Chapter 11 of Letters to His Son, 1751 On the Fine Art of is here in full — 50 sentences across 10 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XI
Chapter 11 of Letters to His Son, 1751 On the Fine Art of is here in full — 50 sentences across 10 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
LONDON, March 25, O. S. 1751. MY DEAR FRIEND: What a happy period of your life is this? Pleasure is now, and ought to be, your business. While you were younger, dry rules, and unconnected words, were the unpleasant objects of your labors.
Chapter 11 of Letters to His Son, 1751 On the Fine Art of is here in full — 50 sentences across 10 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/10 · 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.
free from liquid or moisture; lacking natural or normal moisture or depleted of water; or no longer wet
From this reading “While you were younger, dry rules, and unconnected words, were the unpleasant objects of your labors.”
plural of “labor” — a social class comprising those who do manual labor or work for wages
From this reading “While you were younger, dry rules, and unconnected words, were the unpleasant objects of your labors.”
plural of “object” — a tangible and visible entity; an entity that can cast a shadow
From this reading “While you were younger, dry rules, and unconnected words, were the unpleasant objects of your labors.”
an amount of time
From this reading “MY DEAR FRIEND: What a happy period of your life is this?”
plural of “rule” — a principle or condition that customarily governs behavior
From this reading “While you were younger, dry rules, and unconnected words, were the unpleasant objects of your labors.”
not joined or linked together
From this reading “While you were younger, dry rules, and unconnected words, were the unpleasant objects of your labors.”
offensive or disagreeable; causing discomfort or unhappiness
From this reading “While you were younger, dry rules, and unconnected words, were the unpleasant objects of your labors.”
used of the younger of two persons of the same name especially used to distinguish a son from his father
From this reading “While you were younger, dry rules, and unconnected words, were the unpleasant objects of your labors.”
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 1751.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading LONDON, March 25, O. S.
used before a singular noun to mean one of a group, when it is not a particular one
From this reading MY DEAR FRIEND: What a happy period of your life is this?
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading Pleasure is now, and ought to be, your business.
used with a past participle to form the passive, or with -ing for continuous tenses
From this reading Pleasure is now, and ought to be, your business.
a commercial or industrial enterprise and the people who constitute it
From this reading Pleasure is now, and ought to be, your business.
dearly loved
From this reading MY DEAR FRIEND: What a happy period of your life is this?
free from liquid or moisture; lacking natural or normal moisture or depleted of water; or no longer wet
From this reading While you were younger, dry rules, and unconnected words, were the unpleasant objects of your labors.
a person you know well and regard with affection and trust
From this reading MY DEAR FRIEND: What a happy period of your life is this?
enjoying or showing or marked by joy or pleasure
From this reading MY DEAR FRIEND: What a happy period of your life is this?
the form of “be” used with he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading MY DEAR FRIEND: What a happy period of your life is this?
plural of “labor” — a social class comprising those who do manual labor or work for wages
From this reading While you were younger, dry rules, and unconnected words, were the unpleasant objects of your labors.
a characteristic state or mode of living
From this reading MY DEAR FRIEND: What a happy period of your life is this?
the capital and largest city of England; located on the Thames in southeastern England; financial and industrial and cultural center
From this reading LONDON, March 25, O. S.
march in a procession
From this reading LONDON, March 25, O. S.
belonging to the person speaking
From this reading MY DEAR FRIEND: What a happy period of your life is this?
in the historical present; at this point in the narration of a series of past events
From this reading Pleasure is now, and ought to be, your business.
a nonmetallic bivalent element that is normally a colorless odorless tasteless nonflammable diatomic gas; constitutes 21 percent of the atmosphere by volume; the most abundant element in the earth's crust
From this reading LONDON, March 25, O. S.
plural of “object” — a tangible and visible entity; an entity that can cast a shadow
From this reading While you were younger, dry rules, and unconnected words, were the unpleasant objects of your labors.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading MY DEAR FRIEND: What a happy period of your life is this?
used with “to” to say what is right or advisable
From this reading Pleasure is now, and ought to be, your business.
an amount of time
From this reading MY DEAR FRIEND: What a happy period of your life is this?
a fundamental feeling that is hard to define but that people desire to experience
From this reading Pleasure is now, and ought to be, your business.
plural of “rule” — a principle or condition that customarily governs behavior
From this reading While you were younger, dry rules, and unconnected words, were the unpleasant objects of your labors.
1/60 of a minute; the basic unit of time adopted under the Systeme International d'Unites
From this reading LONDON, March 25, O. S.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading While you were younger, dry rules, and unconnected words, were the unpleasant objects of your labors.
used for a person or thing that is near, or that has just been mentioned
From this reading MY DEAR FRIEND: What a happy period of your life is this?
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading Pleasure is now, and ought to be, your business.
not joined or linked together
From this reading While you were younger, dry rules, and unconnected words, were the unpleasant objects of your labors.
offensive or disagreeable; causing discomfort or unhappiness
From this reading While you were younger, dry rules, and unconnected words, were the unpleasant objects of your labors.
the past form of “be” used with you, we, they, or a plural noun
From this reading While you were younger, dry rules, and unconnected words, were the unpleasant objects of your labors.
used to ask for information about something
From this reading MY DEAR FRIEND: What a happy period of your life is this?
during the time that
From this reading While you were younger, dry rules, and unconnected words, were the unpleasant objects of your labors.
the words that are spoken
From this reading While you were younger, dry rules, and unconnected words, were the unpleasant objects of your labors.
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading While you were younger, dry rules, and unconnected words, were the unpleasant objects of your labors.
used of the younger of two persons of the same name especially used to distinguish a son from his father
From this reading While you were younger, dry rules, and unconnected words, were the unpleasant objects of your labors.
belonging to the person or people being spoken to
From this reading MY DEAR FRIEND: What a happy period of your life is this?
Chapter 11 of Letters to His Son, 1751 On the Fine Art of by Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield holds 50 sentences, grouped into 10 reading sections of at most 5 sentences. The text is the public-domain source, 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 50 sentences of Letters to His Son, 1751 On the Fine Art of, unabridged, divided into 10 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 11 of Letters to His Son, 1751 On the Fine Art of by Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield exactly as it stands in the public-domain source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 50 sentences, grouped into 10 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 10 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 10 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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About 105 minutes of reading across 254 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
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Words and structures a reader meets early in Letters to His Son, 1751 On the Fine Art of, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
