The Copybook

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

751

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

A Cavalier Attitude William King

Royalist soldier Sir Jacob Ashly exemplified a Christian gentleman in the heat of battle.

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752

From the British Museum, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

The Good Reign of Bad King John Thomas Babington Macaulay

Lord Macaulay believed that the disastrous reign of King John brought the country together.

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753

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

The Spider and the King Sir Walter Scott

Sir Walter Scott tells of the tale of how a little spider inspired Robert the Bruce to win his country’s sovereignty.

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754

© Carole Raddato, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0 Generic.

‘They Make a Desert and Call it Peace’ D. H. Montgomery

After the kingdoms of Great Britain were absorbed into the Roman Empire, the promises of prosperity and civilisation came only to a favoured few.

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755

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

Rome, Ruin and Revenue D. H. Montgomery

Rome’s greedy tax policy in Britain and Gaul left farmers with little to show for their labours but the stripes on their backs.

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756

By Jean-Charles Langlois (fl. 1860s) and Léon-Eugène Méhédin (1828-1905), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

A Near Thing Lord Calthorpe

During the Battle of Inkerman in 1854, one of Lord Raglan’s hospital sergeants had a close encounter with a Russian cannonball.

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