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ILLUSTRATIONS

ГО THE

NINTH VOLUM E.

PAGE

1. Two Princes, Dighton, and Forrest, (King Richard III. from a Painting by Northcote. Frontispiece.

KING RICHARD II.

2. Two Princes, Gloster, Buckingham, &c.-Northcote

3. Prince, York, Gloster, &c.- Ditto.

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74

4. Gloster, Buckingham, Hastings, &c.-Westall

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5. Burial of the two Princes.-North.cote

KING HENRY VIII.

6. King, Anne Bullen, Wolsey, &c.—Stothard

205

7. Queen Katharine, Wolsey, Campeius, &c.-Peters.

240

8. Wolsey, Norfolk, Suffolk, &c.-Westall

255

9. Wolsey, Northumberland, Abbot, &c.-Ditto

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KING RICHARD III.

SHAK.

IX

A

HISTORICAL NOTICE

OF

KING RICHARD III.

Shakspeare's historical authorities in the composition of this popular drama were the History of Richard the Third by Sir Thomas More, and its continuation in the Chronicles of Holinshed. The date of 1593 is the period assigned by Malone to its production, which however was not entered at Stationers' Hall till 1597.

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The reign of Richard III. appears to have been a favorite subject of dramatists and other poets who preceded our author; but no sufficient evidence has been produced that Shakspeare borrowed from any of them. Mr. Boswell indeed supposed that an old play, published in 1594, An Enterlude, intitled the Tragedie of Richard the Third, wherein is showne the deathe of Edward the Fourthe, with the smotheringe of the two princes in the Tower, with the lamentable ende of Shore's wife, and the contention of the two houses of Lancaster and Yorke,'-had so great a resemblance to this play, that the author must have seen it before he composed his own. It is, notwithstanding, one of the worst of the ancient dramas, and bears but few traces of general likeness.

The historical events here recorded occupy a space of about fourteen years, but are frequently confused for the purposes of dramatic representation. The se

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