A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature Part 11

COBBETT, WILLIAM (1762-1835).--Essayist and political writer, _b._ at Farnham, Surrey, _s._ of a small farmer, his youth was spent as a farm labourer, a clerk, and in the army, in which his good conduct and intelligence led to his promotion to the rank of sergeant-major. After moving about between England and America, and alternating between journalism and agriculture, in the former of which his daring opposition to men in power got him into frequent trouble and subjected him to heavy fines in both countries, he settled down in England in 1800, and continued his career as a political writer, first as a Tory and then as a Radical. His violent changes of opinion, and the force and severity with which he expressed himself naturally raised up enemies in both camps. In 1817 he went back to America, where he remained for two years. Returning he stood, in 1821, for a seat in Parliament, but was unsuccessful. In 1832, however, he was returned for Oldham, but made no mark as a speaker.

C. was one of the best known men of his day. His intellect was narrow, but intensely clear, and he was master of a nervous and idiomatic English style which enabled him to project his ideas into the minds of his readers. His chief writings are _English Grammar_, _Rural Rides_, _Advice to Young Men and Women_. His _Weekly Political Register_ was continued from 1802 until his death.

c.o.c.kBURN, HENRY (1779-1854).--Scottish judge and biographer, _b._ (probably) and _ed._ in Edin., became a distinguished member of the Scottish Bar, and ultimately a judge. He was also one of the leaders of the Whig party in Scotland in its days of darkness prior to the Reform Act of 1832. The life-long friend of Francis Jeffrey, he wrote his life, _pub._ in 1852. His chief literary work, however, is his _Memorials of his Time_ (1856), continued in his _Journal_ (1874). These const.i.tute an autobiography of the writer interspersed with notices of manners, public events, and sketches of his contemporaries, of great interest and value.

c.o.c.kTON, HENRY (1807-1852).--Novelist, _b._ in London, is only remembered as an author for his novel of _Valentine Vox_ (1840), the adventures of a ventriloquist.

COLENSO, JOHN WILLIAM (1814-1883).--Mathematician and Biblical critic, _b._ at St. Austell, Cornwall, and _ed._ at St. John's Coll., Camb., where he was a tutor, entered the Church, and _pub._ various mathematical treatises and _Village Sermons_. In 1853 he was appointed first Bishop of Natal. He mastered the Zulu language, introduced printing, wrote a Zulu grammar and dictionary, and many useful reading-books for the natives.

His _Commentary on the Romans_ (1861) excited great opposition from the High Church party, and his _Critical Examination of the Pentateuch_ (1862-1879), by its then extreme views, created great alarm and excitement. He was in 1863 deposed and excommunicated by Bishop Gray of Cape Town, but confirmed in his see by the Courts of Law. His theological writings are now largely superseded; but his mathematical text-books, for the writing of which he was much better equipped, hold their place.

COLERIDGE, HARTLEY (1796-1849).--Poet, eldest _s._ of Samuel T.C.

(_q.v._), _b._ at Clevedon, spent his youth at Keswick among the "Lake poets." His early education was desultory, but he was sent by Southey to Oxf. in 1815. His talents enabled him to win a Fellowship, but the weakness of his character led to his being deprived of it. He then went to London and wrote for magazines. From 1823 to 1828 he tried keeping a school at Ambleside, which failed, and he then led the life of a recluse at Grasmere until his death. Here he wrote _Essays_, _Biographia Borealis_ (lives of worthies of the northern counties) (1832), and a _Life of Ma.s.singer_ (1839). He is remembered chiefly for his _Sonnets_.

He also left unfinished a drama, _Prometheus_.

