CAN 
CANT'ING LANGUAGE, or DiAr.ECT, a mvfteri- 
■eus jargon 5.1 fed by gypfles, thieves, and drolling beg¬ 
gars, to exprefs their fentiments to each other, with¬ 
out being underftood by the reft of mankind. What Swift 
obferves is very true, that we have adopted many of 
their terms into our common language; as bite and bilk, 
to cheat; bounce, to vapour; bowfe, ftrong drink; filch, to 
fteal ; flog, to whip ; rig, game or ridicule ; roafl, to rally ; 
rhino, money. From the fame fource proceed the words 
Jham, banter, bubble, bully, Jharper, cutting, flmjfling, palming, 
&c. The late ingenious Mr. Grofe compiled a canting 
didtionary, comprehending all the terms ufed by the fe- 
veral tribes of gypfes, beggars, (hoplifters, highwaymen, 
foot-pads, and other clans of cheats and villains ; all which 
terms and phrafes will be found carefully feleiled and ex¬ 
plained, at the end of the laft volume of this work. 
CAN'TION, f. [canlio, Lat.] Song ; verfes. Not now in 
vfe. —In the eighth eclogue the fame perfon was brought 
in Tinging a caution of Collin’s making. Spenfer. 
CAN'TIUM', the ancient name of a promontory of Bri¬ 
tain, literally denoting a head-land. ; giving name to a ter¬ 
ritory called Cantium, (now Kent) and to a people called 
Cantii, commended for their great humanity and polite- 
nefs. The promontory is now called the North Foreland. 
It is fuppofed that this was the firft diftridt in Britain which 
received a colony from the continent; and that it had fre¬ 
quently changed its makers, by new colonies coming over 
from time to time, and driving the inhabitants further 
north. In the midft of all thefe revolutions it ft ill retained 
its ancient name, (which was fo agreeable to its ftiape and 
fituation) and gave the fame name to all the fucceftive 
tribes by which it was inhabited. Thofe who polIelTed it 
at the time of the firft Roman inva-fion were evidently of 
Belgic origin, and had come over fo lately-, that they dif¬ 
fered nothing from their countrymen on the continent. 
“ The inhabitants of Kent (fays Caefar) are the mod civi¬ 
lized of all the Britons, and differ but very little in their 
manners from the Gauls.” This great refemblance be¬ 
tween the people of Kent and their neighbours on the 
continent, might be partly owing to the (ituation of their 
country, which, being neareft to the continent, was 
moft frequented by ftrangers from thence. It was this fi¬ 
tuation alfo which expofed them to the firft alfaults of the 
Romans. For Caefar, in both his expeditions into this 
ifland, landed in Kent; and therefore we may conclude, 
that the Cantii had a great Ihare in the fame vigorous op- 
pofition that w'as made to his landing, and in the feveral 
battles and Ikirmifties which were fought againft him after 
his landing; particularly, they made a very bold, butun- 
fuccefsful, attempt, upon his naval camp. Cantium, in 
the moft perfedt ftate of the Roman government in Bri¬ 
tain, made a part of the province which was called Flavia 
Cafarienfls. 
CAN'TLE ,f. lhant, Dut. a corner; eflchanlillon , Fr. a 
piece.] A piece with corners : 
See how this river comes me crankling in. 
And cuts me from the beft of all my land 
A huge half-moon, a monftrous cantle out. Shakefpeare. 
To CAN'TLE, v. a. To cut in pieces: 
For four times talking, if one piece thou take, 
That mull be cantled, and the judge go fnack. Dryden. 
CANT'LET,yi A piece ; a fragment: 
Huge cantiets of his buckler ftrew the ground, 
And no defence in his bor’d arms is found. Dryden. 
CAN'TO,/. [Ital. fignifying a fong.] A part or divi- 
fion of a poem, anfwering to what is otherwife called a 
book. Taffo, Ariofto, and feveral other Italians, have 
divided their longer or heroic poems into cantos. In imi¬ 
tation of them, Scarron has divided his Gigantomachia, 
and Boileau his Lutrin, into chants or fongs. Tire like 
method has been adopted by fome Englifh writers, as But¬ 
ler, who divides his lludibraS, and Dr. Garth his Difpen- 
£ary, into cantos. In the Italian mulic, canto flmplice is 
Vol. III. No. 159. 
