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 rivals. His manner, his aspect, his voice, his elocution, the selection of his words, the beauty of his imagery, and, when the subject called for it, the closeness and clearness of his reasoning, combined to make him the foremost man in the English parliament after the death of Fox. But he does not seem to have possessed in an equal degree what Aristotle calls ēthikē pistis, that quality in virtue of which the orator impresses every one who hears him with an absolute conviction of his sincerity. Many who listened to Canning thought him only a consummate actor, nothing doubting his intellectual belief in the doctrines he was enforcing, but uncertain only whether his feelings were engaged to the extent which his language would imply. It is commonly supposed that rhetoric and passion do not mingle very kindly with each other. Mr. Stapleton, however, has proved beyond risk of contradiction that, if any such rule holds good, Canning at least was an exception to it, and that in all his great orations, however elaborate the texture, he spoke from his heart. Canning's collected poems were issued with a memoir in 1823. His speeches, edited by R. Therry, were published in six volumes in 1828. A French translation in two volumes appeared in 1832.

[Stapleton's Political Life of Canning, 1831; Stapleton's Canning and his Time, 1835; Bell's Life of Canning; Memoirs by Therry, prefixed to edition of Speeches, 1828; Grenville's, Wellesley's, and Malmesbury's Diaries and Memoirs; Lord Colchester's Diary; Twiss's Life of Eldon; Lord Stanhope's Life of Pitt; Lord J. Russell's Memoirs of Fox; Pellew's Life of Lord Sidmouth; Yonge's Life of Lord Liverpool; Supplementary Despatches of the Duke of Wellington; Brougham's Statesmen of the reign of George III; Sir G. C. Lewis's Administrations of Great Britain, 1783–1830; Kebbel's History of Toryism, 1783–1881; Lockhart's Life of Scott; Greville Memoirs; Croker Papers; Sir T. Martin's Life of Lord Lyndhurst.] 

CANNING, RICHARD (1708–1775), topographer, born on 30 Sept. 1708, was the son of Richard Canning, a post-captain in the navy, who went to reside at Ipswich in 1712. He was elected a king's scholar at Westminster school in 1723, but went to Cambridge without a school scholarship. He proceeded B.A. 1728, and M.A. 1735, at St. Catharine's College, Cambridge; became perpetual curate of St. Lawrence, Ipswich, in 1734; rector of Harkstead, Suffolk, in 1738; and rector of Freston and vicar of Rushmere St. Andrew, both in the same county, in 1755. He resigned his benefice at Rushmere in 1756, and handed over that at Harkstead to his son Richard (B.A. Emmanuel College, 1763) in 1769. He died on 8 June 1775, and was buried in St. Helen's Church, Ipswich, where there is a mural tablet to his memory. Canning was an earnest student of the history of Suffolk, and is best known by the edition of ‘The Suffolk Traveller.’ This book, first published by John Kirby between 1732 and 1734, was thoroughly revised by Canning and a few friends, and issued, ‘with many alterations and large additions,’ in 1764. A third edition appeared in 1835 under the title of ‘The History of the County of Suffolk.’ Canning issued in 1754 a translation of the Ipswich charters, and in 1747 an account of the charitable bequests made to the town. Both these tracts appeared anonymously. Several of Canning's sermons were published at Ipswich. He printed two pamphlets (1740 and 1749) against the dissenters. The younger Richard Canning died on 17 Jan. 1789.

[Nichols's Lit. Illustrations, vi. 538–45; Gough's British Topography, ii. 248.] 

CANNING, STRATFORD, first (1786–1880), diplomatist, was the youngest son of an elder Stratford Canning, and first cousin of George the minister [q. v.] The elder Stratford was disinherited by his father on account of what was considered an imprudent marriage. To his mother, Mehetabel, daughter of Robert Patrick, Canning owed much of his personal charm, and still more his resolute will and steadfast nature. Left a widow soon after the birth of her most famous son, Mrs. Canning brought up her children, on limited means, with rare skill and wisdom. Charles Fox, her third son, served under the Duke of Wellington in the Peninsular war, and was appointed his aide-de-camp; and the duke made very honourable mention of him when he was killed at the battle of Waterloo.

Stratford Canning was born on 4 Nov. 1786, in Clement's Lane, near the Mansion House. The dingy street, sloping down to the river, was a favourite resort of merchants, who then lived over their offices. Here his father had come to seek the fortune which he had forfeited by his marriage, and here Fox, Sheridan, and other celebrities delighted to sup with the charming young merchant and his beautiful wife. Six months after the birth of Stratford, his father died at Brighton, and the city house was exchanged for a quiet retreat at Wanstead, on the skirts of Epping Forest, which remained the home of mother and children for some fifteen years. Stratford was sent to a neigh-