Page:Cousins's Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature.djvu/105

Rh Carlyle (q.v.). C.'s poetry is distinguished by its high imaginative quality, and by exquisitely felicitous descriptive phrases.

Memoirs prefixed to Dyce's ed. of Poems (1827), Aldine ed., Moy Thomas, 1892.

 Author:William Wilkie Collins (1824-1889).—Novelist, s. of William C., R.A., entered Lincoln's Inn, and was called to the Bar 1851, but soon relinquished law for literature. His first novel was Antonina (1850), a historical romance. He found his true field, however, in the novel of modern life, in which his power lies chiefly in the construction of a skilful plot, which holds the attention of the reader and baffles his curiosity to the last. In Count Fosco, however, he has contributed an original character to English fiction. Among his numerous novels two, The Woman in White (1860), and The Moonstone (1868), stand out pre-eminent. Others are The Dead Secret (1857), Armadale (1866), No Name (1862), After Dark, "I say No," etc. He collaborated with in No Thoroughfare.

 Author:George Colman (1732-1794) (1732-1794).—Dramatist, b. at Florence, where his f. was British Envoy, he was a friend of, and took to writing for the stage with success. He wrote more than 30 dramatic pieces, of which the best known are The Jealous Wife (1761), and The Clandestine Marriage (1766). C. was also manager and part proprietor of various theatres. He was a scholar and translated Terence and the De Arte Poetica of Horace, wrote essays, and ed. and and.

 Author:George Colman (1762-1836) (1762-1836).—Dramatist, s. of the preceding, wrote or adapted numerous plays, including The Heir at Law and John Bull. He was Examiner of Plays (1824-1836). Many of his plays are highly amusing, and keep their place on the stage. His wit made him popular in society, and he was a favourite with George IV.

 Author:Charles Caleb Colton (1780-1832).—Miscellaneous writer, ed. at Eton and Camb., took orders and held various livings. He was an eccentric man of talent, with little or no principle, took to gaming, and had to leave the country. He d. by his own hand. His books, mainly collections of epigrammatic aphorisms and short essays on conduct, etc., though now almost forgotten, had a phenomenal popularity in their day. Among them are Lacon, or Many Things in Few Words, and a few poems.

 Author:George Combe (1788-1858).—Writer on phrenology and education, b. in Edin., where for some time he practised as a lawyer. Latterly, however, he devoted himself to the promotion of Phrenology, and of his views on education, for which he in 1848 founded a school. His chief work was The Constitution of Man (1828).

 Author:William Combe (1741-1823).—Miscellaneous writer. His early life was that of an adventurer, his later was passed chiefly within the "rules" of the King's Bench prison. He is chiefly remembered as the author of The Three Tours of Dr. Syntax, a comic poem (?). His cleverest piece of work was a series of imaginary