Keyboard revision
Exercise 1.10
3058 characters with spaces
In preparation of the timed accuracy test, type the following for three minutes. Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow.
From Alfred the Great in the ninth century, to Elizabeth II today, 56 very different men and women have reigned as kings and queens of England. Some of these sovereigns stayed on the throne for only a few months. Some of them reigned for so long that their names have been part of the English language, for example when describing a period of time like Victorian or Edwardian. Some were acknowledged as being saintly and some were sinful. Some were strong and others were weak and hated.
Alfred the Great could be said to have begun it all. He was born in 849 and called himself Alfred of Wessex, King of the English. His biographer Asser, full of admiration for him, called him Leader of the Christians, and he is the only English sovereign to have been called “Great”. He was a warrior who developed into a military administrator, and he made his court in peacetime a centre of culture and religion. Although he surrounded himself with talented people, he took part in government as well as in the culture of his brilliant court. He was skilled, talented, and religiously devout.
By contrast, in 1491 the flamboyant and domineering King Henry VIII was born. He stands out as a giant among English kings. He had enormous appetites, he was destructive and also creative, and he threw England into a new era.
In his youth, Henry was a magnificent figure. He was strong, skilled in many physical and artistic achievements, and he was awe-inspiring and generous. But, Henry squandered his father’s carefully saved treasure in his wild foreign adventures that meant little and brought no reward to the country. On its own, England could not stand up to the super-states in Europe at the end of the fiſteenth century, and more money was soon needed. Te result was that the King became willing to do whatever was necessary in order to acquire cash.
Another powerful need arose in the 1520s – the need for a male heir to the throne. Henry’s wife was Catherine of Aragon, who was the widow of his brother Arthur. She could not produce a son that lived. As a result, Henry decided that this was because the marriage was not considered valid on the eyes of God. Only the Pope could annul the union, but Catherine’s nephew, the King of Spain, influenced him. And so a conflict with Rome began and this led to the founding of a national State Church.
Tis episode was probably the most important in the whole of English history. Henry destroyed the whole ecclesiastic culture and paved the way for a different religious, social and economic structure.
Henry married five more times aſter Catherine of Aragon. He divorced two of his wives, one died in childbirth, and two more were executed.
Henry’s life was grand in every way, and he shared his magnificent home Hampton Court Palace with his Queen(s) and over a thousand couriers. It was also the scene of the birth of his only son, Edward VI, and the tragic death of the baby’s mother, Jane Seymour, a few days later. Te Great Hall of the Palace is hung with Henry’s priceless Flemish tapestries.
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