Holinshed's Chronicles, famous as the source for the stories in many Shakespeare's plays, such as King Lear and Cymbeline, were written in the sixteenth century as a collaborative effort, but consistently sustain a lively and highly readable style. A wide variety of sources were used, and carefully noted, but with little critical examination. This volume contains the first four books of the Historie of England, from the time of the Flood to the end of Roman rule and includes much that is the stuff of legend. For ease of reading, it has been typeset in a modern font, but all the original spellings and marginal notes have been preserved.