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.

French History

A Smuggler and a Gentleman

Harry Paulet was going about his unlawful business when he spotted a French fleet slip quietly out of Brest and into the Atlantic.

Length: 109 words

Tudor Era

No Smoke Without Fire

Sir Walter Raleigh was within his rights to experiment with the Native American habit of smoking tobacco, but he should have told his servants first.

Length: 58 words

Tudor Era

A Step Up for Captain Raleigh

When young Walter Raleigh first came to the court of Queen Elizabeth I he had little more than his wardrobe in his favour, and he wore it wisely.

Length: 59 words

Liberty and Prosperity

No Platform

Fiery young attorney Thomas Erskine stood up in the House of Commons to denounce a bill aiming to silence critics of the Government.

Length: 115 words

James Alexander Lovat-Fraser

The Length of a Horse

Unlike some of his fellows in Westminster, Scottish statesman Henry Dundas made no attempt to make himself sound more ‘English’.

Length: 115 words

Proverbs and Quotations

Proverbs of the Northmen

Among the oldest surviving fragments of Norse poetry are some lines of rugged common sense which any age would do well to heed.

Length: 117 words