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

Blind Date

After two punishing years rising to the top of the East India Company’s armed forces in India, Robert Clive could not spare the time to go courting.

Length: 111 words

Aesopica

The Dog in the Manger

A mean-spirited dog denies to others what he has no appetite for himself.

Length: 60 words

Stuart Era

A Corant On the Heath

Highwayman Claude Du Vall robbed a carriage on Hampstead Heath in the most courteous manner imaginable.

Length: 122 words

Discovery and Invention

The Spinning Mule

It was not just his own family that wanted to know what Samuel Crompton was doing by night in his quaint Bolton workshop.

Length: 118 words

French Revolutionary Wars (1793-1802)

‘Really, I do not see the signal!’

During the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801, Horatio Nelson decided it was time to turn a blind eye.

Length: 117 words

Lives of the Saints

‘Why Am I Still Lying Here?’

Cuthbert, struck down by plague, was vexed to find that his brethren had been praying for him all the previous night.

Length: 59 words