HOLINSHED, or Hollinshed, Raphael, author of Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland, flourished in the 16th century. He belonged to a family settled at Bosley, in Cheshire, and according to Anthony Wood he was educated at one of the universities and took orders in the church. In the compilation of the Chronicles called by his name he bore a leading part, but he received extensive and important aid from Stow the antiquary, Harrison, chaplain to Lord Cobham, Hooker (alias Vowell), an uncle of the divine of that name, and Francis Boteville (alias Thin), a learned antiquary. Holinshed’s share in the work comprised the history of England down to the year 1577, the date of the first edition. His will—printed in Hearne’s preface to Camden’s Annales — shows that in the latter part of his life he was in the service of Thomas Ben det of Bromcote, in Warwickshire. He died between 1580 and 1584. The notice of Elizabeth’s reign contained matter so offensive to her and her court that in the second edition, which appeared in 1587, some of the sheets were cancelled altogether. The castrations were published separately by Dr Drake in 1728, and in subsequent reprints have been restored. The history of Scotland, incorporated by Holinshed in his Chronicles, is for the most part a translation from the Latin of Hector Boece, and is interesting as having furnished Shakespeare with the groundwork of his tragedy of Macbeth. The Chronicles, being the work of so many different hands, present great varieties of literary quality; but the learning and research they show have made them an invaluable aid in the illustration of the early annals of England. An edition in accordance with the original text was published in 1808, 6 vols.