not very successful, and was afterwards twice married. Her second husband was an actor; her third, Mr. Hunn, a linendraper of Exeter. She lived to see the success of her son, from whom she ever received the tenderest marks of filial love. C., who had inherited a small estate in Ireland, was educated at Eton, where he was distinguished for industry, vigor of mind, and elegance of taste, and, at the age of 15, formed the plan of a periodical paper, called the Microcosm, of which he was the principal editor. In 1787, he was entered at Oxford. His vacations were passed with Sheridan, by whom he was introduced to Burke, Fox, and other distinguished whigs. But, although Sheridan had already announced him, in parliament, as the future ornament of his party, C. entered into terms with Pitt, by whom he was brought into parliament in 1793. During the first session, he remained silent. His maiden effort was made in 1794, on the Sardinian treaty, and rather disappointed expectation. In 1794, he took the degree of M. A., and, from that time, resided constantly in London. In 1796, he was under-secretary of state. In 1797, he projected, with some of his friends, the Anti-Jacobin, or Weekly Examiner, of which Gifford was appointed editor. C. contributed many poetical and other articles to this periodical. In 1798, he supported Wilberforce's motion for the abolition of the slave-trade, and continued always an advocate for the amelioration of the condition of the blacks. In July, 1800, C. increased his fortune and influence by a marriage with Joanna, daughter of general Scott, a lady with a fortune of £100,000. The administration being dissolved in 1801, C. became a member of the opposition, until the restoration of Pitt in 1804. In 1807, he was appointed secretary of state for foreign affairs in the Portland administra tion. A political misunderstanding with lord Castlereagh led to a duel between that minister and C., in which the latter was slightly wounded. This dispute occasioned the dissolution of the ministry. In 1810, he opposed the reference of the Catholic claims to the committee of the whole house, on the ground that no security or engagement had been offered by the Catholics. Some of his most brilliant speeches were on this subject. He invariably supported the admission of the Catholics to power, not as an abstract question of right, but as a matter of expediency of hourly increasing expediency. The adoption of the measure being then

a matter of policy, the state of opinion, the condition of affairs, and the securities with which it should be accompanied, were, with him, elements of the question. He proposed securities, in 1813, which, with the bill, were rejected. He supported, in 1812 and 1813, the same motion which he had opposed in 1810; and, in 1821, two bills in favor of the Catholics having been introduced into the house of commons, he observed, "that the moment. was peculiarly favorable for discussion; that they were in possession of a peace achieved by Catholic arms, and cemented by Catholic blood." To C. was principally owing the first blow which shook the throne of Napoleon; the British policy in Spain was directed and animated by him. "If there was any part of his political life," he declared, on one occasion, "in which he gloried, it was that, in the face of every difficulty, discouragement, and prophecy of failure, his had been the hand which had committed England to an alliance with Spain." "Never," said he, on another occasion, ought we to relinquish our hold of the Peninsula. The ruler of France has one grand object, to which he stands pledged

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the establishment of his dominion in the Peninsula. If he fail in this, his defeat must be most signal." In 1812, he was elected member of parliament for Liverpool; from which he was also returned in 1814, 1818, 1820. In 1814, he was appointed minister to Portugal, and remained absent about two years. In 1819, he declared his decided hostility to parliamentary reform, in whatever shape; and his speech on lord John Russell's motion for reform, in 1822, is among the most finished specimens of his eloquence. On the occasion of the proceedings relative to the queen, he declared, that "toward the object of that investigation, he felt an unaltered regard and affection;" and soon after resigned the presidency of the board of control, and went abroad. Having been nominated governor-general of India, he was on the point of embarking, when the death of the marquis of Londonderry called him to the cabinet as secretary for foreign affairs (Sept. 16, 1822). One of his earliest acts, in this situation, was to check the French influence in Spain; and, in a debate on this subject (April 28, 1823), he observed, "It is true that there is a contest going on in the world between the spirit of unlimited monarchy and the spirit of unlimited democracy. Between these two spirits there is a strife openly in

