Following the Restoration of King Charles II, the country charted a well-planned course between the extremes of civil licence and Government control.

After getting lost on a woodland walk and spraining his ankle, Samuel Pepys felt amply compensated when he stumbled across a flock of sheep.

Guy de Maupassant reflects on the way that a statesman’s place in history has so often been defined not by deeds or character but by his one-liners.

Two years into America’s Civil War, cotton workers in Manchester defied current opinion among politicians and the press, and pledged their support to the Union.

A rowdy but good-humoured crowd gathered in St Peter’s Fields, Manchester, to protest against electoral malpractice and Government cronyism.

In replying to a letter of support from Manchester’s cotton workers, US President Lincoln showed how deeply touched he had been.