C.D. Warner, et al., comp.
The Library of the World’s Best Literature. An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.
George Canning (1770–1827)
Canning, George. An English statesman, orator, and writer; born in London, April 11, 1770; died at Chiswick, Aug. 8, 1827. A Liberal in extreme youth, he early joined the Tory party, distinguished himself as wit and Parliamentary manager, held repeated Cabinet office, and became Premier in the last year of his life. His contributions to pure literature were mostly contained in the short-lived Anti-Jacobin, a Tory periodical; among them are ‘The Needy Knife-Grinder,’ and ‘The Rovers,’ which contains ‘The University of Göttingen.’ His speeches, however, are often genuine literary productions; they were published after his death, greatly altered (largely for the worse) from their form as delivered. (See Critical and Biographical Introduction).