Canning, George

(1770-1827)

   Statesman, was b. in London, the s. of a lawyer. He lost his f. while still an infant, and was brought up by an uncle, who sent him to Eton and Oxf. In 1793 he entered Parliament as a supporter of Pitt, and soon became one of the most brilliant debaters in the House. After filling various offices, including that of Foreign Sec., with striking ability, he was in 1827 appointed Prime Minister, but d., deeply mourned by the nation, a few months later. He has a place in literature as the leading spirit in the Anti-Jacobin, a paper started during the French Revolution, in support of the English Constitution, and which, with Gifford for ed., had many of the most eminent men of the day as contributors. C. wrote the Needy Knife-grinder, The Loves of the Triangles, parts II. and III., a parody on E. Darwin's Loves of the Plants, The Progress of Man, etc. His coll. Poems were pub. 1823.