Chapter 1 of The White Devil is here in full — 403 sentences across 81 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
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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.
Ha, ha, O Democritus, thy gods That govern the whole world! courtly reward And punishment. Fortune 's a right whore: If she give aught, she deals it in small parcels, That she may take away all at one swoop. This 'tis to have great enemies! God 'quite them. Your wolf no longer seems to be a wolf Than when she 's hungry.
Chapter 1 of The White Devil is here in full — 403 sentences across 81 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 8/80 · 5 reading units · Lines 36–40
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 quantity of no importance
From this reading “Fortune 's a right whore: If she give aught, she deals it in small parcels, That she may take away all at one swoop.”
refined or imposing in manner or appearance; befitting a royal court
From this reading “Ha, ha, O Democritus, thy gods That govern the whole world! courtly reward And punishment.”
plural of “deal” — a particular instance of buying or selling
From this reading “Fortune 's a right whore: If she give aught, she deals it in small parcels, That she may take away all at one swoop.”
bring into conformity with rules or principles or usage; impose regulations
From this reading “Ha, ha, O Democritus, thy gods That govern the whole world! courtly reward And punishment.”
plural of “parcel” — a wrapped container
From this reading “Fortune 's a right whore: If she give aught, she deals it in small parcels, That she may take away all at one swoop.”
(music) rapid sliding up or down the musical scale
From this reading “Fortune 's a right whore: If she give aught, she deals it in small parcels, That she may take away all at one swoop.”
a woman who engages in sexual intercourse for money
From this reading “Fortune 's a right whore: If she give aught, she deals it in small parcels, That she may take away all at one swoop.”
any of various predatory carnivorous canine mammals of North America and Eurasia that usually hunt in packs
From this reading “Your wolf no longer seems to be a wolf Than when she 's hungry.”
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 Fortune 's a right whore: If she give aught, she deals it in small parcels, That she may take away all at one swoop.
(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 Fortune 's a right whore: If she give aught, she deals it in small parcels, That she may take away all at one swoop.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading Ha, ha, O Democritus, thy gods That govern the whole world! courtly reward And punishment.
in or near a particular place or position
From this reading Fortune 's a right whore: If she give aught, she deals it in small parcels, That she may take away all at one swoop.
a quantity of no importance
From this reading Fortune 's a right whore: If she give aught, she deals it in small parcels, That she may take away all at one swoop.
from a particular thing or place or position (“forth” is obsolete)
From this reading Fortune 's a right whore: If she give aught, she deals it in small parcels, That she may take away all at one swoop.
used with a past participle to form the passive, or with -ing for continuous tenses
From this reading Your wolf no longer seems to be a wolf Than when she 's hungry.
refined or imposing in manner or appearance; befitting a royal court
From this reading Ha, ha, O Democritus, thy gods That govern the whole world! courtly reward And punishment.
plural of “deal” — a particular instance of buying or selling
From this reading Fortune 's a right whore: If she give aught, she deals it in small parcels, That she may take away all at one swoop.
Greek philosopher who developed an atomistic theory of matter (460-370 BC)
From this reading Ha, ha, O Democritus, thy gods That govern the whole world! courtly reward And punishment.
plural of “enemy” — an opposing military force
From this reading This 'tis to have great enemies!
an unknown and unpredictable phenomenon that causes an event to result one way rather than another
From this reading Fortune 's a right whore: If she give aught, she deals it in small parcels, That she may take away all at one swoop.
cause to have, in the abstract sense or physical sense
From this reading Fortune 's a right whore: If she give aught, she deals it in small parcels, That she may take away all at one swoop.
the supernatural being conceived as the perfect and omnipotent and omniscient originator and ruler of the universe; the object of worship in monotheistic religions
From this reading God 'quite them.
plural of “god” — the supernatural being conceived as the perfect and omnipotent and omniscient originator and ruler of the universe; the object of worship in monotheistic religions
From this reading Ha, ha, O Democritus, thy gods That govern the whole world! courtly reward And punishment.
bring into conformity with rules or principles or usage; impose regulations
From this reading Ha, ha, O Democritus, thy gods That govern the whole world! courtly reward And punishment.
relatively large in size or number or extent; larger than others of its kind
From this reading This 'tis to have great enemies!
