The Copybook

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

337

Attributed to Michael Lupi de Çandiu (fl. 1297-1305), via the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, and Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

Imma’s Bonds by Clay Lane

Imma claimed to be a harmless peasant, but there was something about him that Ecgfrith, King of Northumbria, found downright uncanny.

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338

By an anonymous artist of the English School (1560s), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

Queen of Arts by Thomas Fuller

Queen Elizabeth I’s quick thinking and command of five European languages made her a dangerous enemy in a war of words.

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339

© Mortier.Daniel, Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 4.0.

A Shocking Theft by Clay Lane

Luka had netted a nice little haul of stolen coins and antiques, but he could not resist stripping down the historic Icon of the Sign too.

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340

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

An Ideal Location by Sir Ernest Scott

Many of Australia’s first cities were planned by British bureaucrats who had never been there, which may explain why they put them in the wrong places.

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341

© Stephen McKay, Geograph. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.

Lighting-Up Time by Raphael Meldola

William Murdoch and Samuel Clegg brought warmth and light into the country’s streets, factories and homes, but the public didn’t make it easy.

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342

By Robert Campin (1375/1379-1444), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

No Room at the Inn from The York Corpus Christi Pageants

The Tilers and Thatchers of fourteenth-century York tell how Joseph and Mary fared after they were turned away by the innkeepers of Bethlehem.

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© Nicholas Armitage / Clay Lane, 2025

April 23 NS

April 10 OS

St George, Patron Saint of England : George served in the Roman army and lies buried in Israel, yet he makes an ideal patron for England.
The Day of Resurrection : An eighth-century hymn of the Greek Church, for Easter Day
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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