The Copybook

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

541

© Layanna (artist), Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0.

Dick Whittington and his Cat by Clay Lane

After Mr Fitzwarren took away Dick’s cat, even the charms of Alice Fitzwarren were not enough to keep him in that house another day.

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542

© Lonpicman, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0.

The Mirror of Charity by Richard Grafton

Richard Grafton bids us gaze on the likeness of Sir Richard Whittington, who should be an example to civic dignitaries everywhere.

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543

© Christ Beach, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0 Generic.

Give the Wall by A. G. Gardiner

Social niceties are essential for the smooth operation of society, but neither boxing a man’s ears nor calling in the lawyers will bring them back.

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544

By Claudius Jacquand (1808-1878), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain. Photo by Xavier Caré.

Full Merrily by William Roper

On July 5th, 1535, the night before he was to be executed by order of King Henry VIII, it seemed that Sir Thomas More was the only man in the Tower of London who was happy.

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545

Photo by Lt Juan David Guerra / US Navy, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

Peace with Dignity by William Ewart Gladstone

Amid the Don Pacifico Affair, William Gladstone told Lord Palmerston that pride in his own country did not excuse bossing others about like a global schoolmaster.

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546

By Konstantin Savitsky (1844–1905), Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

Educating Martin by Clay Lane

When Sir Rodbert became Brother Martin, he found the change so difficult that he began to wonder if even the saints were against him.

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Clay Lane The Copybook
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© Nicholas Armitage / Clay Lane, 2025

April 24 NS

April 11 OS

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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