Clay Lane

The Copy Book

A Library of History and Literature in English

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373

A Smuggler and a Gentleman

Harry Paulet was going about his unlawful business when he spotted a French fleet slip quietly out of Brest and into the Atlantic.

374

No Smoke Without Fire

Sir Walter Raleigh was within his rights to experiment with the Native American habit of smoking tobacco, but he should have told his servants first.

375

A Step Up for Captain Raleigh

When young Walter Raleigh first came to the court of Queen Elizabeth I he had little more than his wardrobe in his favour, and he wore it wisely.

376

No Platform

Fiery young attorney Thomas Erskine stood up in the House of Commons to denounce a bill aiming to silence critics of the Government.

377

The Length of a Horse

Unlike some of his fellows in Westminster, Scottish statesman Henry Dundas made no attempt to make himself sound more ‘English’.

378

Proverbs of the Northmen

Among the oldest surviving fragments of Norse poetry are some lines of rugged common sense which any age would do well to heed.