| | 1 | Author: | Cooper
James Fenimore
1789-1851 | Add | | | Title: | The Headsman, Or, the Abbaye Des Vignerons  | | | | Published: | 1997 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | The year was in its fall, according to a poetical
expression of our own, and the morning bright, as
the fairest and swiftest bark that navigated the
Leman lay at the quay of the ancient and historical
town of Geneva, ready to depart for the country
of Vaud. This vessel was called the Winkelried,
in commemoration of Arnold of that name, who
had so generously sacrificed life and hopes to the
good of his country, and who deservedly ranks
among the truest of those heroes of whom we have
well-authenticated legends. She had been launched
at the commencement of the summer, and still
bore at the fore-top-mast-head a bunch of evergreens,
profusely ornamented with knots and
streamers of riband, the offerings of the patron's
female friends, and the fancied gage of success.
The use of steam, and the presence of unemployed
seamen of various nations, in this idle season of
the warlike, are slowly leading to innovations and
improvements in the navigation of the lakes of
Italy and Switzerland, it is true; but time, even at
this hour, has done little towards changing the habits
and opinions of those who ply on these inland
waters for a subsistence. The Winkelreid had the
two low, diverging masts; the attenuated and picturesquely-poised
latine yards; the light, triangular
sails; the sweeping and projecting gangways; the
receding and falling stern; the high and peaked
prow, with, in general, the classical and quaint air
of those vessels that are seen in the older paintings
and engravings. A gilded ball glittered on the
summit of each mast, for no canvass was set higher
than the slender and well-balanced yards, and it
was above one of these that the wilted bush, with
its gay appendages, trembled and fluttered in a
fresh western wind. The hull was worthy of so
much goodly apparel, being spacious, commodious,
and, according to the wants of the navigation, of
approved mould. The freight, which was sufficiently
obvious, much the greatest part being piled
on the ample deck, consisted of what our own
watermen would term an assorted cargo. It was,
however, chiefly composed of those foreign luxuries,
as they were then called, though use has now
rendered them nearly indispensable to domestic
economy, which were consumed, in singular moderation,
by the more affluent of those who dwelt
deeper among the mountains, and of the two principal
products of the dairy; the latter being destined
to a market in the less verdant countries of
the south. To these must be added the personal
effects of an unusual number of passengers, which
were stowed on the top of the heavier part of the
cargo, with an order and care that their value
would scarcely seem to require. The arrangement,
however, was necessary to the convenience
and even to the security of the bark, having been
made by the patron with a view to posting each
individual by his particular wallet, in a manner to
prevent confusion in the crowd, and to leave the
crew space and opportunity to discharge the necessary
duties of the navigation. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
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