Chapter 1 of Popular British Ballads, Ancient and Modern, Vol. 2 (of 4) is here in full — 452 sentences across 91 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
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Chapter I
Chapter 1 of Popular British Ballads, Ancient and Modern, Vol. 2 (of 4) is here in full — 452 sentences across 91 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Chosen and edited by R. Brimley Johnson |True Thomas lay o'er yon grassy bank; And he beheld a lady gay; A lady that was brisk and bold, Come riding o'er the ferny brae. Her shirt was o' the grass-green silk, Her mantle o' the velvet fine; At ilka tett of her horse's mane, Hung fifty silver bells and nine.
Chapter 1 of Popular British Ballads, Ancient and Modern, Vol. 2 (of 4) is here in full — 452 sentences across 91 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/90 · 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 slope or hillside
From this reading “A lady that was brisk and bold, Come riding o'er the ferny brae.”
quick and energetic
From this reading “A lady that was brisk and bold, Come riding o'er the ferny brae.”
improved or corrected by critical editing
From this reading “Chosen and edited by R. Brimley Johnson |True Thomas lay o'er yon grassy bank;”
abounding in grass
From this reading “Chosen and edited by R. Brimley Johnson |True Thomas lay o'er yon grassy bank;”
possessive form of “horse” — solid-hoofed herbivorous quadruped domesticated since prehistoric times
From this reading “At ilka tett of her horse's mane, Hung fifty silver bells and nine.”
long coarse hair growing from the crest of the animal's neck
From this reading “At ilka tett of her horse's mane, Hung fifty silver bells and nine.”
the cloak as a symbol of authority
From this reading “Her shirt was o' the grass-green silk, Her mantle o' the velvet fine;”
distant but within sight (“yon” is dialectal)
From this reading “Chosen and edited by R. Brimley Johnson |True Thomas lay o'er yon grassy bank;”
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 “Chosen and edited by R. Brimley Johnson |True Thomas lay o'er yon grassy bank;”
In this reading “At ilka tett of her horse's mane, Hung fifty silver bells and nine.”
any of various deciduous trees of the genus Halesia having white bell-shaped flowers
In this reading “At ilka tett of her horse's mane, Hung fifty silver bells and nine.”
In this reading “A lady that was brisk and bold, Come riding o'er the ferny brae.”
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 And he beheld a lady gay;
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading Chosen and edited by R. Brimley Johnson |True Thomas lay o'er yon grassy bank;
in or near a particular place or position
From this reading At ilka tett of her horse's mane, Hung fifty silver bells and nine.
sloping land (especially the slope beside a body of water)
From this reading Chosen and edited by R. Brimley Johnson |True Thomas lay o'er yon grassy bank;
inflected form of “behold” — see with attention
From this reading And he beheld a lady gay;
plural of “bell” — a hollow device made of metal that makes a ringing sound when struck
From this reading At ilka tett of her horse's mane, Hung fifty silver bells and nine.
fearless and daring
From this reading A lady that was brisk and bold, Come riding o'er the ferny brae.
a slope or hillside
From this reading A lady that was brisk and bold, Come riding o'er the ferny brae.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Chosen and edited by R. Brimley Johnson |True Thomas lay o'er yon grassy bank;
quick and energetic
From this reading A lady that was brisk and bold, Come riding o'er the ferny brae.
showing who or what does the action
From this reading Chosen and edited by R. Brimley Johnson |True Thomas lay o'er yon grassy bank;
one who is the object of choice; who is given preference
From this reading Chosen and edited by R. Brimley Johnson |True Thomas lay o'er yon grassy bank;
move toward, travel toward something or somebody or approach something or somebody
From this reading A lady that was brisk and bold, Come riding o'er the ferny brae.
improved or corrected by critical editing
From this reading Chosen and edited by R. Brimley Johnson |True Thomas lay o'er yon grassy bank;
abounding in or covered with ferns
From this reading A lady that was brisk and bold, Come riding o'er the ferny brae.
the cardinal number that is the product of ten and five
From this reading At ilka tett of her horse's mane, Hung fifty silver bells and nine.
being satisfactory or in satisfactory condition
From this reading Her shirt was o' the grass-green silk, Her mantle o' the velvet fine;
bright and pleasant; promoting a feeling of cheer
From this reading And he beheld a lady gay;
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Her shirt was o' the grass-green silk, Her mantle o' the velvet fine;
abounding in grass
From this reading Chosen and edited by R. Brimley Johnson |True Thomas lay o'er yon grassy bank;
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading And he beheld a lady gay;
belonging to a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned
From this reading Her shirt was o' the grass-green silk, Her mantle o' the velvet fine;
possessive form of “horse” — solid-hoofed herbivorous quadruped domesticated since prehistoric times
From this reading At ilka tett of her horse's mane, Hung fifty silver bells and nine.
inflected form of “hang” — be suspended or hanging
From this reading At ilka tett of her horse's mane, Hung fifty silver bells and nine.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading At ilka tett of her horse's mane, Hung fifty silver bells and nine.
