Short passages for reading, drawn from history, legend, poetry and fiction.
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© Mattbuck, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0.
John, Duke of Montagu, that irrepressible prankster, identified a sad-faced soldier in the Mall as the perfect mark.
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From a thirteenth-century copy of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Prophetiae Merlini, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence Public domain.
Geoffrey of Monmouth tells the tale of how Merlin first came to the attention of Britain’s kings.
By Canaletto (1697–1768), Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.
Horace Walpole, a loyal patron of Vauxhall pleasure gardens, visits newly-opened rival Ranelagh gardens in Chelsea.
© Wouterus Verschuur, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.
When some people talk about compromise, what they mean is that everyone else should compromise for their benefit.
By William Hogarth (1697-1764), Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.
Daniel Defoe argues that it is in every man’s interest to watch the women in his life realise their full potential.
© Terry Robinson, Geograph. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.
William Gladstone complained that some politicians talk about freedom but don’t trust the people enough to let them have any.