The Copybook

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

1579

© 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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1580

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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1581

© 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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1582

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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1583

By Nathaniel Currier (1734-1818), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

The Boston Tea Party Clay Lane

In the time of King George III, Parliament forgot that its job was not to regulate the people, but to represent them.

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1584

© Hoshidoshi, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain image.

Keep away from the Games! Seneca the Younger

The wise old philosopher had learnt that popular entertainments rot the soul.

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