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 principal work was his _Odes_ (1747), including those to _Evening_ and _The Passions_, 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 _Superstitions 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 Dickens in _No Thoroughfare_.