e beyond question unrivalled for rich melancholy
fulness in the literature between Milton and Keats.

The life of Collins was written by Dr Johnson; he found an
enthusiastic editor in Dr Langhorne in 1765, and in 1858 a kindly
biographer in Mr Moy Thomas. (E. G.)

COLLINS, WILLIAM (1787-1847), English painter, son of an Irish picture
dealer and man of letters, the author of a _Life of George Morland_, was
born in London. He studied under Etty in 1807, and in 1809 exhibited his
first pictures of repute--"Boys at Breakfast," and "Boys with a Bird's
Nest." In 1815 he was made associate of the Royal Academy, and was
elected R. A. in 1820. For the next sixteen years he was a constant
exhibitor; his fishermen, shrimp-catchers, boats and nets, stretches of
coast and sand, and, above all, his rustic children were universally
popular. Then, however, he went abroad on the advice of Wilkie, and for
two years (1837-1838) studied the life, manners and scenery of Italy. In
1839 he exhibited the first fruits of this journey; and in 1840, in
which year he was appointed librarian to the Academy, he made his first
appearance as a painter of history. In 1842 he returned to his early
manner and choice of subject, and during the last years of life enjoyed
greater popularity than ever. Collins was a good colourist and an
excellent draughtsman. His earlier pictures are deficient in breadth and
force, but his later work, though also carefully executed, is rich in
effects of tone and in broadly painted masses. His biography by his son,
W. Wilkie Collins, the novelist, appeared in 1848.

COLLINS, WILLIAM WILKIE (1824-1889), English novelist, elder son of
William Collins, R.A., the landscape painter, was born in London on the
8th of January 1824. He was educated at a private school in Highbury,
and when only a small boy of twelve was taken by his parents to Italy,
where the family lived for three years. On their return to England
Wilkie Collins was articled to a firm in the tea trade, but four years
later he abandoned that business for the law, and was entered at
Lincoln's Inn in 1846, being called to the bar three years later. He
found little pleasure in his new career, however; though what he learned
in it was exceedingly valuable to him later. On his father's death in
1847 young Collins made his first essay in literature, publishing the
_Life of William Collins_, in two volumes, in the following year. In
1850 he put for