At the beginning of the story, Federigo is all of the following except a. wise. c. wealthy. b. noble. d. respected.

a. Wise

Explanation:

At the beginning of the story (Federigo's Falcon) it was shown that Federigo was a very RICH and RESPECTED man who lavished Monna Giovanni with a lot of gifts as well as holding sumptuous banquets.

It was also shown that he was of Nobel birth.

The fact that he kept spending money on lavish gifts and parties without taking anything in however, and eventually becoming poor showed that he was not a WISE man because a wise man should know how to keep his finances balanced.

It was slow and expensive to ship goods over land.

Explanation:

In the late 1700s and early 1800s overland travel was a big problem because at that time technology was not much advanced and transport was very slow. Transport in 1700s and early 1800s was very inefficient as it took lots of labor and time and it was  expensive also. In case of inter-continental travel only sea routes were available and it was slow and expensive.