George Canning (11 April 1770 – 8 August 1827) was a British statesman and politician who served as Foreign Secretary and, briefly, Prime Minister. Canning was born between 8 and 9 in the morning at his parents' home in Queen Anne Street, Marylebone, London. His father, George Canning Sr. of Garvagh, County Londonderry was a gentleman of limited means, a failed wine merchant and lawyer, who renounced his right to inherit the family estate in exchange for payment of his substantial debts. George Sr. eventually abandoned the family and died in poverty on 11 April 1771, his son's first birthday, in London. Canning's mother, Mary Ann Costello, took work as a stage actress, a profession not considered respectable at the time. Because Canning showed unusual intelligence and promise at an early age, family friends persuaded his uncle, London merchant Stratford Canning (father to the diplomat Stratford Canning), to become his nephew's guardian. George Canning grew up with his cousins at the home of his uncle, who provided him with an income and an education. Stratford Canning's financial support allowed the young Canning to study at Eton College and Christ Church, Oxford. While at school, Canning gained renown for his skill in writing and debate. He struck up friendships with Lord Liverpool, Granville Leveson-Gower, and John Hookham Frere. Canning began practising Law after receiving his BA from Oxford in the summer of 1791. Yet he wished to enter politics.
mediocrity in love rejected
Give me more love or more disdain;
The torrid, or the frozen zone,
Bring equal ease ...[read poem]
The torrid, or the frozen zone,
Bring equal ease ...
to ben jonson
'Tis true, dear Ben, thy just chastising hand
Hath fix'd upon the sotted age a brand
To th...[read poem]
Hath fix'd upon the sotted age a brand
To th...
an elegy upon the death of the dean of st. paul's, dr. john donne
Can we not force from widow'd poetry,
Now thou art dead (great Donne) one elegy
To crown t...[read poem]
Now thou art dead (great Donne) one elegy
To crown t...
a song: when june is past, the fading rose
Ask me no more where Jove bestows,
When June is past, the fading rose;
For in your beauty'...[read poem]
When June is past, the fading rose;
For in your beauty'...
ingrateful beauty threatened
Know Celia, since thou art so proud,
'Twas I that gave thee thy renown;
Thou hadst, ...[read poem]
'Twas I that gave thee thy renown;
Thou hadst, ...
to my inconstant mistress
When thou, poor excommunicate
From all the joys of love, shalt see
The full reward a...[read poem]
From all the joys of love, shalt see
The full reward a...
the friend of humanity and the knife-grinder
Friend of Humanity
"Needy Knife-grinder! whither are you going?
Rough is the...[read poem]
"Needy Knife-grinder! whither are you going?
Rough is the...
epitaph on the lady mary villiers
This little vault, this narrow room,
Of Love, and Beauty, is the tomb;
The dawning beam th...[read poem]
Of Love, and Beauty, is the tomb;
The dawning beam th...
the spring
Now that the winter's gone, the earth hath lost
Her snow-white robes, and now no more the frost...[read poem]
Her snow-white robes, and now no more the frost...
kubla khan
(or, a Vision in a Dream, a Fragment)
In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasur...[read poem]
In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasur...
cologne
In Kohln, a town of monks and bones,
And pavements fang'd with murderous stones
And rags, ...[read poem]
And pavements fang'd with murderous stones
And rags, ...
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