Chapter 34 of A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 10 is here in full — 374 sentences across 75 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XXXIV
Chapter 34 of A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 10 is here in full — 374 sentences across 75 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
ANTH. Well, it is so; And we will have good sport, or it shall go hard: This must the wenches know, or all is marr'd. _Enter the three Sisters._ Hark you, Miss Mall, Miss Laurentia, Miss Mat: I have such news (my girls) will make you smile. MAR. What be they, master? how I long to hear it!
Chapter 34 of A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 10 is here in full — 374 sentences across 75 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/74 · 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.
to come or go into
listen; used mostly in the imperative
From this reading “_Enter the three Sisters._ Hark you, Miss Mall, Miss Laurentia, Miss Mat: I have such news (my girls) will make you smile.”
a public area set aside as a pedestrian walk
From this reading “_Enter the three Sisters._ Hark you, Miss Mall, Miss Laurentia, Miss Mat: I have such news (my girls) will make you smile.”
make imperfect
From this reading “MAR.”
a thick flat pad used as a floor covering
From this reading “_Enter the three Sisters._ Hark you, Miss Mall, Miss Laurentia, Miss Mat: I have such news (my girls) will make you smile.”
plural of “sister” — a female person who has the same parents as another person
From this reading “_Enter the three Sisters._ Hark you, Miss Mall, Miss Laurentia, Miss Mat: I have such news (my girls) will make you smile.”
an active diversion requiring physical exertion and competition
From this reading “Well, it is so; And we will have good sport, or it shall go hard: This must the wenches know, or all is marr'd.”
plural of “wench” — informal terms for a (young) woman
From this reading “Well, it is so; And we will have good sport, or it shall go hard: This must the wenches know, or all is marr'd.”
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.
In this reading “Well, it is so; And we will have good sport, or it shall go hard: This must the wenches know, or all is marr'd.”
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.
(quantifier) used with either mass or count nouns to indicate the whole number or amount of or every one of a class
From this reading Well, it is so; And we will have good sport, or it shall go hard: This must the wenches know, or all is marr'd.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading Well, it is so; And we will have good sport, or it shall go hard: This must the wenches know, or all is marr'd.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading ANTH.
used with a past participle to form the passive, or with -ing for continuous tenses
From this reading What be they, master? how I long to hear it!
to come or go into
From this reading _Enter the three Sisters._ Hark you, Miss Mall, Miss Laurentia, Miss Mat: I have such news (my girls) will make you smile.
plural of “girl” — a young female
From this reading _Enter the three Sisters._ Hark you, Miss Mall, Miss Laurentia, Miss Mat: I have such news (my girls) will make you smile.
change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically
From this reading Well, it is so; And we will have good sport, or it shall go hard: This must the wenches know, or all is marr'd.
having desirable or positive qualities especially those suitable for a thing specified
From this reading Well, it is so; And we will have good sport, or it shall go hard: This must the wenches know, or all is marr'd.
not easy; requiring great physical or mental effort to accomplish or comprehend or endure
From this reading Well, it is so; And we will have good sport, or it shall go hard: This must the wenches know, or all is marr'd.
listen; used mostly in the imperative
From this reading _Enter the three Sisters._ Hark you, Miss Mall, Miss Laurentia, Miss Mat: I have such news (my girls) will make you smile.
used with a past participle to form the perfect tenses
From this reading Well, it is so; And we will have good sport, or it shall go hard: This must the wenches know, or all is marr'd.
perceive (sound) via the auditory sense
From this reading What be they, master? how I long to hear it!
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading What be they, master? how I long to hear it!
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading _Enter the three Sisters._ Hark you, Miss Mall, Miss Laurentia, Miss Mat: I have such news (my girls) will make you smile.
the form of “be” used with he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading Well, it is so; And we will have good sport, or it shall go hard: This must the wenches know, or all is marr'd.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading Well, it is so; And we will have good sport, or it shall go hard: This must the wenches know, or all is marr'd.
be cognizant or aware of a fact or a specific piece of information; possess knowledge or information about
From this reading Well, it is so; And we will have good sport, or it shall go hard: This must the wenches know, or all is marr'd.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading _Enter the three Sisters._ Hark you, Miss Mall, Miss Laurentia, Miss Mat: I have such news (my girls) will make you smile.
primarily temporal sense; being or indicating a relatively great or greater than average duration or passage of time or a duration as specified
From this reading What be they, master? how I long to hear it!
