The Copybook

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

1387

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

Jesty and Jenner’s Jab by Clay Lane

Benjamin Jesty and Edward Jenner continue to save millions of lives because they listened to an old wives’ tale.

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1388

© Uttam h, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0.

Discovery! by Mark Twain

Mark Twain covets the supreme sensation of being a trailblazer.

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1389

© Richard Croft, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.

Robin Hood and the Debt of Honour by Clay Lane

The outlaw showed that strange as it may be, he did have a code of honour.

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1390

© Von grzanka, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 3.0.

The Friendship of Cats by Théophile Gautier

A cat’s affection is not easy to win, but the rewards make the effort worthwhile.

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1391

© Ashley Dace, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.

A Tempting Offer by Jane Austen

True moral integrity comes from within.

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1392

From Wikimedia Commons. Public domain image.

The Nine-Day Queen by Clay Lane

Lady Jane Grey’s accession was almost instantly overturned.

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

© Nicholas Armitage / Clay Lane, 2025

May 2 NS

April 19 OS

She was a Phantom of Delight : Mary Wordsworth wasn’t pretty or bookish, but she was kind and vital, and William loved her.
Hardly : Tone down these bold assertions with ‘hardly’.
The Death of Julius Caesar : When Julius Caesar entered the Senate that day, a note warning him of treachery was clutched in his hand — unread.
Two Letters Home : A German soldier stopped the Great War so he could ask Captain Hulse to post a letter for him.
Smile : Choose adjectives of praise for these nouns, at about the 7/10 level.
The Making of Mark : St Mark wrote his Gospel as a summary of the preaching of St Peter.
Zheng He and the Rise of Malacca : Malacca became a refuge from the overbearing empires of the Far East, thanks to a celebrated Chinese admiral.
Confusables : Compose sentences to bring out the similarities and differences between these words.
Jill and I : Include yourself in these sentences about Jill.
Saddled : Use these words in sentences, and see if you can use one of them as a verb.
Russia’s Heroic Stand : In 1941, with much of the West subdued, Adolf Hitler bent the full force of his hatred on Moscow.
Approachable : Replace the verb ‘can’ with these alternatives, and explain how the meaning of the sentence has changed.
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