_A Man in Earnest: Life of A. H.
Conant_ (1868); _The Life That Now is_ (1871); _The Simple Truth_
(1877); _Talks to Young Men: With Asides to Young Women_ (1888); _Things
New and Old_ (1893); _Father Taylor_ (1906); and _A History of the Town
and Parish of Ilkley_ (with Horsefall Turner, 1886).

COLMAN, SAINT (d. 676), bishop of Lindisfarne, was probably an Irish
monk at Iona. Journeying southwards he became bishop of Lindisfarne in
661, and a favoured friend of Oswio, king of Northumbria. He was at the
synod of Whitby in 664, when the great dispute between the Roman and the
Celtic parties in the church was considered; as spokesman of the latter
party he upheld the Celtic usages, but King Oswio decided against him
and his cause was lost. After this event Colman and some monks went to
Iona and then to Ireland. He settled on the island of Inishbofin, where
he built a monastery and where he died on the 8th of August 676.

Colman must be distinguished from St Colman of Cloyne (c. 522-600), an
Irish saint, who became a Christian about 570; and also from another
Irishman, St Colman Ela (553-610), a kinsman of St Columba. The word
Colman is derived from the Latin _columbus_, a dove, and the _Book of
Leinster_ mentions 209 saints of this name.

COLMAN, GEORGE (1732-1794), English dramatist and essayist, usually
called "the Elder," and sometimes "George the First," to distinguish him
from his son, was born in 1732 at Florence, where his father was
stationed as resident at the court of the grand duke of Tuscany.
Colman's father died within a year of his son's birth, and the boy's
education was undertaken by William Pulteney, afterwards Lord Bath,
whose wife was Mrs Colman's sister. After attending a private school in
Marylebone, he was sent to Westminster School, which he left in due
course for Christ Church, Oxford. Here he made the acquaintance of
Bonnell Thornton, the parodist, and together they founded _The
Connoisseur_ (1754-1756), a periodical which, although it reached its
140th number, "wanted weight," as Johnson said. He left Oxford after
taking his degree in 1755, and, having been entered at Lincoln's Inn
before his return to London, he was called to the bar in 1757. A
friendship formed with David Garrick did not help his career as a
barrister, but he continued to practise until the death of Lord Bath,
out of respect for his wishes.

In 1760 he produced his first play, _Polly Honeycomb_, which met with