Clay Lane

The Copy Book

A Library of History and Literature in English

← Page 1

493

‘Poor Pamela’s Married At Last!’

Letitia Barbauld called Samuel Richardson’s 1740 novel Pamela ‘a new experiment’ in English literature, and to judge by its reception it was very successful.

494

A Stout Answer

A few weeks after a large French raiding party had been driven away from the Isle of Wight, another flotilla arrived from across the Channel demanding money with menaces.

495

A War of Words

A few years before the Battle of Agincourt, the Duke of Orléans challenged King Henry IV to meet him in Bordeaux for a winner-takes-all joust.

496

Surprised by Heaven

We turn to books seeking an author’s sympathy and fellowship, but William Cowper’s verse is unusual: he turns to us for ours.

497

The Gods of the Copybook Headings

After the devastation of the Great War, calls rose for a new economic and social system, and to put the wisdom of our forebears behind us.

498

The Sacrifice of Isaac

Abraham invites his son Isaac to accompany him to a nearby mountain to offer sacrifice, and the boy is naturally curious to know what gift his father proposes to offer.