COLERIDGE, SAMUEL TAYLOR (1772-1834).--Poet, philosopher, and critic, _s._ of the Rev. John C., vicar and schoolmaster of Ottery St. Mary, Devonshire, was _b._ there in 1772, the youngest of 13 children. He was at Christ's Hospital from 1782 to 1790, and had Charles Lamb for a schoolfellow, and the famous scholar and disciplinarian, James Boyer, for his master. Thence he proceeded to Jesus Coll., Camb., in 1791, where he read much, but desultorily, and got into debt. The troubles arising thence and also, apparently, a disappointment in love, led to his going to London and enlisting in the 15th Dragoons under the name of Silas Tomkyn Comberbacke. He could not, however, be taught to ride, and through some Latin lines written by him on a stable door, his real condition was discovered, his friends communicated with, and his release accomplished, his brothers buying him off. After this escapade he returned (1794) to Camb. He had by this time imbibed extreme democratic or, as he termed them, pantisocratic principles, and on leaving Camb. in the same year he visited Oxf., where he made the acquaintance of Southey, and discussed with him a project of founding a "pantisocracy" on the banks of the Susquehanna, a scheme which speedily fell through, owing firstly to want of funds, and secondly to the circ.u.mstance of the two projectors falling in love simultaneously with two sisters, Sarah and Edith Fricker, of whom the former became, in 1795, the wife of C., and the latter of Southey. C.

had spent one more term at Camb., and there in Sept. 1794 his first work, _The Fall of Robespierre_, a drama, to which Southey contributed two acts, the second and third, was _pub._ After his marriage he settled first at Clevedon, and thereafter at Nether Stowey, Somerset, where he had Wordsworth for a neighbour, with whom he formed an intimate a.s.sociation. About 1796 he fell into the fatal habit of taking laudanum, which had such disastrous effects upon his character and powers of will.

In the same year _Poems on various Subjects_ appeared, and a little later _Ode to the Departing Year_. While at Nether Stowey he was practically supported by Thomas Poole, a tanner, with whom he had formed a friendship. Here he wrote _The Ancient Mariner_, the first part of _Christabel_ and _Kubla Khan_, and here he joined with Wordsworth in producing the _Lyrical Ballads_. Some time previously he had become a Unitarian, and was much engaged as a preacher in that body, and for a short time acted as a minister at Shrewsbury. Influenced by Josiah and Thomas Wedgwood, who each in 1798 gave him an annuity of 75 on condition of his devoting himself to literature, he resigned this position, and soon afterwards went to Germany, where he remained for over a year, an experience which profoundly influenced the future development of his intellect. On his return he made excursions with Southey and Wordsworth, and at the end of 1799 went to London, where he wrote and reported for the _Morning Post_. His great translation of Schiller's _Wallenstein_ appeared in 1800. In the same year he migrated to Greta Hall, near Keswick, where he wrote the second part of _Christabel_. Soon after this his health gave way, and he suffered much; and, whether as the cause or the consequence of this, he had become a slave to opium. In 1804 he went to Malta in search of health, and there became the friend of the governor, Sir Alexander Ball, who appointed him his sec., in which position he showed remarkable capacity for affairs. Resigning this occupation, of which he had become tired, he travelled in Italy, and in the beginning of 1806 reached Rome, where he enjoyed the friendship of Tieck, Humboldt, and Bunsen. He returned to England in the end of 1806, and in 1808 delivered his first course of lectures on Shakespeare at the Royal Inst.i.tution, and thereafter (1809), leaving his family at Keswick, he went to live with Wordsworth at Grasmere. Here he started _The Friend_, a philosophical and theological periodical, which lasted for 9 months. That part of his annuity contributed by T. Wedgwood had been confirmed to him by will in 1805, and this he allowed to his wife, but in 1811 the remaining half was stopped. He delivered a second course of lectures in London, and in 1813 his drama, _Remorse_, was acted at Drury Lane with success. Leaving his family dependent upon Southey, he lived with various friends, first, from 1816 to 1819, with John Morgan at Calne. While there he _pub._ _Christabel_ and _Kubla Khan_ in 1816, and in 1817 _Biographia Literaria_, _Sybilline Leaves_, and an autobiography.

