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.

Stuart Era

The Darien Scheme

The Parliament of Scotland tried to liberate itself from London’s strangling single market.

Length: 113 words

Christmastide

His Bright Nativity

Anglo-Saxon poet Cynewulf wonders at the mystery of the Bethlehem manger, where all the light of heaven was shining.

Length: 59 words

Modern History

The Voyage of the ‘Mayflower’

A crackdown on dissent in England’s established Church drove a band of Nottinghamshire townspeople to seek new shores.

Length: 111 words

Liberty and Prosperity

The Empire of Enterprise

Adam Smith credited the British Empire’s success not to the policy of her Government, but to the character of her people.

Length: 99 words

Liberty and Prosperity

Folly and Freedom

Britain’s colonies were founded to supply her Government with gold, but instead they supplied her people with liberty.

Length: 52 words

Georgian Era

Portrait of a Lady

Edmund Burke takes time off from campaigning for liberty to reflect on the delights of captivity.

Length: 53 words