Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 08.djvu/416

 and on which he had spent many years. This does not appear to have been published. Canne's eyes were again set homeward, and in 1649 five of his books were published in London: 1. 'The Improvement of Time.' 2. ' The Golden Rule, or Justice advanced in justification of the legal proceedings of the High Court of Justice against Charles Steward, late king of England.' 3. 'The Snare is Broken. Wherein is proved, by Scripture, Law, and Reason, that the National Covenant and Oath was unlawfully given and taken. Published by authority,' 1649, 4to. The dedication, to the Rt. Hon. the Commons assembled in parliament, is dated from Bowe, 21 April 1649. 4. 'Emanuel, or God with us,' 4to (this is a jubilation over the victory at Dunbar). 5. 'The Discoverer. . . the Second Part,' is a vindication of Fairfax and Cromwell, to whom it is jointly dedicated. There is no internal evidence of the authorship, and the terms of a reference to Overton on page 70 rather militate against its being written by Canne, but it is attributed to him in a pamphlet, 'The Same Hand again,' 1649 (E 555/27). The first part is said to have appeared in 1643. In 1650 he was at Hull, and acted as chaplain to the governor, Colonel Robert Overton, whose curious book, 'Man's Mortalitie,' he had printed at Amsterdam in 1643. Canne was in such favour with the soldiers that they obtained leave from the council of state to have the chancel of the parish church for their meeting-place, and they walled up the arches between it and the church, where John Shawe, another famous puritan, had, as he boasts, 'constantly above 3,000 hearers.' Canne's friends obtained a grant for him from the council of state of 65l. 6s. 8d. for his chaplain's salary for 196 days; 'and for his future subsistence two soldiers are to be reduced out of each of the four companies of that garrison, which will retrench 6s. 8d., in lieu of which a chaplain is to be added.' His stay in Hull was not long, but in 1653, when he published at London 'A Voice from the Temple to the Higher Powers,' the remembrance was rankling in his mind, and he denounces Shawe as 'a most corrupt man and hitherto countenanced by men as corrupt and rotten as himself.' The book is dedicated to Cromwell, with a second dedication or epistle to Overton, from 'your Christian brother to serve you in the Gospel, John Canne,' who mentions the desire expressed by some for his notes on Daniel. These do not appear to have been published. In relation to their controversies Shawe, on the other hand, says : 'I had many contests with him before Oliver the Protector, to whom he appealed, and elsewhere. At last he printed a little pamphlet against me where are some few truths but most part lyes. I drew up an answer to it, but was over persuaded by divers discreet and learned men to let it alone and sleight it.' Like other controversialists Shawe had a mean opinion of his adversary. He quotes a biting epigram:

Is John departed ? is Canne dead and gone ? Farewell to both, to Canne and eke to John ; Yet being dead, take this advice from me, Let them not both in one grave buryed be; But lay John here, and lay Canne thereabout, For if they both should meet, they would fall out.

In 1653 also appeared 'A Second Voice from the Temple to the Higher Powers.' He was at this time credited with the possession of great influence with the council of state. His next work, 'Time with Truth,' is dated from Hull in 1656. His daughter, whose name was Deliverance, was buried on 18 Dec. 1656, and his wife, 'Agnees,' was buried on 20 Jan. 1656-7, at the same place, Holy Trinity Church, Hull. He now appears to have imbibed some of the principles of the fifth-monarchy men, and in 1657 he published at London 'The Time of the End. . .' Christopher Feake and John Rogers both supplied prefaces. These persons with others were denounced to the government as meeting at Mr. Daforme's house in Bartholomew Lane, near the Royal Exchange, and professing themselves ready for insurrection. This was only two months after the crushing of Venner's attempted rising in the interest of the fifth monarchy. Canne complains bitterly of his banishment from Hull 'after seven-teen years' banishment before.' On 2 April 1658, when 'old brother Canne' was in the pulpit of the meeting-place in Swan Alley, Coleman Street, the marshal of the city entered and arrested him and seven of the brethren who had protested against their rough treatment of the old man. Canne was brought before the lord mayor, and acknowledged that he was not satisfied with the government, and would like an opportunity to tell the Protector so, but declined to enter upon the question with the magistrate. One of the accused, Wentworth Day, was fined 5001. and sentenced to twelve months' imprisonment. John Clark, who had been acquitted by the jury, was condemned to pay 200 marks and to be imprisoned six months. Canne and the remainder were released on 25 April 1658. A narrative of the transaction was published. This year he published ' The Time of Finding,' in which he describes himself as 'an old man,' and expecting 'every day to lay down this earthly tabernacle,' and 