The Literary and Philosophical Society of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

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Clay Lane

The Copy Book

A Library of History and Literature in English

November 7 October 25 OS

The Copy Book is an ever-growing library of short passages from history and literature, intended for practice in paraphrase and précis or simply for reading pleasure. They include brief summaries and eyewitness accounts of major events in our national history, and extracts from fables, poetry, plays, novels, political speeches and biography. Many were included by NL Clay in his anthologies of ‘straightforward English’.

See Also Subjects Authors Years

On This Day

November 7 ns

October 25 os

We keep civil anniversaries on the New Style date, and Church events on the Old Style. See About our calendars.

November 7 ns

The birth of Captain Cook (1728) 2 posts

The Character of Captain James Cook

Captain Cook’s friend and ship’s surgeon David Samwell gives us his impressions of the great explorer.

November 7 ns

The Canadian Pacific Railway is completed (1885) 1 post

Sir Sandford Fleming

What George Stephenson was to the railways of England, Sandford Fleming was to the railways of Canada.

Archive

What follows is an index to all 1575 posts in The Copy Book. You can keep up-to-date with new posts, and discover old posts you may have missed, with the Clay Lane Blog, where you will also find a selection of word games and exercises in grammar and composition.

The posts are currently listed most recent first. Use the buttons below to sort the posts alphabetically, or shuffle the list so you can find posts from right across the collection.

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1

Believe Me

A loving parent doesn’t want her son to be a success; she wants him to be a fine human being.

2

A Great Writer

One author was a long way ahead at the top of Dostoevsky’s reading list.

3

Mrs Partington and Her Mop

The defiant Mrs Partington took on the full might of the Atlantic Ocean.

4

Truth Lies Open to All

Nobody has a monopoly on the truth, neither the scholars of the past nor the scholars of today.

5

One More Pounce

A Welshman was not keen on handing over his employer’s money just because Tom Dorbel had a gun.

6

The Greatest Mart Town of all Muscovy

Flemish merchants hoping to prosper in Russia’s commercial capital received a nasty shock.