Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 11.djvu/354

 wards passed into Earl Spencer's collection. In 1746 appeared the first edition of his 'View of the Lancashire Dialect, hy way of Dialogue between Tummus o' William's o' Margit's o' Roaf's and Meary o' Dick's o' Tummus o' Peggy's.' It is mainly on this humorous work, the value of which is increased by a glossary, that his claim to remembrance rests. It was one of the first books of its kind, and soon had great popularity. It was seven times reprinted by the author, with engravings by himself, and concurrently there were several pirated editions. Of the authorised edition of 1775 there was an impression of six thousand copies. Up to the present date at least sixty-four editions have been published. Many of the editions bear the title of 'Works of Tim Bobbin,' and include his miscellaneous poems and letters. The best edition is that issued by Westall of Rochdale in 1819 (reprinted in 1862). Other notable editions are Cowdroy and Slack's, Salford, 1812; one with plates by George Cruikshank, 1828, and one edited by Samuel Bamford, 1850.

In 1757 Collier published 'Truth in a Mask, or Shudehill Fight, being a Short Manchester Chronicle of the Present Times,' and in 1771 'The Fortune Teller, or the Court-Itch at Littleborough.' In 1771 appeared also his 'Curious Remarks on the History of Manchester,' under the name of Muscipula, Senr.,' and in 1773 ' More Fruit from the same Pannier, or additional Remarks on the History of Manchester.' The object of the last two pamphlets, in which he was assisted by Colonel Townley, was to refute and ridicule some parts of Dr. John Whitaker's 'History of Manchester.' It has been shown by Mr. J. E. Bailey that the piece called 'Lancashire Hob and the Quack-Doctor,' included in Collier's works, was really written by the Rev. Henry Brooke (1694-1757) [q. v.] In 1772-3 Collier published a folio volume of twenty-six engravings, with poetical descriptions, entitled 'The Human Passions delineated, in above 120 figures, droll, satyrical, and humourous,' some of which had been before sold as separate plates. Other editions in folio were published in 1810, 1819, 1858, and 1860, and in quarto in 1811 and 1846.

He married in 1744 Mary Clay of Flockton, near Huddersfield, who had been brought up by the pious Lady Elizabeth Hastings. She was fourteen years his junior and had some little property, which is said to have been soon dissipated by her husband's intemperate habits. He died at Milnrow on 14 July 1786, and was buried in Rochdale churchyard. Some of his manuscripts, in his remarkably neat hand, are preserved at the Chetham Library.

Collier's eldest son, John, was settled for many years as a coachmaker at Newcastle-on-Tyne, and there published ' An Essay on Charters, in which are particularly considered those of Newcastle, with remarks on its constitution, customs, and franchises' (1777, 8vo, pp. vi, 108), and 'An Alphabet for Grown-up Grammarians,' 1778, 8vo. His second son, Thomas, printed at Penrith in 1792 a pamphlet entitled 'Poetical Politics,' but the whole impression was seized and burnt with the exception of a single copy. Charles, his third son, was a portrait painter. All three were very eccentric men, and the eldest became hopelessly insane long before his death.



COLLIER, JOHN PAYNE (1789–1883), Shakespearean critic, was born in Broad Street, London, on 11 Jan. 1789. His father, John Dyer Collier (1762-1825), was son of a London physician, and, after being educated at the Charterhouse (1771-6), was for some time in the Spanish wool trade. Meeting with reverses in 1793-4, he turned for a livelihood to letters, and, besides editing the 'Monthly Register' and 'Critical Review,' published an 'Essay on the Patent Laws,' 1803, and a 'Life of Abraham Newland,' 1808. In 1804 he became connected with the 'Times,' at first as a law reporter and subsequently in higher capacities. After a few years he transferred his services to the 'Morning Chronicle,' and latterly he also established, with the aid of his son, a successful system of newsletters to provincial towns. He died on 26 Nov. 1825, his wife, Jane Collier (born Payne), surviving him