The Copybook

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

Blog

Copybook

Think & Speak

Games

KJV Bible

193

By Georg Braun (?-1622) and Frans Hogenberg (<1540-1590)

The Tale of Robert Tomson by Mandell Creighton

Robert Tomson was a typical Englishman and it nearly killed him, but it also made him a fortune and won him a bride.

Read

194

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

National Sympathy by Mandell Creighton

We English would not hand out so much unsolicited advice to foreign countries if we knew more about their history.

Read

195

© Christos Klearchos, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0 generic.

Christ is Risen! by Felicia Skene

Felicia Skene recalls the Easter celebrations on one emotionally-charged night in Athens

Read

196

© St Petersburg Theological Academy, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0 generic.

If Russia Gives a Lead by Herbert Bury

As war engulfed Europe, an Anglican bishop called on Russia to unite the world’s Christians around their veneration for the Bible.

Read

197

By Samuel Dukinfield Swarbreck (1799-1863), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

Order and Method by Hugh Blair

Taking the trouble to express ourselves more clearly helps us to think more clearly too.

Read

198

By Apollinary Vasnetsov (1856–1933), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

Timur in Russia by Clay Lane

Timur, Muslim lord of Samarkand, threw his weight behind the Golden Horde’s subjugation of Christian Russia, with unexpected results.

Read

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

© Nicholas Armitage / Clay Lane, 2025

May 9 NS

April 26 OS

A Gallant Attempt for the Crown : Only months after kidnapping the Duke of Ormond, Irish radical Thomas Blood was at it again, this time attempting to steal the Crown Jewels.
Russia’s Heroic Stand : In 1941, with much of the West subdued, Adolf Hitler bent the full force of his hatred on Moscow.
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.
The Rule of the Road : Being a free citizen doesn’t mean that everyone else has to get out of your way.
Blind Courage : George Santayana reprimanded politicians and military men who thought war was good for the country’s soul.
Patience : Make a single sentence out of these three ideas.
The Angel Cried : A hymn sung in the weeks after Easter, imagining how Gabriel brought the news of Christ’s resurrection to Mary.
She was a Phantom of Delight : Mary Wordsworth wasn’t pretty or bookish, but she was kind and vital, and William loved her.
Hardly : Tone down these bold assertions with ‘hardly’.
The Death of Julius Caesar : When Julius Caesar entered the Senate that day, a note warning him of treachery was clutched in his hand — unread.
Two Letters Home : A German soldier stopped the Great War so he could ask Captain Hulse to post a letter for him.
Latest

Clay Lane Home

Search

Blog

The Copybook

Think and Speak

Comfortable Words

Word Games

Featured Authors

Featured Subjects

Search The Copybook

About Clay Lane

Close Menu