Rondel

“ So by the law of perspective, as we look up, we behold ridge below ridge of jewel- work resting on the golden columns, and glowing with transmitted light. The background, shutting in the court, is a screen of delicate metal work, the details standing out against the bright glare of day. ”

“ Some streets and roads are flat and level. Others slope like hills. Can you name a street which is level, and one that slants or slopes? Which road is easier to walk on? Why? Do you prefer the level or the sloping street when roller-skating? Why? Which is the best when you are coasting?
You may have noticed that some of the fields in the park or in the country are nearly flat. Other fields lie on slopes or hills. We call the flat part of the land a plain, whether it is in the city or in the country. The sloping part of the land forms a hill. ”

“ Every hundred yards or so on the road comes the cry, "Fan keo!"—"Change shoulders!"—followed by a momentary stop to shift the pole. And you always cross a town to the tune of "Pei-a, pei-a, pei-a!"—"Mind your back, mind your back, mind your back!" And if a man does not mind, he is likely to get a poke in the back from the chair pole. ”

“ One is used to thinking that one side of a wall is just as high as the other side. But that wall was different. You see, the vacant lot was much higher than the level of the street. On my side the wall was low, but on the other side--well, as I came soaring over the top, all holds free, it seemed to me that I was falling feet-first, plump into an abyss. There beneath me, on the sidewalk, under the light of a street-lamp was a bull. I guess it was nine or ten feet down to the sidewalk ”

“ Can you imagine a rope such that when the bottom end was moved from east to west, a point some yards up moved from east-north-east to west-sou'-west, that a higher point moved from north-east to south-west, and so on, the direction gradually changing for higher and higher points? ”

“ Now it is essential that the edge be ground so that its rate of approach to the back shall be absolutely uniform from hilt to point-plane, and, further, that the line of intersection of the edge- plane and the back-plane shall be equidistant throughout from the back and the edge. ”

“ The spurs of the hills come down very sharply to the valley, and the road is carried round by a series of very severe gradients following the contour of the mountain-chain, so that at one time there is a deep gorge on your left, and then, as the road leaves that spur with the valley on that side and crosses to another spur, there is a great descent on the right, so that you are continually passing along by a series of precipices, to which, in our case, the fast gathering gloom imparted additional horror. ”

“ There is no bank to lay the tracks upon; from wall to wall the river surges, leaps, and roars. From out the water those mighty walls, built by Nature’s hand, run right straight up, 2600 feet in the air. ”

“ Looking to the north, an immense curved line shows itself, growing ever greater, opening like the arch of a gigantic bridge, and binding this first group to a second, more complicated, each peak of which has a form of its own, and does in some sort as it pleases without troubling itself about its neighbor. ”

“ Puss in the Corner.—A certain number of boys or girls stand singly at different distances; suppose we say for instance one at each of the four corners of a room, a fifth is then placed in the middle; the business of those who occupy the corners is to keep changing their positions in a regular succession, and of the out-player, to gain one of the corners vacated by the change before the successor can reach it: if done he retains it, and the loser takes his place in the middle. ”

“ A Modern English roundel of fourteen lines, constructed of three-foot verses, by Austin Dobson, has the scheme a b a b b a a b a b a b a b (quoted ib. § 583) . The French roundel of thirteen lines may be looked upon as a preliminary form to the rondeau, which was developed from the roundel at the end of the fifteenth and the beginning of the sixteenth century.
§ 324. The rondeau is a poem consisting of thirteen lines of eight or ten syllables, or four or five measures. It has three stanzas of five, three, and five lines, rhyming on the scheme a a b b a a a b a a b b a. ”

“ Pitch.—The degree of slope given to a roof, gable, or pediment.
Plan.— (1) A map of the floor of a building, showing the piers, if any, and the walls which inclose and divide it, with the openings in them; (2) the actual arrangement and disposition of the floors, piers, and walls of the building itself.
Plane.—The imaginary surface within which a series of mouldings lies, and which coincides with the salient and important points of that series. Mouldings are said to be on an oblique plane when their plane forms an angle less than a right angle with the face of the wall ”

“ The pole is just exactly what it sounds like, a greased pole, and at the top of it is a tiny flag which must be captured and brought down by the victorious climber who gets a very real prize. He deserves it! ”

“ Mile after mile we marched over sharp stones, wading through a second troublesome delta of eight arms fully a mile in width, across a flat basin of pointed pebbles and stones, until at last, to our great delight, we came to smooth grass land, a soothing comfort to one's torn feet. ”

“ Engineers surveying for a railway lay down the line level, or as nearly level as the configuration of the surface will permit; but an engineer’s level is not a straight line; it is the segment of a circle,—that circle being the circumference of the globe. The line which practically constitutes a level bends downwards continually as it goes forward, following the form of the earth, and at every point being at right angles to the radius. ”

“ Another important line is AB, the Base or Ground line, as it is on this that we measure the width of any object to be represented, such as ef, the base of the square efgh, on which the cube C is raised. E is the position of the eye of the spectator, being drawn in perspective, and is called the Station-point. ”

“ For in a right sphere the needle is parallel to the plane of the horizon; but when the cœlestial pole is vertically overhead, or when the pole of the earth is itself the place of the region, then the needle is perpendicular to the horizon. ”

“ Imperceptible in themselves, the heights become perceptible by their shadows. A road illuminated by a distant arc light gives us a startling instance of this; the smooth surface taking on from its shadows the look of a ploughed field. ”

“ One minute you would be watching the crest of a ridge and see a few men sauntering over the top in twos and threes, and two minutes later you would find the face of the ridge swarming with men, and more and more pushing on behind. ”

