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.

Lives of the Saints

St Nicholas and the Deadly Gift

The Bishop of Myra’s ceaseless toil to put an end to the worship of Artemis made him some dangerous enemies.

Length: 118 words

Remembrance

The Grandest of All Sepulchres

On the annual Remembrance Day of ancient Athens, Pericles rose to remind the people of the City that grief alone was not the best way to honour the fallen.

Length: 112 words

Discovery and Invention

The Richmond Shilling

For centuries our coal industry was plagued by regulations and taxes, but a tax imposed in 1667 seemed to have nothing to do with coal at all.

Length: 114 words

Extracts from Literature

‘Have a Care What You Do’

Lord George Gordon marched at the head of 50,000 protestors to the House of Commons, to demand that George III’s England did not become like Louis XVI’s France.

Length: 118 words

Stuart Era

Christmas Under Cromwell

In 1657, Sir John Evelyn celebrated Christmas in a church for the first time in years. Unfortunately, someone told the authorities what he was doing.

Length: 112 words

Tudor Era

The Little Flower Boy

Mary I’s fear for her throne had risen to such a pitch that her Chamberlain felt threatened by a three-year-old child.

Length: 118 words