Collier

“ Hopkins turned his face toward the window, and bit his thumb some time, without speaking a word.
"I suppose you will take it unkind," observed Collier, interrupting the silence. "But what could be done in such a case?"
"Talk to me no more about it," replied the disappointed suitor. "I am not the man to break my heart about a foolish damsel. If she pleases to shape her course in this way, I can assure her there is no love lost between us. But after all, Collier, this is a confounded unfriendly job, on your part; and I shall state as much to the church." ”

“ Jeremy Collier's work will now be forgotten, and Mr. Long stands master of the field, but he may be content, at any rate, to leave his predecessor's grave unharmed, even if he will not throw upon it, in passing, a handful of kindly earth. ”

“ We shall not be suspected of regarding either the politics or the theology of Collier with partiality; but we believe him to have been as honest and courageous a man as ever lived. We will go further, and say that, though passionate and often wrongheaded, he was a singularly fair controversialist, candid, generous, too high-spirited to take mean advantages even in the most exciting disputes, and pure from all taint of personal malevolence. ”

“ But Collier did so as far as his light enabled him. He appealed to the popular conviction that the proper object of sense is the sole reality, although he despaired of getting men to give up their belief in its externality, and asserted that nothing but prejudice prevented them from doing so; and there is little doubt that, if it had ever occurred to him, as it did to Berkeley, to explain the genesis of the notion of externality, he would have been more hopeful of commending his theory to the popular mind. ”

“ Collier was prepared to meet any number of antagonists, and defended himself in numerous tracts. The Short View was followed by a Defence (1699) , a Second Defence (1700) , and Mr Collier’s Dissuasive from the Playhouse, in a Letter to a Person of Quality (1703) , and a Further Vindication (1708) . The fight lasted in all some ten years; but Collier had right on his side, and triumphed; his position was, moreover, strengthened by the fact that he was known as a Troy and high churchman, and that his attack could not, therefore, be assigned to Puritan rancour against the stage. ”

“ Collier replied, and managed the point with so much learning, wit, and keenness, that in the opinion of many, he had the better of his antagonists, especially Mr. Congrove, whose comedies it must be owned, though they are admirably written, and the characters strongly marked, are so loose, that they have given great offence: and surely we pay too dear for pleasure, when we have it at the expence of morality. ”

“ Collier's handwriting and that of these pencil-memorandums is identical, but, having some of that gentleman's writing in pencil by us, we are able to see this identity for ourselves. We can discover not the slightest room for doubt that a certain number of the pencil-guides for the corrections upon the margins of this folio were written either by Mr. Collier himself, or in the British Museum by some malicious person who desired to inculpate him in a forgery. The reader who has accompanied us thus far can have no doubt as to which alternative we feel compelled to choose. ”

“ It is rare that a collier is able to follow his calling beyond the age of from forty to fifty, and then, unless he be fortunate enough to obtain some easier occupation, he sinks into a state of helpless dependence. ”

“ As a politician, John Collier was considerably ahead of the time he lived in, and especially of the simple, slow-minded race of people dwelling, then, in that remote nook of Lancashire, at the foot of Blackstone Edge. Among such people, and in such a time, he spoke and wrote things, which few men dared to write and speak. ”

“ But although Mr Collier speaks thus calmly of his prize we are nevertheless convinced, by the rapidity of his conversion from the old readings to the new, that he, like the rest of us, is liable to be carried a little off his feet by any sudden stroke of prosperity, and is keenly alive (as most people are) to the superior merits of anything that happens to be his own. ”

“ A vigorous controversy ensued, part of the nonjurors holding with Collier and part being against him. He and his allies went so far as to pronounce the ' usages ' essential, and were therefore called 'essentialists.' In 1718 they published a new communion office, chiefly no doubt the work of Collier, which was brought into use at the Easter of that year ; communion with those who held to the Common Prayer-book was forbidden, and a fresh schism took place. ”

“ Collier was a very vain man who had made his fortune in the South Sea year, and having been originally a merchant, was very fond after he had retired to live upon his fortune, of a great deal of display and parade. ”

“ In 1772-3 Collier published a folio volume of twenty-six engravings, with poetical descriptions, entitled 'The Human Passions delineated, in above 120 figures, droll, satyrical, and humourous,' some of which had been before sold as separate plates. Other editions in folio were published in 1810, 1819, 1858, and 1860, and in quarto in 1811 and 1846. ”

“ Three Passages in "Measure for Measure."—H. C. K. has a treacherous memory, or rather, what I believe to be the truth, he, like myself, has not a complete Shakspeare apparatus. Collier's first edition surely cannot be in his library, or he would have known that Warburton, long ago, read seared for feared, and that the same word appears in Lord Ellesmere's copy of the first folio, the correction having been made, as Mr. Collier remarks, while the sheet was at press. I however assure H. C. K. that I regard his correction as perfectly original. ”

“ Not in the "Newcastle Programme."—Last week Sir Charles Freemantle, K.C.B., was presented with his portrait painted by Hon. John Collier, in Hon. John's best style; and so, for this work, Collier cannot be "hauled over the coals." À propos, evidently the artist to paint the present Ministry should be a Collier, as it is a Coalition Cabinet. If the Collier were a Radical, how coal-black the portraits would come out! ”

“ Collier was immediately afterwards promoted into the Arrogant 74. In Feb. 1803, he accompanied an expedition sent against the pirates on the Guzzurat coast, the result of which has also been stated in our memoir of Captain Dobbie.
About Nov. following, Mr. Collier exchanged into the St. Fiorenzo frigate, of which he was third lieutenant at the capture of la Psyche French 36, commanded by Mons. Bergeret, Feb. 14, 1805. The “able support” he afforded his captain on that occasion is duly acknowledged in the official account of the action, as will be seen by reference to p. ”

