studentship of Christ Church, Oxford, where he was eminent as a tutor; a charge which he executed to his own, the college, and university's honour and benefit: from hence he was called into Lord Pelham's family, to superintend the education of the late Duke of Newcastle, and his brother, Mr. Pelham, who ever retained (as many letters now extant show) a most affectionate regard for him; but, being a man of too independent and liberal principles ever to solicit for any favour for himself, he never met with any return for his sedulous attention to them till a short time before his death, when he was promoted to a canonry of Christ Church. He was honoured with the esteem of the late Lord Grenville, than whom none at that time was a better judge of merit, and men of learning. He was allowed to be as polite a scholar, and as ingenious a writer, as any of the age. In closeness of argument, and perspicuity and elegance of language he had not his equal. Never was any private man employed in more trusts, or discharged them with greater integrity. He was a true friend to religion, the university, and the clergy; a man of exemplary piety, and extensive charity. 1784, Feb. A FRIEND TO BIOGRAPHY. IT XXVI. Biographical Memoirs of Mr. ARTHUR COLLINS, MR. URBAN, may save some trouble to the searchers after biographical anecdotes if you tell them, that Arthur Collins, concerning whom inquiry was made in your last, began to publish his "Baronage" in detached volumes; of which the first, inscribed to Sir Robert Walpole, appeared in 1727, 4to; and another volume, containing the Cavendishes, Veres, &c. in 1752. I know not the order of any other of the volumes, but it appeared complete in six volumes, 8vo. 1756; again, in seven volumes, 1768; and once more, in eight volumes, 1779. His English Baronetage" was published in five volumes, 8vo. 1741. " I shall be happy to see this imperfect account enlarged. Mean time I send you two original letters of Mr. Collins, which must excite the commiseration of your readers. To Dr. BIRCH. Upper Holloway, June 22, 1749. "WHEN I left the Earl of Leicester's letters, &c. with the Hon. Mr. Yorke, I was in hopes he would have considered me somewhat towards the expence I was at in copying of them; but having been twice with him since he had them, and not taking any notice to me about them, I should be much obliged if you would hint to him that they really cost me upwards of ten guineas, and that I should be contented with five guineas. "I would not mention this, if my circumstances did not oblige me to live in a narrow compass; and I really think, if I had made an offer of the papers to Mr. Perry*, he would have made me a present of ten guineas for them. "I am ashamed to mention this to Mr. Yorke; and hope you will excuse my request; who am, Sir, "Your most obliged humble servant, "ARTHUR COLLINS." To the DUKE of NEWCAStle. St. John's Square, May 8, 1754. "May it please your Grace, "I have ever had the highest esteem of your Grace; and humbly hope you have entertained no ill impression of me, who have endeavoured to serve you to the utmost of my abilities, and, if I know myself, no person has more grateful thoughts. "The book of the Holles family, &c. which I gave your Grace in large paper, being printed at my own expence, and containing only a few families, such a number is not yet sold as defrayed the charge thereof; and the printer lately wanting the remainder of the money owing to him, I was obliged to give it to him, which has reduced me to great straits. "Your Grace, I humbly hope, won't let it be said, that, after retrieving the memory of your ancestors, and of others who have deserved well of their country, I was suffered to die in a starving condition, when it was in your power to relieve me! *Of Penshurst, who married one of the co-heiresses of the Leicester family. "I earnestly beg you will be so humane as to order a warrant for some money for me, being in such want as I know not well how to act or turn myself; and am ashamed to make my case publicly known, who am, with the greatest submission, "Your Grace's most faithful and most devoted humble servant, 1783, May. "ARTHUR Collins." MR. URBAN, Fleet-street, March 12. Of those who have devoted their literary labours to useful purposes, justice demands that we rescue the memory from oblivion, by recording such particulars of their lives as may be accurately acquired. In this respect, I know no publication that has more worthily distinguished itself than the Gentleman's Magazine. To that Repository of useful and polite Literature, I, among many others, have been greatly indebted; and I feel a pleasure in contributing even a mite in return for the obligation. Of a man whose works have done so much honour to his own industry, and so much service to his country, as those of Arthur Collins, it has astonished me to