Chapter 15 of The Boys' Book of Famous Rulers is here in full — 372 sentences across 75 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XV
Chapter 15 of The Boys' Book of Famous Rulers is here in full — 372 sentences across 75 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
The 2d of December, 1804, dawned clear and cold. It was Sunday, and upon this day Napoleon was to be crowned emperor at the church of Nôtre Dame. All Paris assembled to witness this imposing ceremony. The church was draped in costly velvet of richest hues. At one end a gorgeous throne was erected.
Chapter 15 of The Boys' Book of Famous Rulers is here in full — 372 sentences across 75 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/74 · 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.
entailing great loss or sacrifice
From this reading “The church was draped in costly velvet of richest hues.”
having an (artificial) crown on a tooth
From this reading “It was Sunday, and upon this day Napoleon was to be crowned emperor at the church of Nôtre Dame.”
past form of “dawn” — become clear or enter one's consciousness or emotions
From this reading “The 2d of December, 1804, dawned clear and cold.”
covered with or as if with clothes or a wrap or cloak
From this reading “The church was draped in costly velvet of richest hues.”
past form of “erect” — construct, build, or erect
From this reading “At one end a gorgeous throne was erected.”
plural of “hue” — the quality of a color as determined by its dominant wavelength
From this reading “The church was draped in costly velvet of richest hues.”
impressive in appearance
From this reading “All Paris assembled to witness this imposing ceremony.”
superlative of “rich” — possessing material wealth
From this reading “The church was draped in costly velvet of richest hues.”
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.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading The 2d of December, 1804, dawned clear and cold.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading The 2d of December, 1804, dawned clear and cold.
used before a singular noun to mean one of a group, when it is not a particular one
From this reading At one end a gorgeous throne was erected.
(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 All Paris assembled to witness this imposing ceremony.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading The 2d of December, 1804, dawned clear and cold.
past form of “assemble” — create by putting components or members together
From this reading All Paris assembled to witness this imposing ceremony.
in or near a particular place or position
From this reading It was Sunday, and upon this day Napoleon was to be crowned emperor at the church of Nôtre Dame.
used with a past participle to form the passive, or with -ing for continuous tenses
From this reading It was Sunday, and upon this day Napoleon was to be crowned emperor at the church of Nôtre Dame.
a formal event performed on a special occasion
From this reading All Paris assembled to witness this imposing ceremony.
one of the groups of Christians who have their own beliefs and forms of worship
From this reading It was Sunday, and upon this day Napoleon was to be crowned emperor at the church of Nôtre Dame.
rid of obstructions
From this reading The 2d of December, 1804, dawned clear and cold.
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 The 2d of December, 1804, dawned clear and cold.
entailing great loss or sacrifice
From this reading The church was draped in costly velvet of richest hues.
having an (artificial) crown on a tooth
From this reading It was Sunday, and upon this day Napoleon was to be crowned emperor at the church of Nôtre Dame.
a fat-soluble vitamin that prevents rickets
From this reading The 2d of December, 1804, dawned clear and cold.
informal terms for a (young) woman
From this reading It was Sunday, and upon this day Napoleon was to be crowned emperor at the church of Nôtre Dame.
past form of “dawn” — become clear or enter one's consciousness or emotions
From this reading The 2d of December, 1804, dawned clear and cold.
time for Earth to make a complete rotation on its axis
From this reading It was Sunday, and upon this day Napoleon was to be crowned emperor at the church of Nôtre Dame.
the last (12th) month of the year
From this reading The 2d of December, 1804, dawned clear and cold.
covered with or as if with clothes or a wrap or cloak
From this reading The church was draped in costly velvet of richest hues.
the male ruler of an empire
From this reading It was Sunday, and upon this day Napoleon was to be crowned emperor at the church of Nôtre Dame.
either extremity of something that has length
From this reading At one end a gorgeous throne was erected.
past form of “erect” — construct, build, or erect
From this reading At one end a gorgeous throne was erected.
dazzlingly beautiful
From this reading At one end a gorgeous throne was erected.
plural of “hue” — the quality of a color as determined by its dominant wavelength
From this reading The church was draped in costly velvet of richest hues.
impressive in appearance
From this reading All Paris assembled to witness this imposing ceremony.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading The church was draped in costly velvet of richest hues.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading It was Sunday, and upon this day Napoleon was to be crowned emperor at the church of Nôtre Dame.
French general who became emperor of the French (1769-1821)
From this reading It was Sunday, and upon this day Napoleon was to be crowned emperor at the church of Nôtre Dame.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading It was Sunday, and upon this day Napoleon was to be crowned emperor at the church of Nôtre Dame.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading The 2d of December, 1804, dawned clear and cold.
used to mean any person in general, including the speaker
From this reading At one end a gorgeous throne was erected.
the capital and largest city of France; and international center of culture and commerce
From this reading All Paris assembled to witness this imposing ceremony.
superlative of “rich” — possessing material wealth
From this reading The church was draped in costly velvet of richest hues.
first day of the week; observed as a day of rest and worship by most Christians
From this reading It was Sunday, and upon this day Napoleon was to be crowned emperor at the church of Nôtre Dame.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading The 2d of December, 1804, dawned clear and cold.
used for a person or thing that is near, or that has just been mentioned
From this reading It was Sunday, and upon this day Napoleon was to be crowned emperor at the church of Nôtre Dame.
the chair of state for a monarch, bishop, etc.
From this reading At one end a gorgeous throne was erected.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading It was Sunday, and upon this day Napoleon was to be crowned emperor at the church of Nôtre Dame.
a formal word for “on”
From this reading It was Sunday, and upon this day Napoleon was to be crowned emperor at the church of Nôtre Dame.
a silky densely piled fabric with a plain back
From this reading The church was draped in costly velvet of richest hues.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading It was Sunday, and upon this day Napoleon was to be crowned emperor at the church of Nôtre Dame.
someone who sees an event and reports what happened
From this reading All Paris assembled to witness this imposing ceremony.
Chapter 15 of The Boys' Book of Famous Rulers by Lydia Hoyt Farmer holds 372 sentences, grouped into 75 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 15 holds 372 sentences of The Boys' Book of Famous Rulers, unabridged, divided into 75 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 15 of The Boys' Book of Famous Rulers by Lydia Hoyt Farmer exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 372 sentences, grouped into 75 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 75 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 75 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 15 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 The Boys' Book of Famous Rulers by Lydia Hoyt Farmer on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 5992 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #50510 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #50510, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 499 minutes of reading across 1199 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Boys' Book of Famous Rulers section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 15 chapters of The Boys' Book of Famous Rulers 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 The Boys' Book of Famous Rulers, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
