Short passages for reading, drawn from history, legend, poetry and fiction.
© Nic McPhee, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.
It began to look as if Abraham Thornton might go down for rape and murder, so his attorneys dug deep into their bag of legal tricks.
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By Giuseppe Patania (1780-1852), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.
The authors of the ‘Cato Letters’ recalled how Greek general Timoleon replied when the people he had saved from oppression turned and bit him.
By Alf van Beem, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.
Joseph Addison tells the legend of the great Greek poetess Sappho and the Lover’s Leap.
By David Martin (1737–1797), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.
Benjamin Franklin recalls the disciplines he put himself through on the way to becoming one of America’s literary giants.
By Ivan Ayvazovsky (1817–1900), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.
Despite failing health, Peter the Great of Russia leapt into Kronstadt Bay to save some young sailors from a watery grave.
© Fab5669, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0.
Thomas Pitt’s tenure as Governor of Madras was regarded as a golden age, but what he is remembered for is his diamond.