After commanding in another small frigate, Collingwood was promoted to the “Sampson” of sixty-four guns; and in 1783 he was appointed to the “Mediator,” destined for the West Indies, where, with Nelson, who had a command on that station, he remained till the end of 1786. With Nelson he warmly co-operated in carrying into executiof the provisions of the navigation laws, which had been infringed by the United States, whose ships, notwithstanding the separation of the countries, continued to trade to the West Indies, although that privilege was by law exclusively confined to British vessels. In 1786 Collingwood returned to England, where, with the exception of a voyage to the West Indies, he remained until 1793, in which year he was appointed captain of the “Prince,” the flag-ship of Rear-Admiral Bowyer. About two years previous to this event he had married Miss Sarah Roddam—a fortunate alliance, which continued to be a solace to him amidst the privations to which the life of a seaman must ever be subject.

As captain of the “Barfleur,” Collingwood was present at the celebrated naval engagement which was fought on the 1st of June 1794; and on that occasion he displayed equal judgment and courage. On board the “Excellent” he shared in the victory of the 14th of February 1797, when Sir John Jarvis humbled the Spanish fleet off Cape St Vincent. His conduct in this engagement was the theme of universal admiration throughout the fleet, and greatly advanced his fame as a naval officer. After blockading Cadiz for some time, he returned for a few weeks to Portsmouth to repair. In the beginning of 1799 Collingwood was raised to the rank of vice-admiral, and hoisting his flag in the “Triumph,” he joined the Channel Fleet, with which he proceeded to the Mediterranean, where the principal naval forces of France and Spain were assembled. Collingwood continued actively employed in watching the enemy, until the peace of Amiens restored him once more to the bosom of his family.

The domestic repose, however, which he so highly relished, was cut short by the recommencement of hostilities with France, and in the spring of 1803 he quitted the home to which he was never again to return. The duty upon which he was employed was that of watching the French fleet off Brest, and in the discharge of it he displayed the most unwearied vigilance. Nearly two years were spent in this employment; but Napoleon had at length matured his plans and equipped his armament, and the grand struggle which was to decide the fate of Europe and the dominion of the sea was close at hand. The enemy’s fleet [having sailed from Toulon, Admiral Collingwood was appointed to the command of a squadron, with orders to pursue them. The combined fleets of France and Spain, after spreading terror throughout the West Indies, returned to Cadiz. On their way thither they bore down upon Admiral Collingwood, who had only three vessels with him; but he succeeded in eluding the pursuit, although chased by sixteen ships of the line. Ere one half of the enemy had entered the harbour he drew up before it and resumed the blockade, at the same time employing an ingenious artifice to conceal the inferiority of his force. But the combined fleet was at last compelled to quit Cadiz; and the battle of Trafalgar immediately followed. The brilliant conduct of Admiral Collingwood upon this occasion has been much and justly applauded. The French admiral drew up his fleet in the form of a crescent, and in a double line, every alternate ship being about a cable’s length to windward of her second, both ahead and astern. The British fleet bore down upon this formidable and skilfully arranged armament in two separate lines, the one led by Nelson in the “Victory,” and the other by Collingwood in the “Royal Sovereign.” The latter vessel was the swifter sailer, and having shot considerably ahead of the rest of the fleet, was the first engaged. “See,” said Nelson, pointing to the “Royal Sovereign” as she penetrated the centre of the enemy’s line, “see how that noble fellow Collingwood carries his ship into action !” Probably it was at the same instant that Collingwood, as if in response to the observation of his great commander, remarked to his captain, “What would Nelson give to be here ì” The consummate valour and skill evinced by Collingwood had a powerful moral influence upon both fleets. It was with the Spanish admiral’s ship that the “Royal Sovereign” closed; and with such rapidity and precision did she pour in her broadsides upon the “Santa Anna,” that the latter was on the eve of striking in the midst of thirty-three sail of the line, and almost before another British ship had fired a gun. Several other vessels, however, seeing the imminent peril of the Spanish flag-ship, came to her assistance, and hemmed in the “Royal Sovereign” on all sides; but the latter, after suffering severely, was relieved by the arrival of the rest of the British squadron; and not long afterwards the “Santa Anna” struck her colours. The result of the battle of Trafalgar, and the expense at which it was purchased, are well known. On the death of Nelson, Collingwood assumed the supreme command; and by his skill and judgment greatly contributed to the preservation of the British ships, as well as of those which were captured from the enemy. He was raised to the peerage, as Baron Collingwood of Coldburne and Heathpool, and received the thanks of both Houses of Parliament, with a pension of £2000 per annum.

