Short passages for reading, drawn from history, legend, poetry and fiction.
© Stormy Clouds, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 4.0.
Economist Adam Smith so changed the conversation in Britain that most people take his groundbreaking insights for granted.
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By Carole Raddato, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.
John Buchan warned that the great figures of history are often beyond their biographers’ comprehension.
© Brian Robert Marshall, Geograph. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.
Sir William Napier stopped to console an unhappy little girl, and made her a promise he did not find it easy to keep.
By Poly Von Schneidau, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.
Ardent opera buffs descend like locusts on Jenny Lind’s hotel, eager for a memento.
By E.O.S. and Company of employees of the Times of India, Bombay. Via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.
When Lord Salisbury asked the Russian Minister of the Interior how many agents the Tsar had in India, the reply came as a shock.
By Egbert van der Poel, (16621-1664). Via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.
William Stead warned his fellow-journalists to take care that their bellicose rhetoric did not end in a real war with Russia.