Chapter 1 of The White Devil is here in full — 403 sentences across 81 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter I
Chapter 1 of The White Devil is here in full — 403 sentences across 81 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Flam. Strange you should lose your count. Cam. We never lay together, but ere morning There grew a flaw between us. Flam.
Chapter 1 of The White Devil is here in full — 403 sentences across 81 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 28/80 · 5 reading units · Lines 136–140
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 river in east central England that flows past Cambridge to join the Ouse River
From this reading “Cam.”
determine the number or amount of
From this reading “Strange you should lose your count.”
an old word for “before”
From this reading “We never lay together, but ere morning There grew a flaw between us.”
an imperfection in an object or machine
From this reading “We never lay together, but ere morning There grew a flaw between us.”
inflected form of “grow” — pass into a condition gradually, take on a specific property or attribute; become
From this reading “We never lay together, but ere morning There grew a flaw between us.”
put into a certain place or abstract location
From this reading “We never lay together, but ere morning There grew a flaw between us.”
fail to keep or to maintain; cease to have, either physically or in an abstract sense
From this reading “Strange you should lose your count.”
being definitely out of the ordinary and unexpected; slightly odd or even a bit weird
From this reading “Strange you should lose your count.”
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 We never lay together, but ere morning There grew a flaw between us.
in the space, time, or range separating two things
From this reading We never lay together, but ere morning There grew a flaw between us.
used to introduce something that contrasts with what came before
From this reading We never lay together, but ere morning There grew a flaw between us.
a river in east central England that flows past Cambridge to join the Ouse River
From this reading Cam.
determine the number or amount of
From this reading Strange you should lose your count.
an old word for “before”
From this reading We never lay together, but ere morning There grew a flaw between us.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Flam.
an imperfection in an object or machine
From this reading We never lay together, but ere morning There grew a flaw between us.
inflected form of “grow” — pass into a condition gradually, take on a specific property or attribute; become
From this reading We never lay together, but ere morning There grew a flaw between us.
put into a certain place or abstract location
From this reading We never lay together, but ere morning There grew a flaw between us.
fail to keep or to maintain; cease to have, either physically or in an abstract sense
From this reading Strange you should lose your count.
the time period between dawn and noon
From this reading We never lay together, but ere morning There grew a flaw between us.
not ever; at no time in the past or future
From this reading We never lay together, but ere morning There grew a flaw between us.
used to say what is right, expected, or advisable
From this reading Strange you should lose your count.
being definitely out of the ordinary and unexpected; slightly odd or even a bit weird
From this reading Strange you should lose your count.
in or at that place or location
From this reading We never lay together, but ere morning There grew a flaw between us.
in contact with each other or in proximity
From this reading We never lay together, but ere morning There grew a flaw between us.
the speaker and others, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading We never lay together, but ere morning There grew a flaw between us.
the speaker together with one or more other people
From this reading We never lay together, but ere morning There grew a flaw between us.
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading Strange you should lose your count.
belonging to the person or people being spoken to
From this reading Strange you should lose your count.
Chapter 1 of The White Devil by John Webster holds 403 sentences, grouped into 81 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 403 sentences of The White Devil, unabridged, divided into 81 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 1 of The White Devil by John Webster exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 403 sentences, grouped into 81 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 81 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 81 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 The White Devil by John Webster on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 3118 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #12915 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #12915, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 259 minutes of reading across 624 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The White Devil section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 8 chapters of The White Devil 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 White Devil, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
