Short passages for reading, drawn from history, legend, poetry and fiction.
By Su Hanchen (12th century), via the National Palace Museum (Taipei and Taibao, Taiwan) and Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.
On his travels through China and Tibet, Roman Catholic missionary Évariste Huc came across a novel way of telling the time.
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By Boris Kustodiev (1878–1927), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.
John Buchan draws a distinction between political changes brought by violence and those brought by progress.
By Johann Wilhelm Preyer (1803–1889), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.
When violinist Joseph Joachim proposed a toast to the world’s greatest composer, he was cut off in mid flow.
© Hiroki Ogawa, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0.
Composer Johannes Brahms disliked the adulation sometimes heaped on him by fans, and found quite imaginative ways to avoid it.
By Lluïsa Vidal (1876–1918), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.
Sir Charles Villiers Stanford recalls the very different receptions given by British and German audiences to a little bit of Brahms.
By Hispalois, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.
As soon the Roman Emperor Constantine declared religious liberty in his Empire, the Christian Church gave him cause for regret.