Customer Reviews

Jane Austen's The History of England

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Jane Austen may be best known for her biting and sarcastic wit, her compassion for her characters, and her understanding of the truth of their lives and situations. But this short piece of juvenilia combines all of her mature insight with the confidence, humour, and unmitigated self-satisfaction of a younger and more whimsical Austen. Definitely not to be overlooked in favour of her more serious work, this book will take merely minutes to read but leave you with astoundingly funny comments to treasure and smile over for years to come. It is Jane Austen at her very best: uninhibited, cruel, funny and ultimately self-deprecating. She knows what she is doing and does it with consumate skill. A must read for any Austen fan or anyone with a sense of humour.

Jane Austen wrote these short snippets on a number of the rulers of England in chronological order - using, as she says, 'very few dates'. The result is a wonderful collection of highly prejudicial outlines of various Kings and Queens - and after all the purpose of history to be scandalous and slanderous can be undermined by sticking too closely to extraneous detail such as dates and so on. The whole thing would probably take you much less than hour to read. Austen proves her talent for sharp observation and wit from an early age for this little book was written while she was still a teenager in the early 1790's. Its a lovely introduction to her writing for those who haven't had much to do with Austen before but are keen to try her out.

This hilarious little book is full of wonderfully biased observations on the Kings and Queens of England between henry the 4th and Charles the 1st. Of Henry VI she writes fiercely "I cannot say much for this monarch's sense, nor would I if I could, for he was a Lancastrian" She is a supporter of Richard III's claim to innocence, averring that he may not have murdered his wife for "if Perkin Warbeck were really the Duke of York, why not might Lambert Simnel be the widow of Richard?" She includes a very rique charade on the homosexual habits of king James I. I feel that Sellar and Yeatman, who wrote '1066 and All That'may have derived inspiration from this book, her N.B. at the beginning 'there will be very few Dates in this History' has a very Sellar and yeatman sound. I increasingly find Jane Asuten's Juvenilia more amusing than her later works, and this book is a prime example.

I love this book! Austen's sometimes snarky and amusingly judgmental conclusions of which rulers were good and bad. I love her loathing of Queen Elizabeth and her spirited defense of Mary Queen of Scots. The drawings by Cassandra are also excellent. I do wish that she'd written a longer history as Austen's colorful version of English history is a delightful read for all true Austen fans.

On a trip to the British Library during a Jane Austen tour, we were privileged to actually "handle" the original volume. The facsimile is very nicely done. This hilarious "history" provides early evidence of JA's literary brilliance, and Cassandra's illustrations are simply delightful.

As a young girl, Jane, in her own witty style decided to write "The History of England". It's certainly not an accurate history, but a young girl's view of the world in which she lives. The text is printed in her own handwriting and is charming and fun to read.

This book may not be used in any history class, but it is one of the most charming works she ever wrote. I had this smile painted on my face the entire 15 minutes it took to read it. Very, very witty.