Clay Lane

The Copy Book

A Library of History and Literature in English

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961

Hard Rain

Some likened tax-and-spend to a refreshing shower of rain, but for William Cobbett the rain wasn’t falling mainly on the plain man.

William Cobbett castigated the Government for overtaxing employers, and then congratulating themselves on handing out a little welfare to the underpaid and unemployed while pocketing the difference. Better, Cobbett said, to stop the job-killing taxes, so the working man can have a fair crack at dignified independence.

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Picture: By John Constable (1776-1837), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.

962

The Kitten on the Wall

William Wordsworth watches a playful kitten, and makes himself a promise.

Cats have inspired a great deal of poetic affection, and here William Wordsworth adds his own tribute to our feline friends, drawn from a much longer poem written in 1804. One budding mouser playing with autumn leaves sets Wordsworth thinking about staying young.

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Picture: © Nickolas Titkov, Geograph. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0 generic.. Source.

963

‘Never Trust Experts’

Lord Salisbury seeks to calm the Viceroy of India’s nerves in the face of anti-Russian hysteria.

In 1877, military advisers urged Britain to ready themselves for war against the Russian Empire, citing St Petersburg’s diplomatic ties with Afghanistan, and warning that the Russians ‘could’ invade Turkey or even India. Lord Salisbury, Secretary of State for India, wrote to the Viceroy, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, urging calm.

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Picture: © Godot13, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0.. Source.

964

Heracles and Cerberus

In the last of his twelve labours, the hero must snatch the three-headed guard dog of the Underworld.

The twelfth and final Labour of Heracles sees him despatched to the Underworld, the realm of Hades, to fetch Cerberus, a three-headed guard dog with snakes for a mane, and just for good measure, a venomous serpent for a tail.

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Picture: By Sir Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.

965

All Things ‘Nice’

Henry Tilney teases a bewildered Catherine Morland for her lazy vocabulary.

Catherine Morland has been invited for a walk near Bath by Eleanor Tilney and her brother, the Revd Henry Tilney. Henry finds Catherine’s artless simplicity irresistible, but cannot help teasing her; and after she praises her favourite novel, ‘The Mysteries of Udolpho’, with a tame adjective, Henry is merciless.

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Picture: © Derek Harper, Geograph. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.. Source.

966

The Liberty-Lovers

American essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson praises the English public for still loving freedom, despite their politicians.

American essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) saw the English as a people much less biased and belligerent than their political masters. Liberty was safe, Emerson believed, while Englishmen still craved not influence abroad, but independence at home.

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Picture: © Stephen Craven, Geograph. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.. Source.