538

The Rev. RICHARD CANNING *, A. M.

THE EDITOR OF THE SECOND EDITION OF
66
THE SUFFOLK TRAVELLER."

Richard Canning, Esq. the father of this learned and highly-respectable divine, was bred to the navy, and in that profession attained the rank of Post Captain. On retiring from active service, he settled at Ipswich, in which town he ended his days in 1726, and was interred in the Church of St. Helen, where, on a mural-tablet, is this inscription to his

memory:

Underneath are deposited the remains of

RICHARD CANNING, Esa.

an active and experienced Commander in the Royal Navy, who having served his country with unexceptionable courage and conduct during the wars of K. William and Q. Anne, retired to this town, A. D. 1712, and through resentment of party, founded on misreported facts,

{

Dom. 1726,

died a private Captain, anno æt. 57.

Also of MARGARET CANNING, relict of the said Richard, who for her piety, benevolence, and conjugal as well as maternal affection, was an example worthy of imitation.

She died anno

Dom. 1734,

{2007.

And of ALICE CANNING, mother of the said Richard,

who died in a good old age, anno

{

Dom. 1716,

æt. 88.

With them lieth intombed the body of
CORDELIA, wife of RICHARD CANNING, Clerk.
She was possessed of many amiable qualities,
which greatly endeared her to her friends,
by whom her loss was the more regretted,
as she was taken from them before
the usual decline of life,

His only son, Richard Canning, the subject of

* See " Literary Anecdotes," vol. II. p. 274; VIII. p. 488.

this brief notice, was born on the 30th of September 1708, and received his academical education at Catherine-hall Cambridge, where he proceeded to the degree of A. B. in 1728, and to that of A. M. in 1735. In 1737 he was licensed to the Perpetual Curacy of St. Lawrence, in Ipswich; in 1738 he was presented to the Rectory of Harkstead, which he relinquished to his son in 1769; in 1755 to that of Freston, and the Vicarage of Rushmere St. Andrew, all in Suffolk, which latter he resigned in 1756. He died on the 8th of June 1775, and was interred in the Church of St. Helen, where, on a mural-tablet, is this inscription to his memory:

Arms: Argent, three Moors' heads, side-faced, couped at the neck Proper, wreathed about the temples, Or and Azure, impaling, within a bordure engrailed, two chevronels.

Near this place are interred

the remains of

RICHARD CANNING, M. A.
many years Minister of
the parish of St. Lawrence,
in this town,

a man

of unblemished honour and integrity,
and of taste and erudition
superior to most of his cotemporaries,
but ever considering

all human knowledge and learning
of no other use or service

than as they might tend to advance the interests,
and promote the influence

of religion and virtue.

His preaching was recommended by his practice,
and the doctrines he delivered
enforced by his own example.
How well and how successfully
he imitated his Divine Master
in carrying on the great business
of universal benevolence,
the several charitable institutions
of this town,

which his indefatigable zeal and industry
placed at last on the most solid foundation,

will abundantly testify.

Born Sept. 30th, 1708; died June 8th, 1775.
This monument was erected
by his only surviving daughter,
CORDELIA CANNING,
whose unaffected simplicity
and gentleness of manners,
joined to that filial piety

for which she was eminently distinguished,
rendered her universally amiable.
She was cut off

in the thirty-sixth year of her age,
to the inexpressible grief

of all who knew her.

Mr. Canning was a gentleman of very considerable literary attainments, an elegant and accomplished scholar, and a learned and most judicious divine. With the History and Antiquities of the County of Suffolk he was intimately acquainted, and in a thorough knowledge of the descent of property, and the connection of families, was well and accurately versed. His edition of "The Suffolk Traveller" confirms this remark; a work which is highly creditable to his talents and research, and which evinces a most intimate acquaintance with the manorial as well as topographical history of the county. It was, indeed, for many years after its appearance, the only distinct publication which had been attempted in illustration of its history; and it has been one too from which all succeeding writers have most largely borrowed.

