by announcing that there will be very few dates.

I have searched my copy of his history and can find only two dates: the death of Henry IV( "on the twentieth day of March, in the forty-sixth year of his age, and the fourteenth of his reign", and the date Anne Boleyn was beheaded. Not that in either case does he actually quote the year in which these events occurred!

I think JA was quite exasperated by this slipshod approach to History.

Her comment about the scarcity of dates actually started a trend, you know;-) 1066 And All That, a lampoon of English History and they way the subject was taught in early 290th century England, by W.S. Sellar and R.J. Yateman has the sub-title;

A Memorable History of England , comprising all the parts you can remember , including 103 Good Things,5 Bad Kings and 2 Genuine Dates.

I their Compulsory Preface(!) they write:

“Histories have previously been written with the object of exalting their authors. The object of this History is to console the reader. No other History does this.

History is not what you thought. It is what you can remember. All other history defeats itself.

This is the only Memorable History of England, because all the History that you can remember is in this book, which is the result of years of research in golf-clubs, gun-rooms , green-rooms, etc.