In the number for November, 1750, there occurs the following amongst the list of deaths:--'Mr. Edward Bright, at Malden in Essex, aged 30; he was supposed to be the largest man living, or perhaps that ever lived in this island. He weighed 42 stone and a half, horseman's weight; and not being very tall, his body was of an astonishing bulk, and his legs were as big as a middling man's body. He was an active man till a year or two before his death, when his corpulency so overpowered his strength that his life was a burthen, and his death a deliverance. His coffin was three feet six inches over the shoulders, six feet seven inches long, and three feet deep; a way was cut thro' the wall and staircase, to let the corpse down into the shop; it was drawn upon a carriage to the church, and let down into the vault by the help of a slider and pulleys.' In the number for the following February there is a woodcut of Mr. Bright, and the reader is referred back to the November number for the above description. This seems to show that the _Gentleman's Magazine_ did not consider it of vital importance, in illustrating news, to follow very close upon the heels of events. I have copied this engraving as a specimen of the woodcut illustrations of the _Magazine_. [Illustration: EDWARD BRIGHT. WEIGHT 42½ STONE. FROM THE 'GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE' FOR FEBRUARY, 1751.] The _Gentleman's Magazine_ attracted the notice and admiration of Dr. Johnson before he came to London as a literary adventurer. He afterwards became a regular contributor to its pages, and for many years it was his principal source of income. His first contribution was a complimentary Latin poem addressed to Sylvanus Urban, and when Cave died Johnson wrote an account of him in the magazine. Dr. Johnson told Boswell 'that when he first saw St. John's Gate, the place where that deservedly popular miscellany was originally printed, he "beheld it with reverence."' Edward Cave was born at Newton, in Warwickshire, Feb. 29th, 1691; he died Jan. 10th, 1754. 'He was peculiarly fortunate,' says Boswell, 'in being recorded by Johnson; who of the narrow life of a printer and publisher, without any digressions or adventitious circumstances, has made an interesting and agreeable narrative.' The _Gentleman's Magazine_ still exists, but retains nothing of its original character beyond the name.