The Copybook

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

1615

© David Wright, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.

Mrs Bold’s Thunderclap Anthony Trollope

There comes a point in some relationships when words just aren’t enough.

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1616

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

There is No Liberty without Self-Control Edmund Burke

Anti-Christian governments don’t make us free, they just impose their own, illiberal morality.

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1617

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

No Dog Exchanges Bones with Another Adam Smith

How do we get the help of millions of people we don’t know? Only by trade.

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1618

© Vivienne Smith, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.

The Battle of Neville’s Cross Clay Lane

Ralph Neville spoiled David of Scotland’s alliance with France in the Hundred Years’ War

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1619

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

The Tale of Beggar’s Bridge Clay Lane

The proof of Thomas Ferres’s rags-to-riches tale is quite literally written in stone, but popular lore adds some tantalising and romantic detail.

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1620

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

Black Agnes Dunbar Clay Lane

When Edward III sent the Earl of Salisbury to take her absent husband’s castle, Agnes brushed his attack aside - literally.

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