The Copybook

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

691

© Newretreads, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0.

One Man and his Dog Edmund Lockyer

English explorer Major Edmund Lockyer tries to buy a puppy in Queensland, but ends up paying the owner to keep him.

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692

By Paul Sandy, via Wikimedia-Commons. Licence: Public domain.

Virtue in Rags and Patches Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens explains to the young men of Boston MA what it is that motivates him to write.

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693

Via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

‘To the Heights!’ Clay Lane

St Gregory Palamas struggled all his life to stand up for the principle that the Bible means what it says.

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694

© Valeria23, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0 Romania.

The Beautiful Side of the Picture Sabine Baring-Gould

Heathen prince Boris I of Bulgaria (r. 852–889) commissioned St Methodius to paint an impressive scene for his palace walls.

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695

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

‘Let the boy earn his spurs!’ Robert Chambers

At the Battle of Crécy in 1346, the English army was trying out a new military tactic under the command of a sixteen-year-old boy.

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696

From the Walters Art Museum, Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

Samson’s Riddle Clay Lane

The Israelites under Philistia’s rule might have blended with their heathen masters had not Samson kept stirring up trouble.

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