Chapter 26 of Pierre is here in full — 271 sentences across 55 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XXVI
Chapter 26 of Pierre is here in full — 271 sentences across 55 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A WALK: A FOREIGN PORTRAIT: A SAIL: AND THE END. I. "Come, Isabel, come, Lucy; we have not had a single walk together yet. It is cold, but clear; and once out of the city, we shall find it sunny. Come: get ready now, and away for a stroll down to the wharf, and then for some of the steamers on the bay.
Chapter 26 of Pierre is here in full — 271 sentences across 55 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/54 · 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.
of concern to or concerning the affairs of other nations (other than your own)
From this reading “A WALK: A FOREIGN PORTRAIT: A SAIL: AND THE END.”
incomplete skeleton of female found in eastern Ethiopia in 1974
From this reading “"Come, Isabel, come, Lucy; we have not had a single walk together yet.”
a word picture of a person's appearance and character
From this reading “A WALK: A FOREIGN PORTRAIT: A SAIL: AND THE END.”
traverse or travel on (a body of water)
From this reading “A WALK: A FOREIGN PORTRAIT: A SAIL: AND THE END.”
plural of “steamer” — a clam that is usually steamed in the shell
From this reading “Come: get ready now, and away for a stroll down to the wharf, and then for some of the steamers on the bay.”
a leisurely walk (usually in some public place)
From this reading “Come: get ready now, and away for a stroll down to the wharf, and then for some of the steamers on the bay.”
bright and pleasant; promoting a feeling of cheer
From this reading “It is cold, but clear; and once out of the city, we shall find it sunny.”
a platform built out from the shore into the water and supported by piles; provides access to ships and boats
From this reading “Come: get ready now, and away for a stroll down to the wharf, and then for some of the steamers on the bay.”
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 “Come: get ready now, and away for a stroll down to the wharf, and then for some of the steamers on the bay.”
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 WALK: A FOREIGN PORTRAIT: A SAIL: AND THE END.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading A WALK: A FOREIGN PORTRAIT: A SAIL: AND THE END.
from a particular thing or place or position (“forth” is obsolete)
From this reading Come: get ready now, and away for a stroll down to the wharf, and then for some of the steamers on the bay.
an indentation of a shoreline larger than a cove but smaller than a gulf
From this reading Come: get ready now, and away for a stroll down to the wharf, and then for some of the steamers on the bay.
used to introduce something that contrasts with what came before
From this reading It is cold, but clear; and once out of the city, we shall find it sunny.
a large and densely populated urban area; may include several independent administrative districts
From this reading It is cold, but clear; and once out of the city, we shall find it sunny.
rid of obstructions
From this reading It is cold, but clear; and once out of the city, we shall find it sunny.
having a low or inadequate temperature or feeling a sensation of coldness or having been made cold by e.g. ice or refrigeration
From this reading It is cold, but clear; and once out of the city, we shall find it sunny.
move toward, travel toward something or somebody or approach something or somebody
From this reading "Come, Isabel, come, Lucy; we have not had a single walk together yet.
being or moving lower in position or less in some value
From this reading Come: get ready now, and away for a stroll down to the wharf, and then for some of the steamers on the bay.
either extremity of something that has length
From this reading A WALK: A FOREIGN PORTRAIT: A SAIL: AND THE END.
come upon, as if by accident; meet with
From this reading It is cold, but clear; and once out of the city, we shall find it sunny.
intended to be given to, or used by, somebody
From this reading Come: get ready now, and away for a stroll down to the wharf, and then for some of the steamers on the bay.
of concern to or concerning the affairs of other nations (other than your own)
From this reading A WALK: A FOREIGN PORTRAIT: A SAIL: AND THE END.
come into the possession of something concrete or abstract
From this reading Come: get ready now, and away for a stroll down to the wharf, and then for some of the steamers on the bay.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading "Come, Isabel, come, Lucy; we have not had a single walk together yet.