engage in
From this reading _Enter the three Sisters._ Hark you, Miss Mall, Miss Laurentia, Miss Mat: I have such news (my girls) will make you smile.
a public area set aside as a pedestrian walk
From this reading _Enter the three Sisters._ Hark you, Miss Mall, Miss Laurentia, Miss Mat: I have such news (my girls) will make you smile.
make imperfect
From this reading MAR.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Well, it is so; And we will have good sport, or it shall go hard: This must the wenches know, or all is marr'd.
an artist of consummate skill
From this reading What be they, master? how I long to hear it!
a thick flat pad used as a floor covering
From this reading _Enter the three Sisters._ Hark you, Miss Mall, Miss Laurentia, Miss Mat: I have such news (my girls) will make you smile.
fail to perceive or to catch with the senses or the mind
From this reading _Enter the three Sisters._ Hark you, Miss Mall, Miss Laurentia, Miss Mat: I have such news (my girls) will make you smile.
used to say something is necessary, or almost certainly true
From this reading Well, it is so; And we will have good sport, or it shall go hard: This must the wenches know, or all is marr'd.
belonging to the person speaking
From this reading _Enter the three Sisters._ Hark you, Miss Mall, Miss Laurentia, Miss Mat: I have such news (my girls) will make you smile.
information about recent and important events
From this reading _Enter the three Sisters._ Hark you, Miss Mall, Miss Laurentia, Miss Mat: I have such news (my girls) will make you smile.
used to join alternatives or possibilities
From this reading Well, it is so; And we will have good sport, or it shall go hard: This must the wenches know, or all is marr'd.
used with I and we for the future, or to offer and suggest
From this reading Well, it is so; And we will have good sport, or it shall go hard: This must the wenches know, or all is marr'd.
plural of “sister” — a female person who has the same parents as another person
From this reading _Enter the three Sisters._ Hark you, Miss Mall, Miss Laurentia, Miss Mat: I have such news (my girls) will make you smile.
change one's facial expression by spreading the lips, often to signal pleasure
From this reading _Enter the three Sisters._ Hark you, Miss Mall, Miss Laurentia, Miss Mat: I have such news (my girls) will make you smile.
for that reason; with the result that
From this reading Well, it is so; And we will have good sport, or it shall go hard: This must the wenches know, or all is marr'd.
an active diversion requiring physical exertion and competition
From this reading Well, it is so; And we will have good sport, or it shall go hard: This must the wenches know, or all is marr'd.
of the kind already mentioned
From this reading _Enter the three Sisters._ Hark you, Miss Mall, Miss Laurentia, Miss Mat: I have such news (my girls) will make you smile.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading Well, it is so; And we will have good sport, or it shall go hard: This must the wenches know, or all is marr'd.
the people, animals, or things already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading What be they, master? how I long to hear it!
used for a person or thing that is near, or that has just been mentioned
From this reading Well, it is so; And we will have good sport, or it shall go hard: This must the wenches know, or all is marr'd.
the cardinal number that is the sum of one and one and one
From this reading _Enter the three Sisters._ Hark you, Miss Mall, Miss Laurentia, Miss Mat: I have such news (my girls) will make you smile.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading What be they, master? how I long to hear it!
the speaker together with one or more other people
From this reading Well, it is so; And we will have good sport, or it shall go hard: This must the wenches know, or all is marr'd.
(often used as a combining form) in a good or proper or satisfactory manner or to a high standard (“good” is a nonstandard dialectal variant for “well”)
From this reading Well, it is so; And we will have good sport, or it shall go hard: This must the wenches know, or all is marr'd.
plural of “wench” — informal terms for a (young) woman
From this reading Well, it is so; And we will have good sport, or it shall go hard: This must the wenches know, or all is marr'd.
used to ask for information about something
From this reading What be they, master? how I long to hear it!
used to talk about the future, or about willingness
From this reading Well, it is so; And we will have good sport, or it shall go hard: This must the wenches know, or all is marr'd.
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading _Enter the three Sisters._ Hark you, Miss Mall, Miss Laurentia, Miss Mat: I have such news (my girls) will make you smile.
Chapter 34 of A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 10 by William Carew [Editor] Hazlitt holds 374 sentences, grouped into 75 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 34 holds 374 sentences of A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 10, unabridged, divided into 75 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 34 of A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 10 by William Carew [Editor] Hazlitt exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 374 sentences, grouped into 75 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 75 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 75 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 34 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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About 600 minutes of reading across 2799 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
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Choose one of the 37 chapters of A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 10 to begin.
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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 10, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
