The Copybook

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

1015

By Scipione Pulzone (1544–1598), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

The Ridolfi Plot by Clay Lane

The Pope and the King of Spain decide that the time has come to rid England of her troublesome Queen, Elizabeth I.

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1016

From the Chemical Heritage Foundation, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

Not for Sale by Sir Humphry Davy

Sir Humphry Davy pleads with Britain’s scientists not to be bought by Napoleon’s gold.

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1017

Photo by Captain Tanner, from the Imperial War Museums via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

‘Please Respect our Traditions’ by Clay Lane

Archbishop Damaskinos of Athens took his wartime protest straight to the top.

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1018

© Hertzsprung, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0.

The Absent Minded Conquerors by Sir John Seeley

Sir John Seeley urged us to cherish our close ties to India and other nations beyond Europe.

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1019

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

Srinivasa Ramanujan by Clay Lane

A maths prodigy from Madras became so wrapped up in his sums that he forgot to pass his examinations.

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1020

Via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

An Avoidable Tragedy by Adam Smith

Adam Smith argued that the Bengal Famine of 1769 would have been much less of a tragedy under a free trade policy.

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Clay Lane The Copybook
About Clay Lane nicholas@claylane.uk

© Nicholas Armitage / Clay Lane, 2025

May 2 NS

April 19 OS

She was a Phantom of Delight : Mary Wordsworth wasn’t pretty or bookish, but she was kind and vital, and William loved her.
Hardly : Tone down these bold assertions with ‘hardly’.
The Death of Julius Caesar : When Julius Caesar entered the Senate that day, a note warning him of treachery was clutched in his hand — unread.
Two Letters Home : A German soldier stopped the Great War so he could ask Captain Hulse to post a letter for him.
Smile : Choose adjectives of praise for these nouns, at about the 7/10 level.
The Making of Mark : St Mark wrote his Gospel as a summary of the preaching of St Peter.
Zheng He and the Rise of Malacca : Malacca became a refuge from the overbearing empires of the Far East, thanks to a celebrated Chinese admiral.
Confusables : Compose sentences to bring out the similarities and differences between these words.
Jill and I : Include yourself in these sentences about Jill.
Saddled : Use these words in sentences, and see if you can use one of them as a verb.
Russia’s Heroic Stand : In 1941, with much of the West subdued, Adolf Hitler bent the full force of his hatred on Moscow.
Approachable : Replace the verb ‘can’ with these alternatives, and explain how the meaning of the sentence has changed.
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