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

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31

© Christine Matthews, Geograph. CC BY-SA 2.0.

The Moral Case for Family Farms by Richard Cobden

Richard Cobden called on Parliament to support small, family-owned farms.

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32

By Joaquín Sorolla (1863-1923), via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

Hiawatha Takes a Photograph by Lewis Carroll

Lewis Carroll records a suburban photoshoot in the style of Longfellow.

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33

By John Wallace, via Wellcome Collection and Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

Nouns of Number by William Cobbett

William Cobbett gives his son James some helpful examples of collective nouns.

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34

© Balkowitsch, Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 4.0.

Hiawatha’s Inspiration by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Henry Longfellow tells us how his tale of a heroic Native American warrior came to him.

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35

© Olaf Tausch, Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 4.0.

The Travellers and the Axe by J.B. Rundell

Two men find an axe, and then find some trouble, but they aren’t keen on sharing either of them.

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36

By Edward Altham (1629–1694), via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

The Prophecy of Peter of Pomfret by George McKinnon Wrong

Peter foretold that King John would cease to be England’s sovereign, and he was right, though John still wore his crown.

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Clay Lane The Copybook
About Clay Lane nicholas@claylane.uk

© Nicholas Armitage / Clay Lane, 2025

May 22 NS

May 9 OS

The Wars of the Roses : A struggle between rival Royal Houses begins in 1455, after questions are raised about King Henry VI’s capacity to rule.
Kim’s Game : Test your memory with this mental agility game from the pages of Rudyard Kipling.
A Mechanical Miracle : The father of computing believed his machine held the key to some of life’s greatest mysteries.
Essential Nouns : Suggest nouns of essence, such as leadership or supremacy.
The Follies of Youth : RL Stevenson was of the opinion that wrongthink was better than groupthink.
Thick and Thin : Express each of these ideas as a single word.
Break : Explain what each of these common expressions means, and give examples.
Blind Guide : William Wirt recalls an overpowering sermon from a blind man in a little wooden chapel.
It’s All in the Delivery : Aeschines paid tribute to the oratory of his greatest rival — whether he meant to or not.
The Road to Ruin : George Berkeley warned that industry, not financial speculation, was the guarantee of a nation’s wealth.
Signs of Command : Suggest publicly-displayed commands, and say how many of them are sentences.
My Native Notes : Scotsman James Boswell always spoke good English when in England, but he was careful to leave a little Scots in.
Hidden Message : Reveal the hidden message in a letter, and write a coded letter of your own.
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