in wisdom and in wit. Vanbrugh had little better success, though he pointed out a flaw or two in his great adversary's pamphlet. Both were answered in crushing style by Collier, 'for contest was his delight ; he was not to be frighted from his purpose or his prey' (Johnson, Lives of the Poets, Works, x. 192). The wretched D'Urfey tried to retaliate in a song and a preface. Others followed Dennis, Drake, Filmer, and a crowd of small and some anonymous writers. Collier renewed his attack, and, in spite of all the efforts of the poets, remained the victor. Even Congreve and Vanbrugh acknowledged their defeat, for, conscious of the change in public opinion, they cut out some coarse expressions in their plays, the one making some alterations in the 'Double Dealer,' which in 1698 was advertised to be acted 'with several expressions omitted,' the other in the 'Provoked Wife' (Beljame). Collier's pamphlet ushered in a new era in dramatic literature. Gibber remarks that 'his calling dramatick writers to this strict account had a very wholesome effect on those who writ after this time.' The courage implied in this attack can scarcely be over-estimated. Although he was a writer of no special mark, he dared to array against himself the most fashionable authors of the day, the whole band of wits who provided the favourite amusement of the upper classes of society. Champion as he was of the Stuart cause, he did not shrink from making war upon habits closely connected with the Restoration and advocating sentiments that were especially agreeable to the presbyterians. And at the very time when he thus deliberately offended a large and powerful body of men, and ran the risk of being jeered at as a false friend to the cause for which he had suffered so much, he was in disgrace with the government, an actual outlaw, and was blamed by all except violent Jacobites for his imprudent conduct two years before. (A list of works on Collier's attack on the stage is given below ; for full treatment of the whole subject see M. Beljame's admirable Histoire du Public et des Homines de Lettres en Angleterre).
During the reign of Anne several attempts were made to induce Collier to take the oaths and return to the national church. He refused to do so, and continued to minister to a separate congregation of nonjurors. While the controversy of the stage was still going on, he put forth the first two volumes of his 'Historical Dictionary,' founded on, and in great part translated from, the work of L. Moreri. Although many of the original articles, especially those on church matters, are learned, the book as a whole did not satisfy the requirements of scholars, and was pronounced inaccurate (Hearne, Collections, i. 38). The labour of production must have been very great. In 1708 he published the first folio volume of his 'Ecclesiastical History,' which comes down to the reign of Henry VII. Hearne, who seems hitherto to have had a small opinion of his scholarship, did not expect much from it ; he afterwards notes that he was mistaken (ib. 316). It is a work of great learning, the first of its kind that had appeared, save Fuller's 'Church History,' and, in spite of the advance of historical scholarship, it has not lost its value. Besides a narrative of events, it contains several dissertations, largely taken from other writers, on subjects of ecclesiastical importance. It recognises the necessity of basing history on original authorities by giving copious and minute references ; and though Collier's peculiar views on church questions may be discerned in his treatment of certain points, his representation of facts is honest and impartial. Collier now judged it well 'to breathe a little after a folio' (Preface to Essays, iii). Nevertheless he did not abstain from literary work. It is curious to find him writing to Atkins the publisher on 1 Dec. 1710 with reference to the advertisement of some book of his that was forthcoming (which of his books this was does not appear), and warning him to frame it so as not to give 'an expectation of a quarrelling humour.' This letter is signed 'J. Smith' (Addit. MS. 4275). Collier did not remain without matter for controversy, for the second volume of his ' History,' which deals with the Reformation and puritan periods, was attacked with some asperity by Bishop Nicholson, and with greater judgment by Bishops Burnet and Kennet, and was defended by the author. Towards the end of the reign Collier appears to have officiated in a room up two pairs of stairs in Broad Street, London, and about this time to have had Thomas Carte [q. v.], the historian, as his assistant. In 1712 he was invited by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, through Nelson and Higden, to write a treatise on the abuse of music, for distribution to organists and music-teachers, to dissuade them from teaching their pupils lewd songs and from composing music to profane ballads. As, however, he was then hard at work on the second volume of his ' History,' he declined the offer (Secretan, Life of Nelson, p. 69). On the death of Wagstaffe in this year the separation of the nonjurors from the national church seemed as though it would before long come to an end, for Hickes was now the only surviving bishop. With the help,
