ifying works; the word is then
applied to the discussions arising from such readings. On fast days it
was usual in monasteries to have a very light meal after the _Collatio_,
and hence the meal itself came to be called "collation," a meaning which
survives in the modern use of the word for any light or quickly prepared
repast.

COLLE, CHARLES (1709-1783), French dramatist and song-writer, the son of
a notary, was born at Paris in 1709. He was early interested in the
rhymes of Jean Heguanier, then the most famous maker of couplets in
Paris. From a notary's office Colle was transferred to that of M. de
Neulan, the receiver-general of finance, and remained there for nearly
twenty years. When about seventeen, however, he made the acquaintance of
Alexis Piron, and afterwards, through Gallet (d. 1757), of Panard. The
example of these three masters of the vaudeville, while determining his
vocation, made him diffident; and for some time he composed nothing but
_amphigouris_--verses whose merit was measured by their
unintelligibility. The friendship of the younger Crebillon, however,
diverted him from this by-way of art, and the establishment in 1729 of
the famous "Caveau" gave him a field for the display of his fine talent
for popular song. In 1739 the Society of the Caveau, which numbered
among its members Helvetius, Charles Duclos, Pierre Joseph Bernard,
called Gentil-Bernard, Jean Philippe Rameau, Alexis Piron, and the two
Crebillons, was dissolved, and was not reconstituted till twenty years
afterwards. His first and his best comedy, _La Verite dans le vin_,
appeared in 1747. Meanwhile, the Regent Orleans, who was an excellent
comic actor, particularly in representations of low life, and had been
looking out for an author to write suitable parts for him, made Colle
his reader. It was for the duke and his associates that Colle composed
the greater part of his _Theatre de societe_. In 1763 Colle produced at
the Theatre Francais _Dupuis et Desronais_, a successful sentimental
comedy, which was followed in 1771 by _La Veuve_, which was a complete
failure. In 1774 appeared _La Partie de chasse de Henri Quatre_ (partly
taken from Dodsley's _King and the Miller of Mansfield_), Colle's last
and best play. From 1748 to 1772, besides these and a multitude of
songs, Colle was writing his _Journal_, a curious collection of literary
and personal strictures on his boon companions as well as on their
enemies, on Piron as on Voltaire