"THE First Part of Henry VI.' was originally printed, under that title, in the folio collection of 1623. Upon the authority, then, of the editors of that edition of Mr. William Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies, published according to the true original Copies,' this drama properly finds a place in every modern edition of our poet's works. But since the time of Malone most English critics have agreed that this play is spurious; and Drake, without hesitation, refers to what Shakspere's friends and editors denominated the Second and Third Parts of 'Henry VI.' as the First and Second Parts; and recommends all future editors, if they print this first play at all, to give it only in an Appendix. If we were in the habit, then, of taking upon trust what the previous editors of Shakspere have authoritatively held, we should either reject this play altogether, or, if we printed it, we should inform our readers that "the hand of Shakspere is nowhere visible throughout." We cannot consent to follow either of these courses. We print the play, and we do not tell the reader that Shakspere never touched it.. The question of the authenticity of the three parts of 'Henry VI.' is a very large one, em

bracing many details. That portion of the question which is founded upon an expression of Robert Greene, that Shakspere pilfered these plays from some unknown author, is fully discussed in the 'Biography,' book iii., c. 3. We there state that a full 'Illustration' of the unity of the three Parts of 'Henry VI.,' and of 'Richard III.' will be found in a subsequent Volume. It will be more convenient to give that 'Illustration' with the play of Richard III.,' when the entire text will be before the reader.

In the humble house of Shakspere's boyhood, there was, in all probability, to be found a thick squat folio volume, then some thirty years printed, in which might be read, "what misery, what murder, and what execrable plagues this famous region hath suffered by the division and dissension of the renowned houses of Lancaster and York." This book was 'Hall's Chronicle.' With the local and family associations that must have belonged to his early years, the subject of the four dramas that relate to the dissension of the houses of Lancaster and York, or rather the subject of this one great drama in four parts, must have irresistibly presented itself to the mind of Shakspere, as one