action, or covertly at work, throughout the greater portion of Europe." It was in this session that Brougham accused him of "the most monstrous truckling which the whole history of political tergiversation could furnish." C. rose immediately, and exclaimed, "That is false." The affair was settled, after some explanations on the part of Mr. Brougham. He continued to support the propositions in favor of the Catholics, and, in 1825, communicated to foreign ministers the determination of his majesty to appoint chargés d'affaires to Colombia, Mexico and Buenos Ayres. In consequence of the attempts made by Spain to assist the malcontents of Portugal, it was immediately determined, by the ministry, to support the regency of that country. On this occasion, C. concluded his speech with these remarks: "Some years ago, I said that I feared that the next war, which should be kindled in Europe, would be a war of opinions. It is the contemplation of this new power, in any future war, which excites my most anxious apprehensions." And, in answer to the argument that the ministers had encouraged the attack upon Portugal, by having permitted the occupation of Spain by France, he uttered the memorable words: "Was it necessary that we should blockade Cadiz? No. I looked another way; I resolved that if France had Spain, it should not be Spain with the Indies. I called the new world into existence, to redress the balance of the old." April 12, 1827, his appointment to be prime minister was announced. His administration was terminated by his death, the 8th of August following; but not until it had been crowned by the treaty of London (July 6), for the settlement of the affairs of Greece. As a statesman, he was liberal, profound, consistent and independent. His foreign policy was marked by the three great measures of the recognition of the South American states, the maintenance of the independence of Portugal, and the treaty in behalf of Greece. His uniform support of the Catholic claims, and his constant and ardent exertions in favor of the slave population of the colonies, are not less honorable to his humanity than to his policy. His eloquence was persuasive and impassioned; his reasoning clear and logical; his manner graceful; his expression winning, and his whole appearance prepossessing. His wit was brilliant, and his satire was extremely caustic. He died poor. His body is deposited in Westminster

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abbey. (See Specches of the Right Hon. G. Canning, with a Memoir, by R. Therry, London, 1828.)-The cousin of G. Canning, the honorable Stratford Canning, is well known by the conspicuous part which he has played during the late difficulties between the Porte and the other European powers.

CANNON; a heavy metallic gun, which is moved by the strength of men and horses. It is mounted on a carriage, and iron (formerly stone or leaden) balls are projected to a distance from it by the force of gunpowder. The interior of the cannon is called the bore. The solid piece of metal behind is named the breech, and terminates in the button. The dolphins (so called because they used to be made in the form of this animal) are the handles by which the piece is mounted or dismounted. The aperture through which the fire is introduced into the bore, to ignite the charge, is called the vent or touchhole, in which a small tube, used to contain the priming, is placed previous to firing. The supports, which are denominated carriages, are mounted on trucks, as in the case of ship-guns or garrison-guns, or on two wheels, as in the case of field-pieces. When a field-piece is to be moved, a two-wheeled frame is fixed to the carriage, which is called a limber, and this process is called to limber up. The charge, or cartridge, is a bag filled with powder, carried near the cannon. The cannon is fired by means of the match, which is a lighted bunch of tow, wound round & small stick; or by a tube, filled with the priming-powder, from which a piece is broken off every time, and forced into a stick, to light the charge. On board most of the English ships there are cannon fired by means of locks. To perform the labor required in managing cannon is called to serve the guns. Cannon were formerly dignified with great names. 12, cast by Louis XII, were called after the 12 peers of France. Charles V had 12, which he called the Twelve apostles. One at Bois le Duc is called the Devil; a 60 pounder, at Dover castle, is named Queen Elizabeth's pocket-pistol; an 80 pounder, at Berlin, is called the Thunderer; another at Malaga, the Terrible; two 60 pounders at Bremen, the Messengers of bad news. In the beginning of the 15th century, names of this sort were abolished, and the following came into general use:-cannon royal, or carthoun, carrying 48 pounds; bastard cannon, or carthoun, 36; carthoun, 24; whole culverins, 18; demi-culverins, 9; falcon, 6; saker, lowest sort, 5; ordi

