Short passages for reading, drawn from history, legend, poetry and fiction.
By Achille Beltrame (1871-1945), via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.
Governor Pitiorek assured the heir to the Austrian Empire that Bosnians rarely tried to murder the same man twice in one day.
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© Tilemahos Efthimiadis, Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 2.0.
Now that King Odysseus has failed to return from the Siege of Troy, the earls of Ithaca are eager to marry his lovely widow.
By Alex Bassano, published 1885. Public domain.
Frances Colenso admired the gallantry of the men who defended the fort at Rorke’s Drift, and the restraint of the men who attacked it.
© Len Williams, Geograph. CC BY-SA 2.0.
There is plenty of work in the garden of England for everyone, whether he has a green thumb or not.
By Marcin Mlynczak. Public domain.
Frances Colenso warned that if the British did not learn to treat the Africans with respect, a higher Power would soon teach them some manners.
© Edward Prentis (1797-1854), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.
During a severe sickness, John Donne, Dean of St Paul’s, asked of God three boons.