"History of England..." is an (20 p.) historical satire produced by 16-year-old Jane Austen. It is a spoof on the history of the British monarchy from 1399 to 1649. What you find are brief, opinionated pieces, ranging from two sentences on Edward V who "lived so little a while that nobody had time to draw his picture" to 19 sentences on Elizabeth, of whom "It was the peculiar misfortune . . . to have had bad ministers --since wicked as she herself was, she could not have committed such extensive mischief, had not these vile & abandoned men connived at, and encouraged her in her crimes. Charles Dicken's "A child's history of England" was originally intended as a study-piece for his children. With it's flamboyant narrative it served as an unconventional counter text to the more straitlaced historical canon of his times.

"Jane Austen's The history of England originally written in 1791. Charles Dickens's A child's history of England originally published in 1851-1853"-- T.p. verso.

History of England from the reign of Henry the 4th to the death of Charles the 1st / Jane Austen -- Excerpt from A child's history of England / Charles Dickens.