“ The authenticity of these facts is doubtful, although it is possible that Raphael was the Holinshed who matriculated from Christ’s College, Cambridge, in 1544. About 1560 he came to London and was employed as a translator by Reginald or Reyner Wolfe, to whom he says he was “singularly beholden.” Wolfe was already engaged in the preparation of a universal history, and Holinshed worked for some years on this undertaking; but after Wolfe’s death in 1573 the scope of the work was abridged, and it appeared in 1578 as the Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland. ”

“ A second edition of the Chronicles, enlarged and improved but without illustrations, which appeared in 1587, contained statements which were offensive to Queen Elizabeth and her advisers, and immediately after publication some of the pages were excised by order of the privy council. ”