The Copybook

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

733

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

The South Sea Bubble D. H. Montgomery

An attempt to pay down the National Debt provoked a frenzy of financial speculation.

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734

Allen &co. (1902), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

Popular Misconceptions John Buchan

A good knowledge of history is essential if we are to understand words such as liberty and democracy.

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735

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

Shivaji and the Battle of Surat Clay Lane

Charles II was thinking about handing Bombay back to the Portuguese, when an Indian rebel stepped in.

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736

By Thomas Rowlandson (1756–1827), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

Costume Drama Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald

When Lord Cochrane went to a fancy dress ball in Valetta, his costume nearly got him killed.

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737

© Neil Reed, Geograph. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.

The Dissolution of the Monasteries Charles Dickens

Between 1536 and 1539, King Henry VIII’s government divided up the Church’s property amongst themselves and left a trail of devastation.

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738

By Alexis Simon Belle (1674–1734), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

The Adventures of Lord Forbes of Pitsligo Clay Lane

At sixty-seven, Alexander Forbes rode to war with Bonnie Prince Charlie, and over a decade afterwards was still a hunted man.

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