8. Speech on a Bill for repealing the Marriage Act.

9. Speech on a Bill to quiet the Possessions of the Subject against
Dormant Claims of the Church.

With respect to these fragments, I have already stated the reasons by
which we were influenced in our determination to publish them. An
account of the state in which these manuscripts were found is given in
the note prefixed to this article.

XVI. Hints for an Essay on the Drama.

This fragment was perused in manuscript by a learned and judicious
critic, our late lamented friend, Mr. Malone; and under the protection
of his opinion we can feel no hesitation in submitting it to the
judgment of the public.

XVII. We are now come to the concluding article of this volume,--the
Essay on the History of England.

At what time of the author's life it was written cannot now be exactly
ascertained; but it was certainly begun before he had attained the age
of twenty-seven years, as it appears from an entry in the books of the
late Mr. Dodsley, that eight sheets of it, which contain the first
seventy-four pages of the present edition,[6] were printed in the year
1757. This is the only part that has received the finishing stroke of
the author. In those who are acquainted with the manner in which Mr.
Burke usually composed his graver literary works, and of which some
account is given in the Advertisement prefixed to the fourth volume,
this circumstance will excite a deep regret; and whilst the public