797 y 
EMINENT 
c 455° 7 | : 
“ORIGINAL aN He BO TES AND REMAINS | 
/ 
PERSONS, 
L This Avisaios is dedtored tothe Reception of Biographical Anecdotes, Papers, Letters, &c. and 
we requeft the Commumeations of fuch of our * Reallers as can aljift us in thefe objec#s.] ~ 
FREDERICK WILLIAM III,oF Prussia. 
a feldom happens, that we are abie to 
form’a juft eftimate of kings. They 
ftand at fuch a diftance from us, the pomp 
of ftate throws fo {trong a luftre. upon 
their perfons, and. their actions are fancti- 
fied by fo many inveterate prejudices, that 
we generally look at them through a de-. 
lufive medium, which, like a fog ,aggran- 
dizes every object far beyond ‘its proper 
magnitude. Frederick William JIL has 
been viewed in a different way. 
immediate contraft with his immortal 
predeceffor, he has been fo fat front {well- 
ing to a fupernatural fize, that he feems 
rather to have fhrunk to fomething lefs 
than native-nothingnefs... |. 
The youth and manhood of hii prince 
were fpent in fcenes of low and difguft: ng 
debauchery. Whatever might be a man’s 
qualitiesy or: whatever: bis ~ charaéter; he 
was fure to be received into his fociety, 
provided he could invent new -pleafures, - 
or devife new means of railing money ; | 
the fums with which the prince-royal was 
fupplied by his wife and provident uncle, 
being entirely inadequate to his wnbound- 
ed expenditure, and thoughtlefs prodiga- 
lity. 
‘He made his firft effay im arms at’ the 
age of eighteen,..and towards the clofe of 
that eventful and. for ever memoraovle 
war, in which-Frederick, affifted by Great - 
Britain, and by his Gwn towering genius, 
withftood the fhock, and triumphed uver 
the perfonal and political enmity, of the 
moft powerful princes of Europe. With- 
ing to initiate the hetr apparent to his 
throne in that art, by which he had raifed 
the Pruffian monarchy. to the acme of mi-! 
litary renown, the king fent for him in 
1762, to aflit at the fiege of Se: wveidnitz. 
Courage is ia a manner innate ia all the 
princes of the royal hcufe of Brandenburg; 
and Frederi¢k William proved that fie 
' poffeffed it to a degree, which approached 
more nearly to the terferity of a privare 
predadicr, than to the well-regulated 
valour of a commander; but of the "talents 
that conftitute a good general, he difcovered 
no remarkable fhare. His fkill and judg- 
ment, however, appeared to greater ad- 
vantage in Frederick’s laft war—the war 
of the Bavarian fucceffion—partieularly in 
Mosxruty MAG. XXY. 
Seen in: 
iverlak ting endeavour 
-a conteft: with general Wurmfer*. On, 
that oceafion, he conduéted bimfelf: with 
ao ability which obtained him the thanks 
and the applaufe of the grear mater of the 
art under whom he ferved. : 
After Frederick If had defcended to 
the grave, full of years and glory, it feem~ 
ed to be the with of his fucceffor ta regu- 
late his conduét in ali cafes by principles 
adverfe to thofe of the old king, Frederick, 
during his long reign, never entered a 
church. As a philofopher, he honoured 
the Deity; but he defpifed all thofe 
Narrow notions, and petty praétices, by 
which more than one Chriftian fect im-« 
pioufly dare to limit the worfhip and the 
bouncy of their Creator. . Frederick Wil- 
liam, yieiding to the perfuafion of vifionary 
and fuperftitious adyifers, attempted to - 
render himfelf popular by frequenting the 
churches, and. liftening to. the preacners 
the moft famed for orthodoxy... Such oute 
fide fhow, aflumed by a prince of a life fo. 
diffoluce, could not impofe upon a nation 
“which had been governed bya philofopber’ | | 
for more than fix and forty years. The 
new king next annulled feveral of -Frede<: 
rick’s moft falutary inftitutions of finance, 
and internal police; but thefe he feom 
found himfelf compelled to re-inftate 3 
thus giving a proof both of weaknels, and * 
of want of judgmen i 
In 1786, he began his political career. 
by the counter-revolution in Holland. 
An army of Prufflans, under the cons- 
mand of the dake of Brunfwick, marched 
into that country, and reftored the ftadt- 
holder, the king’s brother-in-law, to his 
power. This was ‘the only public tran(ace 
-tion of his life, that he perfermed in an 
open and honourable way. 
Auftria is the natural enemy to Pr uffia ; 
and it was Frederick the Second’s ever- 
to counteraét the 
projects “of that ambitious Houle: ° He 
waged four wars againft it, oppofing its . 
violent attempts by. fair and manly exer- 
tions, without recurring to thofe little and 
finifter means, which are. feldem produe= 
tive of any thing but odium and difgrace.. 
W hile the emperor Jofeph was engaged 

* Sce an account of Wurmfer, in our obituary 
for the month of ‘Septembet, p. 234. 
20 in 
