Clay Lane

The Copy Book

A Library of History and Literature in English

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1249

Heracles and the Augean Stables

Heracles shows his capacity for thinking outside the box, but spoils it by trying to be just a little bit too clever.

Heracles has murdered his children in a fit of anger, and is performing a series of ‘Labours’ for his cousin King Eurystheus, to work off his guilt. Eurystheus would be just as happy if Heracles perished in his Labours, and in sending him now to clean out the stables of Augeas, King of Elis, appears to hope he can disgust him to death.

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

1250

Merchants of Muscovy

In 1553, Richard Chancellor set out on a perilous voyage to Russia in order to bypass the Hanseatic League’s customs union.

Richard Chancellor (?1521-1556) was the first Englishman to establish diplomatic relations with Russia, following an arduous, four-month voyage through uncharted Arctic waters. Tsar Ivan IV was delighted with his new trade partners, despite complaining that English merchants make money for themselves, and not for their princes.

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Picture: By Konstantin Korovin (1861-1939), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.

1251

Not a Scratch!

Hapless extremists try to wipe out a miraculous icon of the Virgin Mary.

This is far from the only tale of its kind concerning the ‘Kursk Root’ icon, named after its discovery in the 13th century among the shrubs of a forest near the ruins of Kursk in Russia. The icon, which escaped both the USSR and the Nazis, is kept today in New York, and last visited England in 2012.

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Picture: © Гондарева Илга (Ilga Gondareva), Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0.. Source.

1252

A True Gentleman of Verona

A young man from the Italian city on the Adige River demonstrates that class has nothing to do with wealth.

Samuel Smiles’s ‘Self-Help’ enthusiastically encouraged working men to take advantage of Britain’s entrepreneurial economy. Yet he never once promised riches; he promised dignity and self-respect, and told this tale to illustrate their superiority.

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

1253

Wellington’s Secret

The future hero of Waterloo dealt with political ambush as comfortably as he dealt with the military kind.

Arthur Wellesley spent the years 1797 to 1804 in India. He went out as a Colonel in the British Army’s 33rd regiment of Foot, and was soon being addressed as General Sir Arthur. On 23rd September 1803, he secured a significant victory over the Maratha Empire at Assaye in the state of Maharashtra, western India.

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Picture: Via Wikimedia Commons.. Source.

1254

One Last Question

English lawyer Sydney Carton goes to the guillotine in place of a French aristocrat.

At the height (or depth) of the French Revolution, Sydney Carton has exchanged places and names with aristocrat Charles Darnay, winning just enough time for Darnay and his family to be smuggled to safety in England. As Carton is led to the guillotine, a seamstress condemned to the same fate shares a confidence with him.

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Picture: By Jules Girardet, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.