The Copybook

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

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1441

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

Romulus and the Sabine Women by Clay Lane

The legend of how Rome was settled gave rise to the March festival of Roman motherhood.

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1442

© Andrey Mironov, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0.

The Man Born Blind by Clay Lane

A man born blind is healed by Jesus, but finds himself a social outcast as a result.

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1443

© Marie-Lan Nguyen, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

Alcibiades by Clay Lane

In the populist democracy of 5th-century BC Athens, heroes fell as quickly as they rose.

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1444

© Pauline E, Geograph. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.

St David of Wales by Clay Lane

The popular monk was elected as bishop of Menevia in Wales in 550.

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1445

© Thermos, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.5.

Pericles and the Fickle Public of Athens by Clay Lane

The leader of 5th-century BC Athens lavished public money on the city and its adoring citizens, and wherever he led they followed.

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1446

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

The Knight, the Lady, and the Forest of Sorrow by Clay Lane

A little fable of encouragement for all the suffering.

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About Clay Lane nicholas@claylane.uk

© Nicholas Armitage / Clay Lane, 2025

May 17 NS

May 4 OS

The Road to Ruin : George Berkeley warned that industry, not financial speculation, was the guarantee of a nation’s wealth.
Signs of Command : Suggest publicly-displayed commands, and say how many of them are sentences.
My Native Notes : Scotsman James Boswell always spoke good English when in England, but he was careful to leave a little Scots in.
Hidden Message : Reveal the hidden message in a letter, and write a coded letter of your own.
The Great and the Good : Daniel Defoe wondered whether goodness was not preferable to greatness.
Statements, Questions and Commands : Choose a word from our list, and then use it in any one of the three basic types of sentence — if possible.
Sentegrams : These sentences, taken from English literature, have been jumbled up like an anagram; see if you can piece them back together.
Good Sense : Rewrite these sentences so that the word ‘unless’ is not used.
The Coronation of Anne Boleyn : The weight of the crown that Anne Boleyn wore proved too heavy to bear.
Abstract : Use these words in sentences as a Noun, Verb or Adjective.
Better By Example : Gregory urged the persecuted Christians of Nazianzus to be the better men.
Speed Clues : Help a friend to guess five words in under a minute.
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