COLLE, CHARLES (1709-1783 ), French dramatist and song-writer, the son of a notary, was born in Paris. In 1729 he became a member of the famous "Caveau," which numbered among its members Helvetius, Charles Duclos, Pierre Joseph Bernard, called Gentil-Bernard, Jean Philippe Rameau, Alexis Piron and the two Crebillons. The society was dissolved in and was not reconstituted till 20 years afterwards. His first comedy, La Verite dans le pin, appeared in 1747. The greater part of his genre pieces, Theatre de Societe (3 vols., were composed for the regent, Orleans, who was a good comedy actor, especially in low life parts. In 1774 appeared La Partie de Chasse de Henri Quatre (partly taken from Dodsley's King and the Miller of Mansfield), Colle's last and best play. From 1748 to 1772, besides these and a multitude of songs, Colle was writing his Journal, a curious collection of literary and personal strictures on his boon companions as well as on their enemies, on Piron as on Voltaire, on La Harpe as on Corneille. The subjects of his lyrics are love and wine ; occasionally, however, as in the famous lyric (1756) on the capture of Port Mahon, for which the author received a pension, the note of patriotism is struck.
See H. Bonhomme's edition (1868) of the Journal et Memoires (1748-72) ; Grimm's Correspondance; and C. A. Sainte-Beuve, Nouveaux lundis, vol. vii.