The Copybook

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

1027

© Österreichische Nationalbibliothek (Austrian National Library), Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

Taken for a Ride by John Buchan

Richard Hannay sees for himself how political activists trick decent people into supporting their quest for power.

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1028

Via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

The Darien Scheme by Clay Lane

The Parliament of Scotland tried to liberate itself from London’s strangling single market.

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1029

© Ian Capper, Geograph. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.

His Bright Nativity by Cynewulf

Anglo-Saxon poet Cynewulf wonders at the mystery of the Bethlehem manger, where all the light of heaven was shining.

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1030

© Raime, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-A 3.0.

The Voyage of the ‘Mayflower’ by Clay Lane

A crackdown on dissent in England’s established Church drove a band of Nottinghamshire townspeople to seek new shores.

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1031

© Fletcher6, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0.

Great Mother of Men by Adam Smith

The spread of Western civilisation must not be credited to European policy, but to a culture of curiosity, enterprise and defiance.

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1032

By George Romney (1734-1802), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

Portrait of a Lady by Edmund Burke

Edmund Burke takes time off from campaigning for liberty to reflect on the delights of captivity.

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

© Nicholas Armitage / Clay Lane, 2025

May 5 NS

April 22 OS

When the Cat’s Away... : A Victorian artist and avid bird-watcher banished cats from his country cottage, but soon wished he hadn’t.
Patience : Make a single sentence out of these three ideas.
The Angel Cried : A hymn sung in the weeks after Easter, imagining how Gabriel brought the news of Christ’s resurrection to Mary.
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.
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