind not deficient in fire, nor unfurnifbed with 
knowledge either of books or life, but fomevyb.it obftruct- 
ed in its progrefs by deviation in queft of miftaken beau¬ 
ties. Elis morals were pure, and his opinions pious : in 
a long continuance of poverty, and long habits of diffir 
COL 779 
pation, it cannot be expeCled that any character fliould 
be exaCtly uniform. There is a degree of want by which 
the fre'edom of agency is almoft deltroyed ; and Jong af- 
fociation with fortuitous companions will at laft relax 
the ltriCtnefs of truth, and abate .the fervour of fincerity. 
That this man, wife and virtuous as he was, paffed always- 
unentangled through the fnares of life, it would be pre¬ 
judice and temerity' to affirm ; but it may be fa id that 
at leaf): he preferved the fource of aCtion unpolluted, 
that his principles were never fhaken, that his diftinCtions 
of right and wrong were never confounded, and that his 
faults had nothing of malignity or defign, but proceeded . 
from lome unexpected preffure, or cafual temptation. 
The latter part of his life cannot be remembered but 
with pity and fadnels. He languifhed.fome years under 
that depreffion of mind which enchains the faculties 
without deftroying them, and leaves -reafon the know¬ 
ledge of light without the power of purfuing it. Thefe 
clouds which he perceived gathering on his intellects, he 
endeavoured to difperfe by travel, and palled into France 5 
but found himfelf conftrained to yield to his malady, and 
returned. He was for foine time confined in a houfe, of 
lunatics, and afterwards retired to the care of his filter in 
Chichefter, where death, in 1756, came to his relief. 
After his return from France, the writer of this character 
paid him a vilit at Iflingt'on, where he was waiting for 
his filler, whom he, had directed to meet him : there was 
then nothing of diforder difcernible in his mind by any 
but himfelf; but be had withdrawn from ftudy, and tra¬ 
velled with no other book than an Englifli teftament, 
fucb as children carry to the fchool ; when his friend 
took it into his hand, out of curiofity, to fee what com¬ 
panion a man of letters had chofen : “ I have but one 
book,” lays Collins ; “ but that is the belt.” Such was the 
fate of Collins., with whom I once delighted to converle, 
and whom I yet remember with tendernefs. He was vilited 
at Chichefter, in his laft fillnefs, by his learned friends - 
Dr. Warton and his brother ; to whom he fpoke with 
difapprobation of his Oriental Eclogues, as not fuffici-, 
ently expreftive of Afiatic manners, and Called them his 
Irifh Eclogues. He ibewed them, at the fame time, an 
ode infcribed to Mr. John Hume, on the Superltitions 
of the Highlands; which they thought fuperior to his 
other works. His,diforder was not alineation of mind, 
but general laxity and feeblenefs, a deficiency rather of 
his vital than intellectual powers. What he fpoke want, 
ed neither judgment nor fpirit; but a few minutes ex- 
haufted hini, fo that he was forced to reft upon the couch, 
tiil a Ihort ceflation reftored his powers, and he was again 
able to talk with his former vigour. The approaches of 
this dreadful malady he began to feel foon after bis 
uncle’s death : and with the ufual weaknefs of men fo 
dileafed, eagerly (natched that temporary relief with, 
which the table and the bofttle flatter and feduce. But 
his health continually declined, and he grew more and 
more burthenlome to himfelf. To what I have formerly 
faid of his writings maybe added, that his diCtion was 
Cfcen harfli, unflciifully laboured, and iujudicioufly feleCt-, 
ed. He affeCted the obfolete vyhen it was not worthy of 
revival; and he puts his words out of the common order, 
feeming to think, "with fome later candidates for fame,, 
that not to write profe is certainly to write poetry. His 
lines commoniy are of flow motion, clogged and impeded 
with clutters of confonants. As men are often efteemed 
who cannot be loved, fo the poetry of Coliings may fame- 
times extort praife when it gives little pleafure. Coliins 
was extremely attached to a young lady of Chichefter, 
who was born the day before him, and who did not re¬ 
turn his paffion with equal ardour. He faid, on that oc- 
caflon, “ that he came into the world a day after the 
fair.” A monument has been ereCted in Chichefter ca¬ 
thedral to the memory ,of this unfortunate genius, with 
an elegant infcriptiou in Engiifli verle, from the joint 
pens of Sargent ar.d Hayley . 
COL'LINSON (Peter), an eminent Englifli botanift.. 
The. 