(astronomy) the angular distance of a celestial point measured westward along the celestial equator from the zenith crossing; the right ascension for an observer at a particular location and time of day
From this reading Ha, ha, O Democritus, thy gods That govern the whole world! courtly reward And punishment.
used with a past participle to form the perfect tenses
From this reading This 'tis to have great enemies!
feeling hunger; feeling a need or desire to eat food
From this reading Your wolf no longer seems to be a wolf Than when she 's hungry.
on condition that; in the event that
From this reading Fortune 's a right whore: If she give aught, she deals it in small parcels, That she may take away all at one swoop.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading Fortune 's a right whore: If she give aught, she deals it in small parcels, That she may take away all at one swoop.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading Fortune 's a right whore: If she give aught, she deals it in small parcels, That she may take away all at one swoop.
for more time
From this reading Your wolf no longer seems to be a wolf Than when she 's hungry.
used to say something is possible, or to give permission
From this reading Fortune 's a right whore: If she give aught, she deals it in small parcels, That she may take away all at one swoop.
not any; not one
From this reading Your wolf no longer seems to be a wolf Than when she 's hungry.
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 Ha, ha, O Democritus, thy gods That govern the whole world! courtly reward And punishment.
used to mean any person in general, including the speaker
From this reading Fortune 's a right whore: If she give aught, she deals it in small parcels, That she may take away all at one swoop.
plural of “parcel” — a wrapped container
From this reading Fortune 's a right whore: If she give aught, she deals it in small parcels, That she may take away all at one swoop.
the act of punishing
From this reading Ha, ha, O Democritus, thy gods That govern the whole world! courtly reward And punishment.
to a degree (not used with a negative)
From this reading God 'quite them.
a recompense for worthy acts or retribution for wrongdoing
From this reading Ha, ha, O Democritus, thy gods That govern the whole world! courtly reward And punishment.
precisely, exactly
From this reading Fortune 's a right whore: If she give aught, she deals it in small parcels, That she may take away all at one swoop.
1/60 of a minute; the basic unit of time adopted under the Systeme International d'Unites
From this reading Fortune 's a right whore: If she give aught, she deals it in small parcels, That she may take away all at one swoop.
third-person singular of “seem” — give a certain impression or have a certain outward aspect
From this reading Your wolf no longer seems to be a wolf Than when she 's hungry.
a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading Fortune 's a right whore: If she give aught, she deals it in small parcels, That she may take away all at one swoop.
limited or below average in number or quantity or magnitude or extent
From this reading Fortune 's a right whore: If she give aught, she deals it in small parcels, That she may take away all at one swoop.
(music) rapid sliding up or down the musical scale
From this reading Fortune 's a right whore: If she give aught, she deals it in small parcels, That she may take away all at one swoop.
carry out
From this reading Fortune 's a right whore: If she give aught, she deals it in small parcels, That she may take away all at one swoop.
used to introduce the second part of a comparison
From this reading Your wolf no longer seems to be a wolf Than when she 's hungry.
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading Ha, ha, O Democritus, thy gods That govern the whole world! courtly reward And punishment.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading Ha, ha, O Democritus, thy gods That govern the whole world! courtly reward And punishment.
the people or things already mentioned, as the object
From this reading God 'quite them.
used for a person or thing that is near, or that has just been mentioned
From this reading This 'tis to have great enemies!
an old word for “your”, speaking to one person
From this reading Ha, ha, O Democritus, thy gods That govern the whole world! courtly reward And punishment.
plural of “ti” — a light strong grey lustrous corrosion-resistant metallic element used in strong lightweight alloys (as for airplane parts); the main sources are rutile and ilmenite
From this reading This 'tis to have great enemies!
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading This 'tis to have great enemies!
at the time that
From this reading Your wolf no longer seems to be a wolf Than when she 's hungry.
including all components without exception; being one unit or constituting the full amount or extent or duration; complete
From this reading Ha, ha, O Democritus, thy gods That govern the whole world! courtly reward And punishment.
a woman who engages in sexual intercourse for money
From this reading Fortune 's a right whore: If she give aught, she deals it in small parcels, That she may take away all at one swoop.
any of various predatory carnivorous canine mammals of North America and Eurasia that usually hunt in packs
From this reading Your wolf no longer seems to be a wolf Than when she 's hungry.
everything that exists anywhere
From this reading Ha, ha, O Democritus, thy gods That govern the whole world! courtly reward And punishment.
belonging to the person or people being spoken to
From this reading Your wolf no longer seems to be a wolf Than when she 's hungry.
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.
