Jack Cade’s Revolt

By Charles Dickens

I have re-published an older post from the Copy Book, Jack Cade’s Revolt, which is an account of a rebellion against King Herny VI led by Irishman John Cade in the summer of 1450. Originally, this was a short summary piece I wrote myself; now it is a three-part tale from the pen of Charles Dickens, in his Child’s History of England.

Many years before Jack Cade, in 1381, a man called Wat Tyler had led just such a protest against the young King Richard II. Dickens has a good deal of sympathy for Tyler, but not for Cade, an adventurer whose susceptibility to temptation helped the Government to seize the advantage.

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This is the theme music from the Ealing comedy The Song of the Maggie (1954), composed by John Addison (1920-1998). The film tells the story of Alex Mackenzie, the veteran skipper of a near-derelict ‘puffer’ (a small steam-powered freighter) on the River Clyde in Scotland, and its crew of two, the Mate and Dougie, the wee boy.

Mackenzie needs money to repair the Maggie, so he tricks a hapless English shipping agent into loading a consignment of furniture onto his rickety tub instead of a much grander freighter. The owner of the wayward cargo, a bullying American businessman named Calvin B. Marshall, races after his belongings — he is fitting up a house in the romantic Scottish isles as a peace-offering for his estranged wife, who is on her way to join him — but Mackenzie always manages to stay one step ahead, and the pursuit teaches Mr Marshall some important life lessons.

It is played here by BBC Concert Orchestra, conducted by Rumon Gamba, in a recording supplied to YouTube by Universal Music Group.

An Accident of Births

By Mark Twain

I have added a new post to the Copy Book, An Accident of Births. It is the whole of the first chapter of The Prince and the Pauper, written by American writer Mark Twain and first published in 1881.

The story was Twain’s first attempt at historical fiction, and was set in Tudor England. In 1537, King Henry VIII and his consort Queen Jane (Seymour) became the proud parents of a baby boy, whom they named Edward, a prize for which the King had been working for ten years. So important had a male heir become to him, that had put away his first wife Catherine, and beheaded his second wife Anne, and all the country felt both joy and relief. As Twain tells the tale, another little boy was born on the same day, October 12th, a child whom nobody wanted, but who was destined to become entangled in the counsels of the great.

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This short anthem for unaccompanied choir is by Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625). The text is the Collect for the Third Sunday after Epiphany.

ALMIGHTY and everlasting God,
mercifully look upon our infirmities,
and in all our dangers and necessities
stretch forth thy right hand to help and defend us,
through Christ our Lord. Amen.

It is sung here by the Oxford Camerata in a recording supplied to YouTube by Universal Music Group.

Prove by examples that the verb ‘strike’ can be used to express all of these ideas. Try to make the meaning as unmistakable as you can. For example:

1 Hit something or someone.

2 Find a deposit of some mineral.

3 Begin playing music.

4 Make a new friend.

5 Suddenly get an idea.

6 Embark on a challenging journey, or a new and independent endeavour.

7 Interrupt a conversation.

8 Erase a name or a record.

A Word of Advice

By Ben Jonson

I have added a new post to the Copy Book, A Word of Advice.

Ben Jonson, the playwright and friend of William Shakespeare, left behind at his death in 1637 a diary of thoughts on a variety of subjects, from personal morality to literary criticism. In this short extract, he reflects on what is required of anyone who offers advice to others. A counsellor, he said, must have a well-deserved reputation for absolute honesty; he must never talk down to the person he is advising; he must not offer advice on the spur of the moment; and he must be wary of advising people he does not know well.

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