"The Critical Heritage" gathers together a large body of critical sources on major figures in literature. Each volume presents contemporary responses to a writer's work, enabling student and researcher to read the material themselves.

Introduction; Note on the Text; 1: Ben Jonson on Shakespeare; 2: Leonard Digges, commendatory verses; 3: Abraham Wright on Othello and Hamlet; 4: Samuel Pepys on Shakespeare in the theatre; 5: Sir William D'Avenant, from hisadaptation of Measure for Measure with Much Ado; 6: Margaret Cavendish on Shakespeare's wit; 7: Richard Flecknoe, from A Short Discourse of the English Stage; 8: Sir William D' Avenant, from his adaptation of Macbeth; 9: Sir William D'Avenant and John Dryden, from their adaptation of The Tempest; 10: John Dryden, from An Essay of Dramatick Poesie; 11: John Dryden?, prologue to Julius Caesar; 12: John Dryden on the Jacobean dramatists; 13: Thomas Shadwell?,from the operatic verSIon of The Tempest adaptation; 14: John Dryden, from All For Love; 15: Thomas Rymer, from The Tragedies of the Last Age; 16: John Dryden, Heads of an Answer to Rymer; 17: Thomas Shadwell, from his adaptation of Timon of Athens; 18. Edward Ravenscroft, from his adaptation of Titus Andronicus; 19: John Dryden, from his adaptation of Troilus and Cressida; 20: Thomas Otway, from his adaptation of Romeo and Juliet; Nahum Tate, from his adaptation of Richard II; 22: Nahum Tate on Shakespeare's learning; 23: Nahum Tate, from his adaptation of King Lear; 24: Nahum Tate, from his adaptation of Coriolanus; 25: Thomas D'Urfey, from his adaptation of Cymbeline; 26: Robert Gould, from The Play-House. A Satyr; 27: Gerard Langbaine, from An Account of the English Dramatick Poets; 28: Elkanah Settle?, from the operatic adaptation of A Midsummer Night's Dream