In 1818 he appeared for the last time as a lecturer. He found in 1819 a final resting-place in the household of James Gillman, a surgeon, at Highgate. His life thenceforth was a splendid wreck. His nervous system was shattered, and he was a constant sufferer. Yet these last years were, in some respects, his best. He maintained a struggle against opium which lasted with his life, and though he ceased to write much, he became the revered centre of a group of disciples, including such men as Sterling, Maurice, and Hare, and thus indirectly continued and increased his influence in the philosophic and theological thought of his time. He returned to Trinitarianism, and a singular and childlike humility became one of his most marked characteristics. In 1824 he was elected an a.s.sociate of the Royal Society of Literature, which brought him a pension of 100 guineas. His latest publications were _Aids to Reflection_ (1825) and _The Const.i.tution of Church and State_. After his death there were _pub._, among other works, _Table Talk_ (1835), _Confessions of an Enquiring Spirit_ (1840), _Letters_ and _Anima Poetae_ (1895).

Endowed with an intellect of the first order, and an imagination at once delicate and splendid, C., from a weakness of moral const.i.tution, and the lamentable habit already referred to, fell far short of the performance which he had planned, and which included various epic poems, and a complete system of philosophy, in which all knowledge was to be co-ordinated. He has, however, left enough poetry of such excellence as to place him in the first rank of English poets, and enough philosophic, critical, and theological matter to const.i.tute him one of the princ.i.p.al intellectually formative forces of his time. His knowledge of philosophy, science, theology, and literature was alike wide and deep, and his powers of conversation, or rather monologue, were almost unique. A description of him in later life tells of "the clerical-looking dress, the thick, waving, silver hair, the youthful coloured cheek, the indefinable mouth and lips, the quick, yet steady and penetrating greenish-grey eye, the slow and continuous enunciation, and the everlasting music of his tones."

SUMMARY.--_B._ 1772, _ed._ Christ's Hospital and Camb., enlists 1794 but bought off, became intimate with Southey, and proposes to found pantisocracy, settles at Clevedon and Nether Stowey 1795, and became friend of Wordsworth, began to take opium 1796, writes _Ancient Mariner_, and joins W. in _Lyrical Ballads_, became Unitarian preacher, visits Germany 1798, _pub._ translation of _Wallenstein_ 1800, settles at Greta Hall and finishes _Christabel_, goes to Malta 1804, lectures on Shakespeare 1808, leaves his family and lives with W. 1809, and thereafter with various friends, latterly with Gillman at Highgate, returned to Trinitarianism, _pub._ various works 1808-1825, _d._ 1834.

_S.T. Coleridge, a Narrative_, J.D. Campbell (1893), also H.D. Traill (Men of Letters Series, 1884), also Pater's _Appreciations_, De Quincey's Works, Princ.i.p.al Shairp's _Studies in Poetry and Philosophy_ (1868).

COLERIDGE, SARA (1802-1852).--Miscellaneous writer, the only _dau._ of the above, _m._ her cousin, Henry Nelson C. She translated Dobrizhoffer's _Account of the Abipones_, and _The Joyous and Pleasant History ... of the Chevalier Bayard_. Her original works are _Pretty Lessons in Verse_, etc. (1834), which was very popular, and a fairy tale, _Phantasmion_. She also ed. her father's works, to which she added an essay on Rationalism.

COLET, JOHN (1467-1519).--Scholar and theologian, was _b._ in London, the _s._ of a wealthy citizen, who was twice Lord Mayor. The only survivor of a family of 22, he went to Oxf. and Paris, and thence to Italy, where he learned Greek. He entered the Church, and held many preferments, including the Deanery of St. Paul's. He continued to follow out his studies, devoting himself chiefly to St. Paul's epistles. He was outspoken against the corruptions of the Church, and would have been called to account but for the protection of Archbishop Warham. He devoted his great fortune to founding and endowing St. Paul's School. Among his works are a treatise on the Sacraments and various devotional writings.

