Chapter 6 of Bartholomew Fair: A Comedy is here in full — 432 sentences across 87 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
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Chapter VI
Chapter 6 of Bartholomew Fair: A Comedy is here in full — 432 sentences across 87 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
_Enter COSTARD-MONGER, with a basket of Pears._ COS. Buy any pears, very fine pears, pears fine! [_Nightingale sets his foot afore him, and he falls with his basket._ COKES. Ods so! a muss, a muss, a muss, a muss! [_Falls a scrambling for the pears._ COS.
Chapter 6 of Bartholomew Fair: A Comedy is here in full — 432 sentences across 87 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/86 · 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.
a container that is usually woven and has handles
From this reading “_Enter COSTARD-MONGER, with a basket of Pears._ COS.”
plural of “coke” — carbon fuel produced by distillation of coal
From this reading “[_Nightingale sets his foot afore him, and he falls with his basket._ COKES.”
ratio of the adjacent side to the hypotenuse of a right-angled triangle
From this reading “_Enter COSTARD-MONGER, with a basket of Pears._ COS.”
the petals or sepals of a flower that bend downward (especially the outer perianth of an iris)
From this reading “[_Nightingale sets his foot afore him, and he falls with his basket._ COKES.”
European songbird noted for its melodious nocturnal song
plural of “pear” — sweet juicy gritty-textured fruit available in many varieties
From this reading “_Enter COSTARD-MONGER, with a basket of Pears._ COS.”
-ing form of “scramble” — to move hurriedly
From this reading “[_Falls a scrambling for the pears._ COS.”
plural of “set” — a group of things of the same kind that belong together and are so used
From this reading “[_Nightingale sets his foot afore him, and he falls with his basket._ COKES.”
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.
used before a singular noun to mean one of a group, when it is not a particular one
From this reading _Enter COSTARD-MONGER, with a basket of Pears._ COS.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading [_Nightingale sets his foot afore him, and he falls with his basket._ COKES.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading [_Nightingale sets his foot afore him, and he falls with his basket._ COKES.
one or some or every or all without specification
From this reading Buy any pears, very fine pears, pears fine!
a container that is usually woven and has handles
From this reading _Enter COSTARD-MONGER, with a basket of Pears._ COS.
obtain by purchase; acquire by means of a financial transaction
From this reading Buy any pears, very fine pears, pears fine!
plural of “coke” — carbon fuel produced by distillation of coal
From this reading [_Nightingale sets his foot afore him, and he falls with his basket._ COKES.
ratio of the adjacent side to the hypotenuse of a right-angled triangle
From this reading _Enter COSTARD-MONGER, with a basket of Pears._ COS.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading _Enter COSTARD-MONGER, with a basket of Pears._ COS.
to come or go into
From this reading _Enter COSTARD-MONGER, with a basket of Pears._ COS.
the petals or sepals of a flower that bend downward (especially the outer perianth of an iris)
From this reading [_Nightingale sets his foot afore him, and he falls with his basket._ COKES.
being satisfactory or in satisfactory condition
From this reading Buy any pears, very fine pears, pears fine!
the part of the leg of a human being below the ankle joint
From this reading [_Nightingale sets his foot afore him, and he falls with his basket._ COKES.
intended to be given to, or used by, somebody
From this reading [_Falls a scrambling for the pears._ COS.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading [_Nightingale sets his foot afore him, and he falls with his basket._ COKES.
the male already mentioned, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading [_Nightingale sets his foot afore him, and he falls with his basket._ COKES.
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading [_Nightingale sets his foot afore him, and he falls with his basket._ COKES.
a state of confusion and disorderliness
From this reading Ods so! a muss, a muss, a muss, a muss!
European songbird noted for its melodious nocturnal song
From this reading [_Nightingale sets his foot afore him, and he falls with his basket._ COKES.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Ods so! a muss, a muss, a muss, a muss!
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading _Enter COSTARD-MONGER, with a basket of Pears._ COS.
plural of “pear” — sweet juicy gritty-textured fruit available in many varieties
From this reading _Enter COSTARD-MONGER, with a basket of Pears._ COS.
-ing form of “scramble” — to move hurriedly
From this reading [_Falls a scrambling for the pears._ COS.
plural of “set” — a group of things of the same kind that belong together and are so used
From this reading [_Nightingale sets his foot afore him, and he falls with his basket._ COKES.
for that reason; with the result that
From this reading Ods so! a muss, a muss, a muss, a muss!
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading [_Falls a scrambling for the pears._ COS.
precisely as stated
From this reading Buy any pears, very fine pears, pears fine!
in the company of; together with
From this reading _Enter COSTARD-MONGER, with a basket of Pears._ COS.
Chapter 6 of Bartholomew Fair: A Comedy by Ben Jonson holds 432 sentences, grouped into 87 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 6 holds 432 sentences of Bartholomew Fair: A Comedy, unabridged, divided into 87 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 6 of Bartholomew Fair: A Comedy by Ben Jonson exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 432 sentences, grouped into 87 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 87 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 87 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 6 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 Bartholomew Fair: A Comedy by Ben Jonson on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 3824 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #49461 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #49461, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 318 minutes of reading across 765 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Bartholomew Fair: A Comedy section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 9 chapters of Bartholomew Fair: A Comedy 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 Bartholomew Fair: A Comedy, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
