Chapter 14 of A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 05 is here in full — 329 sentences across 66 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XIV
Chapter 14 of A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 05 is here in full — 329 sentences across 66 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
ERASTUS. Ah! stay, my sweet Perseda; hear me speak. PERSEDA. What are thy words, but Siren's guileful songs, That please the ear, but seek to spoil the heart. ERASTUS.
Chapter 14 of A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 05 is here in full — 329 sentences across 66 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/65 · 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.
the sense organ for hearing and equilibrium
From this reading “What are thy words, but Siren's guileful songs, That please the ear, but seek to spoil the heart.”
give pleasure to or be pleasing to
From this reading “What are thy words, but Siren's guileful songs, That please the ear, but seek to spoil the heart.”
try to get or reach
From this reading “What are thy words, but Siren's guileful songs, That please the ear, but seek to spoil the heart.”
plural of “song” — a short musical composition with words
From this reading “What are thy words, but Siren's guileful songs, That please the ear, but seek to spoil the heart.”
make a mess of, destroy or ruin
From this reading “What are thy words, but Siren's guileful songs, That please the ear, but seek to spoil the heart.”
stay the same; remain in a certain state
From this reading “Ah! stay, my sweet Perseda; hear me speak.”
having or denoting the characteristic taste of sugar
From this reading “Ah! stay, my sweet Perseda; hear me speak.”
an old word for “your”, speaking to one person
From this reading “What are thy words, but Siren's guileful songs, That please the ear, but seek to spoil the heart.”
English keeps certain words together, and knowing the pair is worth more than knowing each word alone. Every partnership below was counted across our whole published library, and earns its place by appearing far more often than two unrelated words of the same frequency would.
Shown as this reading writes them, with the form the library counts, what kind of pairing it is, and how often it occurs.
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.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Ah! stay, my sweet Perseda; hear me speak.
the form of “be” used with you, we, they, or a plural noun
From this reading What are thy words, but Siren's guileful songs, That please the ear, but seek to spoil the heart.
used to introduce something that contrasts with what came before
From this reading What are thy words, but Siren's guileful songs, That please the ear, but seek to spoil the heart.
the sense organ for hearing and equilibrium
From this reading What are thy words, but Siren's guileful songs, That please the ear, but seek to spoil the heart.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading ERASTUS.
marked by skill in deception
From this reading What are thy words, but Siren's guileful songs, That please the ear, but seek to spoil the heart.
perceive (sound) via the auditory sense
From this reading Ah! stay, my sweet Perseda; hear me speak.
the locus of feelings and intuitions
From this reading What are thy words, but Siren's guileful songs, That please the ear, but seek to spoil the heart.
the person speaking, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading Ah! stay, my sweet Perseda; hear me speak.
belonging to the person speaking
From this reading Ah! stay, my sweet Perseda; hear me speak.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Ah! stay, my sweet Perseda; hear me speak.
give pleasure to or be pleasing to
From this reading What are thy words, but Siren's guileful songs, That please the ear, but seek to spoil the heart.
try to get or reach
From this reading What are thy words, but Siren's guileful songs, That please the ear, but seek to spoil the heart.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading What are thy words, but Siren's guileful songs, That please the ear, but seek to spoil the heart.
plural of “song” — a short musical composition with words
From this reading What are thy words, but Siren's guileful songs, That please the ear, but seek to spoil the heart.
express in speech
From this reading Ah! stay, my sweet Perseda; hear me speak.
make a mess of, destroy or ruin
From this reading What are thy words, but Siren's guileful songs, That please the ear, but seek to spoil the heart.
stay the same; remain in a certain state
From this reading Ah! stay, my sweet Perseda; hear me speak.
having or denoting the characteristic taste of sugar
From this reading Ah! stay, my sweet Perseda; hear me speak.
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading What are thy words, but Siren's guileful songs, That please the ear, but seek to spoil the heart.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading What are thy words, but Siren's guileful songs, That please the ear, but seek to spoil the heart.
an old word for “your”, speaking to one person
From this reading What are thy words, but Siren's guileful songs, That please the ear, but seek to spoil the heart.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading What are thy words, but Siren's guileful songs, That please the ear, but seek to spoil the heart.
used to ask for information about something
From this reading What are thy words, but Siren's guileful songs, That please the ear, but seek to spoil the heart.
the words that are spoken
From this reading What are thy words, but Siren's guileful songs, That please the ear, but seek to spoil the heart.
Chapter 14 of A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 05 by Robert [Editor] Dodsley holds 329 sentences, grouped into 66 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 14 holds 329 sentences of A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 05, unabridged, divided into 66 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 14 of A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 05 by Robert [Editor] Dodsley exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 329 sentences, grouped into 66 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 66 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 66 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 14 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.
Common questions about reading A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 05 by Robert [Editor] Dodsley on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 6012 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #45794 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #45794, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 501 minutes of reading across 1203 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 05 section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 18 chapters of A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 05 to begin.
Each section holds 5 sentences; read it once through.
Play the section aloud, then tap any unfamiliar word for its entry.
Words and structures a reader meets early in A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 05, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
