Clay Lane

The Copy Book

A Library of History and Literature in English

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439

Fly on the Wall

Henry VII made sure that he had eyes and ears wherever they were needed to put an end to thirty years of political conspiracy.

440

A Prince Among Thieves

In the days of Henry VIII, eminent Scottish historian John Major looked back to the reign of Richard the Lionheart and sketched the character of legendary outlaw Robin Hood.

441

Henry Goes a-Maying

King Henry VIII was riding out with Queen Catherine one May Day, when they found themselves waylaid by Robin Hood and two hundred archers.

442

‘I Shall Keep This for Aunt Jane’

James Edward Austen-Leigh tells us what it was that made his aunt, the celebrated novelist Jane Austen, so remarkable.

443

Jibe and Joke

Sir Richard Steele takes up arms against the kind of wit who thinks you can be as nasty as you like provided you make people laugh.

444

Dunstan’s Deliverance

In 978, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dunstan, was being battered in a stormy meeting when he — along with England’s rich monastic heritage — had a miraculous escape.