The Copybook

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

391

By an anonymous artist, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

Something Rotten in the State of Denmark The Bee, or Literary Intelligencer

When Ambassador Molesworth criticised the government of Christian V, the Danish king cried ‘off with his head!’.

Read

392

© Vyacheslav Argenberg, WIkimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0.

The Phantom Rickshaw Rudyard Kipling

Jack Pansay has just bought an engagement ring for the bewitching Kitty Mannering, yet to his annoyance it is the late Mrs Wessington he is thinking about.

Read

393

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

Watch Dog Anonymous

The doorman of a Paris theatre had strict instructions to keep dogs outside, but it was the humans they let in who caused all the trouble.

Read

394

© Azanulbizar74, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

Naked Aggression Richard Cobden

Richard Cobden told his audience in the London Tavern that however much sabre-rattling was heard in St Petersburg, the average Russian was a man of peace.

Read

395

Paulus Hector Mair (1517-1579)

Robin Recruits a Merry Man Anonymous

It was George-a-Green’s job to stop animals trampling the crops, and it nettled his pride in Wakefield’s broad acres to see some ramblers behaving no better.

Read

396

© 先従隗始, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain image.

Hideyoshi Changes His Mind Joseph Longford

Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Chancellor of the Realm and Imperial Regent of Japan, was inclined to encourage Christianity until he found out why European Powers were so keen on it.

Read