used with a past participle to form the perfect tenses
From this reading "Come, Isabel, come, Lucy; we have not had a single walk together yet.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading I.
the form of “be” used with he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading It is cold, but clear; and once out of the city, we shall find it sunny.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading "Come, Isabel, come, Lucy; we have not had a single walk together yet.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading It is cold, but clear; and once out of the city, we shall find it sunny.
incomplete skeleton of female found in eastern Ethiopia in 1974
From this reading "Come, Isabel, come, Lucy; we have not had a single walk together yet.
used to make a word, phrase, or sentence negative
From this reading "Come, Isabel, come, Lucy; we have not had a single walk together yet.
in the historical present; at this point in the narration of a series of past events
From this reading Come: get ready now, and away for a stroll down to the wharf, and then for some of the steamers on the bay.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading It is cold, but clear; and once out of the city, we shall find it sunny.
touching and supported by a surface
From this reading Come: get ready now, and away for a stroll down to the wharf, and then for some of the steamers on the bay.
on one occasion
From this reading It is cold, but clear; and once out of the city, we shall find it sunny.
not allowed to continue to bat or run
From this reading It is cold, but clear; and once out of the city, we shall find it sunny.
a word picture of a person's appearance and character
From this reading A WALK: A FOREIGN PORTRAIT: A SAIL: AND THE END.
completely prepared or in condition for immediate action or use or progress
From this reading Come: get ready now, and away for a stroll down to the wharf, and then for some of the steamers on the bay.
traverse or travel on (a body of water)
From this reading A WALK: A FOREIGN PORTRAIT: A SAIL: AND THE END.
used with I and we for the future, or to offer and suggest
From this reading It is cold, but clear; and once out of the city, we shall find it sunny.
being or characteristic of a single thing or person
From this reading "Come, Isabel, come, Lucy; we have not had a single walk together yet.
(quantifier) used with either mass nouns or plural count nouns to indicate an unspecified number or quantity
From this reading Come: get ready now, and away for a stroll down to the wharf, and then for some of the steamers on the bay.
plural of “steamer” — a clam that is usually steamed in the shell
From this reading Come: get ready now, and away for a stroll down to the wharf, and then for some of the steamers on the bay.
a leisurely walk (usually in some public place)
From this reading Come: get ready now, and away for a stroll down to the wharf, and then for some of the steamers on the bay.
bright and pleasant; promoting a feeling of cheer
From this reading It is cold, but clear; and once out of the city, we shall find it sunny.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading A WALK: A FOREIGN PORTRAIT: A SAIL: AND THE END.
subsequently or soon afterward (often used as sentence connectors)
From this reading Come: get ready now, and away for a stroll down to the wharf, and then for some of the steamers on the bay.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading Come: get ready now, and away for a stroll down to the wharf, and then for some of the steamers on the bay.
in contact with each other or in proximity
From this reading "Come, Isabel, come, Lucy; we have not had a single walk together yet.
the act of traveling by foot
From this reading A WALK: A FOREIGN PORTRAIT: A SAIL: AND THE END.
the speaker together with one or more other people
From this reading "Come, Isabel, come, Lucy; we have not had a single walk together yet.
a platform built out from the shore into the water and supported by piles; provides access to ships and boats
From this reading Come: get ready now, and away for a stroll down to the wharf, and then for some of the steamers on the bay.
but in spite of that
From this reading "Come, Isabel, come, Lucy; we have not had a single walk together yet.
Chapter 26 of Pierre by Herman Melville holds 271 sentences, grouped into 55 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 26 holds 271 sentences of Pierre, unabridged, divided into 55 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 26 of Pierre by Herman Melville exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 271 sentences, grouped into 55 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 55 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 55 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 26 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 Pierre by Herman Melville on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 6047 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #34970 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #34970, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 503 minutes of reading across 1210 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Pierre section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 26 chapters of Pierre 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 Pierre, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
