aster,
when the broadside of their enemy became visible, by this change in his
position. "Six-and-twenty teeth, by my count! though the eye-teeth must be
wanting, or he would never be so fool-hardy as to brave Queen Anne's
Coquette in this impudent fashion! A prettily turned boat, Captain Ludlow,
and one nimble enough in her movements. 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. It may be
here, it may be there; for I look upon her as a nondescript, as old
Admiral Top used to call the galliots of the north seas--but, concerning
these new American fashions, of what use are they, I would ask, Captain
Ludlow? In the first place, they are neither English nor French, which is
as much as to confess they are altogether outlandish; in the second place,
they disturb the harmony and established usages among wrights and
sail-makers, and, though they may get along well enough now, sooner or
later, take my word for it, they will come to harm. It is unreasonable to
suppose that a new people can discover any thing in the construction of a
ship, that has escaped the wisdom