Clay Lane

The Copy Book

A Library of History and Literature in English

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295

The Richmond Shilling

For centuries our coal industry was plagued by regulations and taxes, but a tax imposed in 1667 seemed to have nothing to do with coal at all.

296

‘Have a Care What You Do’

Lord George Gordon marched at the head of 50,000 protestors to the House of Commons, to demand that George III’s England did not become like Louis XVI’s France.

297

Christmas Under Cromwell

In 1657, Sir John Evelyn celebrated Christmas in a church for the first time in years. Unfortunately, someone told the authorities what he was doing.

298

The Little Flower Boy

Mary I’s fear for her throne had risen to such a pitch that her Chamberlain felt threatened by a three-year-old child.

299

Two Sly Foxes

Sir Nicholas L’Estrange recalls two astonishing eyewitness accounts of the resourcefulness the fox.

300

Translated from the Lattin

When William Shakespeare agreed to be godfather to Ben Jonson’s baby boy, he forgot that he would have to think of a gift for his christening.