The Copybook

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

295

By Daderot, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

The Character of Charles II Gilbert Burnet

Scottish scholar and clergyman Gilbert Burnet sets before us a picture of a King who was something of a Solomon in his virtues and his vices.

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296

© Olga Burda, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0.

Song of Angels, Joy of the Blest Cynewulf

Cynewulf encourages his listeners to remain committed to the Christian life, by reminding them of the reward that awaits them.

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297

Emily Beatrice Bland (1864-1951), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

Heaven’s Harbour Cynewulf

The lives of men are like voyages across stormy seas, but we no longer have to sail them as if they were uncharted waters.

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298
‘You Are No Parliament!’ Edmund Ludlow

In April 1653, Oliver Cromwell learnt that Parliament was planning to prevent him from packing the Commons with yes-men.

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299

From the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Licence: Public domain.

Cuthbert’s Box Clay Lane

Shortly before Easter, an ivory box went missing from the gifts presented at the shrine of St Cuthbert.

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300

From ‘Les Vigiles de Charles VII’ (?1484), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

Away to Your Own Country Joan of Arc

As the Duke of Bedford and other English captains were besieging Orleans, they received a startling letter from a seventeen-year-old girl.

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