Page:Imperial Dictionary of Universal Biography Volume 1.pdf/1161

COL fleet, and the diminution of the national debt. Collett died in 1851, highly esteemed by his countrymen.—M. H.  COLLETTA,, born at Naples in 1775; died at Florence in 1833. Colletta first served in the army, then showed considerable talents as an engineer. In 1812 we find him "directeur des ponts et chaussées;" in 1813 "directeur en chef du genie militaire;" in 1814 "conseiller d'état;" in 1815 engaged against the Austrians on the banks of the Panaro, and signing the capitulation of Cazalonza. After the fall of Bonaparte, we find him still employed, though distrusted, by the government; in 1820 he is sent to Sicily, and from 26th February to 23rd March, 1821, he is minister of war. He is next mentioned as imprisoned by Canoza, and exiled to Brun. We find him then at Florence, and occupied with a history of Naples from 1734 to 1825. The book, was not published till after his death. It passed through several editions. A French translation appeared in 1835.—J. A., D.  COLLIER,, a remarkable writer and metaphysician, was born at Langford Magna, near Salisbury, in 1680. His ancestors for several generations were rectors of the parish, the advowson being in the possession of the family. In 1697 he entered Pembroke college, Oxford, but subsequently joined Balliol. In 1704 he was inducted into the rectory of Langford Magna, on the presentation of his mother. In 1707 he married a niece of Sir Stephen Fox, and he died in 1732. Such is the brief record of one who lived and died in comparative obscurity. But Collier was a powerful and original thinker. He had no intercourse with the literary world, never quotes Locke, but was conversant with Des Cartes and Malebranche, his chief friend and counsellor being Norris of Bemerton, a place in the neighbourhood. In fact, he thought out for himself a system of idealism, ignorant of the similar attempt of Bishop Berkeley. In 1713 he published his "Clavis Universalis, or a new inquiry after truth, being a demonstration of the nonexistence or impossibility of an external world." The nature of the theory is so well known that it need not be analyzed. There are many points of resemblance between the Clavis and Berkeley's Hylas and Philonous. There is one marked difference, however, that while Berkeley seeks to strengthen his argument by an appeal to natural or universal belief. Collier somewhat contemptuously rejects such support. Collier lays great stress on the position, that his doctrine would put an end to the dogma of transubstantiation; for, under his hypothesis, the distinction between substance and accidents could have no place. Collier's book remained unknown; and indeed it wants the attractive style and varied illustrative power of Bishop Berkeley's work. Neither Oxford nor Cambridge had a copy of it, but Dr. Reid found one in the library of the university of Glasgow, and his reference to the author turned to him the attention of Dugald Stewart and Dr. Parr. Dr. Parr republished the "Clavis," along with other metaphysical tracts—reissued, London, 1837. Collier also published "The Specimen of true Philosophy" in 1730. and "The Logology," published in 1732, his theology being a species of Arianism.—(Hamilton's Discussions, p. 186; Memoirs of the Life and Writings of the Rev. Arthur Collier, &c., by Robert Benson, M.A., London, 1837; Dictionnaire des Sciences Philosophiques, art. "Collier.")—J. E.  COLLIER,, a learned English divine, was born at Stow-Qui, Cambridgeshire, in 1650, and died in 1726. He was educated at Caius college, Cambridge, and took orders in 1677. His first living was the rectory of Ampton in Suffolk, and in 1685 he was made lecturer of Gray's inn, and he also held the office of preacher of the Rolls. His eminent abilities and extensive and profound learning, would, in all probability, have raised him to high ecclesiastical dignity; but he was an extreme high churchman, and, at the Revolution, joined the ranks of the nonjurors, refused to take the oaths to government, and was in consequence obliged to resign all his preferments. He was imprisoned in 1688 for writing in defence of the dethroned monarch, and again in 1692 on a charge of treason, but he was released on both occasions without trial. He continued, however, to harass the government by virulent pamphlets, and carried his factious violence to such a height that he exulted over the loss of the British at the battle of Landen, and the destruction of their property by shipwreck on the Spanish coast. In 1696 he had the boldness to grant absolution on the scaffold to Friend and Parkyns, who were executed for high treason, in plotting the murder of King