CAN 



GAN 



resemblance to the literal sense, but by 

 tacts generally known and fully under- 

 stood : nor is the interpretation to be 

 deemed true, unless, as in the case of 

 the parable of Nathan, or that of the 

 sower, there subsists an obvious and 

 characteristic analogy between the sim- 

 ple and the metaphorical acceptation. 

 On this principle, it is apprehended that, 

 in the parable of the Canticles, the bride 

 means the Jewish religion, and the royal 

 spouse the Jewish nation, represented 

 under the name and person of their ruler 

 and chief; and the object of it is, to deli- 

 neate, under images borrowed from the 

 connubial state, the conduct of the Is- 

 raelites at large, and that of Solomon in 

 particular, in respect of their knowledge 

 and worship of Jehovah. In proof of this 

 position, it would be necessary to enter 

 farther into the subject than our limits 

 will allow : the reader is therefore refer- 

 red, for a justification of this theory, to 

 Rees's New Cyclopedia. 



CANTO, in music, the treble, or, at 

 least, the higher part of a piece. 



CANTON, (JOHN), in biography, an 

 ingenious natural philosopher, was born 

 at Stroud, in Gloucestershire, in 1718 ; 

 and was placed, when young, under the 

 care of Mr. Davis, an able mathematician 

 of that place, with whom he had learned 

 both vulgar and decimal arithmetic before 

 he was quite nine years of age. He next 

 proceeded to the higher parts of the ma- 

 thematics, and particularly to algebra 

 and astronomy, in which he had made a 

 considerable progress, when his father 

 took him from school and set him to learn 

 his own business, which was that of a 

 broad-cloth weaver. All his leisure time 

 was devoted to the assiduous cultivation 

 of astronomical science ; by which he was 

 soon able to calculate eclipses, and to 

 construct various kinds of sun-dials, even 

 at times when he ought to have slept, be- 

 ing done without the knowledge and con- 

 sent of his father, who feared that such 

 studies might injure his health. It was 

 duringthis prohibition,and at these hours, 

 that he computed, and cut upon stone, 

 with no better an instrument than a com- 

 mon knife, the lines of a large upright 

 sun-dial, on which, beside the hour of the 

 day, were shewn the sun's rising, his place 

 inthe ecliptic,and some other particulars. 

 AVhen this was finished, and made known 

 to his father, he permitted it to be placed 

 against the front of his house, where it 

 excited the admiration of several neigh- 

 bouring gentlemen,andintro(luced young 

 Canton to their acquaintance, which was 



followed by the offer of the use of their 

 libraries. In the library of one of these 

 gentlemen he found Martin's Philosophi- 

 cal Grammar, which was the first book 

 that gave him a taste for natural philoso- 

 phy. In the possession of another gen- 

 tleman he saw a pair of globes ; a circum- 

 stance that afforded him great pleasure, 

 from the great ease with which he could 

 solve those problems that he had hitherto 

 been accustomed to compute. 



Among other persons with whom he 

 became acquainted in early life was Dr. 

 Henry Miles, of Tooting, who, perceiving 

 that young Canton possessed abilities too 

 promising to be confined within the nar- 

 row limits of a country town, prevailed 

 on his father to permit him to come up to 

 London. Accordingly he arrived at the 

 metropolis the 4th o'f March 1737, and 

 resided with Dr. Miles at Tooting till the 

 6th of May following, when he articled 

 himself, for the term of five years, as a 

 clerk to Mr. Samuel Watkins, master of 

 the academy in Spital Square. In this 

 situation, his ingenuity, diligence, and 

 prudence, were so distinguished, that on 

 the expiration of his clerkship, in May, 

 .1742, he was taken into partnership with 

 Mr. Watkins for three years ; which gen- 

 tleman he afterwards succeeded in the 

 school, and there continued during the 

 remainder of his life. 



Towards the end of 1745, electricity 

 received a great improvement by the dis- 

 covery of the famous Leyden phial. This 

 event turned the thoughts of most of the 

 philosophers of Europe to that branch of 

 natural philosophy ; and our author, who 

 was one of the first to repeat and to pur- 

 sue the experiment, found his endeavours 

 rewarded by many notable discoveries. 

 Towards the end of 1749, he was en- 

 gaged with his friend, the late ingenious 

 Benjamin Robins, in making experiments 

 to determine the height to which rockets 

 may be made to ascend, and at what dis- 

 tance their light may be seen. In 1750 

 was read at the Royal Society, Mr. Can- 

 ton's " Method of making Artificial Mag- 

 nets, without the use of, and yet far supe- 

 rior to, any natural ones." This paper 

 procured him the honour of being elected 

 a member of the Society, and the present 

 of their gold medal. The same year he 

 was complimented with the degree of A. 

 M. by the University of Aberdeen. 'And 

 in 1751 he was chosen one of the council 

 of the Royal Society ; an honour which 

 was twice repeated afterwards. 



In 1752, Mr Canton was so fortunate 

 as to be the first person in England, who, 



