Short passages for reading, drawn from history, legend, poetry and fiction.
National Portrait Gallery, via Wikimedia Commons. ? Public domain.
The Founder of Singapore established his city on principles of free people and free trade.
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By David Wilkie (1785-1841), Apsley House and via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain
The Russians had checked it in the East, but in the West the expansion of Napoleon Bonaparte’s empire was far from over.
Via the Imperial War Museums collection, and Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.
Gregory Rasputin is tricked into attending a dissolute Moscow soirée, and shares his sadness with Englishman Gerard Shelley.
Via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.
Stamford Raffles, Lieutenant-Governor of Java, urged London to bypass our European partners and trade directly with Japan.
© Bollywood Hungama, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0.
A. A. Milne warns that marketing cricket to people who don’t like the game must not spoil it for those who do.
By Loliloli, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.
From the grateful solitude of his library in the Dordogne, Michel de Montaigne reflects on the companionship of his cat.