The Copybook

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

61

By Donaldson Brothers, Five Points, NY, via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

Hair by Hair William Cobbett

Governments must not use ‘the good of society’ as an excuse to run our lives.

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62

By Nikolai Sverchkov (1817–1898), via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

The Illustrious Mourner Olga Alekseevna Novikova

In Russia, when a blind beggar is laid to rest even the Emperor knows for whom the bell tolls.

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63

Anonymous, via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

Keep Room for Me in Your Heart Guiseppi Garibaldi

Guiseppi Garibaldi treasured the memory of a visit to Tyneside.

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64

By Henri-Antoine Boissonnas (1833-89), via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

Fire and Sword Fyodor Dostoevsky

Fyodor Dostoevsky listened with growing bewilderment to the celebrity peace activists gathered in Geneva.

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65

By an anonymous artist, via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

The Landmarks of Time Izaak Walton

Izaak Walton recalls how George Herbert summarised the major feasts of the Church year.

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66

By Georges de la Tour (1593–1652), via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

And We Beheld his Glory St Bede of Jarrow

In a sermon for Christmas Day, St Bede confronts his brethren with the truth about Mary’s wonderful child.

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