The Copybook

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

799

© Rob Farrow, Geograph. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.

The Best and Worst of Britain attributed to Manoel Gonzales

A Portuguese merchant assesses Great Britain’s market under the Hanoverians.

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800

By Ferdinand van Kessel (1648-1696), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

A Country Squire in London by Thomas Babington Macaulay

Lord Macaulay describes the toils of a typical country gentleman visiting London in the time of Charles II.

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801

© Bob Harvey, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.

Eternal Lines by William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare immortalised his lover in verse, as if holding back for ever the ravages of Time.

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802

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

A Tiger By Morning by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

When Raffles Haw comes to sleepy Tamfield, his breathtaking generosity starts turning heads at once, and one belongs to Laura McIntyre.

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803

© Mike Searle, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.

A Universal Truth by Jane Austen

From the very first lines, Jane Austen’s classic novel ‘Pride and Prejudice’ pokes affectionate fun at Georgian England.

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804

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

On Love’s Lips by William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare recalls how the love of his life once teased him to the brink of despair.

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© Nicholas Armitage / Clay Lane, 2025

May 4 NS

April 21 OS

The Night-time Disciple : Nicodemus did not allow intellectual doubts to get in the way of what he knew in his heart.
She was a Phantom of Delight : Mary Wordsworth wasn’t pretty or bookish, but she was kind and vital, and William loved her.
Hardly : Tone down these bold assertions with ‘hardly’.
The Death of Julius Caesar : When Julius Caesar entered the Senate that day, a note warning him of treachery was clutched in his hand — unread.
Two Letters Home : A German soldier stopped the Great War so he could ask Captain Hulse to post a letter for him.
Smile : Choose adjectives of praise for these nouns, at about the 7/10 level.
The Making of Mark : St Mark wrote his Gospel as a summary of the preaching of St Peter.
Zheng He and the Rise of Malacca : Malacca became a refuge from the overbearing empires of the Far East, thanks to a celebrated Chinese admiral.
Confusables : Compose sentences to bring out the similarities and differences between these words.
Jill and I : Include yourself in these sentences about Jill.
Saddled : Use these words in sentences, and see if you can use one of them as a verb.
Russia’s Heroic Stand : In 1941, with much of the West subdued, Adolf Hitler bent the full force of his hatred on Moscow.
Approachable : Replace the verb ‘can’ with these alternatives, and explain how the meaning of the sentence has changed.
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