Mr. Canning's literary productions are as follow: "A Short Answer to a Pamphlet, called Plain Reasons for Dissenting from the Church of England, &c. By a Clergyman. Ipswich, 1740," Svo.; "A Sermon preached Dec. 18, 1745, on occasion of the present Rebellion. Ipswich, 1746," 8vo.; "A Sermon preached at the Ordinary Visitation of the Right Reverend Father in God Thomas Lord Bishop of Norwich, in Ipswich, June 17, 1747; occasioned by a Pamphlet, called Christianity not founded

on Argument.' Published at the request of his Lordship. Ipswich, 1747," Svo.; "An Account of the Gifts and Legacies that have been given and bequeathed to Charitable Uses in the Town of Ipswich; with some Account of the present State and Management, and some Proposals for the future Regulation of them *. Ipswich, 1747," 8vo. "Remarks on a Pamphlet intituled, 'A Vindication of the Principles and Practice of Protestant Dissenters, &c. By the Author of the Short Answer to the Plain Reasons for Dissenting, &c. London, 1749," Svo.; "The Principal Charters which have been granted to the Corporation of Ipswich in Suffolk, translated. London, 1754," 8vo. This useful work was published for the benefit of the Free Burgesses. "The Suffolk Traveller. First published by Mr. Johu Kirby †, of Wickham-market, who took an

* This publication "was occasioned by an Order of Great Court that was luckily obtained Oct. 16, 1743, by which a Committee was appointed to inquire what donations have from time to time been given to the town of Ipswich, or to any particular Burgesses as such; and under whose direction and management the same now are or ought to be, by the wills or appointments of the donors; and also to inquire into whose hands, as trustees, the pecuniary donations, or any part thereof, were respectively last paid, and who have received the rent and profits of the real donations for thirty years last past, and how the same have been paid or applied." From the papers of some of the Members of this Committee the above account is drawn, with the laudable intention of preventing any future mismanagement or misapplication.

+ Mr. John Kirby was originally a schoolmaster at Orford, and afterwards occupied a mill at Wickham-market, and is well known to topographers by his "Map of Suffolk," as well as by "The Suffolk Traveller," the result of an actual survey which he took of the whole county. He afterwards resided at Ipswich, and is called a "Painter" there by Mr. Grove in his “DiaJogue between Wolsey and Ximenes," p. 124. In 1735 he published in 12mo, "The Suffolk Traveller; or a Journey through Suffolk. In which is inserted the true Distance in the Roads from Ipswich to every Market-town in Suffolk, and the same from Bury St. Edmund's. Likewise the Distance in the Roads from one Village to another; with notes of Direction for Travellers, as what Churches and Gentlemen's Seats are passed by, and on

actual Survey of the whole County, in the years

which side of the Road, and the distance they are at from either of the said Towns. With a short Historical Account of the Antiquities of every Market-town, Monasteries, Castles, &c. that were in former Times. By John Kirby, who took an Actual Survey of the whole County in the Years 1732, 1733, and 1734. Ipswich. Printed by John Bagnall."

In 1736 he published "A Map of the County of Suffolk;" dedicated to his Grace the Duke of Grafton, and illustrated with 124 Arms of the Nobility, Gentry, and Clergy of the County; and with views of the following buildings, viz. Burgh Castle, Bungay Castle, Blithburgh Priory, Butley Priory, the Gateway to Bury Abbey, Covehithe Church, St. James's Church at Dunwich, Framlingham Castle, Leiston Abbey, Mettingham Castle, Orford Castle, and Wingfield Castle. An improved edition of this Map, on a larger scale, was published in 1766, under the following title: "A New Map of the County of Suffolk, taken from the original Map published by Mr. John Kirby in 1736, who took an actual and accurate survey of the whole County, now re-published with corrections and additions. By John and William Kirby, sons of the author, and engraved by John Ryland.

In the " Ipswich Journal" for Nov. 13, 1732, No. 587, are the following announcements respecting this publication:

Proposals for Surveying the County of Suffolk, by Nathaniel Bacon, jun. and John Kirby. In which Map shall be described all the rivers, (and where navigable,) brooks, bridges, locks, &c. roads, (and the true distance from town to town,) the ground plots of all market and other considerable towns, parish churches, castles, demolished in whole or in part, monasteries, and other religious houses, and what order they formerly were of, the names of their founders, when founded, with their antient revenues, division of hundreds, antient Kings' seats, and fields of battle, the seats and parks of all the nobility and gentry residing in the said county, with their arms on the sides of the Map, latitude and longitude, with whatever else remarkable that may offer itself to view in surveying the same.

"This Map shall be protracted from a scale of one mile to an inch, and is proposed by subscription at ten shillings a Map; the one half paid in hand, the other on delivery; they who have their arms half a guinea more towards the engraving, the one half paid in hand the other on delivery; they who subscribe for six shall have a seventh gratis."

In the same paper, for Jan. 29, 1732, No. 598, is the following notice:

"Whereas Nathaniel Bacon, jun. and John Kirby did lately publicly advertise their design of taking an actual Survey of the County of Suffolk; these are therefore to certify, that the said surveyors do design to begin the said survey of the County of