Short passages for reading, drawn from history, legend, poetry and fiction.
© Arya C S, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0.
A warlike king sets out to bag another small kingdom for his realms, but a monkey gets him thinking.
Read
© James Denham, Geograph. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.
Cuthbert’s friend comes asking for a priest to attend his dying wife — so long as it isn’t Cuthbert.
© York Museums Trust, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0.
Soon after Athelstan became England’s first king, he played a trick on the King of Norway which demanded a reply.
© Buchhändler, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0.
Samuel Smiles warns us against pursuing popularity for its own sake, saying that it is a kind of cowardice.
© Len Williams, Geograph. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.
William Cobbett recalls his first taste of classic literature, for which he had to go without his supper.
Photo by Adam Carr, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.
John Wesley wrote to a young William Wilberforce to encourage him in his campaign against the slave trade.