View source for Charles Caleb Colton

{{Short description|English cleric, writer and collector}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
'''Charles Caleb Colton''' (bapt. 11 December 1777 – 28 April 1832) was an [[England|English]] cleric, writer and collector, well known for his eccentricities.<ref name="ODNB">{{cite ODNB|id=5999|first=John D.|last=Haigh|title=Colton, (Charles) Caleb (bap. 1777, d. 1832)}}</ref>

==Life==
The son of the Rev. Barfoot Colton, he was educated at [[Eton College]] and [[King's College, Cambridge]], graduating B.A. in 1801, and M.A. in 1804.<ref name="ODNB"/><ref>{{acad|id=CLTN796C|name=Colton or Coulton, Caleb}}</ref> In 1801, he was presented by the college with the [[perpetual curacy]] of [[Tiverton, Devon|Tiverton]]'s Prior's Quarter in [[Devon]], where he lived for many years.  He was appointed to the [[vicar]]age of [[Kew]] and [[Petersham, London|Petersham]] in 1812. His performance of church-related functions at both locations was erratic: at times conscientious and brilliant while at other times cursory and indulgent. He left formal church service, and England, in 1828. Contemporaries believed that he had fled from his [[creditor]]s, who took out a legal "[[docket (court)|docket]]" against him, identifying him as a wine-merchant.

For two years Colton traveled throughout the [[United States]]. He later established a modest residence in [[Paris]].  There he invested in an art gallery and had a large private collection of valuable paintings. Other pastimes included wine collecting and [[partridge]]-shooting. He also frequented the gaming salons of the "[[Palais Royal]]" and was so successful that in a year or two he acquired the equivalent of 25,000 English pounds. He continued [[gambling]], however, and lost his French fortune. At the time of his death, Colton was living on funds received from his immediate family. An illness required surgery, but Colton dreaded the operation.  He eventually killed himself rather than undergo the procedure.

==Literary work==
Colton's books, including collections of epigrammatic [[aphorism]]s and short [[essay]]s on conduct, though now almost forgotten, had a phenomenal popularity in their day. Toward the end of 1820, Colton published ''Lacon, or Many Things in Few Words, addressed to those who think'', in a small cheap edition. It attracted attention and praise, however, and five additional printings were issued in 1821. ''Lacon, Vol. II'' appeared in 1822. In 1822, Colton re-published a previous work on [[Napoleon]], with extensive additions, under the title of ''The Conflagration of Moscow.'' In Paris he printed ''An Ode on the Death of [[Lord Byron]]'' for private circulation and continued to write. At his death he left an unpublished poem of 600 lines called ''Modern Antiquity.''

In the twentieth century and to the present day Colton has been read most frequently perhaps in quotation books, including ''[[Bartlett's Familiar Quotations]]'', where many of his aphorisms have been preserved.

== References ==
{{Reflist}}
{{A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature}}

==External links==
{{wikisource|works=or}}
{{wikiquote}}
* [http://essays.quotidiana.org/colton/ Essays by Charles Colton] at [http://essays.quotidiana.org/ Quotidiana.org]
* [https://archive.org/details/laconormanything00colt <!-- quote=charles caleb colton. --> LACON book downloadable from Internet Archive]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Colton, Charles Caleb}}
[[Category:1780 births]]
[[Category:1831 deaths]]
[[Category:People educated at Eton College]]
[[Category:Alumni of King's College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:19th-century English Anglican priests]]
[[Category:Aphorists]]
[[Category:English essayists]]
[[Category:1830s suicides]]