Charles Collé (1709 - November 3, 1783), was a French dramatist and songwriter. Events January 12 - Two-month freezing period begins in France - The coast of the Atlantic and Seine River freeze, crops fail and at least 24. ... November 3 is the 307th day of the year (308th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 58 days remaining. ... 1783 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... A dramatist is an author of dramatic compositions, usually plays. ... A songwriter is someone who writes either the lyrics or the music for songs. ...

The son of a notary, he was born at Paris. He became interested in the rhymes of Jean Heguanier, the most famous writer of couplets in Paris. From a notary's office Collé was transferred to that of the receiver-general of finance, where he remained for nearly twenty years. When about seventeen, however, he made the acquaintance of Alexis Piron, and afterwards, through Gallet (1698?-1757), of Panard. The example of these three masters of the vaudeville decided his future but also made him diffident; and for some time he composed nothing but amphigouris--verses whose merit was measured by their unintelligibility. The friendship of the younger Crébillon helped broaden his horizons, and the establishment in 1729 of the famous "Caveau" gave him a field for the display of his fine talent for popular song. The Eiffel Tower has become the symbol of Paris throughout the world. ... A couplet is a pair of lines of verse that form a unit. ... Alexis Piron (July 9, 1689 - January 21, 1773), was a French epigrammatist and dramatist. ... Vaudeville is a style of theater, also known as variety, which flourished in North America from the 1880s through the 1920s. ... Claude Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon (February 14, 1707 - April 12, 1777), was a French novelist. ...

In 1739 the Society of the Caveau, which numbered among its members Helvétius, Charles Pinot Duclos, Pierre Joseph Bernard, called Gentil-Bernard, Jean-Philippe Rameau, Alexis Piron, and the two Crébillons, was dissolved, and was not reconstituted till twenty years afterwards. His first and his best comedy, La Vérité dans le vin, appeared in 1747. Events March 20 - Nadir Shah occupies Delhi in India and sacks the city stealing the jewels of the Peacock Throne, including the Koh-i-Noor September 9 - Stono Rebellion erupts near Charleston September 18 - Treaty of Belgrade signed October 3 - Treaty of Nissa signed October 23 - Great Britain declares war... Claude Adrien Helvétius ( January 1715 - December 26, 1771) was a French philosopher and litterateur. ... Charles Pinot Duclos (February 12, 1704 _ March 26, 1772), was a French author. ... Jean-Philippe Rameau (September 25, 1683 - September 12, 1764) was one of the most important French composers and music theorists of the Baroque era. ... Events January 31 - The first venereal diseases clinic opens at London Dock Hospital April 9 - The Scottish Jacobite Lord Lovat was beheaded by axe on Tower Hill, London, for high treason; he was the last man to be executed in this way in Britain May 14 - First battle of Cape...

Meanwhile, Philippe II of Orléans, who was an excellent comic actor, particularly in representations of low life, and had been looking out for an author to write suitable parts for him, made Collé his reader. It was for the duke and his associates that Collé composed the greater part of his Théâtre de société. In 1763 Collé produced at the Théâtre Français Dupuis et Desronais, a successful sentimental comedy, which was followed in 1771 by La Veuve, which was a complete failure. In 1774 appeared La Partie de chasse de Henri Quatre (partly taken from Dodsley's King and the Miller of Mansfield), Collé's last and best play. Philip II, Duke of Orléans - Wikipedia /**/ @import /skins/monobook/IE50Fixes. ... 1763 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... The Comédie-Française or Théâtre français is the only state theater in France. ... Robert Dodsley (1703 - September 23, 1764) was an English bookseller and miscellaneous writer. ...

From 1748 to 1772, besides these and a multitude of songs, Collé was writing his Journal, a curious collection of literary and personal strictures on his boon companions as well as on their enemies, on Piron as on Voltaire, on La Harpe as on Pierre Corneille. Voltaire François-Marie Arouet (November 21, 1694 – May 30, 1778), better known by the pen name Voltaire, was a French Enlightenment writer, deist and philosopher. ... Jean-François de la Harpe (November 20, 1739 - February 11, 1803), French critic, was born in Paris of poor parents. ... Pierre Corneille (June 6, 1606–October 1, 1684) was one of the three great dramatists produced by France during the 17th century, along with Molière and Racine. ...

Collé's lyrics are frank and jovial, though often licentious. The subjects are love and wine; occasionally, however, as in the famous lyric (1756) "On the capture of Port Mahon", for which the author received a pension of 600 livres, the note of patriotism is struck with no unskilful hand, while in many others Collé shows considerable epigrammatic force.

See also H Bonhomme's edition (1868) of his Journal et Mémoires (1748-1772); Grimm's Correspondance; and CA Sainte-Beuve, Nouveaux lundis, vol. vii. Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve (December 23, 1804 – October 13, 1869) was a literary critic and one of the major figures of French literary history. ...

This article incorporates text from the public domain 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica. The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ... The Eleventh Edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica ( 1911) in many ways represents the sum of knowledge at the beginning of the 20th century. ...