COLLINS, WILLIAM WILKIE (1824-89). An English novelist. lie was the eldest son of Wil liam Collins (q. v.), a landscape and portrait painter, and he received his favorite name front Sir David NN'ilkie. Born in London, he was educated privately at Highbury, and accom panied his father to Italy (1836-38). On his return to London he became a clerk in a London firm of tea-merchants (1841-46), and afterwards studied law at Lincoln's Inn, whence he was called to the bar (1851). He was already drift ing toward literature. Even while in the Lon don warehouse he turned his knowledge of Italy to good account in an historical romance entitled. .1 ntoninn : or, the Pall of Route (not published till 1S501: on the death of his father, he prepared an excellent memoir in two volumes (1848) ; and a visit to Cornwall resulted in a series of popular sketches called Rambles Beyond Railways (1850-51). Some time in 1551 he met Dickens, and this event decided his career. Thenceforth the two novelists were intimately .associated, working at times in collaboration.
To household Words, edited by Dickens, Collins eontributed many tales, including the capital series of short stories known as After Dark (1856); and for All the rear Round, which was also conducted by Dickens, The Woman in White (1560), which met with instant success at home and abroad. In the meantime had appeared Basil: Story of Modern Life (1862); Hide and Seely ( 1854 ) ; The Dead Secret (1857) ; and 'The Queen of Hearts: A Collection of Stories (1560). And among the numerous
novels that followed are: No Name (1862) ; -1 rmadale (1866) ; The Moonstone (1868) ; Mau tint! 117fc (1870); The Nen: Magdalen (1573) ; The Fro.:en Deep, and Other Stories (1874) ; The Lair and Ow Lady (1875) ; The Two De•tin-ie-s (1876) ; The Fallen Leaves (1879) ; Heart and Science (1883) : The Legacy of Cain (1858) ; and Blind Love (1889). In 1873-74 Collins visited the United States, where he gave public readings from his own short stories. llis last years were spent in seclusion. Ile died in Lon don, and was buried in Kensal Green.
Soon after his acquaintance with Dickens, Wilkie Collins began to evolve a new type of novel, in which the study of character counts for little, and in which the main effort is given to the construction of a mystery so involved in details and circumstances as to baffle the reader. Of this kind The Woman in White and The Moonstone are masterpieces. Their literary value has indeed been questioned; but it must be admitted that, within his sphere, Collins had no equal among his contemporaries, several of whom —and Dickens among them—attempted to do the same thing and failed. For an appreciative study, consult Swinburne, Studies in Prose and Poetry (London, 1894),