find, in the very many books which I have consulted, no mention whatever*. His life, who immortalized others, has been wholly disregarded by posterity; yet, I think, Mr. Urban, you will not consider a page of your Miscellany unusefully occupied by the following brief sketch, which may, perhaps, be improved by some more able correspondent than, The Historiographer of the "Baronage" and "Baronetage" of England, was born in the year 1682. He was the son of William Collins, Esq. (Gentleman-usher to Queen Catherine in 1669) by his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Blyth, whose wife was daughter of John Horwood, Esq. of Okely, in the county of Southampton. * I should except two original letters of his which appear in your Gent. Mag. vol. LIII. p. 414; and which shew how hardly the world used this ipdefatigable investigator of noble genealogies. Having received a liberal education, and being from his youth much inclined to the cultivation of letters, particularly to the study of antiquity, he conceived the arduous design of digesting a compendious account of the nobility of those kingdoms, whose genealogies had till that time lain mouldering in private cabinets. For the execution of this task he was certainly entitled to the gratitude of the nobility, if we consider the great pains he took to investigate, and the perspicuous manner in which he has recorded, the illustrious deeds of their ancestors; tracing with a faithful and interesting pen the steps by which each family had risen to eminence. Neither was a work of this nature without a considerable claim upon his countrymen at large; inasmuch as a faithful picture of the rewards attendant on meritorious services and heroic actions must necessarily prove the strongest incitement to the statesman, the soldier, and the citizen, to pursue the glorious career of virtue and honour. The merit of the before-mentioned works is unquestionable, and to the present day they have continued the great authorities to which all subsequent writers on the same subject have had recourse. But the fruits of them were not in proportion; nor did their author experience that liberal patronage to which the many midnight vigils he had passed in dry genealogical studies, seemed to give him an indubitable claim. The other literary productions which bear his name are, the "Sydney State Papers;" some "Historical Collections. of the noble Families of Cavendish, Holles, Vere, Harley, and Ogle;" and a "Life of Edward the Black Prince." Delighted with raking in the dust of the closet, with poring over MSS. scarcely legible, and rescuing half-deYoured sentences from the combined attacks of time and the moth, he lost many years which might have been employed much more profitably to himself. While unfolding the pedigrees of other families, he lost sight of the provision which was necessary for his own. Such were the laborious productions of Arthur Collins, and so inadequate his rewards! Whatever praise is due to biographical literature in general, certainly belongs to one who dipped even into the funereal urn to stamp his labours with authenticity; and such is the credit they have obtained, that, while there remains a spark of veneration for the ancestry and actions of our peerage, the volumes which record them, and bear Collins's name, will be consulted as the faithful history of that splendid and necessary part (which has been so happily termed the "Corinthian column") of the British constitution. Mr. Collins married about the year 1708; died in 1760; and was interred in the parish church of Battersea, in Surrey. He had issue several children; of whom one son only survived him, viz. Arthur Tooker Collins, Esq. who died on the 4th of January, 1793 (a major-general in the service, and commandant of the Plymouth division of marines); closing in London a life of honourable service, zeal, and integrity. David Collins, Esq. who has lately favoured the public with an ample and interesting "Account of the English Settlement in New South Wales," is a son of Major-Gen. Collins above mentioned; and it is chiefly from data which I procured from this gentleman, that the foregoing sketch of his grandfather has been written. 1799, April. S. J. XXVII. Anecdotes of the Rev. Dr. JOHN FOSTER, of Eton. MR. URBAN, Windsor, Dec. 12. THE following Epitaph, for its novelty and peculiarity, is offered to you; it claims an asylum in your very valuable Miscellany, as many will there contemplate it, who received their education under the learned man who undoubtedly wrote it for himself. It is to be seen on a neat tomb erected in the church-yard of this place : Hic jaceo JOHANNES FOSTER, S. T. P. Literas, quarum rudimenta Etonæ hauseram, Qui fuerim ex hoc marmore cognosces, Eo scilicet supremo tempore, Quo egomet, qualis et tu fueris, cognoscam. Ut ibidem bonus ipse tunc appareas. |