wealth, and thinking the influence of 501. extreme ly great, he expected the first authors of the kingdom to appear as competitors; and offered the allotment of the prize to the universities. But when the time came, no name was seen among the writers that had ever been seen before; the universities and several private men rejected the province of assigning the prize*. At all this Mr. Cave wondered for a while; but his natural judgment, and a wider acquaintance with the world, soon cured him of his astonishment, as of many other prejudices and errors. Nor have many men been seen raised by accident or industry to sudden riches, that retained less of the meanness of their former state. He continued to improve his Magazine, and had the satisfaction of seeing its success proportionate to his diligence, till in 1751, his wife died of an asthma. He seemed not at first much affected by her death, but in a few days lost his sleep and his appetite, which he never recovered; but after having lingered about two years, with many vicissitudes of amendment and relapse, fell, by drinking acid liquors into a diarrhoea, and afterwards into a kind of lethargick insensibility, in which one of the last acts of reason which he exerted was fondly to press the hand that is now writing this little narrative. He died on the 10th of January 1754, having just concluded the twenty-third annual collection.t *The determination was left to Dr. Cromwell Mortimer and Dr. Birch, and by the latter the award was made, which may be seen in the Gent. Mag. vol. vi. p. 59. N. + Mr. Cave was buried in the church of St. James, Clerkenwell, without an epitaph; but the following inscription at Rugby, He was a man of a large stature, not only tall but bulky, and was, when young, of remarkable strength and activity. He was generally healthful, and capable of much labour and long application ; but in the latter years of his life was afflicted with the gout, which he endeavoured to cure or alleviate by a total abstinence both from strong liquors and animal food. From animal food he abstained about four years, and from the pen of Dr. Hawkesworth, is here transcribed from the Anecdotes of Mr. Bowyer," p. 88. Near this place lies The body of JOSEPH CAVE, Late of this parish; Who departed this Life, Nov. 18, 1747, He was placed by Providence in a humble station; Industry abundantly supplied the wants of Nature, Temperance blest him with Content and Wealth. As he was an affectionate Father, Who without interest, fortune, or connection, Planned, executed, and established THE GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE, from strong liquors much longer; but the gout continued unconquered, perhaps unabated. His resolution and perseverance were very uncommon; in whatever he undertook, neither expence nor fatigue were able to repress him; but his constancy was calm, and to those who did not know him appeared faint and languid; but he always went forward, though he moved slowly. The same chilness of mind was observable in his conversation: he was watching the minutest accent of those whom he disgusted by seeming inattention; and his visitant was surprized when he came a second time, by preparations to execute the scheme which he supposed never to have been heard.. Whereby he acquired an ample fortune, The body of WILLIAM CAVE, Inherited from him a competent estate; He liv'd a patriarch in his numerous race, Here rest his clay! his soul must ever rest, Who bless'd when living, dying must be blest. N. He was, consistently with this general tranquillity of mind, a tenacious maintainer, though not a clamorous demander of his right. In his youth having summoned his fellow journeymen to concert measures against the oppression of their masters, he mounted a kind of rostrum, and harangued them so efficaciously, that they determined to resist all future invasions; and when the stamp offices demanded to stamp the last half sheet of the Magazines, Mr. Cave alone defeated their claim, to which the proprietors of the rival Magazines would meanly have submitted. He was a friend rather easy and constant, than zealous and active; yet many instances might be given, where both his money and his diligence were employed liberally for others. His enmity was in like manner cool and deliberate; but though cool, it was not insidious, and though deliberate, not pertinacious. His mental faculties were slow. He saw little at a time, but that little he saw with great exactness. He was long in finding the right, but seldom failed to find it at last. His affections were not easily gained, and his opinions not quickly discovered. His reserve, as it might hide his faults, concealed his virtues: but such he was, as they who best knew him have most lamented. · KING OF PRUSSIA.* CHARLES FREDERICK the present King of Prussia, whose actions and designs now keep Europe in attention, is the eldest son of Frederick William by Sophia Dorothea, daughter of George the First King of England. He was born January 24, 1711-12. Of his early years nothing remarkable has been transmitted to us. As he advanced towards manhood, he became remarkable by his disagreement with his father. The late King of Prussia was of a disposition violent and arbitrary, of narrow views, and vehement passions, earnestly engaged in little pursuits, or in schemes terminating in some speedy consequence, without any plan of lasting advantage to himself or his subjects, or any prospect of distant events. He was therefore always busy, though no effects of his activity ever appeared, and always eager though he had nothing to gain. His behaviour was to the last degree rough and savage. The least provocation, whether designed or accidental, was returned by blows, which he did not always forbear to the Queen and Princesses. *First printed in the Literary Magazine for 1756. H. |