From this period until the death of Lord Collingwood no great naval action was fought; but he was much occupied in important political transactions, in which he displayed remarkable tact and judgment. Being appointed to.the command of the Mediterranean fleet, he continued to cruise about, keeping a watchful eye upon the movements of the enemy. His health, however, which had begun to decline previously to the action of Trafalgar in 1805, seemed entirely to give way, and he repeatedly requested Government to be relieved of his command, that he might return home; but he was urgently requested to remain, on the ground that his country could not dispense with his services. This conduct has been regarded as harsh; but the good sense and political sagacity which he displayed afford some palliation of the conduct of the Government; and the high estimation in which he was held is proved by the circumstance that among the many able admirals, equal in rank and duration of service, none stood so prominently forward as to command the confidence of ministers and of the country to the same extent as he did. After many fruitless attempts to induce the enemy to put to sea, as well as to fall in with them when they had done so (which circumstance materially contributed to hasten his death), he expired on board the “Ville de Paris,” then lying off Port Mahon, on the 7th of March 1810.

Lord Collingwood’s merits as a naval officer were in every respect of the first order. In original genius and romantic daring he was inferior to Nelson, who indeed had no equal in an age fertile in great commanders. In seamanship, in general talent, and in reasoning upon the probability of events from a number of conflicting and ambiguous statements, Collingwood was equal to the hero of the Nile; indeed, many who were familiar with both give him the palm of superiority. His political penetration was remarkable; and so high was the opinion generally entertained of his judgment, that he was consulted in all quarters, and on all occasions, upon questions of general policy, of regulation, and even of trade. He was distinguished for benevolence and generosity; his acts of charity were frequent and bountiful, and the petition of real distress was never rejected by him. He was an enemy to impressment and to flogging; and so kind was he to his crew, that he obtained amongst them the honourable name of father. Between Nelson and Collingwood a close intimacy subsisted, from their first acquaintance in early life till the fall of the former at Trafalgar; and they lie side by side in the cathedral of St Paul’s. The selections from the public and private correspondence of Lord Collingwood, published in 2 vols., 8vo, in 1828, contain some of the best specimens of letter-writing in our language. See also A Fine Old English Gentleman exemplified in the Life and Character of Lord Collingwood, a Biographical Study, by "William Davies, London, 1875.

The first work of note published by Collins was his Essay concerning the Use of Reason in Propositions the Evidence whereof depends on Human Testimony (1707). He demands that the revelation of God should be conformable to man’s natural ideas of God, but draws a distinction between what is contrary to reason and what is merely contrary to our experience. ∙

Six years later appeared his most famous work, A Discourse of Freethinking, occasioned by the Rise and Growth of a Sect called Freethinkers (1713). Notwithstanding the ambiguity of its title, and though it attacks the priests of all churches without moderation, it contends for the most part, at least explicitly, for no more than must be admitted by every Protestant, or than is maintained in such works as Taylor’s Liberty of Prophesying; and it points out forcibly that the first introduction of Christianity, and the success of all missionary enterprise, involve freethinking (in its etymological sense) on the part of those converted. In England this essay, which was regarded and treated as a plea for deism, made a great sensation, calling forth several replies, among others from Whiston, Bishop Hare, Bishop Hoadly, and Richard Bentley, who, under the signature of Phileleutherus Lipsiensis, roughly handles certain arguments carelessly expressed by Collins, but triumphs chiefly by an attack on his scholarship. Swift also, being satirically referred to in the book, made it the subject of a caricature. In France, where it was answered by Crousaz, it produced a still deeper impression.

