Of whom is this a portrait? It is no doubt well known to collectors, and is of course a frontispiece; but having never yet seen it vis-à-vis with a title-page, I am at a loss as to the author of whom it is the vera effigies. Possibly some of your readers will be kind enough to enlighten me upon the matter, and favour me with the name of the British worthy thus handed down to posterity by Cross's admirable burin.
Henry Campkin.
Blackstone's Commentaries and Table of Precedence.—The first edition of Blackstone was published at Oxford in 4to., in the year 1765; and the Table of Precedence, in the 12th chapter of the First Book, found in subsequent editions edited by Mr. Christian, does not occur in Blackstone's first edition. Can any of your readers, having access to good legal theories, inform me in which of Blackstone's own editions the Table of Precedence was first inserted?
E.
The Two Drs. Abercromby.—In the latter half of the seventeenth century, there were two physicians of the name of Abercromby, who both graduated at the university of Leyden, and were afterwards the authors of various published works. The first work of David Abercromby mentioned in Watt's Bibliotheca is dated in 1684, and the first written by Patrick Abercromby in 1707. As it was usual to compose an inaugural dissertation at obtaining the doctorate, and such productions were ordinarily printed (in small quarto), J. K. would feel obliged by the titles and dates of the inaugural dissertations of either or both of the physicians above mentioned.
Witte van Haemstede.—Can any of your readers inform me whether there still exist any descendants of Witte van Haemstede, an illegitimate scion of the ancient house of Holland? Willem de Water, in his Adelijke Zeeland, written in the seventeenth century, says that in his youth he knew a Witte van Haemstede of this family, one of whose sons became pastor of the Dutch congregation in London.—Navorscher, Jan. 1851, p. 17.
J. Bruckner—Dutch Church in Norwich.—In the Gentleman's Magazine for 1804 is a short memoir of the Rev. J. Bruckner. He was born in the island of Cadsand, completed his studies at Leyden, where he enjoyed the society of Hemsterhuis, Valckenaer, and the elder Schultens. In 1753 he became pastor of the Walloon, and afterwards of the Dutch congregation in Norwich, where he remained till his death in May, 1804. In 1767 he published at Leyden his Théorie du Système Animal; in 1790 appeared his Criticisms on the Diversions of Purley.
Could your correspondents furnish me with a complete list of Bruckner's works, and direct me to a history of the Dutch church in Norwich, from its origin to the present time?—Navorscher, Feb. 1851, p. 28.