COLLINS. 150 COLLINS. gious questions. He was born at Isleworth or at Heston, near Hounslow, in Middlesex, June 21, leTO. He studied at Eton, and King's College, Cambridge, and in the Temple in London. In 1707 he published his Essay Vonceriiiny the Use of Human Ucason ; and in 1709, his Priestcraft in Perfection, whieh disturbed the churchmen of that time exceedingly. The controversy excited by this last work induced Collins to sum up sev- eral previous pamphlets in his Historical and Critical Essai/s on the Thirty-nine Articles (1724). He had published a Defense of the Di- vine Attributes (1710), in reply to the Arch- bishop of Dublin, who asserted the comiiatibility of divine predestination and human freedom. Collins was a philosophical necessitarian, and afterwards advocated his opinions more fully in his Philosophical Inquiry Concerning Liberty and ifecessity (1715). In 1711 he went to Hol- land, where he made the friendship of Le C'lerc and other eminent literati. On his return to England, he published his Discourse of Free- tliinkiny { 171.3 ) . the best known and the most im- portant of all his works, which Swift assailed in one of his best pieces of irony, while Bentley dis- posed of its pretensions to scholarship. In 1718 he was made treasurer for the cotinty of Essex : and in 1724 appeared his Grounds and Heasons of the Christian Religion, which gave occasion to no less than thirty-five replies. He defended himself in his Literal Scheme of Prophecy : and in 1727 published his last work. A Letter to the Rev. Dr. Rogers on Occasion of His Eight Ser- mons on the Necessity of Revelation and the Truth of Christianity. Collins died December 13, 1729. He was a friend and correspondent of Locke, who declared that Collins had as much love of the truth for the truth's sake as ever lie had met in anybody. His character for integ- rity and benevolence stood very high. COLLINS, John (1625-83). An English mathematician, born at Wood Eaton, in Oxford- shire. He was a man of great natural ability and devoted to mathematics: was a member (1667) of the Eoyal Society of London, and carried on an extensive correspondence with the leading mathematicians of his day. Writers are much indebted to his Cnmmereiuni Epistolicuni (published by the I! oval Society in 1712) for in- formation on contemporary discoveries, as well as on the great controversy of Newton and Leib- nitz. Consult: Rigaud, Correspondence of Scien- tific Men of the Seventeenth Century (Oxford, 1862). COLLINS, .John Chukton (1848—). An English educator and author. He was born at Bourton-on-the- Water, Gloucestershire, and grad- uated at Balliol College, Oxford, in 1S72. He contributed largely to the reviews, strenuously opposing the philological method of literary study, and was active in the university exten- sion movement. He is a writer of great force and wit, and combines accurate scholarship with a lucid and luminous literary style. Besides editions of Cyril Tourneur (1878), Lord Herbert of Cherbury '(1881). Robert Greene (1899), and other English authors, he published Sir .Toshua. Reynolds as a Port rait -Painter (1874) : Holing- broke and Voltaire in England (1886): Study of English Literature (1891); Illustrations of Tennyson (1891): The Early Poems of Tenny- son, with bibliography and various readings (1900); Ephemera Critica (1901) : Dean Swift (1893) ; and Essays and Studies (1895). COLLINS, J().SEi>n WiLLi.
(1839—). An
American jjiseieulturist. He was born at Isle- boro, Maine, and «hen very young was employed on a fishing vessel. He afterwards became estab- lished at Gloucester, ilass. He prepared statis- tics on the Xew England fisheries for the Tenth Census, and also submitted the results of his investigations to the L'nited States Fish Com- mission. He represented the United States at the International Fisheries Expositions held at Berlin in 1880, at London in 1883. and at Ber- gen, Xorway, in 1898; and he was director of tiie Department of Fisheries during the Colum- bian Exposition. In 1884 he organized the sec- tion of naval architecture in the United States National Museum, and was curator of the department for nearly ten years. He was ap- pointed president of the Commercial Fisheries Association in 1894. COLLINS, .Mortimer (1827-76). An Eng- lish poet and miscellaneous writer, born at Plymouth. He was master of mathematics for a time at Queen Elizabeth's College, Guernsey, but resigned in 1856, and devoted himself there- after wholly to literature. His publications in- clude; Idi/ls and Rlu/mcs (18651; Sweet Anne Page (1868) ; The Secret of Long Life (1871) ; and The British Birds, from the Ghost of Aris- tophanes (1872). His wife, Frances, published Letters and Friendships of Mortimer Collins, with Some Account of His Life (London, 1877). COLLINS, Patrick Andrew (1844—). An American lawyer and politician. He was born in Fermoy, Ireland, but was brought to the United States in 1848, and settled in Chelsea, ilass., where, wliile working as upholsterer, he pre- pared himself for the study of the law. In 1871 he graduated at the Harvard Law School, and in the same year was admitted to the bar. He was a member of the State Legislature in 1868-69 and State Senator 1870-71, served three terms in Congress (1883-89), and later, from 1893 to 1897. was Consul-General at London. He was an active Fenian and was chosen the first president of the Land League in 1884. He was elected Mayor of Boston in 1901. COLLINS, Rev. !Mr. A conceited and fawn- ing character in .Jane Austen's Pride and Prej- udice. COLLINS, William (1721-59). An Eng- lish poet. He was born at Chichester, where his father was a hatter, and received his education at Winchester College and at Oxford. In 1742 he published a small volume containing the Per- sian Eclogues, and in 1743 the Epistle to Sir Thomas Hanmer. These are not so character- istic of his talent as his later writings. Leaving Oxford. ])roliaIily early in 1744. he went to Lon- don, resolved upon a literary career. Here, from time to time, he published other poems, consist- ing chiefly of odes; but misfortunes, occasioned by his indolence and irresolution, finally- ren- dered him a prey to melancholy, which at times deepened into insanity. He died at Chichester. The poems which Collins left are comparatively few; but they entitle him to high rank among the poets of the eighteenth century. He was essentially a lyrist; and it is upon his odes that his reputation is principally founded. His most popular ode is The Passions. The
