Clay Lane

The Copy Book

A Library of History and Literature in English

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931

Progressive Travancore

Contemporary historian Ramanath Aiyar catalogued the ways in which Maharajah Moolam Thurunal led the way in modernising British India.

In 1885, His Highness Sir Rama Varma Moolam Thurunal became Maharajah of Travancore. A close confidant was historian Ramanath Aiyar, who some eighteen years later catalogued the various ways in which the Maharajah had moved Travancore forward in terms of society and industry.

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Picture: Via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.

932

Engines of Progress

Sir Bartle Frere, Governor of Bombay, shared his excitement at the way railways were making Indians more independent.

In a speech at the opening of the Bhor Ghat Incline between Bombay and Madras on April 21st, 1863, Sir Bartle Frere, Governor of Bombay, was quick to share with the assembled dignitaries his satisfaction that railways were bringing Indians an awareness of their rights and creating a more open and equal society.

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Picture: © SMU Central University Libraries, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.

933

The Pedlar of Swaffham

A persistent dream prompts a Norfolk tradesman to walk all the way to London in the hope of bettering his lot.

The following English folktale is an adaptation of an ancient legend found in ‘The Thousand and One Nights’, and told and retold of places from Cairo to Dundonald Castle in Scotland. This version places it in Swaffham in Norfolk, and is told by antiquarian Abraham de la Pryme.

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Picture: © David Dixon, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.. Source.

934

Mistakes, Right and Wrong

Sir Hubert Parry explained to students at the Royal College of Music that some mistakes are creative whereas others are destructive.

Addressing students at the Royal College of Music in January 1918, Sir Hubert Parry distinguished two kinds of mistake, the mistakes we make when we seize our responsibilities as free men and women a little clumsily, and the mistakes we make when we lazily follow whatever the fashionable thinking may be.

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Picture: From ‘College Addresses’ by Sir Hubert Parry (1920).. Source.

935

The Open Sea

Richard Cobden despaired at British statesmen using the peerless Royal Navy merely to strangle trade in other countries.

The Victorian era saw Britain abandon its colonial ‘single market’ in favour of much greater free trade, but Richard Cobden was not yet satisfied. He urged Parliament to stop using the navy to blockade the ports of its commercial and political rivals – in modern terms, to stop imposing sanctions and punitive tariffs.

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Picture: © LA(Photo) Angie Pearce / MOD, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Open Government Licence v1.0.. Source.

936

George Pinto

An innovative English composer who did not live to fulfil his extraordinary promise.

George Pinto (1785-1806) was a promising talent on the violin and the piano, and an innovative composer exciting the admiration of some of the country’s most prominent musicians. His early death robbed England of a rare talent, leaving it to more famous names to rediscover some of his genius on their own.

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Picture: © Androsch, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 3.0.. Source.