nary, 6; largest sort, 8; basilisk, 48; serpentine, 4; aspick, 2; dragon, 6; siren, 60; falconet, 3, 2 and 1; moyens, which carried a ball of 10 or 12 ounces: rabinets carried one of 16 ounces. Cannons are, at present, named, from the weight of the balls which they carry, 6 pounders, 12 pounders, &c. The length of the cannon is in proportion to the caliber. Cannon took their name from the French word canne (a reed). Before their invention, machines were used for projecting missiles by mechanical force. These were imitated from the Arabs, and called ingenia; whence engineer. The first cannon were made of wood, wrapt in numerous folds of linen, and well secured by iron hoops. They were of a conical form, widest at the muzzle. Afterwards, they received a cylindrical shape. At length they were made of iron bars, firmly bound together, like casks, by iron hoops. In the second half of the 14th century, they were formed of an alloy of copper and tin, and, in process of time, other metals were added. Some attribute the invention of cannon to the Chinese, and say that there are now cannon in China, which were made in the 80th year of the Christian era. From the Chinese the Saracens probably learned to manufacture them, and Callinicus, a deserter from Heliopolis, in Phoenicia, made them known, in 670 (676), to the Greek emperor Constantinus Pogonatus. Bombards were brought into use in France in 1338, and, according to another and more doubtful authority, Solomon, king of Hungary, used them, in 1073, at the siege of Belgrade. From all these accounts, it appears that the true epoch of the invention of cannon cannot be exactly determined: it is certain, however, that they were actually in use about the middle of the 14th century. In 1370, the people of Augsburg used cast cannon. In the beginning of the 15th century, nearly all the countries of Europe, except Russia, where cannon were first cast in 1475, were provided with them. The lead cannon, which were invented and employed by the Swedes, between 1620 and 1632, in the 30 years' war, were lined with tubes of wood or copper, and secured on the outside with iron rings. The art of firing red-hot balls from cannon was invented by major-general Weiler, of the electorate of Brandenburg. In the commencement of the 16th century, Maurice of Switzerland discovered a method of casting cannon whole, and boring them, so as to draw out the interior in a single piece. Arms for ex

peditious firing, loaded from behind, and having the charge closed in with a wedge, were introduced by Daniel Spekle (who died 1589) and Uffanus. Charles Millon invented a kind of air cannon, 2 feet long, 3 inches diameter in the thickest part, 12 lines caliber, charged with inflammable air, and fired with a Leyden jar, or a piece of cat-skin, by which 12 discharges can be made in a minute. It stands on a frame of glass, and may be directed to any point. In 1740, cannons were made of ice at St. Petersburg, and balls of many pounds weight were projected without injuring the pieces. (See Steam-Gun, Gun-Boat.) Cannon-clock is a contrivance invented by one Rousseau, and placed in the garden of the palais royal, and in the Luxembourg at Paris. A burning-glass is fixed over the vent of a cannon, so that the sun's rays, at the moment of its passing the meridian, are concentrated, by the glass, on the priming, and the piece is fired. The burning-glass is regulated, for this purpose, every month. (For the use of cannon in naval warfare, see Ship.)

CANO, Alonzo or Alexis; a painter, sculptor and architect. The variety and extent of is talents made him the Michael Angelo of Spain, whom he also resembled in his private character. He was born in 1608, at Grenada, studied in Seville, with Pacheco, and first made himself known by the statues which he executed for the great church of Lebrija. In his 24th year, he had acquired the fame of a great artist, and was (1638) appointed painter to the king. In this capacity, he executed several celebrated pictures, and was at the summit of his prosperity, when a dreadful event destroyed his happiness. His wife was one day found murdered, and his house plundered. Instead of a suspected Italian servant, who had fled, C. himself, convicted of a connexion with another woman, was condemned by the judges as guilty of the murder. He was put to the torture; but his right arm was spared, from respect for his talents. He bore the torture with silent fortitude. The king pardoned him. He became a priest, and was made a racionero (resident) of Grenada, where he passed the remainder of his life in a pious and exemplary manner, and died in 1676.

