John Collins (1742 – 2 May 1808) was an
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
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* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
entertainer and poet from
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...
.
Life
He was born at
Bath
Bath may refer to:
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Plac ...
, and from some lines in his own collection of poems, entitled 'Scripscrapologia,' he would seem to have been a tailor's son.
He was bred up to the business of a staymaker, but an occupation of that nature ill accorded with his disposition, and he very early in life made his appearance on the Bath stage, and filled many parts there, extending to 'tragedy, genteel comedy, low comedy, and old men and country boys in farces and operas,' a range of character which could not have been uniformly successful.
In October 1764, he appeared at the theatre in
Smock Alley,
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
, as young Mirabel in the 'Inconstant,' and 'proved a very respectable acquisition to the Irish stage.'
In Ireland, as at Bath, the characters assigned to him were of necessity often varied, but he seems to have always played with credit, and to have made his mark in comic opera.
It is stated in the 'Memoirs of Charles Lee Lewes,' i. 79-85, that Collins played Captain Plume at
Covent Garden
Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist si ...
Theatre 'many years ago,' but that a severe cold prevented him from obtaining the success which his talents deserved, and drove him from the London stage into the country.
At a later period he returned to London 'with a very entertaining evening's amusement called "The Brush," composed of pleasant old theatrical stories well told, with humorous songs well written by him-self.'
His entertainment had different names at different periods.
Dr. Thomas Campbell of Clogher, who paid a visit to London in 1775, went one evening ' to hear Collins lecture upon oratory at the Devil tavern,' and noted in his diary that ' the fellow displayed good enunciation and good sense. His ridicule of the Scots, Welsh, and Irish was passing well'.
At
Belfast
Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...
, in 1776, the performance was styled 'The Elements of Modern Oratory ; ' at another date the title of 'The Brush ' was given to it ; and at a still later year the name was changed to 'The Evening Brush.'
In substance, however, the entertainment never changed ; it was from first to last a medley of 'story, song, and sentiment.'
During the winter of 1791-2 Collins gave his performance at the
Lyceum Theatre in London on fifty-two nights, and with that striking tribute to his popularity he quit the London stage.
In January 1793, he was amusing
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...
audiences by his recitations, and in that year he was so far settled in that town as to occupy a house in Great Brook Street,
Ashted
Ashted (alternatively spelt ''Ashstead'' and ''Ashtead'') is an area of Birmingham in the United Kingdom, within the ward of Nechells. The area is located approximately north-east of Birmingham City Centre near to the city's Eastside district, ...
.
By these performances he obtained a 'well-earned easy competency,' and it must have been with some portion of his gains that he acquired an interest with a Mr. Swinney in a newspaper called ''The Birmingham Chronicle.''
Many of the poetic effusions of Collins were inspired by local events, and many of them were published in his paper, from the pages of which, as he complains, they were reproduced without acknowledgment.
While he was resident in Birmingham his niece, Miss Brent, lived with him.
Collins suffered in the spring of 1808 from a severe illness, but his death at Birmingham on 2 May 1808, in his sixty-sixth year, was sudden.
Works
The best-known of the poems of Collins, most of which are of unusual excellence for the date of their composition, are 'To-morrow,' 'The Golden Days of good Queen Bess,' 'Date obolum Belisario,' and ' Ben Block,' the last of which was printed in 'Notes and Queries' for 17 April 1886, p. 310 ; and the chief merit of his performances lay in the feeling with which he sang his lyric compositions, the 'rare perfection ' of his musical expression being universally acknowledged. The original manuscript of 'The Brush,' formerly in the possession of Thomas Bell and William Pinkerton, is now the property of Mr. Samuel Timmins of Birmingham.
It was printed at Newcastle in 1800.
In 1804 there was printed at Birmingham a volume of the poems of Collins, with the queer title of 'Scripscrapologia, or Collins's doggerel dish of all sorts. To it is prefixed a portrait of the author, followed by an apostrophe to Mr. Meyler, bookseller and printer in the Grove, Bath. His name is found on the title-pages of two other works: 1. 'Lecture on Heads
y G. A. Stevensas delivered by Mr. Palmer at the Royalty Theatre. . . . The Golden Days of good Queen Bess, written by Mr. Collins/ n. d.
787
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* Porsche 787, a race car from the 1960s
* 787 series, a train model o ...
12 pages. 2. 'The Theatrical Banquet, or the Actor's Budget. Together with Collins's "Evening Brush."
ompiledby W. Oxberry,' 1809, 2 vols., the portion belonging to Collins filling pp. 3–44 of vol. ii.
Family
His wife, who was distinguished for her beauty, painted likenesses in profile at the price of half a guinea each, 'frame and glass included.'
She suffered from cancer in the breast and died from the effects of an operation.
They had no family.
References
;Attribution
External links
John Collins Bartleby.com. Accessed August 27, 2012.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, John
1742 births
1808 deaths
British newspaper people
18th-century English male actors
English poets
English male stage actors