The Copybook

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

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KJV Bible

1135

© Fir0002/Flagstaffotos, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: GFDL v1.2.

Kanguru! by Captain James Cook

James Cook describes his first sight of a beloved Australian icon.

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1136

© Hansvandervliet, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

Heracles and the Cattle of Geryon by Clay Lane

Heracles must get the better of a three-bodied giant and steal his cattle.

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1137

© Dave Croker, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.

Pure Selfishness by H. G. Wells

The brilliant but dangerously obsessive Dr Griffin decides that the end justifies the means.

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1138

Via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

Arthur MacPherson by Clay Lane

MacPherson’s tireless efforts to promote Russian sport earned him a unique Imperial honour, and the enmity of the Communists.

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1139

Via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

The Aspden Cup by Clay Lane

British factory workers started a historic three-cornered league in the Russian city of St Petersburg.

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1140

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

Passover to Pentecost by St Bede of Jarrow

St Bede explains how the Exodus and the Ten Commandments are related to Easter and Whitsuntide.

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

© Nicholas Armitage / Clay Lane, 2025

May 19 NS

May 6 OS

Blind Guide : William Wirt recalls an overpowering sermon from a blind man in a little wooden chapel.
It’s All in the Delivery : Aeschines paid tribute to the oratory of his greatest rival — whether he meant to or not.
The Road to Ruin : George Berkeley warned that industry, not financial speculation, was the guarantee of a nation’s wealth.
Signs of Command : Suggest publicly-displayed commands, and say how many of them are sentences.
My Native Notes : Scotsman James Boswell always spoke good English when in England, but he was careful to leave a little Scots in.
Hidden Message : Reveal the hidden message in a letter, and write a coded letter of your own.
The Great and the Good : Daniel Defoe wondered whether goodness was not preferable to greatness.
Statements, Questions and Commands : Choose a word from our list, and then use it in any one of the three basic types of sentence — if possible.
Sentegrams : These sentences, taken from English literature, have been jumbled up like an anagram; see if you can piece them back together.
Good Sense : Rewrite these sentences so that the word ‘unless’ is not used.
The Coronation of Anne Boleyn : The weight of the crown that Anne Boleyn wore proved too heavy to bear.
Abstract : Use these words in sentences as a Noun, Verb or Adjective.
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