Short passages for reading, drawn from history, legend, poetry and fiction.
By Annibale Gatti (1828-1909), via the Wellcome Trust and Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 4.0.
John Milton (of ‘Paradise Lost’ fame) urged Parliament not to fall into bad old habits of censorship, whatever their fears may be.
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© Deutsche Fotothek (picture by Roger and Renate Rössing), Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 3.0 Germany.
Philosopher and social activist John Stuart Mill discusses the most liberating kind of education.
National Portrait Gallery, via Wikimedia Commons.
Charles took his rights and duties as a King with religious seriousness, but Parliament’s sense of both right and duty was just as strong.
© John Sutton, Geograph. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.
When Parliament overthrew the capricious tyranny of Charles I, it discovered an uncomfortable truth about power.
© UtDicitur, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 4.0.
Edmund Burke pleaded with Parliament to emerge from behind closed doors and reconnect with the British public.
© Jean Housen, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0.
The British liberated the Ionian islands from Napoleon, then gave them fifty happy years and the game of cricket.