The Copybook

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

547

By a follower of Francisco Goya, via the Museo del Prado and Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

Death Grip Zenaide Alexeievna Ragozin

The terrible monster Grendel, secure in the knowledge that no blade can bite him, bursts into Hrothgar’s hall expecting another meal of man-flesh.

Read

548

Anonymous (British School), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

Fly on the Wall Sir Francis Bacon

Henry VII made sure that he had eyes and ears wherever they were needed to put an end to thirty years of political conspiracy.

Read

549

© Richard Croft, Geograph. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.

A Prince Among Thieves John Major

In the days of Henry VIII, eminent Scottish historian John Major looked back to the reign of Richard the Lionheart and sketched the character of legendary outlaw Robin Hood.

Read

550

By Marjorie Acker Phillips (1895-1985), Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.5.

Henry Goes a-Maying John Stow

King Henry VIII was riding out with Queen Catherine one May Day, when they found themselves waylaid by Robin Hood and two hundred archers.

Read

551

By Cassandra Austen (1773-1845), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

‘I Shall Keep This for Aunt Jane’ James Edward Austen-Leigh

James Edward Austen-Leigh tells us what it was that made his aunt, the celebrated novelist Jane Austen, so remarkable.

Read

552

By Charles François Jalabert (1819–1901), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

Jibe and Joke Sir Richard Steele

Sir Richard Steele takes up arms against the kind of wit who thinks you can be as nasty as you like provided you make people laugh.

Read