In 1724 Collins published his extraordinary Discourse on the Grounds and Reasons of the Christian Religion, with An Apology for Free Debate and Liberty of Writing prefixed. Ostensibly it is written in opposition to Whiston’s attempt to show that the passages of the Old Testament prophecies quoted in the New had since the time of Christ been corrupted by the Jews, and with the object of proving that the fulfilment of prophecy by the events of Christ’s life is all “secondary, secret, allegorical, and mystical,” since the original and literal reference is always to some other fact. To explain this “allegorical” reading, he quotes from the Dutch Hebraist Surenhusius ten methods according to which the authors of the Gemara and other allegorical writers among the Jews interpret difficult parts of the Scriptures, and which are asserted to have been used in the New Testament. Of these methods the gentlest is altering the points, and the most severe is “changing the order of words, adding words, and retrenching words, which is a method often used by Paul;” and the true purpose of the book would appear to have been to show, in a veiled satire, that the fulfilment of prophecy in the New Testament is of the same kind as that contrived by the rabbis. And further, as he strives to prove that the fulfilment of prophecy is the only valid proof of Christianity, he thus secretly aims a blow at Christianity as a revelation. The canonicity of the New Testament he ventures openly to deny, on the ground that the canon could only be fixed by men who were inspired. No less than thirty-five answers were directed against this book, the most noteworthy of which were those of Bishop Edward Chandler, Arthur Sykes, Clarke, and Sherlock. To these, but with special reference to the work of Chandler, which maintained that a number of prophecies were literally fulfilled in Christ, Collins replied by his Scheme of Literal Prophecy Considered, 1727. An appendix contends against Whiston that the book of Daniel was forged in the time of Antiochus Epiphanes.

In philosophy, Collins takes a foremost place as a defender of Necessitarianism. His brief Inquiry Concerning Human Liberty (1715) gives, in a remarkably clear and concise form, all the important arguments in favour of his theory, with able and suggestive replies to the chief objections that have been urged against it Little, in fact, of moment has been added by modern determi nists. One of his arguments, however, calls for special criticism,—his assertion that it is self-evident that nothing that has a beginning can be without a caus k e is an unwarranted assumption of the very point at issue. Collins’s position was attacked in an elaborate treatise by Samuel Clarke, in whose system the freedom of the will is made essential to religion and morality. During Clarke’s lifetime, fearing perhaps (as has been suggested) to be branded as an enemy of religion and morality, Collins gave no reply, but in 1729 he published an answer, entitled Liberty and Necessity.

The other of Collins’s two purely philosophical treatises is A Letter to Mr Dodwell. A controversy was then being carried on between Clarke, who asserted the natural immortality of the soul, and Dodwell, who held that the soul is mortal till baptism confers immortality upon it; and Collins entered the lists to suggest other possibilities. Adopting Locke’s suggestion, he maintained that it is conceivable that the soul may be material; and, secondly, that if the soul be immaterial it does not follow, as Clarke had contended, that it is immortal; indeed in no way, he argues, can philosophy prove its immortality.

Two of Collins’s early works yet remain to be mentioned— his Vindication of the Divine Attributes, in which he attacks a sermon of King, archbishop of Dublin, and maintains that from our knowledge of human qualities we can attain to a true, if limited, knowledge of the divine attributes; and his Priestcraft in Perfection, or a Detection of the Fraud of inserting and continuing the Clause, “The Church hath power to decree Rites and Ceremonies and Authority in Controversies of Faith,” in the Twentieth Article of the Church of England (1709), to which—as the question excited a very active controversy—he added, early in the next year, a second pamphlet on the same subject. (τ. μ. w.)