“ The ridges are too many, and they look too much alike. It is very easy to walk in a great circle—because one leg tires before the other—with no hope whatever of anything except the spirit ever rising above the barrier of the pines. ”

“ If we turn round and go in the opposite sense, then the area will be to the left if it was first to the right, and vice versa. If we give the boundary a definite sense, and go round in this sense, then the area is said to be either of the one or of the other sense according as the area is to the right or to the left. ”

“ They don't understand a thing! [BÉQUART advances to the gate.—The Pensioners shout to him.] How will you give it to them?
BÉQUART [pointing to his pike] . On the end of this spit.
VINTIMILLE [turning toward the towers] . Hoist the white flag!
DE LAUNEY [shouting] . Up there, hey! The flag! [The gate opens. BÉQUART goes up toward the opening in the wall, right of the draw-bridge.]
BÉQUART [waving his arms and crying] . Capitulation! [He is received by a veritable tempest of shouts and musket-shots. He totters, and shouts out in fury as he shakes his fist at the crowd.] Pigs! ”

“ This range is remarkable for the uniformity of outline which characterizes the different peaks, particularly of their summits, the ridges extending in the same general direction, sometimes hardly diverging from a straight line for a distance of fifty or sixty miles. Where the mountain chains are parallel, the ridges are also in parallel lines, preserving their general direction, and, to a wonderful extent, a uniformity of distance between them. When one curves round in a new direction, all curve with it. ”

“ The ground floors over which the Rows pass are inhabited by a humble class of tradesmen, but it is at the back of the Rows themselves that the principal shops are to be found.... The Rows are in reality on a level with the surface of the ground, and the carriages rolling along below are passing through a kind of artificial ravine. ”

“ Such a pole is set before every house in which a boy has been born during the year, or where there are young boys, and some patriarchal households display a group of poles and a school of carp flying in the air. ”

“ You pass through ruelles where outstretched hands can touch the houses on each side. Often the ruelle is like a tunnel, for the houses are built right over it on arches, and it is so dark that you cannot see in front of you. ”

“ A road much rounded is dangerous, particularly if the cross section approaches towards the segment of a circle, the slope in the case not being uniform, but increasing rapidly from the nature of the curve, as we depart from the middle or vertical line. ”

“ That we have run out, settled, fixed and determined such part of the said circle as lies westward of the said due north line, and have marked and perpetuated the same, by setting up and erecting four stones in the periphery thereof, one of which, at the meridian distance of one mile from the tangent point, is marked with the letter P on the east and the letter M on the west sides thereof. ”

“ People come from all over the world to see the Rows: streets dug out below the rock-surface on which the town was originally built, having shops and even warehouses on their level, with galleries above, open fronted, stone-paved, balustraded with black oak, so that these "Rows" all look as if the houses were wide open, communicating with one another. ”

“ There were several rows of these mountains, extending both to the right and to the left for miles and miles. How many rows there might be none could tell, but between the first row of peaks could be seen other peaks, all steadily whirling around one way or another. ”

“ The intervals between each of these rows are filled up with a kind of tessellated pavement, the middle whereof represents a maze or labyrinth, about ten feet in diameter, and so artfully contrived that were we to suppose a man following all the intricate meanders of its volutes, he could not travel less than a mile before he got from one end to the other. ”

“ His hedge of thorns upon rocks piled up was impregnable, and the waggons were in the centre, drawn up in a square; the entrance would only admit one person at a time, and was protected by bars at night. ”

“ Field sketches for railroad work are generally made by the eye. The field book being ruled in squares representing one hundred feet each. When we need a more accurate sketch than this method gives, we may cross section the ground either by rods or with the level. ”

“ We usually specify a slope by its inclination to a level plane which is parallel to the plane of the horizon, or at right angles to the direction of gravity. At any given spot the level is, physically considered, definite and unalterable. ”

“ The place I speak of is a narrow, well- shaded path. The ground is perfectly level; it lies from north to south, so that at eight o'clock in the morning the sun will be on that side; there will be no advantage in position. ”

“ A much weaker office, however, does a plane or oblong stone perform, when the length is extended according to the leading of the parallels, and the pole stops neither on the apex nor in the circle and orbe, but is spread over the flat. ”

“ The hill, or rock rather, is precipitous on all sides, having but one ascent cut out of the rock in a regular slope; in which ascent there are four several gates before reaching the gate of the city, which last is extremely magnificent. ”

“ Turn round very slowly, a little bit at a time, beginning at the north and turning towards the east, and you may make the needle also move round in a circle. It moves in the opposite direction to yourself, for it is trying to get back to the north from which you are turning. ”

“ A spacious open plain is selected, and the stakes are driven into the ground in a circle, at intervals of from twelve to fifteen feet apart, and are connected together by ropes fastened to them at the height of two or two and a half feet from the ground. ”

“ Should the person wish to say that the trail would turn at a right angle, to either side, at about one-half the distance of the whole journey in prospect, the horizontal branch is either bent in that direction or a naturally-curved branch is selected having the turn at the middle of its entire length, thus corresponding to the turn in the trail. ”

“ To break the line, to change the direction from that of a straight line, in order to obtain a cross-fire, and for other purposes. To line a street or road, is to draw up any number of men on each side of the street or road, and to face them inwards. ”

“ For the space of a quarter of a mile, advantage is taken of a slight natural ridge to construct between the walls a broad embankment, something higher than the parallels themselves. It is broad enough to permit fifty persons to walk abreast. A similar peculiarity is observed in the short parallel leading from the square enclosure towards the great circle E, and is exhibited by the section i l. ”