Memoirs of the Life of William Collins, Esq., R.A.

There is much in this book that will interest the English artist. The story of the painter's life is plainly told — with just enough, scattered here and there, of filial affection and partiality to take it out of the level of ordinary biographies. The journals are rather short, and the correspondence is somewhat scanty, but the matter is generally good, and some of the criticisms will be found both original and suggestive. William Collins, the father of well-known author Wilkie Collins, was born in Great Titchfield Street, London, on the 18th of September 1788. His father was a native of Wicklow — his mother was a Scottish lady, born in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh. "It was a favourite tradition in the family of the painter," writes his son, "that they were descended from the same stock as the great poet whose name they bore;"—a pleasing belief rendered additionally interesting by some anecdotes.