The line originally used in the fishery was of the best hemp, slightly vapored with tar, not impregnated with it, as in the case of ordinary ropes; for while tar, as ordinarily used, makes the hemp more pliable to the rope-maker, and also renders the rope itself more convenient to the sailor for common ship use; yet, not only would the ordinary quantity too much stiffen the whale-line for the close coiling to which it must be subjected; but as most seamen are beginning to learn, tar in general by no means adds to the rope's durability or strength, however much it may give it
compactness and gloss.
Let your rapidity be that of the wind, your
compactness that of the forest.
It is formed of rough stones, selected with care, and laid in courses or circles, with much
compactness, but without cement of any kind.
By this means, the whole was bound together with great
compactness.
It is not a scrambling collection of low single rooms, with as many roofs as windows; it is not cramped into the vulgar
compactness of a square farmhouse: it is a solid, roomy, mansion-like looking house, such as one might suppose a respectable old country family had lived in from generation to generation, through two centuries at least, and were now spending from two to three thousand a year in." Miss Crawford listened, and Edmund agreed to this.
It was stowed away unfolded in the remotest corner of my pocket, where it was gradually pressed into a beautiful
compactness by the other contents, which were knives.
For, oftentimes when school was not, and her calm leisure and calm little house were her own, Miss Peecher would commit to the confidential slate an imaginary description of how, upon a balmy evening at dusk, two figures might have been observed in the market-garden ground round the corner, of whom one, being a manly form, bent over the other, being a womanly form of short stature and some
compactness, and breathed in a low voice the words, 'Emma Peecher, wilt thou be my own?' after which the womanly form's head reposed upon the manly form's shoulder, and the nightingales tuned up.
What was to be particularly admired (he said) in the Commons, was its
compactness. It was the most conveniently organized place in the world.
Poyser gave her approbation to the scheme of the movable kitchen cupboard, which was to be capable of containing grocery, pickles, crockery, and house-linen in the utmost
compactness without confusion.
In however good condition Master Squeers might have been, he certainly did not present this remarkable
compactness of person, for on his father's closing his finger and thumb in illustration of his remark, he uttered a sharp cry, and rubbed the place in the most natural manner possible.
There were pears and apples, clustered high in blooming pyramids; there were bunches of grapes, made, in the shopkeepers' benevolence to dangle from conspicuous hooks, that people's mouths might water gratis as they passed; there were piles of filberts, mossy and brown, recalling, in their fragrance, ancient walks among the woods, and pleasant shufflings ankle deep through withered leaves; there were Norfolk Biffins, squab and swarthy, setting off the yellow of the oranges and lemons, and, in the great
compactness of their juicy persons, urgently entreating and beseeching to be carried home in paper bags and eaten after dinner.
And, though I don't think your good lady's very friendly to me, in this matter, still she can't help herself from falling into my views, for there's a
compactness and cosiness of appearance about her that always tells, even in an indifferent case.