Charles Caleb Colton
Charles Caleb Colton (baptized December 11, 1777 , † April 28, 1832 in Fontainebleau ) was an English cleric and writer who became known for his eccentric lifestyle.
Life
Charles Caleb Colton attended Eton College , studied at King's College (Cambridge) since 1796 and received a Bachelor of Arts in 1801 and a Magister Artium in 1804 . Since 1801 he was long vicar in Tiverton in Devon . However, he was known more as a hunter, especially as a skilled fisherman, than as a clergyman. In 1810 he published a Plain and Authentic Narrative of the Sampford Ghost , in 1812 the satirical poem Hypocrisy , in 1816 a poem first named Napoleon under the title Lines on the Conflagration of Moscow (4th edition 1822) and in 1819 Remarks Critical and Moral on the Talents of Lord Byron . As vicar in Kew and Petersham , which office he held since 1818, he was noticed by his eccentric manner. At times he also worked as a wine merchant. Towards the end of 1820, the first volume of his work Lacon, or Many Things appeared in Few Words , which saw five more editions in 1821; A second volume followed in 1822. It was a philosophical work composed of key sayings, especially based on Francis Bacon and William Burdon (1764-1818), which caused a sensation in England.
His gambling addiction drove Colton so deeply into debt that in 1828 he was compelled to escape to America. He later lived in Paris , where he was successively a painting dealer, wine merchant, poet, correspondent for the Morning Chronicle , but always a passionate gambler. He often visited the gambling salons of the Palais Royal and is said to have won a sum of money worth 25,000 English pounds, but ultimately lost almost all of his fortune. Contrary to one of his main sayings in the Lacon , he shot himself on April 28, 1832 in Fontainebleau for fear of an inevitable surgical operation. An unpublished volume at the time of his death, Modern Antiquity and other Poems , was edited by M. Sherwell in 1835.
literature
- Charles Caleb Colton . In: Meyers Konversations-Lexikon . 4th edition. Volume 4, Verlag des Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig / Vienna 1885–1892, p. 222.
Web links
Remarks
- ↑ Colton was baptized on December 11, 1777 in Shrivenham , Berkshire (John D. Haigh Colton, Charles Caleb , in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online).
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Colton, Charles Caleb |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | English cleric and writer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | baptized December 11, 1777 |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 28, 1832 |
| Place of death | Fontainebleau |