CAN yu 
where all the notes or figures are equal, and called alfo 
canto fermo ; canto figtirato, that where the figures are une¬ 
qual, and exprefs different motions. Canto alfo denotes the 
treble part of a fong : hence canto concertante, xhe treble of 
the little chorus ; canto repieno, the treble of the grand cho¬ 
rus, or that which lings only now and then in particular 
places. Canto fignifies the firft treble, unlefs another word 
be added, as fecundo ; when it denotes the fecond treble. 
CANTOFRA, a town of Piedmont, twenty-two miles 
north-north-weft of Turin. 
CAN'TON,y. A fmall parcel or divifion of land.—On¬ 
ly that little canton of land, called the Englifh pale, con¬ 
taining four fmall fiiires, did maintain a bordering war 
with the lrifti, and retain the form of Englifh govern¬ 
ment. Davies. — A fmall community or clan.—The fame 
is the cafe of rovers by land ; fuch, as yet, are fome can¬ 
tons in Arabia, and fome petty kings of the mountains ad¬ 
jacent to ftraits and ways. Bacon. 
To C AN'TON, v. a. To divide into little parts.—Fami¬ 
lies fliall quit all fubjedlion to him, and canton his empire 
into lefs governments for themfelv.es- Locke. —They canton. 
out to themfelves a little province- in the intellectual 
world, where they fancy the light fhines, and all the reft is 
in darknefs. Watts. 
CAN'TON, or Quang-tcheou, a city and fea-port 
of China, and capital of the province of Quang-tong ; 
one of the richeft of the empire, by fome faid to contain 
two millions of inhabitants. The immenfe quantity of 
money which foreign velfels bring daily to this city, draws 
hither a continual crowd of merchants, who are hire of 
finding in its warehoufec- the rarell produdtions of the.foil, 
and the moft valuable of the Chinefe manufadtures. This 
city is, befides, fituated on a beautiful river, which has 4 
communication by canals with all the neighbouring pra- 
vinces: the entrance of it is called Hou-man. Its banksj 
the- plains which it waters, and even the hills which hang 
over it, are cultivated, and afford the moft enchanting- 
profpeit. The city is compofed, as it were, of three dif¬ 
ferent cities, feparated by lofty walls, but fo conjoined, 
that the fame gate ferves to go out from the one and enter 
the other. Thefe three cities united, almoft form a regu¬ 
lar fquare ; the ftreets are long and ftraight, paved chiefly 
with cut ftone, and ornamented from fpace to fpace with 
triumphal arches; fome of them are covered, and thefe 
contain the richeft fhops. The houfes prelent nothing re¬ 
markable but great neatnefs ; they confiftonly of one (Tory, 
and have no windows to the ftreet. The ftreets are con¬ 
tinually crowded, efpecially with porters, who are all 
loaded, and have for the moft part their heads, legs, and 
feet, bare. There is no other convenience in this city for 
tranfporting goods from one place to another but men’s 
Ihoulders. An infinite number of barks of all fizes, which 
cover the river night and day, form a kind of floating ci¬ 
ty ; they all touch one another, and are ranged fo as to 
form ftreets, the people who inhabit them are innumera¬ 
ble, and have no other dwelling : each bark lodges a fami¬ 
ly and their grand-children. At break of day all thefe 
people depart to fifh, or cultivate their rice. 
In Canton there are no carriages ; all the principal peo¬ 
ple are carried in fedan chairs, and the ladies always. The 
ftreets of Canton may be traverfed from morning till even¬ 
ing without feeing a woman,' thofe excepted who are Tar¬ 
tars, and even thefe but-very leldom. On the wharf of 
the river, which is commodious and pleafant, ftand the. 
faftories of the different European nations, viz. Englifh, 
Dutch, French, Swedes, Danes, &c. In thofe refide the 
fup.ercargoes belonging to their refpeCtive companies, w ho 
are appointed to difpofe of die cargoes brought to market; 
to fupply the fhips with others from Europe in return; 
and, during their abfcnce, to contrail with the merchants 
for fuch articles as may be judged neceflary for the next 
fleet. Between the refidents of the factories the moft per¬ 
fect cordiality fubfifts ; in each a common and fplendid 
table is kept at the company’s expence, and vifits are re¬ 
ciprocally exchanged ; fo tltat nothing is wanting to make 
9. C refidence. 