“ The congregation, on its part, was feeling some sense of discomfort, proceeding from overstrained and dissatisfied curiosity.
The bride was unusually late. Collier realized the fact from the impatient manner in which the best man consulted his watch. The organist, seeking fresh inspiration, availed himself freely of the privileges granted by the letters D.C. Everyone was growing weary.
A rush of wild hope shot through the veins of the prisoner. Men had been saved before by a miracle. ”

“ If we look at a collier, we see instantly that his back is curved, his legs bowed, and the extensor muscles of his calves withered through long disease. He has knotted himself so long, that the erect position of his race becomes a punishment to him. It is credibly related that a number of colliers, having been sentenced to imprisonment in Wakefield jail, with hard labour, the only complaint they made was, that they were obliged, whilst at work, to keep the ordinary posture of rational creatures. ”

“ Collier had written with moderation, and the reply evinces a similar spirit. The writer is anxious to prevent divisions among themselves: and he is apprehensive of danger from the proposed changes. He takes up the four points, in the order, in which they are ranged by Collier.
With respect to the mixture, he contends that it cannot be shewn to be necessary from Scripture, and that the first mention of it occurs not, until one hundred and fifty years after our Lord, by Justin Martyr. ”

“ Collier says that his erudition procured for him the title of the ‘Great Dictator of Learning,’ and that he was charitable to a fault, ‘easy of access, wonderfully communicative of his rare learning and knowledge, facetious and pleasant in conversation, never ruffled with passion.’ He adds that he was ‘endued with a strong habit of body made for noble undertakings, of a clean and venerable countenance’ (Dict. Supplement) . ”

“ When miners and colliers strike they term it, “going to play.”
“There’s wus things as tommy,” said a collier who had hitherto been silent, “and that’s these here butties. What’s going on in the pit is known only to God Almighty and the colliers. I have been a consistent methodist for many years, strived to do well, and all the harm I have ever done to the butties was to tell them that their deeds would not stand on the day of judgment.
“They are deeds of darkness surely; for many’s the morn we work for nothing, by one excuse or another, and many’s the good stint that they undermeasure. ”

“ Meanwhile Collier completed an annotated edition of Shakespeare, 8 vols., published in 1842-4. It was preceded by a pamphlet dwelling upon ' the lately acquired means of illustrating the plays, poems, and biography of the poet.' Besides the materials already noticed, they included certain manuscript corrections, 'probably as old as the reign of Charles I,' in a copy of the first folio of 1623 at Bridgewater House. In the text of his edition Collier was essentially conservative. ”

“ At thirty a miner begins to look wan and emaciated, and so does a collier at forty; while the farming labourer continues robust and hearty." [52] John Jones, relieving officer for the Holywell district, states—"Though the children and young persons employed in these works are healthy, still it is observable that they soon get to look old, and they often become asthmatic before they are forty." [53]
In the Forest of Dean, Mr. Thomas Marsh, surgeon, states that "colliers usually become old men at fifty to fifty-five years of age." ”

“ 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. ”

“ In Collier’s opinion Marvell may have been no better than a dissenter, but in fact he was a Churchman all his life, and it was Collier who lived to become a non-juror and a dissenter, and a schismatical bishop to boot. ”

“ With the rapid advance in the general improvement which has been going on, the collier's position in society has become greatly elevated; and his deeply-rooted superstitious feelings have been, to a great extent, dissipated. ”

“ His notions touching Episcopal government, holy orders, the efficacy of the sacraments, the authority of the Fathers, the guilt of schism, the importance of vestments, ceremonies, and solemn days, differed little from those which are now held by Dr. Pusey and Mr. Newman. Towards the close of his life, indeed, Collier took some steps which brought him still nearer to Popery, mixed water with the wine in the Eucharist, made the sign of the cross in confirmation, employed oil in the visitation of the sick, and offered up prayers for the dead. His politics were of a piece with his divinity. ”

“ No third supposition can be reasonably maintained. Mr. Knight's view, for example, gives no account of the immense number of coincidences with the conjectural emendations of the commentators. Whichever of the two hypotheses be the true one, I need hardly say that Mr. Collier's name is a sufficient guarantee for all honorable dealing, so far as he is connected with the MS. corrections. ”

“ Collier's Poetical Decameron, in two volumes, was published in 1820: a series of imaginary conversations on curious and little-known books. His "Twelfth Night" discoveries will be found in the Eighth Conversation; Collier deduces the play from Barnaby Rich's Farewell to Military Profession, 1606. He also describes Thomas Lodge's "Rosalynde," the forerunner of "As You Like It," in which is the character Rosader, whom Lamb calls Osrades. ”

“ John Collier, hangs in the dining-room of the Royal College of Physicians, to which, in the last year of his life, it was presented by the fellows in memory of the great service which he had rendered to the college by the publication of the 'Roll.' He became a Roman catholic in 1842, and from 1857 to 1865 was the medical adviser of Cardinal Wiseman. ”

“ From an early period Collier appears to have made a study of the Lancashire dialect. He was an acute observer of character, and for many years used to take note of every quaint and out-of-the-way term or phrase he heard in village alehouses and elsewhere. He had some acquaintance with Anglo-Saxon and early English literature, and possessed a good library for a man in his position. Among his books was a copy of Chaucer's ' Canterbury Tales,' printed by Caxton, which after- wards passed into Earl Spencer's collection. ”