was in the habit of bestowing large sums yearly for the
release of poor debtors and the relief of indigent age and sickness, and
who gave (1711) no less than L6000 to increase Queen Anne's Bounty Fund
for the augmentation of small livings, was always keenly interested in
the organization and management of his foundations; the rules and
regulations were all drawn up by his hand, and the minutest details of
their constitution and economy were dictated by him. A high churchman
and Tory, with a genuine intolerance of dissent and dissenters, his name
and example have served as excuses for the formation of two political
benevolent societies--the "Anchor" (founded 1769) and the "Dolphin"
(founded 1749),--and also the "Grateful" (founded 1758), whose rivalry
has been perhaps as instrumental in keeping their patron's memory green
as have the splendid charities with which he enriched his native city
(see BRISTOL).

See Garrard, _Edward Colston, the Philanthropist_ (4to, Bristol,
1852); Pryce, _A Popular History of Bristol_ (1861); Manchee, _Bristol
Charities_.

COLT, SAMUEL (1814-1862), American inventor, was born on the 19th of
July 1814 at Hartford, Connecticut, where his father had a manufactory
of silks and woollens. At the age of ten he left school for the factory,
and at fourteen, then being in a boarding school at Amherst,
Massachusetts, he made a runaway voyage to India, during which (in 1829)
he constructed a wooden model, still existing, of what was afterwards to
be the revolver (see PISTOL). On his return he learned chemistry from
his father's bleaching and dyeing manager, and under the assumed name
"Dr Coult" travelled over the United States and Canada lecturing on that
science. The profits of two years of this work enabled him to continue
his researches and experiments. In 1835, having perfected a
six-barrelled rotating breech, he visited Europe, and patented his
inventions in London and Paris, securing the American right on his
return; and the same year he founded at Paterson, New Jersey, the Patent
Arms Company, for the manufacture of his revolvers only. As early as
1837 revolvers were successfully used by United States troops, under
Lieut.-Colonel William S. Harney, in fighting against the Seminole
Indians in Florida. Colt's scheme, however, did not succeed; the arms
were not generally appreciated; and in 1842 the company became
insolvent. No revolvers were made for five years, and none were to be
h