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wished that he had specified them. The particulars thattollow were obtained by the compiler of the present dis-sertation from M. de Mechel himself when he was inLondon. He had not been able to trace the drawingspreviously to their falling into the hands of M. de Crozat, 11at whose sale, about 1771, they were purchased by Coun-sellor Fleischmann of Strasburg; and M. de Mechel havingvery emphatically expressed his admiration of them whilstthey were in the possession of M. Fleischmann, thatgentleman very generously offered them as a present tohim. M. de Mechel, however, declined the offer, butrequested they might be deposited in the public library atEasle, among other precious remains of Holbein's art. Thisarrangement, however, did not take place, and it happenedin the mean time that two nephews of Prince Gallitzin,minister from Russia to the court of Vienna, having occa-sion to visit M. Fleischmann, then much advanced in years,and his memory much impaired, prevailed on him toconcede the drawings to their uncle, who, on learning fromM. de Mechel what had originally passed between himselfand M. Fleischmann, sent the drawings to him, with per-mission to engrave and publish them, which was accord-ingly done, after they had been detained two years for thatpurpose. They afterwards passed into the Emperor ofRussia's collection of fine arts at Petersburg.

It were greatly to be wished that some person qualifiedlike Mr. Ottley, if such a one can be found, would takethe trouble to enter on a critical examination of thesedrawings in their present state, with a view to ascertain, asnearly as possible, whether they carry indisputable marksof Holbein's art and manner of execution, or whether,as may well be suspected, they are nothing more thancopies, either by himself or some other person, from theoriginal wood engravings.

M. de Mechel had begun this work in 1771, when hehad engraved the first four subjects, including a frontispiecetotally different from that in the volume here described.

11 It has been stated that they were in the Arundelian collection,whence they passed into the Netherlands, where forty-six of thembecame the property of Jan Bockhorst the painter, commonly calledLong John. See Crozat's catalogue.