COLLINS

collins, john churton (1848-1908), english literary critic, was born on the 26th of march 1848 at bourton on the water, gloucestershire. from king edward's school, birmingham, he went to balliol college, oxford, where he graduated in 1872, and at once devoted himself to a literary career, as journalist, essayist and lecturer. his first book was a study of sir joshua reynolds (1874), and later he edited various classical english writers, and published volumes on _bolingbroke and voltaire in england_ (1886), a _study of english literature_ (1891), a study of _dean swift_ (1893), _essays and studies_ (1895), _ephemera critica_ (1901), _essays in poetry and criticism_ (1905), and _rousseau and voltaire_ (1908), his original essays being sharply controversial in tone, but full of knowledge. in 1904 he became professor of english literature at birmingham university. for many years he was a prominent university extension lecturer, and a constant contributor to the principal reviews. on the 15th of september 1908 he was found dead in a ditch near lowestoft, at which place he had been staying with a doctor for the benefit of his health. the circumstances necessitated the holding of an inquest, the verdict being that of "accidental death."