The Copybook

Short passages for reading, drawn from history, legend, poetry and fiction.

421

By George Hayter (1792–1871), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

Counsel’s Duty to his Client by Henry Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux

When King George IV tried to divorce Queen Caroline with maximum embarrassment, her barrister warned that two could play at that game.

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422

James Lonsdale (1777–1839), via the National Portrait Gallery and Wikimedia Commons. Licence: ? Public domain.

Undaunted by Henry Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux

Facing defeat at the General Election of 1812, Henry Brougham stood before the voters of Liverpool and made a spirited defence of liberty’s record.

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423

By Michael Angelo Hayes (1820-1877), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

Banner of Liberty by William Ewart Gladstone

In 1840, Secretary at War Thomas Macaulay treated the Union Jack like a bully’s visiting card, but backbencher William Gladstone believed it deserved better.

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424

Rundle Burges Watson (1809-1860), via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

The First Opium War by Jawaharlal Nehru

In 1840, the British Government declared war on the Chinese Empire over their harsh treatment of drug smugglers from Bengal.

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425

By Sir Anthony van Dyck (1599–1641), via wikimedia Commons. Licence: public domain.

The Time of Age by Edmund Waller

Seventeenth-century poet and statesman Edmund Waller reflects on the benefits of advancing years.

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426

© Sailko, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0.

Vice and Virtue by Alexander Pope

Vice is a fact of life, wrote Pope, and God can even bring good out of it; but vice is never a virtue and in tackling vice together we make our society stronger.

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© Nicholas Armitage / Clay Lane, 2025

April 30 NS

April 17 OS

Two Letters Home : A German soldier stopped the Great War so he could ask Captain Hulse to post a letter for him.
Smile : Choose adjectives of praise for these nouns, at about the 7/10 level.
The Making of Mark : St Mark wrote his Gospel as a summary of the preaching of St Peter.
Zheng He and the Rise of Malacca : Malacca became a refuge from the overbearing empires of the Far East, thanks to a celebrated Chinese admiral.
Confusables : Compose sentences to bring out the similarities and differences between these words.
Jill and I : Include yourself in these sentences about Jill.
Saddled : Use these words in sentences, and see if you can use one of them as a verb.
Russia’s Heroic Stand : In 1941, with much of the West subdued, Adolf Hitler bent the full force of his hatred on Moscow.
Approachable : Replace the verb ‘can’ with these alternatives, and explain how the meaning of the sentence has changed.
The First Easter : In a translation from the Authorized Version of the Bible, published in 1611, St Mark recounts the discovery of Christ’s empty tomb.
A Collect for Easter Day : A short prayer from the Book of Common Prayer, for the day of Christ’s resurrection.
The Gambler : Which well-known expression is Dr Johnson talking about here?
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