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.

Character and Conduct

Joseph Boruwlaski

William Burdon gives us a character sketch of his friend the ‘Count’, who did not let his small stature cramp his style or narrow his mind.

Length: 115 words

Character and Conduct

A Debt to a Hero

A veteran of the Battle of Salamanca in 1812 was boasting of his lieutenant’s bravery when his wife sprung some unwelcome news upon him.

Length: 114 words

Scandinavian History

Bergen’s Blessings

In the days of Henry II, relations with our cross-Channel neighbours were fractious, but we were fast friends with the people of Norway.

Length: 111 words

Free Trade and Markets

An Odious Monopoly

The privileges granted to European merchants in fifteenth-century London led to seething resentment in the City.

Length: 115 words

Russian History

Lord Great Novgorod

The city of Great Novgorod in Russia was a mediaeval pioneer of a decidedly rumbustious kind of parliamentary democracy.

Length: 112 words

The British Constitution

Mistress Liberty

Lord Halifax tacks gratefully into the Winds of Liberty, though he trims his sails to avoid being blown into republicanism.

Length: 113 words