It is rather for his learning and his att.i.tude to the advancement of knowledge than for his own writings that he has a place in the history of English literature.

COLLIER, JEREMY (1650-1726).--Church historian and controversialist, _b._ at Stow, Cambridgeshire, _ed._ at Ipswich and Camb., entered the Church, and became Rector of Ampton, Suffolk, lecturer of Gray's Inn, London, and ultimately a nonjuring bishop. He was a man of war from his youth, and was engaged in controversies almost until his death. His first important one was with Gilbert Burnet, and led to his being imprisoned in Newgate. He was, however, a man of real learning. His chief writings are his _Ecclesiastical History of Great Britain_ (1708-1714), and especially his _Short View of the Immorality and Profaneness of the English Stage_ (1699), on account of which he was attacked by Congreve and Farquhar, for whom, however, he showed himself more than a match. The work materially helped towards the subsequent purification of the stage.

COLLINS, JOHN (_d._ 1808).--Actor and writer, was a staymaker, but took to the stage, on which he was fairly successful. He also gave humorous entertainments and _pub._ _Scripsc.r.a.pologia_, a book of verses. He is worthy of mention for the little piece, _To-morrow_, beginning "In the downhill of life when I find I'm declining," characterised by Palgrave as "a truly n.o.ble poem."

COLLINS, JOHN CHURTON (1848-1908).--Writer on literature and critic, _b._ in Gloucestershire, and _ed._ at King Edward's School, Birmingham, and Oxf., became in 1894 Prof. of English Literature at Birmingham. He wrote books on _Sir J. Reynolds_ (1874), _Voltaire in England_ (1886), _Ill.u.s.trations of Tennyson_ (1891), and also on Swift and Shakespeare, various collections of essays, _Essays and Studies_ (1895), and _Studies in Poetry and Criticism_ (1905), etc., and he issued ed. of the works of C. Tourneur, Greene, Dryden, Herbert of Cherbury, etc.

COLLINS, MORTIMER (1827-1876).--Novelist, _s._ of a solicitor at Plymouth, was for a time a teacher of mathematics in Guernsey. Settling in Berkshire he adopted a literary life, and was a prolific author, writing largely for periodicals. He also wrote a good deal of occasional and humorous verse, and several novels, including _Sweet Anne Page_ (1868), _Two Plunges for a Pearl_ (1872), _Mr. Carrington_ (1873), under the name of "R.T. Cotton," and _A Fight with Fortune_ (1876).

COLLINS, WILLIAM (1721-1759).--Poet, _s._ of a respectable hatter at Chichester, where he was _b._ He was _ed._ at Chichester, Winchester, and Oxf. His is a melancholy career. Disappointed with the reception of his poems, especially his Odes, he sank into despondency, fell into habits of intemperance, and after fits of melancholy, deepening into insanity, _d._ a physical and mental wreck. Posterity has signally reversed the judgment of his contemporaries, and has placed him at the head of the lyrists of his age. He did not write much, but all that he wrote is precious. His first publication was a small vol. of poems, including the _Persian_ (afterwards called _Oriental_) _Eclogues_ (1742); but his princ.i.p.al work was his _Odes_ (1747), including those to _Evening_ and _The Pa.s.sions_, which will live as long as the language. When Thomson died in 1748 C., who had been his friend, commemorated him in a beautiful ode.

Another--left unfinished--that on the _Superst.i.tions of the Scottish Highlands_, was for many years lost sight of, but was discovered by Dr.

Alex. Carlyle (_q.v._). C.'s poetry is distinguished by its high imaginative quality, and by exquisitely felicitous descriptive phrases.

_Memoirs_ prefixed to Dyce's ed. of Poems (1827), Aldine ed., Moy Thomas, 1892.

