Chapter 1 of A Short History of Birds & Beasts, for the Amusement and Instruction is here in full — 64 sentences across 13 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
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Chapter I
Chapter 1 of A Short History of Birds & Beasts, for the Amusement and Instruction is here in full — 64 sentences across 13 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
The Lion, the King of all Beasts, How famous for Courage is he! And you, as the King of Good Boys, To learn your Book diligent be. A SHORT HISTORY OF _BIRDS & BEASTS_, FOR THE Amusement and Instruction OF CHILDREN. Adorned with Cuts. Price One Penny.
Chapter 1 of A Short History of Birds & Beasts, for the Amusement and Instruction is here in full — 64 sentences across 13 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/12 · 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.
provided with something intended to increase its beauty or distinction
From this reading “Adorned with Cuts.”
a feeling of delight at being entertained
From this reading “A SHORT HISTORY OF _BIRDS & BEASTS_, FOR THE Amusement and Instruction OF CHILDREN.”
plural of “beast” — a living organism characterized by voluntary movement
From this reading “The Lion, the King of all Beasts, How famous for Courage is he!”
plural of “cut” — a share of the profits
From this reading “Adorned with Cuts.”
quietly and steadily persevering especially in detail or exactness
From this reading “And you, as the King of Good Boys, To learn your Book diligent be.”
a message describing how something is to be done
From this reading “A SHORT HISTORY OF _BIRDS & BEASTS_, FOR THE Amusement and Instruction OF CHILDREN.”
large gregarious predatory feline of Africa and India having a tawny coat with a shaggy mane in the male
From this reading “The Lion, the King of all Beasts, How famous for Courage is he!”
a fractional monetary unit of Ireland and the United Kingdom; equal to one hundredth of a pound
From this reading “Price One Penny.”
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 “And you, as the King of Good Boys, To learn your Book diligent be.”
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 before a singular noun to mean one of a group, when it is not a particular one
From this reading A SHORT HISTORY OF _BIRDS & BEASTS_, FOR THE Amusement and Instruction OF CHILDREN.
provided with something intended to increase its beauty or distinction
From this reading Adorned with Cuts.
(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 The Lion, the King of all Beasts, How famous for Courage is he!
a feeling of delight at being entertained
From this reading A SHORT HISTORY OF _BIRDS & BEASTS_, FOR THE Amusement and Instruction OF CHILDREN.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading And you, as the King of Good Boys, To learn your Book diligent be.
at the same time that; because; in the way that
From this reading And you, as the King of Good Boys, To learn your Book diligent be.
used with a past participle to form the passive, or with -ing for continuous tenses
From this reading And you, as the King of Good Boys, To learn your Book diligent be.
plural of “beast” — a living organism characterized by voluntary movement
From this reading The Lion, the King of all Beasts, How famous for Courage is he!
plural of “bird” — warm-blooded egg-laying vertebrates characterized by feathers and forelimbs modified as wings
From this reading A SHORT HISTORY OF _BIRDS & BEASTS_, FOR THE Amusement and Instruction OF CHILDREN.
a written work or composition that has been published (printed on pages bound together)
From this reading And you, as the King of Good Boys, To learn your Book diligent be.
plural of “boy” — a youthful male person
From this reading And you, as the King of Good Boys, To learn your Book diligent be.
plural of “child” — a young person of either sex
From this reading A SHORT HISTORY OF _BIRDS & BEASTS_, FOR THE Amusement and Instruction OF CHILDREN.
a quality of spirit that enables you to face danger or pain without showing fear
From this reading The Lion, the King of all Beasts, How famous for Courage is he!
plural of “cut” — a share of the profits
From this reading Adorned with Cuts.
quietly and steadily persevering especially in detail or exactness
From this reading And you, as the King of Good Boys, To learn your Book diligent be.
widely known and esteemed
From this reading The Lion, the King of all Beasts, How famous for Courage is he!
intended to be given to, or used by, somebody
From this reading The Lion, the King of all Beasts, How famous for Courage is he!
having desirable or positive qualities especially those suitable for a thing specified
From this reading And you, as the King of Good Boys, To learn your Book diligent be.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading The Lion, the King of all Beasts, How famous for Courage is he!
the aggregate of past events
From this reading A SHORT HISTORY OF _BIRDS & BEASTS_, FOR THE Amusement and Instruction OF CHILDREN.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading The Lion, the King of all Beasts, How famous for Courage is he!
a message describing how something is to be done
From this reading A SHORT HISTORY OF _BIRDS & BEASTS_, FOR THE Amusement and Instruction OF CHILDREN.
the form of “be” used with he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading The Lion, the King of all Beasts, How famous for Courage is he!
a male sovereign; ruler of a kingdom
From this reading The Lion, the King of all Beasts, How famous for Courage is he!
gain knowledge or skills
From this reading And you, as the King of Good Boys, To learn your Book diligent be.
large gregarious predatory feline of Africa and India having a tawny coat with a shaggy mane in the male
From this reading The Lion, the King of all Beasts, How famous for Courage is he!
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading The Lion, the King of all Beasts, How famous for Courage is he!
used to mean any person in general, including the speaker
From this reading Price One Penny.
a fractional monetary unit of Ireland and the United Kingdom; equal to one hundredth of a pound
From this reading Price One Penny.
the property of having material worth (often indicated by the amount of money something would bring if sold)
From this reading Price One Penny.
primarily temporal sense; indicating or being or seeming to be limited in duration
From this reading A SHORT HISTORY OF _BIRDS & BEASTS_, FOR THE Amusement and Instruction OF CHILDREN.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading The Lion, the King of all Beasts, How famous for Courage is he!
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading And you, as the King of Good Boys, To learn your Book diligent be.
in the company of; together with
From this reading Adorned with Cuts.
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading And you, as the King of Good Boys, To learn your Book diligent be.
belonging to the person or people being spoken to
From this reading And you, as the King of Good Boys, To learn your Book diligent be.
Chapter 1 of A Short History of Birds & Beasts, for the Amusement and Instruction by Anonymous holds 64 sentences, grouped into 13 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 1 holds 64 sentences of A Short History of Birds & Beasts, for the Amusement and Instruction, unabridged, divided into 13 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 1 of A Short History of Birds & Beasts, for the Amusement and Instruction by Anonymous exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 64 sentences, grouped into 13 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 13 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 13 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 1 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 Short History of Birds & Beasts, for the Amusement and Instruction by Anonymous on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 64 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #59261 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #59261, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 5 minutes of reading across 13 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through A Short History of Birds & Beasts, for the Amusement and Instruction section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 1 chapters of A Short History of Birds & Beasts, for the Amusement and Instruction 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 Short History of Birds & Beasts, for the Amusement and Instruction, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
