The Copybook

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

577

By William Anderson (1757-1837), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

The Ordeal of Harry Demane Granville Sharp

After word came that Harry Demane had been lured aboard a slave-ship, Granville Sharp had only a few hours in which to make sure he did not sail.

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578

© Peter K. Burian, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0.

A Nation of Shopkeepers Napoleon Bonaparte

The great French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte protested that in calling England ‘a nation of shopkeepers’ he had paid us a compliment.

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579

From the Illustrated London News (December 4, 1847), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

Through Russian Eyes (William) John Birkbeck

After a visit to England in 1847, Aleksey Khomyakov published his impressions of our country and our people in a Moscow magazine.

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580

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

What It Is to Be a King Charlotte Yonge

Alexander, who had just taken the bath intended for his vanquished enemy Darius of Persia and was now eating Darius’s supper, was interrupted by a commotion in the camp.

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581

© mattbuck, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.

Ranulf’s Tooth Clay Lane

As he sat in his guest room at Durham Abbey, Ranulf de Capella could think of nothing but finding someone to rid him of his painful toothache.

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582

By Isaac Fuller (1606–1672), via the National Portrait Gallery and Wikimedia Commons. Licence: ? Public domain.

The Royal Oak Samuel Pepys

In 1680, Samuel Pepys sat down with Charles II to record how, many years before, a bold double-bluff saved the King from Cromwell’s men.

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