The Copybook

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

907

© Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-R29818, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0.

The Machinery of State John Buchan

Human beings should not be frantic cogs spinning away in the Government’s factory of Progress.

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908

By Gillis Hafström (1841-1909), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

A Confiscation of Property Anne Brontë

Arthur Huntingdon discovers that his wife is planning to leave him, and take their little boy with her.

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909

© Thomas Quine, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.

Cuthbert and the Sorrowful Ravens Clay Lane

The Northumbrian monk was touched by two thieving birds who repented of their misdeeds.

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910

By Vincent van Gogh, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

Cuthbert and the Barley Reivers Clay Lane

Bede is reminded of another great Christian saint when St Cuthbert shoos some troublesome crows from his barley crop.

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911

© Barbara Carr, Geograph. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.

A Tale of Two Springs Clay Lane

The way St Cuthbert found water for his island retreat confirmed that Northumbria’s church was the real thing.

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912

From the Chroniques de St Denys (c. 1332-1350), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

The Disappearance of Arthur Clay Lane

In April 1203, a royal prince and heir vanished from Rouen at just the right moment for King John.

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