“Who e'er ye are, all hail! – whether the skill
Of youthful CANNING guides the ranc'rous quill;
With powers mechanic far above his age,
Adapts the paragraph and fills the page;
Measures the column, mends what e'er's amiss,
Rejects THAT letter, and accepts of THIS;”

William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, ‘Epistle to the Editors of the Anti-Jacobin’, quoted in Wendy Hinde, George Canning (London: Purnell Books Services, 1973), p. 59.
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George Canning 11
British statesman and politician 1770–1827

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