| GENERAL EDITORS William E. Conway, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library George Robert Guffey, University of California, Los Angeles Maximillian E. Novak, University of California, Los Angeles ASSOCIATE EDITOR David S. Rodes, University of California, Los Angeles ADVISORY EDITORS Richard C. Boys, University of Michigan James L. Clifford, Columbia University Ralph Cohen, University of Virginia Vinton A. Dearing, University of California, Los Angeles Arthur Friedman, University of Chicago Louis A. Landa, Princeton University Earl Miner, University of California, Los Angeles Samuel H. Monk, University of Minnesota Everett T. Moore, University of California, Los Angeles Lawrence Clark Powell, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library James Sutherland, University College, London H. T. Swedenberg, Jr., University of California, Los Angeles Robert Vosper, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library CORRESPONDING SECRETARY Edna C. Davis, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Roberta Medford, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library |
Between 1710 and 1729 Anthony Collins was lampooned, satirized, andgravely denounced from pulpit and press as England’s most insidiousdefiler of church and state. Yet within a year of his death he became themodel of a proper country gentleman,
... he had an opulent Fortune, descended to him from his Ancestors,which he left behind him unimpair’d: He lived on his own Estate inthe Country, where his Tenants paid him moderate Rents, which henever enhanced on their making any Improvements; he always oblig’dhis Family to a constant attendance on Publick Worship; as he washimself a Man of the strictest Morality, for he never suffer’d anyBody about him who was deficient in that Point; he exercised auniversal Charity to all Sorts of People, without any Regard eitherto Sect or Party; being in the Commission of the Peace, headministered Justice with such Impartiality and Incorruptness, thatthe most distant Part of the County flock’d to his Decisions; but thechief Use he made of his Authority was in accommodatingDifferences;...[1]
In a comparison which likens him to Sir Roger de Coverley, there is lesstruth than fiction. What they did share was a love of the countryside anda “universal Charity” towards its inhabitants. For the most part, however,we can approximate Collins’s personality by reversing many of Sir Roger’straits. Often at war with his world, as the spectatorial character wasnot, he managed to maintain an intellectual rapport with it and even withthose who sought his humiliation. He never—as an instance—disguis