Short passages for reading, drawn from history, legend, poetry and fiction.
Anonymous, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.
A veteran of the Battle of Salamanca in 1812 was boasting of his lieutenant’s bravery when his wife sprung some unwelcome news upon him.
Read
© Guywestern, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0.
In the days of Henry II, relations with our cross-Channel neighbours were fractious, but we were fast friends with the people of Norway.
© J. Hannan-Briggs, Geograph. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.
The privileges granted to European merchants in fifteenth-century London led to seething resentment in the City.
© Konstantin hramov, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0.
The city of Great Novgorod in Russia was a mediaeval pioneer of a decidedly rumbustious kind of parliamentary democracy.
By Frans van Mieris the Younger (1689–1763), via the Fitzwilliam Museum and Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.
Lord Halifax tacks gratefully into the Winds of Liberty, though he trims his sails to avoid being blown into republicanism.
© Andrew Curtis, Geograph. Licence: CC BY_SA 2.0.
After safely negotiating the alluring Sirens, Odysseus and his crew must now decide which of Scylla and Charybdis would do the least damage.
Clay Lane Home
Search
Blog
The Copybook
Think and Speak
Comfortable Words
Word Games
Featured Authors
Featured Subjects
Search The Copybook
About Clay Lane
Close Menu