of this world was about to be closed for ever from him. It may be said
of this eminent man, that he owed nothing to patronage--his _talents_
directed him to his elevated station, and to his intellectual
superiority homage was made,--not to the man.

But, in other respects, the loss of Mr. Canning is a national
bereavement. He was one of the master-spirits of the age. His very name
was distinguished--for he has added to the literature of his country--by
his writings and his eloquence he has stimulated the march of mind; he
has seconded the exertions of liberal friends to the improvements of the
uneducated, and he has patronized the useful as well as the fine arts,
philosophy and science, of his country. To expatiate at greater length
would be superfluous, as we have in another place recorded our humble
tribute to his general character.[2] We have now, therefore, merely to
put together the melancholy facts connected with his death, and which
will convey to another generation a just sense of the value, in our
time, attached to a noble and exalted genius. The just and elegant
laconism of Byron, by substituting the _past_ for the _present_ tense,
may now be adopted as a faithful and brief summary of what _was_ George
Canning.

[2] Biographical Memoir of Mr. Canning, with a Portrait, MIRROR,
Vol. iv.

"Canning _was_ a genius, almost an universal one:--an orator, a wit, a
poet, and a statesman."

* * * * *

The king, with his usual quickness, was the first to perceive the