CLIFFORD, _Columbia University_ ARTHUR FRIEDMAN, _University of Chicago_
SAMUEL H. MONK, _University of Minnesota_ JAMES SUTHERLAND, _Queen Mary
College, London_





Lithoprinted from copy supplied by author by Edwards Brothers, Inc. Ann
Arbor, Michigan, U.S.A. 1947




INTRODUCTION


The identity of the "Anonymous" of _Some Remarks on Hamlet Prince of
Denmark_ has never been established. The tradition that Hanmer wrote the
essay had its highly dubious origin in a single unsupported statement by
Sir Henry Bunbury, made over one hundred years after the work was
written, in his _Correspondence of Sir Thomas Hanmer, with a Memoir of
His Life_ (London, 1838), to the effect that he had reason to believe
that Hanmer was the author. The evidence against this bare surmise is
such, however, as to compel assent to Professor Lounsbury's judgment
that Hanmer's authorship "is so improbable that it may be called
impossible" (_Shakespeare as a Dramatic Artist_, 60). I have elsewhere
set down reasons for my own belief that Hanmer could have had nothing to
do with the composition of the essay, arguing on grounds of ideas,
attitudes, style, and other internal evidence ("Thomas Hanmer and the