The Copybook

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

529

© Richard Croft, Geograph. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.

A Prince Among Thieves John Major

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.

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530

By Marjorie Acker Phillips (1895-1985), Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.5.

Henry Goes a-Maying John Stow

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

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531

By Cassandra Austen (1773-1845), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

‘I Shall Keep This for Aunt Jane’ James Edward Austen-Leigh

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

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532

By Charles François Jalabert (1819–1901), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

Jibe and Joke Sir Richard Steele

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.

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533

© Herbythyme, Wikimedia Commons. Licenc e: CC BY-SA 4.0.

The Martyrdom of King Edward Roger of Wendover

After the death of King Edgar, powerful court factions struggled for power by hiding behind his two sons, twelve-year-old Edward and his younger step-brother Ethelred.

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534

© Tom Parnell, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0 generic.

Dunstan’s Deliverance Roger of Wendover

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.

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