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

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103

By Alexei Harlamov (1840–1925), Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

A Great Writer by Fyodor Dostoevsky

One author was a long way ahead at the top of Dostoevsky’s reading list.

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104

© Trevor Rickard, Geograph.

Truth Lies Open to All by Ben Jonson

Nobody has a monopoly on the truth, neither the scholars of the past nor the scholars of today.

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105

© Ian Capper, Geograph. CC BY-SA 2.0.

Mrs Partington and Her Mop by Sydney Smith

The defiant Mrs Partington took on the full might of the Atlantic Ocean.

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106

© Auckland Museum, Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 4.0.

One More Pounce paraphased from Captain Charles Johnson

A Welshman was not keen on handing over his employer’s money just because Tom Dorbel had a gun.

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107

Via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

What to Get the King Who Has Everything by Sir Thomas Roe

Sir Thomas Roe had some difficulty making an impression on Emperor Jehangir.

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108

© Konstantin hramov, Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 4.0.

The Greatest Mart Town of all Muscovy by Richard Hakluyt

Flemish merchants hoping to prosper in Russia’s commercial capital received a nasty shock.

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

© Nicholas Armitage / Clay Lane, 2025

May 29 NS

May 16 OS

The Last Commandment : Anglo-Saxon poet Cynewulf imagines the farewell between Jesus and his Apostles, forty days after his resurrection.
The Fall of Constantinople : Hospitality and sympathy, but no help - the Byzantine Emperor learns a bitter lesson about western diplomacy.
The Royal Oak : In 1680, Samuel Pepys sat down with Charles II to record how, many years before, a bold double-bluff saved the King from Cromwell’s men.
Lost and Found : What would you in these difficult situations?
They Might Not Need Me : Read these lines of verse out aloud.
The Turn : Ben Jonson tells us how we should measure a life well lived.
Music Video : Julius Benedict, Piano Concerto in E flat: II. Andante,
The Character of George Washington : Thomas Jefferson recalls the virtues (and a few faults) of the first US President.
Amen to That : John Bright declared it was time stop fighting wars around the world for ‘British interests’.
Arena : Use these nouns in sentences of at least ten words in length.
Q & A :
Deep Harmony : In the midst of the US Civil War, a simple melody briefly brought the warring factions together.
Thirty Minutes : Describe half an hour in one of these places.
And is there Care in Heaven? : Sir Guyon lies in an enchanted swoon, but he is not without help.
Pirate : For each of these words, suggest others that seem to go with it, and use them to bring a scene to life.
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