Minis
Mini Copy Book

Each post in this section is a short précis (summary) of a passage in The Copy Book. All of them are in modern English. They are intended for students of English as a Foreign Language at Elementary Level.

Liberty and Prosperity

Free Trade, Free Peoples

Oldham’s firebrand MP William Cobbett rips into the the City of London for blocking economic and political progress in India.

Length: 56 words

Character and Conduct

All that Glisters is not Gold

Henry Mayhew, co-founder of ‘Punch’, tells two anecdotes about the Victorian cabbie.

Length: 59 words

Lives of the Saints

Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh

Abbot Elfric unpacks the meaning of the gifts of the Three Wise Men.

Length: 59 words

Music and Musicians

Caught in the Act

Young Thomas Arne goes to extreme lengths to conceal his musical talent from his family.

Length: 113 words

Discovery and Invention

Spinning Jenny

James Hargreaves’s historic invention was not without its critics when it first appeared.

Length: 57 words

Tudor Era

Asylum Christi

Samuel Smiles explains how Tudor England was transformed from sleepy backwater to hive of industry.

Length: 57 words