Short passages for reading, drawn from history, legend, poetry and fiction.
© Didier Descouens, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0.
A marble statue in Venice bears witness to Europe’s long history of brave defeats and fruitless victories.
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© Chris Talbot, Geograph. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.
Louisa Musgrove thought she had hit on a sure method of winning Captain Wentworth’s affections.
Via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.
A twelve-year-old girl from Lyme Regis made a historic discovery while selling seashells to tourists.
© Ballista, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 3.0.
High above the roof of the Amazonian rainforest, Professor Challenger sees something that eerily reminds him of home.
From the Benaki Museum, Athens, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.
In the fourth century, Britain’s Christians acquired a taste for watering down the mystery of their message.
By William M. Vander Weyde (1871–1929), via George Eastman House Collection and Wikimedia Commons. Licence: No known copyright restrictions.
As proof that ‘Providence protects children and idiots’, Mark Twain recalls his first taste of ten-pin bowling.