COLLINS, WILLIAM, the son of a hatter at Chichester, was born December 25, 1720. He was educated at Wiuchester, from which lie went to Queen's College, Oxford ; but iu about half a year he removed to Magdalen, on being elected a demy,' or scholar, of that body. Soon after taking his Bachelor'a degree he quitted the university abruptly, about 1744, and repaired to London as a literary adven turer. He won the cordial regard of Johnson, then a ueeiy labourer in the same vocation, who, in his 'Lives of the Poets,' has spoken of him with tenderness. He tells us that "his appearance was decent and manly, his knowledge considerable, his views extensive, his con versation elegant, and his disposition cheerful. He designed many works, but his great fault was irresolution ; for the frequent calla of immediate necessity broke his scheme, end suffered him to pursue no settled purpose." Colliuse ' Odes' were published on his own account in 1740. They were not popular; and it is said that, di-appointed at the slowness of the sale, ha burnt the remaining copies with his own hands. He was relieved from hia embarrassments by a legacy from an uncle of 20001.; but worse evils than poverty overclouded the rest of his life : he sank gradually into a species of melancholy and intellectual languor, to relieve which he resorted to intoxication. "Those clouds which he perceived gathering on his intellect he endeavoured to disperse by travel, and passed into France ; but found himself constrained to yield to his malady, and returned. Ha was for some time confined in a house
of lunatics, and afterwards retired to the care of his sister at Chichester, where death in 1756 came to his relief." (` Lives of Poets.') Collins is inferior to no English lyric poet of the 18th century except Gray. His odes to 'Fear' and the ' Passions' afford the best specimens of his genius, and the well-known ' Dirge in Cymbeline ' is admirable in a softer style. His poetical merits Dr. Johnson did not rightly appreciate. Mis. Barbeuld, in her edition of his works, has given a more jest and favourable character of them. "He will be acknowledged to possess imagination, sweetness, bold and figurative language. His numbers dwell upon the ear, and easily fix themselves in the memory. His vein of sentiment is by turns tender aud lofty, always tinged with a degree of melancholy, but not possessing any claims to originality. His originality consists in his manner, in the highly figurative garb in which he clothes abstract ideas, in the felicity of his expressions, and his skill in embodying ideal creations. Aa it was, he did not enjoy much of the public favour ; but posterity has done him justice, and assigned him an honourable rank among those of our poets who are more distinguished by excellence than by balk."