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THE SUSSEX MUSE. 243
bond that unite the characters together, and that are violently rent asunder, like the parting of soul and body;" and "the solemn march of the tragical events to the fatal catastrophe that winds up and closes over all." Much that he wrote has passed into a merciful oblivion, but "Venice Preserved" remains as a lasting monument for unhappy Otway.
In William Collins, we have a gentler but equally melancholy spirit. He was born 25th December, 1721, at Chichester, of which ancient city his father, a hatter, was mayor. At Winchester school he had the friendship of Joseph Warton, which continued to the end of his life. At Oxford, where he was successively at New, Queen's, and Magdalene Colleges, he was intimate with Gilbert White. His university course was marred by dissipation, but the " Persian Eclogues," which were published before he had taken his B.A. degree, show that he had begun to work a new vein of poetic gold. After the death of his father and mother, his uncle thought him " too indolent even for the army," and therefore it was designed to place him in the church. But though a title to a curacy was obtained, the charms of literature were too strong, |
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