The Copybook

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

1189

Via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

Mothering Sunday Clay Lane

Mothering Sunday is a peculiarly British celebration of Christian faith, close family and responsible freedom.

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1190

Via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

Annunciation Cynewulf

Cynewulf reflects on the mystery of the appearance of the angel Gabriel to Mary.

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1191

© Andy F, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.

A Monument to Liberty Samuel Smiles

Samuel Smiles explains why the London and Birmingham Railway was an achievement superior to the Great Pyramid of Giza.

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1192

From the US National Archives and Records Administration, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain. (Note: this is Richard Cobden, not ‘Richard Corden’ as given by NARA.)

The Grievances of the South Richard Cobden

Victorian MP Richard Cobden believed British politicians supporting the slave-owning American South had been led a merry dance.

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1193

By Staecker, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

The Blessings of Nicholas Mogilevsky Clay Lane

Passengers sharing Bishop Nicholas’s Moscow-bound flight found his blessings faintly silly — but that was when the engines were still running.

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1194

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

Dixie on Thames Richard Cobden

Victorian MP Richard Cobden offered a startling analogy for the American Civil War.

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