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 CANTILLON CANTON 727 dences against the antiquity of the hook, though none of these is conclusive. But no subject has excited more controversy, or has heen a source of more learned and contra- dictory disquisition and scrutiny, than the question of the literal or allegoric and mystic sense of the book. Many modern critics, both among Jews and Christians, contend for the literal sense. They also widely differ in the interpretation of the meaning and object of the book. The more ancient opinion defends the allegorical, religious, and sacred character of the songs. Thus, on the one side, the subject is the love of a shepherd, of a youthful king, &c., and the beloved is a shepherdess, an Ethiopian princess, or, according to Grotius and others, the daughter of Pharaoh, wife of Solomon ; while, on the other side, love appears as a spir- itual affection, as the love of God for Israel, his chosen but abandoned people, or of Christ for the church, or as the connection between the divine and human nature. Aben Ezra finds in the book the hopes of redemption for op- pressed Israel ; Kaiser, the restoration of the Mosaic law by Zerubbabel and Ezra; Hug, an attempt made in the time of Hezekiah to reunite the remnant of the ten tribes to Judah ; others, the love of wisdom, and even the search for the philosopher's stone. Among the more than 300 commentators on this book, the following belong to the best known: Origen, Jerome, Eusebius, Athanasius, Gregory I., Luther, Eras- mus, Umbreit (1820), Ewald (1826), Rosen- milller (1830), Krummacher (1839), Delitzsch (1851), Hengstenberg (1853), Ginsburg (1857), Weissbach(1858), Stuart (1860), Renan (I860), Houghton (1865), and Gratz (1871). The last named writer finds in Canticles imitations of the idyls of Theocritus, and considers it a pro- duct of the Syro-Mace- donian period which preceded the struggle under the Maccabees. U Ml 1.1,0 V I'inTi- Jo- seph, a French soldier, born at Wavre, in Bra- bant, in 1788, died in Brussels, July 13,1869. He entered the French army in 1807, took part in several campaigns of Napoleon, was repeat- edly wounded, and be- came a sergeant in the grenadier corps of the imperial guard. He was suspected of hav- ing fired at Wellington in Paris in December, 1815, and was arrested together with about 40 other subordinate officers of the imperial guard ; but there was not sufficient evidence to convict him. The ex-emperor afterward sent him from St. Helena 1,000 francs for the cost of his trial. CANTim, in ancient geography, the district in Britain which nearly corresponded to the present county of Kent. The inhabitants (Oantii) were spoken of by Caesar as being the most civilized of the native British tribes. CANTON. I. A city of Canton township, and the seat of justice of Stark co., Ohio, about 100 m. N. E. of Columbus; pop. in 1870, 8,660. It is situated on Nimishillen creek, in the midst of the finest wheat-growing district in the state. Bituminous coal and limestone are found in the vicinity. Considerable manufacturing is carried on. There is a high school, 6 grammar, 12 primary, and 3 corporate schools. There are three weekly newspapers, of which one is in German, and two monthly periodicals. The Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne, and Chicago railroad passes through it. II. A city of Fulton co., 111., on the Toledo, Peoria, and Warsaw railroad, and the Buda and Rushville branch of the Chi- cago, Burlington, and Quincy railroad, about 50 m. N. by W. of Springfield; pop. in 1870, 3,308. It is situated in a fertile district, abounding in coal, and contains manufactories. CANTON (properly Quany-chow-foo, pearl city of commerce), a city of China, capital of the province of Quang-tung, in lat. 23 7' N., Ion. 113 14' E., about 45 m. from the sea, on the Canton river, near the junction of the Se-kiang and Pe-kiang; pop. about 1,300,000. It is about 7 m. in circumference, or 10 m. including the suburbs. It is built nearly in the form of a square, surrounded by a brick wall 15 to 20 ft. thick at the base and narrowing toward the top, pierced by 12 gates, at each of which is a guard house. . The city is divided into two parts, separated by a wall with four gates. The Canton, from the Temple of the Five Genii. old town is inhabited by Tartars, and is the residence of the commander of the troops. The new town, on the south, contains the residence of the viceroy. On the S. E. and S. W. are the suburbs, with four forts and the foreign