Respectable man
Sir: It is interesting to note that even at the age of fifteen, Jane Austen was paving the way for one of the great achievements attributed to the 'present gener- ation' by Mr Auberon Waugh. Though not the greatest of his- torians, she was undeniably an authority on human nature and in her History of England she attempts like Josephine Tey and Jeremy Potter to re-establish the York- ist cause and discredit Tudor lies with her brief resume of the reign and character of Richard tit : The character of this Prince has in general been very severely handled by historians. But as he was a York, I am rather inclined to suppose him a very respectable man. It has been confidently as- serted that he killed his two neph- ews, but it has also been asserted that he did not kill his two nephews, which / am inclined to believe true.' As far as she was concerned, Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, was the villain of the piece: he was in fact 'as great a villain as ever lived'.
Alison Scoffer Little Heath Lodge, Fairmile Avenue, Cobham, Surrey
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