Short passages for reading, drawn from history, legend, poetry and fiction.
© Edward Prentis (1797-1854), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.
During a severe sickness, John Donne, Dean of St Paul’s, asked of God three boons.
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By Thomas Davidson (1842-1919). Public domain.
In time of crisis, so the legend goes, Sir Francis Drake will come to our aid again, as once he did against the Spanish Armada.
By Paul Sandby (?1730-1809). Public domain.
Ralph Waldo Emerson traced a common thread running throughout English literature.
By Pierre-Antoine Demachy (1723–1807). Public domain.
Charles Dickens set his historical novel A Tale of Two Cities (1859) in the French Revolution seventy years before, but it was far from the dead past to him.
By Antonio Gisbert (1834-1901), via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.
According to Kipling, the British Empire was the last resort of Englishmen who could not stand conditions at home.
By Cyprian Norwid (1821–1883). Public domain.
Salesman Richard Cobden wondered why his employers left a full warehouse in his hands without any kind of security.