Clay Lane

The Copy Book

A Library of History and Literature in English

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1069

Mir Kasim

The East India Company installed Mir Kasim as Nawab of Bengal, only to find that he had a mind of his own.

Robert Clive’s victory against the Nawab of Bengal at Plassey in 1757 made him and his employers, the East India Company, quite literally kingmakers. But Clive now retired to London, leaving Bengal to the new Nawab, Mir Jafar, and Company policy to Henry Vansittart, Clive’s successor in Calcutta.

1070

The Story of Joseph

Joseph’s brothers decide they have had enough of their rival in their father’s affections.

The story of Joseph’s remarkable rise to power in Egypt began very unpromisingly, when his brothers tired of listening to his dreams of future glory.

1071

Joseph and Potiphar

Joseph’s master finds his new servant indispensable, but unfortunately his wife finds him irresistible.

Young Joseph’s brothers have wearied of his dreams of glory and his position as their father Jacob’s favourite. So they have beaten him, stripped him of his fine coat, and sold him to a passing caravan of merchants bound for Egypt. The story for Jacob, however, is that a wild animal has killed his beloved son.

1072

Joseph and Pharaoh

Pharaoh’s butler suddenly remembers his promise to mention Joseph to his master.

Joseph, sold into slavery in Egypt by his envious brothers, has been jailed by his master Potiphar on the malicious testimony of Potiphar’s wife. However, Joseph has become a popular trusty by interpreting troubling dreams on behalf of several inmates, including Pharaoh’s disgraced butler.

1073

Joseph and the Missing Money

Joseph’s brothers are forced to travel to Egypt to buy corn, and the overseer of Pharaoh’s granaries recognises them at once.

Joseph has explained Pharaoh’s troubling dreams, and such is Pharaoh’s relief that he has appointed him to oversee the kingdom’s granaries. Now famine has brought Joseph’s brothers to Egypt to buy grain, but they have no idea that the aristocratic Egyptian before them is the brother they sold into slavery.

1074

Joseph and Benjamin’s Cup

Joseph thinks that little Benjamin may provide the leverage he needs to force Jacob to come to Egypt.

The sons of Jacob have been to Egypt to buy corn during a famine, little knowing the lordly official in charge of the granaries there was the brother they sold into slavery years before. On returning home, they have discovered the money they thought they had paid to Joseph still in the sacks, and are bemused and frightened.