Short passages for reading, drawn from history, legend, poetry and fiction.
© Krzysztof Golik, Wikimedia. Commons. CC BY-SA 4.0.
Rudyard Kipling believed that a better appreciation of ancient Greece and Rome could help the English be less insular.
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By William Heath (1795-1840), via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.
Faced with a choice between silence, dungeon or exile, William Cobbett chose exile — and then had to make sense of it.
By Robert Scott Tait (?1816-1897), Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.
Leigh Hunt looks back to a memorable event in a long life.
© Michael Garlick, Geograph. CC BY-SA 2.0.
On a money-spinning pilgrimage to Canterbury, a Pardoner says the quiet part out loud.
By Max Liebermann (1847-1935), by Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.
A road accident made parish priest George Herbert late for his musical evening, but he was not a bit sorry.
© Ian Capper, Geograph. CC BY-SA 2.0.
In Erewhon, apologise by saying you have the socks and everyone will understand.