The Copybook

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

769

© Lisa Jarvis, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.

A Stitch in Time Jean-Baptiste Say

French economist Jean-Baptiste Say recalls a time when an ounce of prevention might have saved many pounds of cure.

Read

770

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

Study the Heart Ignatius Sancho

Former slave Ignatius Sancho complained that Britain was denying to Africa the free trade and Christian principles she so badly needed.

Read

771

By John Trumbull (1756-1843), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

The American Revolutionary War Clay Lane

In 1775, London’s high-handed exploitation of her colonies for tax revenue began to look like a very expensive mistake.

Read

772

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

Montagu’s Frolic William Henry Melmoth

John, Duke of Montagu, that irrepressible prankster, identified a sad-faced soldier in the Mall as the perfect mark.

Read

773

From a thirteenth-century copy of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Prophetiae Merlini, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence Public domain.

Vortigern’s Tower Geoffrey of Monmouth

Geoffrey of Monmouth tells the tale of how Merlin first came to the attention of Britain’s kings.

Read

774

By Canaletto (1697–1768), Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

Ranelagh Gardens Horace Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford

Horace Walpole, a loyal patron of Vauxhall pleasure gardens, visits newly-opened rival Ranelagh gardens in Chelsea.

Read