COLLINS, Mortimer (1827-1876), novelist and writer of lyrics, was born at Plymouth, and was educated at a private school. After some years spent in tuition and some contributions in verse to the Bristol newspapers, he repaired to London, and devoted himself to journalism in the Conservative interest. In 1855 he published a volume of verse; and in 1865 appeared his first story, Who is the Heir 1 A second volume of lyrics, The Inn of Strange Meetings, was issued in 1871; and in 1872 he produced his longest and best sustained poem, The British Birds, a communication from the Ghost of Aristophanes. He wrote profusely for journals and magazines—the Owl, the Globe, Punch, Temple Bar, Belgravia, the World, <fcc.—and produced, besides, several novels, the most readable of which, perhaps, is Sweet Anne Page (1868). As novels merely, these works are not greatly to be commended; as the work of a clever man of pronounced opinions, they arc often interesting enough. Their author’s great claim to remembrance, however, is based upon his lyrics; some of these, in their light grace, their sparkling wit, their airy philosophy, are equal to anything of their kind in modern English.

COLLINS, William (1721-1759), who divides with Gray the glory of being the greatest English lyrist of the 18th century, was born on the 25th of December, 1721, at Chichester, of which city his father, a rich hatter, was the mayor. After some childish studies in his native town, he was sent, in January 1733, to Winchester College, where Whitehead and Joseph Warton were his schoolfellows. When he had been nine months at the school, Pope paid Winchester a visit and proposed a subject for a prize poem; it is legitimate matter or fancy to suppose that the lofty forehead, the brisk dark eyes, and gracious oval of the childish face, as we know it in the only portrait existing of Collins, did not escape the great man’s notice, then not a little occupied with the composition of the Essay on Man. In 1734 it is supposed that the young poet published his first verses, on The Royal Nuptials, of which, however, no copy has come down to us; another poem, probably satiric, called The Battle of the Schoolbooks, was written about this time, and has also been lost. Fired by his poetic fellows to further feats in verse, Collins produced, in his seventeenth year, those Persian Eclogues which were the only writings of his that were valued by the world during his own lifetime. They were not printed for some years, and meanwhile Collins sent, in January and October 1739, some verses to the Gentleman's Magazine, which attracted the notice and admiration of Johnson, then still young and uninfluential. In March 1740 he was admitted a commoner of Queen’s College, Oxford, but did not go up to Oxford until July 174.1, when he entered Magdalen College. At Oxford he continued his affectionate intimacy with the Wartons, and gained the friendship of Gilbert White. Early in 1742 the Persian Eclogues appeared in London. They were four in number, and formed a modest pamphlet of not more than 300 lines in all. Those pieces may be compared with Victor Hugo’s Les Orientales, to which, of course, they are greatly inferior. Considered with regard to the time at which they were produced, they are more than meritorious, even brilliant, and one at least —the second—can be read with enjoyment at the present day. The rest, perhaps, will be found somewhat artificial and effete. In November 1743 Collins was made bachelor of arts, and a few days after taking his degree published his second work, an Epistle to Sir Thomas Hanmer. This poem, written in heroic couplets, shows a great advance in individuality, and resembles, in its habit of impersonifying qualities of the mind, the riper lyrics of its author. For the rest, it is an enthusiastic review of poetry, culminating in a laudation of Shakespeare. It is supposed that he left Oxford abruptly in the summer of 1744 to attend his mothers death-bed, and did not return. His indolence, which had been no less marked at the university than his genius, combined with a fatal irresolution to make it extremely difficult to choose for him à path in life. The army and the church were successively suggested and rejected; and he finally arrived in London, bent on enjoying a small property as an independent man about town. He made the acquaintance of Johnson and others, and was urged by those friends to undertake various important writings—a History of the Revival of Learning, several tragedies, and a version of Aristotle’s Poetics, among others —all of which he commenced ar<l lacked force of will to continue. He soon squandered his means, plunged, with most disastrous effects, into profligate excesses, and sowed the seed of his untimely misfortune. It was at this time, however, that he composed his matchless odes, which appeared on the 20th of December 1746, dated 1747.