English writer and lexicographer (1709-1784)
From this reading Chosen and edited by R. Brimley Johnson |True Thomas lay o'er yon grassy bank;
a polite name for any woman
From this reading And he beheld a lady gay;
put into a certain place or abstract location
From this reading Chosen and edited by R. Brimley Johnson |True Thomas lay o'er yon grassy bank;
long coarse hair growing from the crest of the animal's neck
From this reading At ilka tett of her horse's mane, Hung fifty silver bells and nine.
the cloak as a symbol of authority
From this reading Her shirt was o' the grass-green silk, Her mantle o' the velvet fine;
the cardinal number that is the sum of eight and one
From this reading At ilka tett of her horse's mane, Hung fifty silver bells and nine.
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 Her shirt was o' the grass-green silk, Her mantle o' the velvet fine;
throughout a period of time
From this reading Chosen and edited by R. Brimley Johnson |True Thomas lay o'er yon grassy bank;
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading At ilka tett of her horse's mane, Hung fifty silver bells and nine.
a unit of radiation exposure; the dose of ionizing radiation that will produce 1 electrostatic unit of electricity in 1 cc of dry air
From this reading Chosen and edited by R. Brimley Johnson |True Thomas lay o'er yon grassy bank;
the sport of sitting on the back of a horse while controlling its movements
From this reading A lady that was brisk and bold, Come riding o'er the ferny brae.
a garment worn on the upper half of the body
From this reading Her shirt was o' the grass-green silk, Her mantle o' the velvet fine;
a fabric made from the fine threads produced by certain insect larvae
From this reading Her shirt was o' the grass-green silk, Her mantle o' the velvet fine;
a soft white precious univalent metallic element having the highest electrical and thermal conductivity of any metal; occurs in argentite and in free form; used in coins and jewelry and tableware and photography
From this reading At ilka tett of her horse's mane, Hung fifty silver bells and nine.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading At ilka tett of her horse's mane, Hung fifty silver bells and nine.
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading A lady that was brisk and bold, Come riding o'er the ferny brae.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading A lady that was brisk and bold, Come riding o'er the ferny brae.
United States clockmaker who introduced mass production (1785-1859)
From this reading Chosen and edited by R. Brimley Johnson |True Thomas lay o'er yon grassy bank;
consistent with fact or reality; not false
From this reading Chosen and edited by R. Brimley Johnson |True Thomas lay o'er yon grassy bank;
a silky densely piled fabric with a plain back
From this reading Her shirt was o' the grass-green silk, Her mantle o' the velvet fine;
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading A lady that was brisk and bold, Come riding o'er the ferny brae.
distant but within sight (“yon” is dialectal)
From this reading Chosen and edited by R. Brimley Johnson |True Thomas lay o'er yon grassy bank;
Chapter 1 of Popular British Ballads, Ancient and Modern, Vol. 2 (of 4) by R. Brimley (Reginald Brimley) [Editor] Johnson holds 452 sentences, grouped into 91 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 452 sentences of Popular British Ballads, Ancient and Modern, Vol. 2 (of 4), unabridged, divided into 91 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 1 of Popular British Ballads, Ancient and Modern, Vol. 2 (of 4) by R. Brimley (Reginald Brimley) [Editor] Johnson exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 452 sentences, grouped into 91 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 91 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 91 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 Popular British Ballads, Ancient and Modern, Vol. 2 (of 4) by R. Brimley (Reginald Brimley) [Editor] Johnson on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 2618 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #45242 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #45242, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 218 minutes of reading across 524 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Popular British Ballads, Ancient and Modern, Vol. 2 (of 4) section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 6 chapters of Popular British Ballads, Ancient and Modern, Vol. 2 (of 4) 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 Popular British Ballads, Ancient and Modern, Vol. 2 (of 4), each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
