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Dickens, Austen Put Twist On History Of England

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By MARY PATRICK

Published: October 21, 2007

Updated: 10/19/2007 10:44 pm

'Two Histories of England,' by Jane Austen and Charles Dickens. Introduction by David Starkey (Harper Collins, $17)

Like Shakespeare before them, Charles Dickens and Jane Austen were fascinated by Great Britain's history. Dickens wrote the multi-volume 'A Child's History of England' to teach and amuse his children. Austen, at 16, wrote 'The History of England' to simply amuse her family. Both are charming, and, in the case of Dickens' work, informative about English history.

British elementary schools used Dickens' books, excerpted here, as textbooks until the 1950s. Dickens, unsurprisingly, makes history more compelling than 'just the facts' textbooks. Here, he describes the beheading of Mary, Queen of Scots: 'Some say her head was struck off with two blows, some with three. However that may be, when it was held up, streaming with blood, the real hair beneath the false hair she had long worn was seen to be as grey as that of a women of 70, though she was at the time only in her 46th year.'

Austen's piece, intended to be read aloud, shows the verve that marked her mature output. She's comically disdainful of facts, writing that during the reign of Henry the 5th 'Lord Cobham was burnt alive, but I forget what for.'

And she offers a funny defense of Queen Elizabeth: 'It was the particular misfortune of this woman to have bad ministers - since wicked as she herself was, she could not have committed such extensive mischief had not those vile and abandoned men connived and encouraged her in her crimes.'

Fans of Austen and Dickens will want to reserve shelf space for these little gems.

Mary Patrick of Tampa is a freelance writer.

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