CANOBUS. (See Canopus.)

CANOE, also CANOA; the term generally used to designate the small vessels which uncivilized people, living near the water, use. In the East Indies, there is a kind of boat which goes by this name, sometimes from 40 to 50 feet long, and 5 or 6

broad. The North American Indians generally impel their canoes with paddles, which have a very large blade, and are managed perpendicularly. The canoes of Canada are of the most fragile texture, and of so little weight, that, in passing from one river to another, the boat-men carry them on their heads across their portages. They are mostly covered with bark, the pieces of which are sewed together with a kind of grass. This bark is generally not more than a quarter of an inch in thickness; yet, in these frail vessels, the Indians and Canadians do not hesitate to descend very dangerous rapids. The Esquimaux are exceedingly dexterous in the management of their canoes. These consist of a light, wooden frame, covered with seal-skins, sewed together with sinews. The skins are not only extended round the bottom and sides, but likewise over the top, forming a complete deck, and having only one opening to admit the Indian to his seat. To this hole a flat hoop, rising about four inches, is fitted, to which is fastened the surrounding skin. The paddle is about 10 feet long, light, and flat at each end. In the Esquimaux language, the canoe is called a kaiak, or man's boat, to distinguish it from umiak, the woman's boat, which latter is a large boat for transporting the women, with their families and possessions. The Greenlanders and Esquimaux use the same kind of canoes, and it is astonishing, when we consider their insignificant construction, at what a distance from the regions they commonly inhabit, these people, especially the former, are found in them. In the islands of the South sea, the natives have a double canoe, united by a strong platform, serving, in this way, as one vessel. Such a canoe is capable of carrying a number of persons, and a considerable lading. Captain Cook gives us a long account of the different kinds of canoes used in Otaheite.

CANON; a person who possesses a prebend, or revenue allotted for the performance of divine service in a cathedral or collegiate church.

CANON, in the arts. When art has succeeded in producing beautiful forms, the question arises, with what proportions beauty of form is united. Artists of genius first started this question, and imitators, inferior to them in talents, scrupulously followed their results, and naturally exalted some existing work into a model for every performance. Among the Greeks, the celebrated statuary Polycletus (q. v.) first instituted such inquiries;

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and, as he generally represented youthful, pleasing figures, it is probable that he fixed the standard of beauty in the youthful form. The canon (the model statue) of Polycletus was accordingly a statue, which was made principally for the purpose of showing the beautiful proportions of the human form in a youth just ripening into manhood. No copy of it is known to exist; the artist probably gave his model of proportion a quiet, simple attitude, without any strong, distinguishing marks. His successors imitated it without deviation. Polycletus was not the only Greek artist who pursued such investigations respecting the proportions of form. Euphranor, for instance (in the 10th Olympiad), is celebrated in the same way. Among the moderns, Dürer and Leonardo da Vinci have devoted themselves to similar inquiries. See A. Hirt's Abhandlung über den Canon in der bildenden Kunst in the Abhandl. der Histor-philolog. Classe der königl. Akad. der Wiss. in Berlin (1814 and 1815), a table annexed to which gives the average proportions (ascertained by careful measurements) of the best ancient statues.

CANON, in music, signified, with the ancient Greeks, what now is called monochord. At present, it signifies a composition in which the several voices begin at fixed intervals, one after the other, and in which each successive voice sings the verse or the strain of the preceding one. In Italian, therefore, it is called fuga di conseguenza; in Latin, canon perpetuus, or continuous fugue; in German, Kreisfuge (circulating fugue). Sometimes each voice begins with the same, sometimes with different notes. Canons may be finite or infinite. The former end, like any other compositions, with a cadence, while the infinite canon is so contrived, that the theme is begun again before the parts which follow are concluded. By this means, the performance might be continued to an indefinite length. canon may consist of two, three, four or more voices. Generally only one voice of a canon is written, and a sign shows the place where the other voices are to begin. Formerly, at the beginning of canons, it was the custom to place the directions by which they were to be deciphered and sung. These directions were called the rule or canon, and thence arises the title which such compositions have since retained. Canons differ from ordinary fugues; for, in the latter, it is sufficient that the subject be occasionally repeated and imitated according to the laws of counterpoint; but

