The Copybook

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

1597

© Serena, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.

Angel Cat by Jerome K. Jerome

Cats do have a conscience: it tells them when to look innocent.

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1598

© Lisa Risager, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.

Typical Cat! by P. G. Wodehouse

When a cat comes into your life, resistance is futile.

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1599

© Ikiwaner, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 1.2.

Cain and Abel by Clay Lane

Smarting for his outraged ‘rights’, Cain lost his reason — but not God’s pity and love.

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1600

From Wikimedia Commons. Public domain image.

Daniel in the Lions’ Den by Clay Lane

The King who condemned him to the den of lions felt far worse about it than Daniel did.

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1601
Belshazzar’s Feast by Clay Lane

Prince Belshazzar’s disrespectful behaviour left him facing the original ‘writing on the wall’.

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1602

© David Wright, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.

Mrs Bold’s Thunderclap by Anthony Trollope

There comes a point in some relationships when words just aren’t enough.

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

© Nicholas Armitage / Clay Lane, 2025

April 29 NS

April 16 OS

A Literary Mystery : In 1798, ‘Plays on the Passions’ appeared in London bookstores, but no one seemed to know who had written them.
Smile : Choose adjectives of praise for these nouns, at about the 7/10 level.
The Making of Mark : St Mark wrote his Gospel as a summary of the preaching of St Peter.
Zheng He and the Rise of Malacca : Malacca became a refuge from the overbearing empires of the Far East, thanks to a celebrated Chinese admiral.
Confusables : Compose sentences to bring out the similarities and differences between these words.
Jill and I : Include yourself in these sentences about Jill.
Saddled : Use these words in sentences, and see if you can use one of them as a verb.
Russia’s Heroic Stand : In 1941, with much of the West subdued, Adolf Hitler bent the full force of his hatred on Moscow.
Approachable : Replace the verb ‘can’ with these alternatives, and explain how the meaning of the sentence has changed.
The First Easter : In a translation from the Authorized Version of the Bible, published in 1611, St Mark recounts the discovery of Christ’s empty tomb.
A Collect for Easter Day : A short prayer from the Book of Common Prayer, for the day of Christ’s resurrection.
The Gambler : Which well-known expression is Dr Johnson talking about here?
If I Had But Two Little Wings : Samuel Taylor Coleridge holds on to those precious moments when loneliness is a problem for tomorrow.
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