Chapter 11 of A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 02 is here in full — 339 sentences across 68 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XI
Chapter 11 of A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 02 is here in full — 339 sentences across 68 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
ESAU. Alas! Then am I the unhappiest that ever was, I would the savage beasts had my body torn. ISAAC. The blessing that thou shouldest have had, another hath.
Chapter 11 of A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 02 is here in full — 339 sentences across 68 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/67 · 5 reading units · Lines 1–5
These definitions explain words found in the current reading and keep every example grounded in its original sentence.
Oxford-style entry order: headword, part of speech, US IPA, concise definition, contextual example, and audio.
used to show sadness, pity, or regret
From this reading “Alas!”
plural of “beast” — a living organism characterized by voluntary movement
From this reading “Then am I the unhappiest that ever was, I would the savage beasts had my body torn.”
the formal act of approving
From this reading “The blessing that thou shouldest have had, another hath.”
(Old Testament) the eldest son of Isaac who would have inherited the covenant that God made with Abraham and that Abraham passed on to Isaac; he traded his birthright to his twin brother Jacob for a mess of pottage
From this reading “ESAU.”
an old form of “has”
From this reading “The blessing that thou shouldest have had, another hath.”
(Old Testament) the second patriarch; son of Abraham and Sarah who was offered by Abraham as a sacrifice to God; father of Jacob and Esau
From this reading “ISAAC.”
(of persons or their actions) able or disposed to inflict pain or suffering
From this reading “Then am I the unhappiest that ever was, I would the savage beasts had my body torn.”
having edges that are jagged from injury
From this reading “Then am I the unhappiest that ever was, I would the savage beasts had my body torn.”
Every word in these five lines is listed here, and every one of them can be played on its own.
Dictionary details are shown only when verified; these are not licensed Oxford entries.
used to show sadness, pity, or regret
From this reading Alas!
the form of “be” used with “I”
From this reading Then am I the unhappiest that ever was, I would the savage beasts had my body torn.
one more of the same kind, or a different one
From this reading The blessing that thou shouldest have had, another hath.
plural of “beast” — a living organism characterized by voluntary movement
From this reading Then am I the unhappiest that ever was, I would the savage beasts had my body torn.
the formal act of approving
From this reading The blessing that thou shouldest have had, another hath.
the entire physical structure of an organism (an animal, plant, or human being)
From this reading Then am I the unhappiest that ever was, I would the savage beasts had my body torn.
(Old Testament) the eldest son of Isaac who would have inherited the covenant that God made with Abraham and that Abraham passed on to Isaac; he traded his birthright to his twin brother Jacob for a mess of pottage
From this reading ESAU.
at any time
From this reading Then am I the unhappiest that ever was, I would the savage beasts had my body torn.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading Then am I the unhappiest that ever was, I would the savage beasts had my body torn.
an old form of “has”
From this reading The blessing that thou shouldest have had, another hath.
used with a past participle to form the perfect tenses
From this reading The blessing that thou shouldest have had, another hath.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading Then am I the unhappiest that ever was, I would the savage beasts had my body torn.
(Old Testament) the second patriarch; son of Abraham and Sarah who was offered by Abraham as a sacrifice to God; father of Jacob and Esau
From this reading ISAAC.
belonging to the person speaking
From this reading Then am I the unhappiest that ever was, I would the savage beasts had my body torn.
(of persons or their actions) able or disposed to inflict pain or suffering
From this reading Then am I the unhappiest that ever was, I would the savage beasts had my body torn.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading The blessing that thou shouldest have had, another hath.
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading Then am I the unhappiest that ever was, I would the savage beasts had my body torn.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading Then am I the unhappiest that ever was, I would the savage beasts had my body torn.
subsequently or soon afterward (often used as sentence connectors)
From this reading Then am I the unhappiest that ever was, I would the savage beasts had my body torn.
an old word for “you”, as the subject, speaking to one person
From this reading The blessing that thou shouldest have had, another hath.
having edges that are jagged from injury
From this reading Then am I the unhappiest that ever was, I would the savage beasts had my body torn.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Then am I the unhappiest that ever was, I would the savage beasts had my body torn.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading Then am I the unhappiest that ever was, I would the savage beasts had my body torn.
used for something imagined, polite, or habitual in the past
From this reading Then am I the unhappiest that ever was, I would the savage beasts had my body torn.
Chapter 11 of A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 02 by Robert [Compiler] Dodsley holds 339 sentences, grouped into 68 reading sections of at most 5 sentences. The text is the source edition, unabridged, and the chapter records which sentences cover which part of the work so that nothing is dropped. Every word can be tapped for its pronunciation and dictionary entry.
Chapter 11 holds 339 sentences of A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 02, unabridged, divided into 68 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 11 of A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 02 by Robert [Compiler] Dodsley exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 339 sentences, grouped into 68 sections of at most 5 sentences so that a reader can take the chapter in steady, finishable pieces. The chapter also stores a coverage record mapping every one of its sentences to a part of the work, which is how the edition demonstrates that no line was dropped.
Work through the 68 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 68 sections in this chapter is short enough to read once, hear once, and then re-read with the vocabulary in view. Tapping a word plays it alone and opens its dictionary entry with IPA, part of speech and meaning, so the reader is never forced to guess a pronunciation from spelling. Working section by section keeps a long chapter from becoming an undifferentiated wall of text, which is the usual reason a reader abandons a work of this period.
Yes — every sentence and every individual word in chapter 11 can be played aloud in United States English.
Audio covers the whole chapter: any sentence can be played, and any single word within it can be played on its own. The voice uses United States English. For a work of this period that matters, because spelling is an unreliable guide to pronunciation for vocabulary that has fallen out of daily use, and a learner who guesses wrong tends to keep the error. Hearing the word in its own sentence, and then alone, settles it.
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How to work through A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 02 section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
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Words and structures a reader meets early in A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 02, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