COLLINS, WILLIAM WILKIE (1824-1889).--Novelist, _s._ of William C., R.A., entered Lincoln's Inn, and was called to the Bar 1851, but soon relinquished law for literature. His first novel was _Antonina_ (1850), a historical romance. He found his true field, however, in the novel of modern life, in which his power lies chiefly in the construction of a skilful plot, which holds the attention of the reader and baffles his curiosity to the last. In Count Fosco, however, he has contributed an original character to English fiction. Among his numerous novels two, _The Woman in White_ (1860), and _The Moonstone_ (1868), stand out pre-eminent. Others are _The Dead Secret_ (1857), _Armadale_ (1866), _No Name_ (1862), _After Dark, "I say No,"_ etc. He collaborated with d.i.c.kens in _No Thoroughfare_.

COLMAN, GEORGE, THE ELDER (1732-1794).--Dramatist, _b._ at Florence, where his _f._ was British Envoy, he was a friend of Garrick, and took to writing for the stage with success. He wrote more than 30 dramatic pieces, of which the best known are _The Jealous Wife_ (1761), and _The Clandestine Marriage_ (1766). C. was also manager and part proprietor of various theatres. He was a scholar and translated Terence and the _De Arte Poetica_ of Horace, wrote essays, and ed. Beaumont and Fletcher and B. Jonson.

COLMAN, GEORGE, THE YOUNGER (1762-1836).--Dramatist, _s._ of the preceding, wrote or adapted numerous plays, including _The Heir at Law_ and _John Bull_. He was Examiner of Plays (1824-1836). Many of his plays are highly amusing, and keep their place on the stage. His wit made him popular in society, and he was a favourite with George IV.

COLTON, CHARLES CALEB (1780-1832).--Miscellaneous writer, _ed._ at Eton and Camb., took orders and held various livings. He was an eccentric man of talent, with little or no principle, took to gaming, and had to leave the country. He _d._ by his own hand. His books, mainly collections of epigrammatic aphorisms and short essays on conduct, etc., though now almost forgotten, had a phenomenal popularity in their day. Among them are _Lacon, or Many Things in Few Words_, and a few poems.

COMBE, GEORGE (1788-1858).--Writer on phrenology and education, _b._ in Edin., where for some time he practised as a lawyer. Latterly, however, he devoted himself to the promotion of phrenology, and of his views on education, for which he in 1848 founded a school. His chief work was _The Const.i.tution of Man_ (1828).

COMBE, WILLIAM (1741-1823).--Miscellaneous writer. His early life was that of an adventurer, his later was pa.s.sed chiefly within the "rules" of the King's Bench prison. He is chiefly remembered as the author of _The Three Tours of Dr. Syntax_, a comic poem (?). His cleverest piece of work was a series of imaginary letters, supposed to have been written by the second, or "wicked" Lord Lyttelton. Of a similar kind were his letters between Swift and Stella. He also wrote the letterpress for various ill.u.s.trated books, and was a general hack.

CONGREVE, WILLIAM (1670-1729).--Dramatist, was _b._ in Yorkshire. In boyhood he was taken to Ireland, and _ed._ at Kilkenny and at Trinity Coll., Dublin. In 1688 he returned to England and entered the Middle Temple, but does not appear to have practised, and took to writing for the stage. His first comedy, _The Old Bachelor_, was produced with great applause in 1693, and was followed by _The Double Dealer_ (1693), _Love for Love_ (1695), and _The Way of the World_ (1700), and by a tragedy, _The Mourning Bride_ (1697). His comedies are all remarkable for wit and sparkling dialogue, but their profanity and licentiousness have driven them from the stage. These latter qualities brought them under the lash of Jeremy Collier (_q.v._) in his _Short View of the English Stage_.

