The Copybook

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

835

From the East Riding Archives, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: No known copyright restrictions.

A Change of Heart Travers Buxton

An irate coal merchant squares up to the oh-so-righteous gentleman who didn’t like the way he was treating his horse.

Read

836

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

A Victim of His Success Richard Burdon Haldane

Economist Adam Smith so changed the conversation in Britain that most people take his groundbreaking insights for granted.

Read

837

By Carole Raddato, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.

An Embarrassment of Heroes John Buchan

John Buchan warned that the great figures of history are often beyond their biographers’ comprehension.

Read

838

© Brian Robert Marshall, Geograph. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.

Sir William Keeps a Prior Engagement H. A. Bruce

Sir William Napier stopped to console an unhappy little girl, and made her a promise he did not find it easy to keep.

Read

839

By Poly Von Schneidau, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

Fan Frenzy Charles Dickens

Ardent opera buffs descend like locusts on Jenny Lind’s hotel, eager for a memento.

Read

840

By E.O.S. and Company of employees of the Times of India, Bombay. Via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

Press Agents William Thomas Stead

When Lord Salisbury asked the Russian Minister of the Interior how many agents the Tsar had in India, the reply came as a shock.

Read