Clay Lane

The Copy Book

A Library of History and Literature in English

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1033

Glorious John

JB Cramer was one of the finest pianists of his day, though his reverence for Mozart made his own music more popular in the drawing room than the concert hall.

In 1772, Wilhelm Cramer, a virtuoso violinist from Stuttgart in the Duchy of Württemberg, settled in London, becoming a leading figure in concert halls and in the Court of King George III. Soon afterwards, his infant son Johann Baptist Cramer (1771-1858) joined him in England.

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Picture: By William Sharp (1749-1824), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.

1034

Autumn: A Dirge

Poet Percy Shelley calls on November’s sister months to watch by the graveside of the dead Year.

‘Autumn: A Dirge’ was published by Percy Shelley’s widow Mary in 1824, two years after Percy’s death in Italy at the age of just twenty-nine. Unlike his contemporary John Keats, Shelley makes no attempt to evoke Autumn’s golden harvests, but calls on all but the most carefree summer months to keep vigil by the dying Year.

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Picture: © Neil Theasby, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.. Source.

1035

The Empire Within

Poet Percy Bysshe Shelley says that the pinnacle of political achievement is the government not of others, but of ourselves.

Percy Shelley’s sonnet ‘Political Greatness’ was published after his death by his widow, Mary. Shelley rejected any theory of social order based on coercion, whether by explicit legislation or by the tyranny of unbreakable custom. Humanity will never be served by mastering others; it is mastering yourself that is the true humanism.

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Picture: By Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain. Source.

1036

To Autumn

Poet John Keats speaks of the beauties of Autumn, her colours, her sounds and her rich harvest.

On a walk beside the River Itchen near Winchester, on 19th September 1819, the young poet John Keats was deeply moved by the sights and sounds of autumn. His lyric poem ‘To Autumn’ is widely regarded as one of the most perfectly formed poems in the English language.

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

1037

‘Thy Necessity is Yet Greater than Mine’

Elizabethan courtier and soldier Sir Philip Sidney shows that a nobleman can also be a gentleman.

Writer and courtier Sir Philip Sidney died on October 17th, 1586, from a wound he had suffered while fighting in support of Dutch independence from Spain at the Battle of Zutphen on September 22nd. He was just 31. The account below is by Philip’s devoted friend Fulke Greville, who served James I as Chancellor of the Exchequer.

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Picture: © Gouwenaar, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.. Source.

1038

The Bishop and the Chatterbox

One week into a Lenten retreat with the Bishop of Hexham, a boy’s miserable life is turned right around.

Bishop John of Hexham (?-721) is better known today as St John of Beverley, as he had been Abbot of the monastery in Beverley, North Yorkshire, before being elevated to the See of Hexham. His contemporary Bede was a great admirer, and told this story of him.

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