The Copybook

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

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1603

© Sylvia Duckworth, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.

A Bird in the Hand is Worth... by Procopius of Caesarea

The Roman Emperor Honorius, so the story goes, had more on his mind than the impending sack of one of Europe’s iconic cities.

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1604

By TL. From Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Free Art Licence.

Hannibal’s Passage of the Alps by Clay Lane

Hannibal’s crossing of the Alps with nearly 50,000 men and 38 elephants is the stuff of legend.

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1605

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

The Siege of Arcot by Thomas Babington Macaulay

Twenty-five-year-old Robert Clive’s extraordinary daring helped to prevent India falling into the hands of the French King.

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1606

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

Angel Cat by Jerome K. Jerome

Cats do have a conscience: it tells them when to look innocent.

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1607

© Lisa Risager, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.

Typical Cat! by P. G. Wodehouse

When a cat comes into your life, resistance is futile.

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1608

© Ikiwaner, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 1.2.

Cain and Abel by Clay Lane

Smarting for his outraged ‘rights’, Cain lost his reason — but not God’s pity and love.

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

© Nicholas Armitage / Clay Lane, 2025

May 13 NS

April 30 OS

St Erkenwald, Light of London : The seventh-century Bishop of London helped kings and clergy to shine Christian light into the darkness of mere religion.
The Martyrdom of St James the Great : James, brother of John the Evangelist, was executed for his faith by a close friend of the Emperor Caligula.
Abstract : Use these words in sentences as a Noun, Verb or Adjective.
Better By Example : Gregory urged the persecuted Christians of Nazianzus to be the better men.
Speed Clues : Help a friend to guess five words in under a minute.
A Proper Game of Cricket : Mary Mitford makes an appeal for the traditional village cricket match.
Mini Bios : Write a short paragraph about a prominent person, but don’t start any sentence with he or she.
A Thousand Commas : Assess the punctuation of this sentence, according to the author’s own principles.
Batter My Heart : John Donne gives God a free hand to do whatever needs to be done.
Window Seat : Describe the view from one of the following vantage points.
Repeat Offender :
In Two Minds : Join these ideas together to a form a single sentence, in at least two different ways.
The First Traffic Lights : The busy crossroads outside the Houses of Parliament was the testing ground for a new technology.
Good Companions : Explain what these wise classical authors are telling us.
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