The Copybook

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

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© Rmsrga, Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 3.0.

A Mechanical Miracle Charles Babbage

The father of computing believed his machine held the key to some of life’s greatest mysteries.

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© Marcia Berkowitz Maui Hawaii, Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 3.0.

The Follies of Youth Robert Louis Stevenson

RL Stevenson was of the opinion that wrongthink was better than groupthink.

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By Eduard von Gebhardt (1838–1925), via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

Blind Guide William Wirt

William Wirt recalls an overpowering sermon from a blind man in a little wooden chapel.

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© Marie-Lan Nguyen, Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 2.5.

It’s All in the Delivery Marcus Tullius Cicero

Aeschines paid tribute to the oratory of his greatest rival — whether he meant to or not.

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© Ronnie Macdonald, Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 2.0.

The Road to Ruin Bishop George Berkeley

George Berkeley warned that industry, not financial speculation, was the guarantee of a nation’s wealth.

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© Caroline Legg, Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 2.0.

My Native Notes James Boswell

Scotsman James Boswell always spoke good English when in England, but he was careful to leave a little Scots in.

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