The Copybook

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

1579

By Underworld74, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Attribution only.

Orpheus and Eurydice Clay Lane

Orpheus would lose his beloved wife Eurydice to death not once, but twice.

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1580

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

Heads I Win, Tails You Lose! Charles H. Ross

(That’s cat-tails, obviously.) And who ever said cats were unpredictable?

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1581

From Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

‘Better Habits, Not Greater Rights’ Samuel Smiles

The extraordinary productivity and social mobility of the Victorian era is to the credit not of the governing class, but of the working man.

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1582

© tango7174, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 3.0.

Theseus and the Minotaur Clay Lane

A warning not to be forgetful of others, even in triumph.

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1583

© Heinz Schmitz, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.5.

Heracles and the Nemean Lion Clay Lane

Sending a hero off to ‘certain death’ never seems to work out...

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1584

© Peter Trimming, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.

Perseus and Andromeda Clay Lane

Wielding the Gorgon’s head, Perseus saves a beautiful maiden from a ravening sea-monster.

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