The Copybook

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

319

Emily Beatrice Bland (1864-1951), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

Heaven’s Harbour Cynewulf

The lives of men are like voyages across stormy seas, but we no longer have to sail them as if they were uncharted waters.

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320
‘You Are No Parliament!’ Edmund Ludlow

In April 1653, Oliver Cromwell learnt that Parliament was planning to prevent him from packing the Commons with yes-men.

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321

From the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Licence: Public domain.

Cuthbert’s Box Clay Lane

Shortly before Easter, an ivory box went missing from the gifts presented at the shrine of St Cuthbert.

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322

From ‘Les Vigiles de Charles VII’ (?1484), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

Away to Your Own Country Joan of Arc

As the Duke of Bedford and other English captains were besieging Orleans, they received a startling letter from a seventeen-year-old girl.

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323

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

Politics and the Pulpit Edmund Burke

Edmund Burke begged the clergy of England to give us all a break from the twenty-four-hour news cycle.

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324

© Jim Barton, Geograph. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.

Messing About in Boats Kenneth Grahame

Mole is enjoying the most wonderful Spring morning, skipping his chores and going for a row with Rat.

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