"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; 29: Thomas Rymer, fromA Short View of Tragedy; 30: John Dennis on Rymer; 31. John Dryden on Rymer; 32. Charles Gildon on Rymer; 33: John Dryden on Rymer; 34: Jeremy Collier, from A Short View of the Immorality, and Profaneness of the English Stage; 35: Unsigned work, Shakespeare defended from Collier; 36: John Dennis, Shakespeare defended; 37: James Drake, Shakespeare defended; 38: Colley Cibber, from his adaptation of Richard III; 39: Samuel Cobb, Shakespeare's artless tragedies; 40: Charles Gildon, from his adaptation of Measure for Measure; 41: John Oldmixon on the mangling of Shakespeare's plays; 42: John Dennis on Shakespeare's morals; 43: George Granville, from his adaptation of The Merchant of Venice; 44: John Dennis, from his adaptation of The Merry Wives of Windsor; 45: George Farquhar on the Three Unities; 46: John Downes, Shakespeare on the Restoration stage; 47: Nicholas Rowe, Shakespeare's life and works; 48: Sir Richard Steele, from the Tatler; 49: Henry Felton on Shakespeare's genius; 50: Charles Gildon, Shakespeare's life and works; 51: The Earl of Shaftesbury on Shakespeare; 52: Elijah Fenton on Shakespeare; 53: Joseph Trapp, Shakespeare and English drama; 54: Sir Richard Steele on Shakespeare; 55: Joseph Addison on Shakespeare; 56: John Dennis on Shakespeare's genius and morality; 57: Leonard Welsted, Longinus illustrated from Shakespeare; 58: John Hughes on Othello; 59: Lewis Theobald on King Lear, Othello and Julius Caesar; 60: Thomas Killigrew the younger, suggestions for adapting Julius Caesar; 61: Thomas Purney, Shakespeare and francophilia; 62: Charles Gildon, Shakespeare and the Rules; 63: George Sewell on the mangling of Shakespeare's plays; 64: John Dennis, from his adaptation ofCoriolanus; 65: John Dennis, letters on Shakespeare; 66: Lewis Theobald, from his adaptation of Richard II; 67: John Dennis,Shakespeare and the Rules; 68: Charles Gildon on Shakespeare's faults; 69: Aaron Hill, from his adaptation of Henry V; 70: The Duke of Wharton, In praise of Hill's Henry V; 71: Alexander Pope, edition of Shakespeare; 72: George Sewell on Shakespeare's poems; 73: Richard Savage on The Rape of Lucrece; 74: Lewis Theobald, from Shakespeare Restored; 75: Nicholas Amhurst(?) on Cardinal Wolsey; George Adams, Shakespeare and tragedy; 77: Unsigned essay, Shakespeare and the actors defended; 78: Lewis Theobald on editing Shakespeare; 79: Thomas Cooke on the morality of Tate's King Lear; 80: William Levin on the decline in theatrical taste; 81: Lewis Theobald, 'On the text of Shakespeare's Poems'; 82: Lewis Theobald, edition of Shakespeare; 83: William Warburton on Shakespeare