Short passages for reading, drawn from history, legend, poetry and fiction.
© Ximonic (Simo Räsänen), Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0.
Among the oldest surviving fragments of Norse poetry are some lines of rugged common sense which any age would do well to heed.
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By Thomas Luny (1759-1837), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.
Sir Edward and Lady Pellew were on their way to a dinner engagement one stormy day, when their carriage was caught up in tragedy at sea.
From the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.
Henry VIII and his mistress Anne Boleyn were disappointed once again in their hopes of catching Thomas More with his fingers in the till.
© Paul, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.
After spending years besieging the city of Troy, the Greek armies suddenly decamp, leaving behind only an enormous wooden sculpture of a horse.
© Mikey, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.
Victor Hugo berates the general public for crediting everything they do themselves to their supposedly wonderful Government.
© DS Pugh, Geograph. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.
Sir Isaac Newton told William Stukeley about the day when an apple fell from a tree and set him thinking about the solar system.