Note 123 — Part IV. FROM THE BEGINNING OF MR. CANNING’S POPULARITY AS FOREIGN MINISTER TO HIS DEATH.
Reading edition
The correctness of this story has been questioned by a correspondent to the Times, who signs “A. W. C.” I heard it from a person much in the intimacy of George IV. and Mr. Canning, and noted it when I heard it as curious; but I give it as gossip, which, whether true or false, illustrates the notions of the time, and is not incompatible with what is said by “A. W. C.” himself.