The original project was to have combined them with the odes of Joseph Warton, but the latter, now forgotten, proved at that time to be the more marketable article. Collins’s little volume fell dead from the press, but it won him the admiration and friendship of Thomson, with whom, until the death of the latter in 1748, he lived on terms of affectionate intimacy. The Odes, in the volume of that name, were twelve in number; to their contents we shall presently return. In 1749 Collins was raised beyond the fear of poverty by the death of his uncle; and he left London to settle in his native city. He had hardly begun to taste the sweets of a life devoted to literature and quiet, before the weakness of his will began to develop in the direction of insanity, and he hurried abroad to attempt to dispel the gathering gloom by travel. In the interval he had published two short pieces of consummate grace and beauty—the Elegy on Thomson, in 1749, and the Dirge in Cymbeline, later in the same year. In the beginning of 1750 he composed the Ode on the Popular Superstitions of the Highlands, which was dedicated to the author of Douglas, and not printed till long after the death of Collins, and an Ode on the Music of the Grecian Theatre, which no longer exists, and in which our literature probably has sustained a severe loss. With this poem his literary career closes, although he lingered in great misery for nearly nine years. From Gilbert White we learn that his madness was occasionally violent, and that he was confined for a time in an asylum at Oxford. But for the most part he resided at Chichester, suffering from extreme debility of body when the mind was clear, and incapable of any regular occupation. Music affected him in a singular manner, and it is recorded that he was wont to slip out into the cathedral cloisters during the services, and moan and howl in horrible accordance with the choir. In this miserable condition he passed out of sight of all his friends, and in 1756 it was supposed, even by Johnson, that he was dead; in point of fact, however, his sufferings did not cease until the 12th of June 1759. No journal or magazine recorded the death of the forgotten poet, though Goldsmith, only two months before, had commenced the laudation which was soon to become universal.

No English poet so great as Collins has left behind him so small a bulk of writings. Not more than 1500 lines of his have been handed down to us, but among these not one is slovenly, and few are poor. His odes are the most sculpturesque and faultless in the language. They lack fire, but in charm and precision of diction, exquisite propriety of form, and lofty poetic suggestion they stand unrivalled. That one named The Passions is the most popular; that To Evening is the greatest favourite with imaginative persons. In reading this, and the Ode to Simplicity, one seems to be handling an antique vase of matchless delicacy and elegance. Distinction may be said to be the crowning grace of the style of Collins; its leading peculiarity is the incessant impersonification of some quality of the character. In the Ode on Popular Superstitions he produced a still nobler work; this poem, the most considerable in size which has been preserved, contains passages which are beyond question unrivalled for rich melancholy fulness in our literature between Milton and Keats. The life of Collins was written by Dr Johnson, he found an enthusiastic admirer in Dr Langhorne; and more recently a kindly biographer in Mr Moy Thomas. (e. w. g.)

COLLINS, William (1787-1847), painter, was the son of an Irish picture dealer and man of letters, the author of a Life of George Morland, and was born in London. He studied under Ettyin 1807, and in 1809 exhibited his first pictures of repute—Boys at Breakfast, and Boys with a Bird’s Nest. In 1815 he was made associate of the Royal Academy, and was elected R.A. in 1820. For th? next sixteen years he was a constant exhibitor; his fishermen, shrimp-catchers, boats and nets, stretches of coast and sand, and, above all, his rustic children were universally popular. Then, however, he went abroad on the advice of Wilkie, and for two years (1837-1838) studied the life, manners, and scenery of Italy. In 1839 he exhibited the first fruits of this journey; andin 1840, in which year he was appointed librarian to the Academy, he made his first appearance as a painter of history. In 1842 he returned to his early manner and choice of subject, and during the last years of life enjoyed greater popularity than ever. As a painter Collins is entitled to high praise. He was a good colourist and an excellent draughtsman; he was also conscientious exceedingly, and an ardent lover and student of nature. His earlier pictures are deficient in breadth and force,—are feeble, in fact, from excess of care and finish; but his later work, though also carefully executed, is rich in effects of tone and in. broadly painted masses. His biography, Life of William, Collins, Ji.A., 2 vols., by his son Wilkie Collins, the well-known novelist, appeared in 1848.