The Copybook

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

127

By Thomas Davidson (1842-1919). Public domain.

Drake’s Drum Sir Henry Newbolt

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.

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128

By Paul Sandby (?1730-1809). Public domain.

Strong Speech Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ralph Waldo Emerson traced a common thread running throughout English literature.

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129

By Pierre-Antoine Demachy (1723–1807). Public domain.

A Time Like the Present Charles Dickens

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.

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130

By Antonio Gisbert (1834-1901), via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

Thus Was the Empire Born Rudyard Kipling

According to Kipling, the British Empire was the last resort of Englishmen who could not stand conditions at home.

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131

By Cyprian Norwid (1821–1883). Public domain.

Character Counts! Elbert Green Hubbard

Salesman Richard Cobden wondered why his employers left a full warehouse in his hands without any kind of security.

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132

© Ian Taylor, Geograph. CC BY-SA 2.0.

The Making of a Great Citizen Elbert Green Hubbard

Travelling salesman Richard Cobden was still in his twenties when he bought a loss-making mill for a hundred times his annual salary.

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