The Copybook

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

943

From the Visoki Dečani monastery in Kosovo/Serbia, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

Water into Wine Elfric of Eynsham

Abbot Elfric explains the significance of Christ’s miracle at Cana.

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944

© Ewan Munro, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.

Disbanding Empire Adam Smith

Adam Smith could not imagine it would ever happen, but he nevertheless recommended that Britain grant independence to her colonies.

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945

Via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

Progressive Travancore S. Ramanath Aiyar

Contemporary historian Ramanath Aiyar catalogued the ways in which Maharajah Moolam Thurunal led the way in modernising British India.

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946

© SMU Central University Libraries, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

Engines of Progress Sir Bartle Frere

Sir Bartle Frere, Governor of Bombay, shared his excitement at the way railways were making Indians more independent.

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947

© David Dixon, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.

The Pedlar of Swaffham Abraham de la Pryme

A persistent dream prompts a Norfolk tradesman to walk all the way to London in the hope of bettering his lot.

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948

From ‘College Addresses’ by Sir Hubert Parry (1920).

Mistakes, Right and Wrong Sir Hubert Parry

Sir Hubert Parry explained to students at the Royal College of Music that some mistakes are creative whereas others are destructive.

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