The Copybook

Short passages for reading, drawn from history, legend, poetry and fiction.

313

© Jim Barton, Geograph. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.

Messing About in Boats Kenneth Grahame

Mole is enjoying the most wonderful Spring morning, skipping his chores and going for a row with Rat.

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314

© Mónica J. Mora, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0.

A Sight of Two Seas The Revd Philip Nichols

In 1573, Sir Francis Drake had two ambitions: to revenge himself on the Spanish, and to see with his own eyes the Pacific Ocean.

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315

© Bob Tarr, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0.

Everyone Has His Part William Dampier

William Dampier describes the hand-to-mouth existence of the aborigines of northwest Australia, and reveals a people far advanced in charity.

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316

© xalexx, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0.

The Great Stand at the River Ugra Lucy Cazalet

Ivan III, Grand Prince of Moscow, finally stood up to the Great Horde and their opportunistic Western allies.

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317

From Book I of the Mendel Twelve Brothers Foundation ‘house book’, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

Selections from the Great Charter The Great Charter

By the Great Charter of 1215, King John promised that his ministers would not meddle in the Church or stuff his Treasury with taxes on trade.

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318

By Jean-Pierre Houël (1735–1813), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

Wait and See Edmund Burke

Edmund Burke would not congratulate the French revolutionaries on their ‘liberty’ until he knew what they would do with it.

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