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 it was known; and that finally, when no further pretext for delay remained, and no steps had yet been taken for informing Castlereagh of the resolution arrived at by the cabinet, he fulfilled his own part of the understanding by the immediate resignation of his office.

To these counter statements we have to add Lord Camden's denial that he had ever ‘undertaken’ to tell Lord Castlereagh what had been determined on, though he had not positively refused; and there is no difficulty, perhaps, in supposing that the Duke of Portland may have understood him to mean more than he did himself. That, however, is between the Duke of Portland and Lord Camden, and does not affect Canning. We can only refer our readers to the account of these transactions to be found in the diary of Lord Colchester, in Twiss's life of Eldon, in the memoir of Canning by Therry, in Stapleton's life of Canning, in Alison's life of Lord Castlereagh, and in the ‘Annual Register’ for 1809. At the last moment Lord Castlereagh only became acquainted with the truth by an accident. Dining with Lord Camden one evening, after a meeting of the cabinet, he commented on Canning's absence from it, when his host, it seems, at length mustered up courage to deliver himself of his message. In those days there was only one thing to be done. A challenge was at once sent, and the two statesmen met on Putney Heath on 21 Sept. Lord Yarmouth was Lord Castlereagh's second, and Charles Ellis (Lord Seaford) Canning's. Neither party fired in the air, but each missed his first shot; at the second fire Canning's bullet hit the button of Lord Castlereagh's coat, and Lord Castlereagh's wounded Canning in the thigh. The hurt, however, was but slight, and he was able to walk off the ground.

Thus ended the first part of Canning's ministerial career. The Duke of Portland resigned in October and was succeeded by Mr. Perceval, to whom Canning gave an independent support, though he declined to serve under him in the cabinet. Canning has been blamed for the part which he played at this conjuncture, as if he had been ‘intriguing’ against Perceval. We see no signs of any intrigue. He told Perceval fairly that he thought he had the better right of the two to the first place, and that he should try to secure it, but that if he failed himself he would give all his interest to his friend. Perceval and Canning, however, like Addington and Canning, and like the Duke of Wellington and Canning, represented two rival sections of the tory party, of which neither did justice to the other, but of which the less numerous of the two has necessarily suffered the most from misrepresentation and calumny.

Canning had made the acquaintance of Sir Walter Scott in 1806 through the introduction of George Ellis, and an intimacy was at once formed which lasted their lives. Scott dined with Canning at Montagu House, the residence of the Princess of Wales, and found him a charming companion. Canning in his turn was delighted with Scott, and especially with his song on the acquittal of Lord Melville. In 1808 he interested himself greatly in the foundation of the ‘Quarterly Review,’ of which Scott, George Ellis, and himself may be said to have been the principal projectors. It does not seem, however, that Canning contributed anything to its pages, except a humorous article on the bullion question, the joint work of himself and Ellis, which appeared in October 1811. Scott was in town in the spring of 1809, and seems to have gathered from Canning's conversation that a break-up of the ministry was at hand. Accordingly, when he heard of the quarrel with Lord Castlereagh, it did not take him by surprise. Scott, who was the soul of honour and had access to the best information, did not think that Canning was to blame, and hoped now, he said, that he ‘would take his own ground in parliament, and hoist his own standard,’ as ‘sooner or later it must be successful.’ This tribute to Canning from the old Scotch tory, who had no idea of any coquetting with liberalism, is important, as it indicates the extent of Canning's hold upon the abler section of the tories, unbending conservatives though they were.

Canning had now some leisure for literature, and in the following year he wrote a letter to Scott on English versification. He was ‘more and more delighted’ with the ‘Lady of the Lake,’ he said, every time he read it. But still he did not altogether approve of the metre. He wished Scott to try his hand at Dryden's style, and seems to have contemplated at one time clothing some parts of the ‘Lady of the Lake’ ‘in a Drydenic habit’ with a view of showing Scott of what that measure was capable. Scott himself was so far influenced by Canning as to write a poem in imitation of Crabbe called the ‘Poacher,’ and an heroic epistle from Zetland to the Duke of Buccleuch. But when Canning read them he must have seen at once that Scott's strength did not lie in heroics.

In the Perceval administration Lord Wellesley was foreign secretary, and he in office