The Copybook

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

139

© Francesca Grossi, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0.

To the Last I Grapple With Thee by Herman Melville

Ahab, his mind broken by an obsession, at last confronts the enemy he has hunted so long.

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140

© Gpwitteveen, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0.

An Invasion of Privacy by Dorothy L. Sayers

Perhaps European harmonisation would make life easier, but that would be only the beginning.

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141

By Friedrich Graetz, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

Brigands and Imbeciles by John Bright

John Bright dismissed fears that digging a tunnel under the English Channel would encourage a French invasion.

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142

© Lightburst, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0.

Out of Reach by Homer

Odysseus recalls meeting Tantalus and Sisyphus, for whom relief was everlastingly beyond their grasp.

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143

By Mary Beale (?-1699), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: ? Public domain.

Robinson Crusoe Goes to Sea by Daniel Defoe

Hours after running away to sea, Robinson Crusoe was sorry he ever left home.

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144

By an anonymous artist, c. 1700-1753, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

A Day in Georgian London by John Macky

A foreign tourist writes home with an account of a day in the life of a typical London gentleman.

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© Nicholas Armitage / Clay Lane, 2025

April 25 NS

April 12 OS

The Life-Giving Spring : An obscure officer in the Roman Army gains a dizzying promotion after performing a simple act of kindness.
The Gallipoli Landings : By 1915, the Allies were struggling to break through Germany’s Western Front, and so began looking for another line of attack.
The Avengers : John Buchan was moved by the way the nations of the British Empire volunteered for service in the Great War.
A Tax on Companionship : William Windham MP was appalled at the idea of levying a tax on man’s best friend.
The Day of Resurrection : An eighth-century hymn of the Greek Church, for Easter Day
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.
Red Eye : Reconstruct the speaker’s original words from these reports.
Responsible : Combine each group of ideas into a single sentence, in as many ways as you can.
Opposites : Suggest words that seem opposite in meaning to the words in this list.
Three of a Kind : For each of these things, think of three different varieties of it.
The Son of God Goes Forth to War : A hymn in praise of St Stephen, the first Christian martyr.
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