Short passages for reading, drawn from history, legend, poetry and fiction.
By Robert Alexander Hillingford (1828-1904), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.
An Arthurian knight commits a dreadful crime against a woman, and is sent by Queen Guinevere on a fitting errand.
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© alijava, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.
Young Theseus sets out for Athens on foot to claim his kingdom, but the road is infested with giants, bandits and a savage sow.
Imperial War Museums Collection, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.
Sir Joshua Fitch urges Victorian society to let women make their own career choices – whatever they may be.
© Humphrey Bolton, Geograph. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.
The Report of the Newcastle Commission confirmed that there were no Dotheboys Halls among Yorkshire’s private schools.
© David wright, Geograph. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.
Mrs Squeers has lost the school spoon, and is uncomfortably frank about its importance.
By James Gillray (1756-1815), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.
American essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson saw the demand for hard evidence as a peculiarly English trait.