William. This audacious act excited strong and general disapprobation. The matter was brought before the court of king's bench, and a bill was found against Collier by a jury. As he was determined not to recognize the authority of the government so far as to give bail, he absconded. He was in consequence outlawed, and remained under the outlawry until his death. The government, however, with a praiseworthy moderation, made no attempt to molest their indomitable and honest, though violent and bigoted assailant, and from that time forward he employed his leisure principally in the composition of literary works. In 1698 he published his celebrated treatise entitled "A Short View of the Profaneness and Immorality of the English Stage"—a book which produced a powerful and most salutary effect upon English light literature, and involved its dauntless author in a lengthened and most triumphant controversy with Congreve, Vanbrugh, and other theatrical writers of the day. "There is hardly any book of that time," says Lord Macaulay "from which it would be possible to select specimens of writing so excellent and so various." The other publications of Collier are a translation of Moreri's Historical and Geographical Dictionary," in 4 vols., folio; "An Ecclesiastical History of Great Britain," in 2 vols., folio; essays upon several moral subjects, in 3 vols., 8vo; a translation of Antoninus' Meditations, and a volume of practical discourses.—J. T.  * COLLIER,, an English litterateur and critic, the son of a bookseller and journalist, was born in London in 1789. At the age of twenty he entered as a student of the inner temple, and became also a parliamentary reporter on the staff of the Morning Chronicle. He was afterwards appointed editor of the Evening Chronicle, and became a contributor to several reviews and magazines. He was one of the earliest critics of the present age who drew the attention of the public to the merits of the old English dramatists, and has contributed largely to the elucidation both of the plays and the life of Shakspeare. Collier's principal works are—"The Poetical Decameron," 2 vols. 1820; "The Poet's Pilgrimage," 1822; "Dodsley's Old Plays," 1825-27; "History of Dramatic Poetry," 3 vols. 1831; "New Facts regarding the Life of Shakspeare," 1835; "New Particulars," 1836, and "Further Particulars," 1839; "Memoirs of the Principal Actors in the Plays of Shakspeare," 1846; "A Book of Roxburgh Ballads," 1847; "Extracts from the Registers of the Stationers' Company of Books entered for publication, 1557-70," 1848, &c. Mr. Collier is a vice-president of the Society of Antiquaries, and enjoys a pension on the civil list of £100 per annum as a recognition of the services he has rendered to literature.—J. T.  COLLIN,, a German tragic poet, was born at Vienna, 26th December, 1772, where he held a conspicuous place in the administrative service, and died 28th July, 1811. His tragedies, "Regulus," "Coriolan," &c., are distinguished by manliness of thought. He also wrote lyric poems, 1812. Collected writings, Vienna, 1812-14, 6 vols.—K. E.  COLLIN,, a distinguished statesman and author, also knight of Dannebrog, was born on the 6th January, 1776, in Copenhagen. Having completed his education he entered the service of government in 1798, in the finance department, to which he always, and with ever-increasing advantage to the state, remained attached. In the year 1809 he became member and president of the Royal Society for the improvement of rural economy, and was especially useful in promoting agriculture. He was also zealous for the public improvement in various directions—for the construction of a fleet at Elsinore; for ameliorating the condition of the county clergy, &c. In fact, his labours for his country extended to every branch of moral and social reform. In 1821 he was appointed one of the directors of the theatre royal, and in this office first became acquainted with the afterwards well-known and greatly admired Hans Christian Andersen (see that name), to whom he proved himself one of the most kind and fatherly of men. He was the author of various works, among which may be mentioned a great variety of articles in periodical publications, on statistical, geographical, agricultural, politico-economical, and philological subjects.—M. H.  COLLIN,, brother of Heinrich, was born at Vienna, 3rd March, 1779. In 1808 he was appointed professor of æsthetics at Cracow; in 1813 professor of philosophy at Vienna; and in 1815 governor of the duke of Reichstadt. He wrote tragedies—"Marius," "Der Tod Friedrich's den Streitbaren," &c., operas, and poems; and since 1813 has been editor of the Vienna Literaturzeitung.—K. E. <section end="1161Hnop" />