The History of England by Jane Austen, Aged 16

The following is the transcript from a video I have just put up on Youtube (“Victorian Chronicles”). My first ever edited video – so it’s a bit of an experiment.

TRANSCRIPT:

For me creativity is not very far from playfulness. And Jane Austen was a highly creative person. Here she is barely 16 years old – enjoying playing with history – and the way we often only half remember it – and also playing with words – having fun with them.

Jane’s book was a parody of another work, Oliver Goldsmith’s four-volume “The History of England from the Earliest Times to the Death of George II“.

Goldsmith was a popular novelist, dramatist and poet, and had written (amongst other things) The Vicar of Wakefield, She Stoops to Conquer and (probably) the children’s tale Little Goody Two-Shoes. His history book had become a schoolroom regular – and the Austen children used it for study.

Jane (with help from Cassandra’s artwork), used characteristic wit, and parodied both the text and illustrations, turning monarchs into ordinary-looking, sometimes disreputable people. Not the fine-looking, proud, majestic figures we usually see reproduced.

I think it is quite amusing that Jane ended up on the back of the British ten pound note – with Queen Elizabeth 2 on the other side. I think Queen Elizabeth 1 would not have been happy about that had she had a chance to read an advanced copy of Jane’s The History of England.

And all this creativity when Jane was aged only 16 years old. It’s worth remembering the Austen’s were a clever family. Eldest brother, James, matriculated at the University of Oxford when he was just 14 years.

Before her History of England, Jane had already delved into creative writing. Twenty-six items of juvenilia, dating from 1787 to 1793, were preserved in notebooks. She composed stories and dramatic scenes, creating a surreal world of black comedy, distinct from her later, more refined style.

Jane’s “History of England” is reminiscent of much later works like ‘1066 And All That’ – emphasising the idea that history is often what one can remember (or misremember). Jane cleverly weaves together fictional and historical elements, citing works like Shakespeare’s plays and incorporating names of family and friends, providing a satirical take on historical events.

The book is illustrated with coloured portraits by Jane’s elder sister, Cassandra, to whom the work is dedicated.

It begins as follows:

‘The History of England from the reign of Henry the 4^th to the death of Charles the 1^st.

By a partial, prejudiced, and ignorant historian.

To Miss Austen, eldest daughter of the Reverend George Austen,

this work is inscribed with all due respect by The Author.

N.B. There will be very few Dates in this history.‘

[Jane Austen, The History of England]