The History of England

The History of England is a 1791 work by Jane Austen, written when the author was fifteen. It is a burlesque which pokes fun at widely used schoolroom history books such as Oliver Goldsmith`s 1771 The History of England from the Earliest Times to the Death of George II. Austen mockingly imitates the style of textbook histories of English monarchs, while ridiculing historians` pretensions to objectivity. Her History cites as sources fictional works such as the plays of Shakespeare and Sheridan, a novel by Charlotte Turner Smith and the opinions of Austen`s family and friends. Along with accounts of English kings and queens which contain Little factual information but a great deal of comically exaggerated opining about their characters and behaviour, the work includes material such as charades and puns on names. It was illustrated with coloured portraits by Austen`s elder sister Cassandra, to whom the work is dedicated.