The Copybook

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

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KJV Bible

1621

© Lisa Risager, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.

Typical Cat! by P. G. Wodehouse

When a cat comes into your life, resistance is futile.

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1622

© Ikiwaner, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 1.2.

Cain and Abel by Clay Lane

Smarting for his outraged ‘rights’, Cain lost his reason — but not God’s pity and love.

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1623

From Wikimedia Commons. Public domain image.

Daniel in the Lions’ Den by Clay Lane

The King who condemned him to the den of lions felt far worse about it than Daniel did.

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1624
Belshazzar’s Feast by Clay Lane

Prince Belshazzar’s disrespectful behaviour left him facing the original ‘writing on the wall’.

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1625

© David Wright, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.

Mrs Bold’s Thunderclap by Anthony Trollope

There comes a point in some relationships when words just aren’t enough.

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1626

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

There is No Liberty without Self-Control by Edmund Burke

Anti-Christian governments don’t make us free, they just impose their own, illiberal morality.

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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.
Filioque : It started as an honest mistake, became a diplomatic standoff, and brought down an Empire.
The Return of King Charles II : Almost nine years after Oliver Cromwell’s army drove him from England, King Charles II returned at their invitation, and John Evelyn was there to see it.
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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