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.

Indian History

Equal before the Law

Queen Victoria assured her subjects that there were no second-class citizens in her eyes.

Length: 56 words

Lives of the Saints

St Elizabeth the New Martyr

The grand-daughter of Queen Victoria was as close to the poor of Moscow’s slums as she was to the Russian Tsar.

Length: 109 words

Scottish History

The Battle of Glen Shiel

King Philip V of Spain sent a second Spanish Armada against Britain, but it suffered much the same fate as the first.

Length: 59 words

Extracts from Literature

The Pimpernel Fails to Show

Lady Blakeney agrees to spy for the French Revolutionary government in return for her brother’s life.

Length: 106 words

History of Africa

David Livingstone

The Scottish missionary and medic believed that slavery could better be eradicated by trade than by force.

Length: 113 words

Classical History

Boudica

British sympathy for Roman imperial progress evaporated when officials began asset-stripping the country.

Length: 58 words