The Copybook

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

307

Grigoriy Myasoyedov (1834–1911), via the National Museum of Warsaw and Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

The Thrice-Holy Hymn by St John Damascene

When the capital of the Roman Empire was in the grip of a violent earthquake, it fell to one small child to save all the people.

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308

From a manuscript of Froissart’s ‘Chronicles’ (?1470-72), via the British Library and Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

The Coronation of Henry IV by Jean Froissart

On October 13th, 1399, Henry Bolingbroke was crowned King Henry IV of England in Westminster Abbey.

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309

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

Sanctuary! by Temple Chevallier

As late as the fifteenth century, criminals on the run could find refuge in the precincts of England’s great churches.

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310

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

Poisoned Chalice by Temple Chevallier

Scientist and clergyman Temple Chevallier believed that the fast pace of recent discoveries in astronomy risked substituting a new superstition for an old one.

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311

Via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain image.

The Shimabara Rebellion by Joseph Longford

Forty thousand men, women and children, the last survivors of Japans’s persecuted Christian population, took refuge without earthly hope in a seaside castle.

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312

By NASA/JPL, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain image.

The Vast Depths of Infinity by Thomas Wright

Thomas Wright offers his readers a way of thinking about the enormous distances involved in any description of the solar system.

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

© Nicholas Armitage / Clay Lane, 2025

April 24 NS

April 11 OS

Christ is Risen! : Felicia Skene recalls the Easter celebrations on one emotionally-charged night in Athens
Approachable : Replace the verb ‘can’ with these alternatives, and explain how the meaning of the sentence has changed.
The First Easter : In a translation from the Authorized Version of the Bible, published in 1611, St Mark recounts the discovery of Christ’s empty tomb.
A Collect for Easter Day : A short prayer from the Book of Common Prayer, for the day of Christ’s resurrection.
The Gambler : Which well-known expression is Dr Johnson talking about here?
If I Had But Two Little Wings : Samuel Taylor Coleridge holds on to those precious moments when loneliness is a problem for tomorrow.
Red Eye : Reconstruct the speaker’s original words from these reports.
Responsible : Combine each group of ideas into a single sentence, in as many ways as you can.
Opposites : Suggest words that seem opposite in meaning to the words in this list.
Three of a Kind : For each of these things, think of three different varieties of it.
The Son of God Goes Forth to War : A hymn in praise of St Stephen, the first Christian martyr.
Peace Plan : Report this brief exchange between Anna and M. Pierre and Tolstoy’s War and Peace
Metaphors : Choose one of these words and use it metaphorically, not literally.
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