31 MAY 1879, Page 3

Mr. Samuel Charles Whitbread, who was M.P. for Middlesex during

the ten years between 1820 and 1830, died on Tuesday, at the good age of 82. He was hardly a very notable figure in Par- liament, though his father had been an idol of Cobbett's and a Liberal of great weight in the House ; but it was, we believe, on a Parliamentary remark of the deceased gentleman that Canning founded one of his wittiest epigrams. Mr. Whitbread had observed in the House that the day on which he was speaking was sacred to him, both for a joyful and a melancholy memory. It was the anniversary at once of the foundation of the brewery and of his father's death. Thereupon, Canning wrote down the following couplet :—

"This day I still hail with a smile and a sigh, For his beer with an e and his bier with an