But look at his top-sails! Just
like his character, Sir, all hoist; and with little or no head to them.
I'll not deny but that the hull is well enough, for that is no more than
carpenter's work; but when it comes to the rig, or trim, or cut of a sail,
how should a l'Orient or a Brest man understand what is comely? There is
no equalling, after all, a good, wholesome, honest English top-sail; which
is neither too narrow in the head, nor too deep in the hoist; with a
bolt-rope of exactly the true size, robands and earings and bowlines that
look as if they grew there, and sheets that neither nature nor art could
alter to advantage. Here are these Americans, now, making innovations in
ship-building, and in the sparring of vessels, as if any thing could be
gained by quitting the customs and opinions of their ancestors! Any man
may see that all they have about them, that is good for any thing, is
English; while all their nonsense, and new-fangled changes, come from
their own vanity."
"They get along, Master Trysail, notwithstanding," returned the captain,
who, though a sufficiently loyal subject, could not forget his
birth-place; "and many is the time this ship, one of the finest models of
Plymouth, has been bothered to overhaul the coasters of these seas. Here
is the brigantine, that has laughed at us, on our best tack, and with our
choice of wind."
"One cannot say where that brigantine was built, Captain Ludlow.
Pages:
470
471
472
473
474
475
476
477
478
479
480
481
482
483
484
485
486
487
488
489
490
491
492
493
494