The Copybook

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

1567

Photo by Lalupa, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

The Martyrdom of St James the Great Clay Lane

James, brother of John the Evangelist, was executed for his faith by a close friend of the Emperor Caligula.

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1568

By John Singleton Copley (1738-1815), via Wikimedia Commons.

Somerset’s Case Prince Hoare

After James Somerset was loaded onto a British slave-ship bound for Jamaica, Granville Sharp and other committed Christians turned to the courts for justice.

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1569

© Przemysław Sakrajda, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 3.0.

The Speech of King Caratacus Cornelius Tacitus

A proud British king, taken to Rome as a trophy of Empire, refused to plead for his life.

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1570

By NASA, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

A Man called ‘Beta’ Clay Lane

For a perennial ‘runner-up’, Eratosthenes had a peculiar knack of being first.

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1571

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

The ‘Jay Treaty’ Clay Lane

The Jay Treaty can be seen as the start of the ‘special relationship’ between Britain and America.

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1572

By Gilbert Stuart (1755-1828), Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere Clay Lane

When Parliament sent the Army against American colonists, people still calling themselves ‘British’ had to decide very quickly what that meant to them.

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