Short passages for reading, drawn from history, legend, poetry and fiction.
© Peter O’Connor aka anemoneprojectors, Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 2.0.
Some years before the Elgin marbles were put on display in the British Museum, rising artist Benjamin Haydon got a sneak preview.
Read
By Alexander Hesler (1823-1895). Public domain.
Fame found Abraham Lincoln before he was ready for the scrutiny of the camera.
By W. Trier, via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.
John Buchan, who was as close as anyone to the events, gave his assessment of how all Europe was plunged into war in 1914.
From the Tyne and Wear Archives. Public domain.
... I heard John Wesley sing. A visitor on the quayside on Sunday May 30th, 1742, would have stumbled into a crowd agape and a determined clergyman singing psalms.
© Sailko, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0.
The words of the ancient Athenian lawmaker, on the limits of legislation, sucking up to dictators, and the crime of lounging about.
© Nigelj, Wikimedia Coommons. CC BY-SA 3.0.
Many problems in life and society would be eased if we were better at reading characters — especially our own.