Blankenburg, Christian Frederic De

, a German writer of some note, was born at Colberg in Pomerania, Jan. 24, 1744, and entered into the Prussian service at the age of fourteen, where he distinguished himself during the seven years war. After having been in the army for twenty-one years, the bad state of his health obliged him to solicit his discharge, which was granted him with the rank of captain, and from that time he took up his resi-. dence at Leipsic, devoting his time to literary studies and pursuits. He was a man of good taste, as well as judgment, and had a very great memory. His original works were, 1. “An essay on Romance,” Leipsic, 1774, 8vo. 2. “A supplement to Sulzer’s Universal Theory of the Fine Arts,” 1786—87, four parts, 8vo, reprinted at Leipsic, 1792 94. 3. “On the German language and literature,” printed in Adelung’s Magazine for 1784. He was very desirous of introducing English literature into his country, and with this view published German translations, with | useful notes, of Dr. Gilbert Stuart’s View of Society, Leipsic, 1779, 8vo Dr. Johnson’s Lives of the Poets, Altenburgh, 1781—1785, 8vo and Dr. Gillies’s History of Greece, Leipsic, 1787, &c. He died May 4, 1796.¹