ran curiously along the whole extent of
the two straw-colored lines, seeking in vain some evidence of the weight
and force of her armament. If she had ports at all, they were so
ingeniously concealed as to escape the keenest of his glances. The nature
of the rig has been already described. Partaking of the double character
of brig and schooner, the sails and spars of the forward-mast being of the
former, while those of the after-mast were of the latter construction,
seamen have given to this class of shipping the familiar name of
Hermaphrodites. But, though there might be fancied, by this term, some
want of the proportions that constitute seemliness, it will be remembered
that the departure was only from some former rule of art, and that no
violence had been done to those universal and permanent laws which
constitute the charm of nature. The models of glass, which are seen
representing the machinery of a ship, are not more exact or just in their
lines than were the cordage and spars of this brigantine. Not a rope
varied from its true direction; not a sail, but it resembled the neat
folds of some prudent house wife; not a mast or a yard was there, but it
rose into the air, or stretched its arms, with the most fastidious
attention to symmetry. All was airy, fanciful, and full of grace, seeming
to lend to the fabric a character of unreal lightness and speed. As the
boat drew near her side, a change of the air caused the buoyant bark to
turn, like a vane, in its current; and as the long and pointed proportions
of her head-gear came into view, Ludlow saw beneath the bowsprit an image
that might be supposed to make, by means of allegory, some obvious
allusions to the character of the vessel. A female form, fashioned with
the carver's best skill, stood on the projection of the cut-water. The
figure rested lightly on the ball of one foot, while the other was
suspended in an easy attitude, resembling the airy posture of the famous
Mercury of the Bolognese. The drapery was fluttering, scanty, and of a
light sea-green tint, as if it had imbibed a hue from the element beneath.
The face was of that dark bronzed color which human ingenuity has, from
time immemorial, adopted as the best medium to portray a superhuman
expression. The locks were dishevelled, wild, and rich; the eye, full of
such a meaning as might be fancied to glitter in the organs of a
sorceress; while a smile so strangely meaning and malign played about the
mouth, that