Congreve rushed into controversy with his critic who, however, proved too strong for him. C. was a favourite at Court, and had various lucrative offices conferred upon him. In his latter years he was blind; otherwise his life was prosperous, and he achieved his chief ambition of being admired as a fine gentleman and gallant. _Life_, Gosse (1888). _Works_, ed. by Henley (1895), also Mermaid Series (1888).

CONINGTON, JOHN (1825-1869).--Translator, _s._ of a clergyman at Boston, Lincolnshire, where he was _b._, _ed._, at Rugby and Magdalen and Univ.

Coll., Oxf., and began the study of law, but soon relinquished it, and devoting himself to scholarship, became Prof. of Latin at Oxf.

(1854-1869). His chief work is his translation of Virgil's _aeneid_ in the octosyllabic metre of Scott (1861-68). He also translated the _Satires_ and _Epistles_ of Horace in Pope's couplets, and completed Worsley's _Iliad_ in Spenserian stanza. He also brought out valuable ed. of Virgil and Perseus. C. was one of the greatest translators whom England has produced.

CONSTABLE, HENRY (1562-1613).--Poet, _s._ of Sir Robert C., _ed._ at Camb., but becoming a Roman Catholic, went to Paris, and acted as an agent for the Catholic powers. He _d._ at Liege. In 1592 he _pub._ _Diana_, a collection of sonnets, and contributed to _England's Helicon_ four poems, including _Diaphenia_ and _Venus and Adonis_. His style is characterised by fervour and richness of colour.

COOKE, JOHN ESTEN (1830-1886).--Novelist, _b._ in Virginia, ill.u.s.trated the life and history of his native state in the novels, _The Virginia Comedians_ (1854), and _The Wearing of the Gray_, a tale of the Civil War, and more formally in an excellent History of the State. His style was somewhat high-flown.

COOPER, JAMES FENIMORE (1789-1851).--Novelist, _b._ at Burlington, New Jersey, and _ed._ at Yale Coll., he in 1808 entered the U.S. Navy, in which he remained for 3 years, an experience which was of immense future value to him as an author. It was not until 1821 that his first novel, _Precaution_, appeared. Its want of success did not discourage him, and in the next year (1822), he produced _The Spy_, which at once gained him a high place as a story-teller. He wrote over 30 novels, of which may be mentioned _The Pioneers_ (1823), _The Pilot_ (1823), _The Last of the Mohicans_ (1826), _The Prairie_ (1826), _The Red Rover_ (1831), _The Bravo_ (1840), _The Pathfinder_, _The Deerslayer_ (1841), _The Two Admirals_ (1842), and _Satanstoe_ (1845). He also wrote a _Naval History of the United States_ (1839). C. was possessed of remarkable narrative and descriptive powers, and could occasionally delineate character. He had the merit of opening up an entirely new field, and giving expression to the spirit of the New World, but his true range was limited, and he sometimes showed a lack of judgment in choosing subjects with which he was not fitted to deal. He was a proud and combative but honest and estimable man.

COOPER, THOMAS (1805-1892).--Chartist poet, was _b._ at Leicester, and apprenticed to a shoemaker. In spite of hardships and difficulties, he _ed._ himself, and at 23 was a schoolmaster. He became a leader and lecturer among the Chartists, and in 1842 was imprisoned in Stafford gaol for two years, where he wrote his _Purgatory of Suicides_, a political epic. At the same time he adopted sceptical views, which he continued to hold until 1855, when he became a Christian, joined the Baptists, and was a preacher among them. In his latter years he settled down into an old-fashioned Radical. His friends in 1867 raised an annuity for him, and in the last year of his life he received a government pension. In addition to his poems he wrote several novels. Somewhat impulsive, he was an honest and sincere man.

CORBET, RICHARD (1582-1635).--Poet, _s._ of a gardener, was _ed._ at Westminster School and Oxf., and entered the Church, in which he obtained many preferments, and rose to be Bishop successively of Oxf. and Norwich.

He was celebrated for his wit, which not seldom pa.s.sed into buffoonery.