The Copybook

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

1207

© Georgi.petrov66, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0.

The Nightingale and the Glow Worm William Cowper

A kind of Aesop’s Fable in verse, about mutual respect among those with different talents.

Read

1208

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

King Solomon’s Mines Clay Lane

Allan Quartermain goes in search of a lost tourist and a legendary hoard of diamonds.

Read

1209

© Yuvral, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.

Redeemed for Five Shillings Elfric of Eynsham

Elfric, the tenth-century English abbot, suggests a practical way of thinking about the Presentation of Christ in the Temple.

Read

1210

© State of Israel, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.

The Jerusalem Temple Clay Lane

The story of the once magnificent Temple in Jerusalem, the city God chose for Israel’s capital.

Read

1211

By D. M. Duggan Thacker, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

The Story of ‘Charlotte Dundas’ Clay Lane

The invention of the steamboat was a formidable challenge not just of engineering, but of politics and finance.

Read

1212

Railway Clearing House (1914), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

The Railway Clearing House Clay Lane

All but forgotten today, the RCH was one of the most important steps forward in British industrial history.

Read