CAN 



390 



CAN 



Gantua, dy's Diary for 1752, Mr Canton transmitted an ano- 

 Canute. n ymous paper on the subject, which was immediately 

 ***^^^ recognised by his friend Mr Thomas Simson, who 

 then conducted the Diary. In transmitting the prize, 

 Mr Simson remarks, that though Mr Canton had con- 

 cealed his name, yet he knew him to be the author, as 

 no other person \vas capable of giving such a solution. 

 In the Gentleman's Magazine for September 1759, 

 Mr Cantou published a letter on the electrical pro- 

 perties of the Tourmalin ; and, in the same year, the 

 Royal Society received his *' attempt to account for 

 the regular diurnal variation of the horizontal mag- 

 netic needle, and also for its irregular variation at the 

 time of an aurora borealis." In 1761, he communi- 

 cated to the Royal Society, his observations on the 

 transit of Venus. In 1762, was read his letter ad- 

 dressed to Dr Franklin, containing remarks on Mr 

 Delaval's electrical experiments ; and, in the same 

 year, he communicated his " experiments, to prove 

 that water is not incompressible." In these experi- 

 ments, which were equally simple and conclusive, he 

 put the fluids to be examined into a glass ball, with 

 a slender tube attached to it. When the glass ball 

 was placed in vacua, he observed how much the fluids 

 increased in bulk, from the removal of atmospherical 

 pressure ; and hence he was able to estimate their va- 

 rious degrees of compressibility. 



As the result of these experiments was contrary 

 to that of the famous Florentine experiment, they 

 were repeated before a committee of the Royal So- 

 ciety, who found them perfectly accurate ; and in 

 consequence of their favourable report, the gold me- 

 dal was unanimously voted to Mr Canton, and deli- 

 vered to him on the 30th November 1765. In the 

 year 1768, he communicated to the Society, " an 

 easy method of making a phosphorus, that will im- 

 bibe and emit light like the Bolognian stone, with 

 experiments and observations." In 1769, he was 

 one of the committee appointed to consider of the 

 best method of fixing conductors on St Paul's ; and, 

 in the end of the same year, appeared his " experi- 

 ments to prove that the luminousness of the sea arises 

 from the putrefaction of its animal substances." 



In consequence, probably, of his studious and se- 

 dentary habits, Mr Canton was seized with a dropsy 

 in the thorax, of which he died on the 22d of March 

 1772. He left behind him several children ; and he 

 was succeeded in the academy by his eldest son. (TT) 



CANTUA, a genus of plants of the class Pen- 

 tandria, and order Monogynia. See BOTANY, p. 140. 



CANUTE, king of Denmark, surnamed the Great* 

 was, upon the death of Edmund, proclaimed king of 

 England, A. D. 1017, after his countrymen had con- 

 tended for possession of the country above two hun- 

 dred years. As a pretext for the exclusion of Ed- 

 mund's family, it was affirmed, but without truth, 

 that the succession of Canute to the whole kingdom 

 of England on the death of Edmund, had been sti- 

 pulated in a late convention between the two princes. 

 In the beginning of his reign, Canute struck terror 

 into his new subjects, by the many sacrifices he made 

 to his crown, and by the vigour of his administration. 

 Under various pretences, he banished some of his no- 

 bles, put others to death, and sent the two young 

 sons of Edm and out of the kingdom ; but when he 

 found himself securely seated on the throne, he re- 



laxed the reins of government ; and made himself po- Canute, 

 pular by extinguishing national animosities, and by ^^"Y"* 1 * 

 effecting a complete reconciliation betwixt his Danish 

 and his English subjects. 



To secure the affections of the Englioh, and pre- 

 vent any attempts for restoring the princes of the an- 

 tient royal family, he married Emma, the widow of 

 the late king Ethelred, who resided with her two sons, 

 Alfred and Edward, at the court of her brother Rich- 

 ard, duke of Normandy. By that marriage, and by 

 giving his own sister in marriage to Richard, he art- 

 fully disarmed the resentment of that powerful rival, 

 who had declared himself the protector of the young 

 princes, and had threatened to attempt their restora- 

 tion to the throne of their ancestors. 



Finding the kingdom now in complete tranquillity, 

 and having no reason to dread the revolt of the Eng- 

 lish, Canute undertook a voyage to his native king- 

 dom of Denmark, which was then at war with Swe- 

 den. He carried with him a body of English troops, 

 commanded by Earl Godwin, who gained a complete 

 victory over the enemy, without the least assistance 

 from the Danes. This brave action endeared the 

 English to their new sovereign. Godwin was crea- 

 ted Earl of Kent, and was honoured with the most 

 distinguishing marks of royal favour. Upon his re- 

 turn to England, Canute directed his attention to the 

 establishment of good laws, the building of churches 

 and monasteries, and other pious and useful works. 



In the year 1025 he undertook a second voyage to 

 Denmark, which was again invaded by the Swedes, 

 in which he was not successful ; but, two years after- 

 wards, he made ample reparation for his losses. Ha- 

 ving revived an old pretension to the throne of Nor- 

 way, then filled by Olaus, a weak prince, he made an 

 unexpected descent upon that country with a large 

 body of English troops, dethroned the reigning mo- 

 narch, and took possession of the kingdom. This 

 conquest of Norway fully satisfied his ambition. From 

 that time he laid aside all his warlike schemes, and 

 employed himself in building churches, endowing mo- 

 nasteries, importing reliques, and in various acts of 

 devotion ; and might have had a much better claim 

 to saintship than many who fill the Roman calendar. 

 In the same spirit of devotion, he undertook a jour- 

 ney to Rome, and obtained for his subjects the im- 

 portant privilege of exemption from toll-duty, when 

 travelling through Germany, France, and Italy, by 

 which the pilgrims and other travellers were relieved 

 from a great expence, and freed from many insults 

 and oppressions to which they had formerly been sub- 

 ject. A letter written by himself, giving an account 

 of that exemption, is still extant at Malmsbury. In 

 his way home, he purchased at Pavia the arm of St 

 Augustine, for one hundred talents of silver, and one 

 talent of gold ; a much greater sum than the finest 

 statue of antiquity would have cost in those days. He 

 died at Shaftesbury, A. D. 1036, in the 19th year 

 of his reign ; and was buried in the old monastery in 

 Winchester. 



Historians have surnamed this prince the Great, a 

 title but too frequently bestowed on conquerors ; as 

 if true greatness consisted in invading the rights and 

 properties of their fellow- creatures, and in overrun- 

 ning foreign countries with their victorious arms. 

 Canute's claim to that title might be better founded 



