dmission
into the green-room; and probably it was at this period, among his
other projects, that he planned several tragedies, which, however, as
Johnson observes, "he only planned." There is a feature in Collins's
character which requires attention. He is represented as a man of
cheerful dispositions; and it has been my study to detect only a
melancholy, which was preying on the very source of life itself.
Collins was, indeed, born to charm his friends; for fancy and elegance
were never absent from his susceptible mind, rich in its stores, and
versatile in its emotions. He himself indicates his own character, in
his address to "Home:"--

Go! nor, regardless while these numbers boast
My short-lived bliss, forget my social name.

Johnson has told us of his cheerful dispositions; and one who knew him
well observes, that "in the green-room he made diverting observations
on the vanity and false consequence of that class of people, and his
manner of relating them to his particular friends was extremely
entertaining:" but the same friend acknowledges that "some letters
which he received from Collins, though chiefly on business, have in
them some flights which strongly mark his character, and for which
reason I have preserved them." We cannot decide of the temper of a man
viewed only in a circle of friends, who listen to the ebullitions of
wit or fancy; the social warmth for a moment throws into forgetfulness
his secret sorrow. The most melancholy man is frequently the most
delightful companion, and peculiarly endowed with the talent of
satirical playfulness and vivacity of humour.[127] But what was the
true life of Collins, separated from its adventitious circumstances?
It was a life of want, never chequered by hope, that was striving to
elude its own observation by hurrying into some temporary dissipation.
But the hours of melancholy and solitude were sure to return; these
were marked on the dial of his life, and, when they struck, the gay
and lively Collins, like one of his own enchanted beings, as surely
relapsed into his natural shape. To the perpetual recollection of his
poetical disappointments are we to attribute this unsettled state of
his mind, and the perplexity of his studies. To these he was
perpetually reverting, which he showed when after a lapse of several
years, he could not rest till he had burned his ill-fated odes. And
what was the result of his literary life? He returned to his native
city of Chiche