The Copybook

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

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KJV Bible

1405

© Ashley Dace, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.

A Tempting Offer by Jane Austen

True moral integrity comes from within.

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1406

From Wikimedia Commons. Public domain image.

The Nine-Day Queen by Clay Lane

Lady Jane Grey’s accession was almost instantly overturned.

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1407

From Wikimedia Commons.

The Bombardment of Algiers by Clay Lane

For two centuries, human traffickers had stolen English men, women and children for the slave-markets of the Arab world.

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1408

© Geoff Harris, Geograph. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.

A Farewell by Charles Kingsley

A last goodbye breathes promise of a merry meeting.

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1409

© Yvonne Solomon, Geograph. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.

The Rainbow by William Wordsworth

God’s covenant of love is a fresh joy every time it appears.

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1410

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

St Bede of Wearmouth and Jarrow by Clay Lane

The mild-mannered, artistic monk was nevertheless a founding father of the English nation.

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Clay Lane The Copybook
About Clay Lane nicholas@claylane.uk

© Nicholas Armitage / Clay Lane, 2025

May 22 NS

May 9 OS

The Wars of the Roses : A struggle between rival Royal Houses begins in 1455, after questions are raised about King Henry VI’s capacity to rule.
Kim’s Game : Test your memory with this mental agility game from the pages of Rudyard Kipling.
A Mechanical Miracle : The father of computing believed his machine held the key to some of life’s greatest mysteries.
Essential Nouns : Suggest nouns of essence, such as leadership or supremacy.
The Follies of Youth : RL Stevenson was of the opinion that wrongthink was better than groupthink.
Thick and Thin : Express each of these ideas as a single word.
Break : Explain what each of these common expressions means, and give examples.
Blind Guide : William Wirt recalls an overpowering sermon from a blind man in a little wooden chapel.
It’s All in the Delivery : Aeschines paid tribute to the oratory of his greatest rival — whether he meant to or not.
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.
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