, secretary and reader to the duke of Orleans, was born at Paris in 1709,
, secretary and reader to the duke
of Orleans, was born at Paris in 1709, and died in the same
city Nov. 2, 1783, at the age of 75. In his character were
united a singular disposition to gaiety, and an uncommon
degree of sensibility; the death of a beloved wife accelerated his own. Without affecting the qualities of
beneficence and humanity, he was humane and beneficent.
Having a propensity to the drama from his infancy, he
cultivated it with success. His “Partie-de-Chasse de
Henri IV.
” (from which our “Miller of Mansfield
” is taken) exhibits a very faithful picture of that good king.
His comedy of “Dupuis and Desronais,
” in the manner of
Terence, may perhaps be destitute of the vis cornica; but
the sentiments are just, the characters well supported, and
the situations pathetic. Another comedy, entitled “Truth
in wine, or the Disasters of Gallantry,
” has more of satire and broad humour. There are several more pieces of
his, in which he paints, with no less liveliness than truth,
the manners of his time; but his pencil is frequently as
licentious as those manners. His talent at song-writing
procured him the appellation of the Anacreon of the age,
but here too he was deficient in delicacy. His song on
the capture of Portmahon was the means of procuring him
a pension from the court of 600 livres, perhaps the first
favour of the kind ever bestowed. He was one of the last
survivers of a society of wits who met under the name of
the Caveau, and is in as much honourable remembrance
as the Kit- K at club in London. This assembly, says a journalist, was of as much consequence to literature as an academy. Colle frequently used to regret those good old
times, when this constellation of wits were wont to meet
together, as men of letters, free and independent. The
works of this writer are collected in 3 volumes, 12mo,
under the title of " Theatre de SocieteY' Colle* was a
cousin of the poet Regnard, whom he likewise resembled
in his originality of genius.