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in the former, it is essential that the subject be strictly repeated by all the succeeding parts; which repetition may be made in the unison or octave, the fourth, or the fifth, or any other interval of the scale. There are several other canons, as canon polymorphus, canon pertonos, canon per diminutionem, and canon per augmentationem, which to explain, would exceed our limits. Sometimes, also, a musical passage of a composition, in which one voice repeats, for a short time, another, is called, improperly, a canon.

CANON (Greek); properly a measure, a rule, a standard; thence canon is used to denote the rule or standard of primitive Christianity. The same term is employed to designate the collection of books containing this rule; that is, the canonical books of the Holy Scriptures, whose divine origin the church acknowledges. The canon of the books of the Old Testament, as drawn up by the Jews in the 4th century before Christ (see Hebrew Language and Literature), receives in this form equal respect among all Christians, because Christ and the apostles have expressly appealed to them, and pronounced them writings inspired by God. The apocryphal books of the Old Testament, whose canonical character the Jews did not acknowledge, the Eastern church has never received; but the Western church declared them canonical, in the African council, about the end of the 4th century. Nevertheless, the opinions of the clergy respecting the canonical authority of the apocryphal books of the Old Testament remained for a long time divided. Jerome, one of the fathers of the church, denied it, and many theologians coincided with him. (See the following article.) The Protestant churches reject the Apocrypha as books not belonging to the rule of faith. Respecting the value and the number of the books belonging to the canon of the New Testament, the opinions of Christians were much divided till the 6th century. As early as the 2d century, the separation was made into the Evangelicon (the four evangelists) and the Apostolicon (the Acts and Epistles of the Apostles). The five historical books, the Epistles of Paul, the First Epistle of Peter, and the First Epistle of John, were universally acknowledged to be genuine in the 3d century; hence they are called, by Eusebius, in his Ecclesiastical History, written about A. D. 325, Homologomena (universally received). The other five Catholic Epistles (Second of Peter, Second and Third of John, Jude and

James) he calls Antilegomena (doubtful, not universally received). At that time, the Epistle to the Hebrews was considered genuine by most persons, and the Apocalypse by many. These books were received, in the second half of the 4th century, in the Egyptian church (where Athanasius first used the term canonical), and in the Western church. In the Eastern church, properly so called (the dioceses of the patriarchs of Constantinople, Antioch and Jerusalem), only the Catholic Epistles were of canonical authority at that time; the Apocalypse not till the 6th century. The canon of the New Testament has since remained unaltered, and the Protestant churches hold it in common with the Greek and Catholic churches. The results of critical examninations of the genuineness and canonical character of the single books of the Bible, even when they were unfavorable to the books, have produced no alteration in the established canon. The reasons of the ancient fathers of the church for or against the canonical character of the Biblical books were merely historical and traditional, and built on philological criticism; they are still the most tenable and rational: the philosophical grounds are more subject to be affected by extraneous influences. Modern criticism has attacked, with success, the genuineness of single passages; but it has failed in its attempt to destroy the canonical authority of whole books. With respect to the Apocalypse, or Revelation of John, however, a large number of the Protestant commentators incline to the side of the assailants.-Canon is also the name of the prayers which the Catholic priests repeat before, at_and_after the consecration of the host.—In arithmetic, algebra, &c., canon denotes a formula obtained by the solution of a problem, and containing the rule by which all examples, comprehended under the general problem, may be solved.

CANON OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES [written by a Catholic]. The distinguishing characteristic of the Catholic religion, as is fully explained in the article Catholicism, is, the authority which it attributes to tradition, by which revelation continues in life and power. The Holy Scriptures are esteemed sacred by the Catholics, because the church has transmitted them from age to age as sacred, and illustrative of revelation, as far as any writings can be. The church has only declared what writings have been handed down as of divine origin. The catalogue of these Holy Scriptures is the canon; the writ