Clay Lane

The Copy Book

A Library of History and Literature in English

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1435

Daffodils

A poem about the blessing of fond memories.

Wordsworth indulges in the comfortable memory of a walk beside Ullswater in the English Lake District, and reflects that to remember happiness is to live it twice.

1436

Character and Learning

Intellectual learning is to be respected, but it should never be confused with good character.

Samuel Smiles devoted an entire volume to the subject of character, appreciating that an education is only as good as the moral principles with which it is applied.

1437

Winston Churchill’s Final Journey

The heroic and charismatic statesman’s last journey was replete with echoes of his extraordinary life.

Winston Churchill’s tenacity, eloquence and principled refusal, regardless of the cost, to embrace seductive European promises of ‘progress’ and ‘harmony’ carried Blitz-torn Britain and persuaded a hesitant America to join the Allies.

1438

Captain Moorsom’s ‘Revenge’

The Whitby man held his nerve to keep five enemy ships busy at Trafalgar, and subsequently led Nelson’s funeral procession.

The Battle of Trafalgar near Spain on October 21st, 1805, in which the victorious Admiral Horatio Lord Nelson was shot and killed, is one of the defining events in British history. Many played a vital part in it, including Captain Robert Moorsom of Whitby in Yorkshire.

1439

The Selfish Giant

A giant gets angry when he finds children playing in his garden.

A giant has been staying with his friend the Cornish ogre; but after seven years he has run out of conversation, and come home.

1440

Damon and Pythias

A tale of two friends with complete confidence in each other, and loyal to the death.

Dionysius, tyrant of the island of Sicily (probably Dionysius I, r. 405-367 BC), was deeply impressed by the bond of trust shared by Pythias and Damon. Given how he came to find out about it, though, it is understandable that they thought three would make a crowd.