Wonder of the World !

FAIRBURN’S ACCOUNT

or

THE MERMAID,
THE MOST

- /

EXTRAORDINARY ANIMAL
■ ' >\ ■'w' A v .

IN THE CREATION*

P?a(f ffitoman .V r
Jfisft,
\
FORMING THE CONNECTING LINK IN THE CHAIN OF NATURE

BETWEEN THE HUMAN AND PISCINE TRIBES.

Illustrated with Two Engravings, drawn, from accurate Inspection

of the Animal, with Permission of the Proprietor,
By Mr. CRUIKSHANK.

Uontron:
Printed and published by JOHN FAIRBURN, Broadway,
Ludgate-Hill*
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 ' i-'

THE

MERMAID,
fyc. fyc.

Notwithstanding the many accounts, or, rather,

hints, which have been handed down from very re¬

mote antiquity of this human piscine animal, they
have been so clogged with fiction, that they have
ever been ranked as of fabulous origin. The classical
scholar will remember with pleasure those stories,
told in the most elegant language, which amused and
instructed his youthful days; and he will now feel
not a little surprised that those things which he
deemed to be only the elegancies of fiction are
likely to turn out something like realities; and that,
to add to the wonders of the creation, there really
seems to exist a very near link between the human
B
 I

6 TIIE MERMAID. '

and the piscine tribes, as strongly defined as that

between the human and brute creation, by means of
the simice, or apes. A brief recapitulation of the
ideas of the ancients, as well as of the more modern
N

accounts of natural historians, travellers, and voyagers,

respecting the Merman race, will not be, it is pre¬
sumed, unentertaining to the learned, or uninstructive
to the unlearned world.
The sirens, in fabulous history, were certain
celebrated songstresses, who were ranked among the
demi-gods of antiquity. Hyginus places their birth
among the consequences of the rape of Proserpine.
Others make them the daughters of the river Achelous
and one of the Muses. The number of the sirens
was three, and their names were Parthenope, Lygea,
■
and Leucosia. Some make them half women -and
half fish; others, half women and half birds. There
are antique representations of them still subsisting
under both these forms. Pausanias tells us that the
sirens, by the persuasion of Juno, challenged the
Muses to a trial of skill in singing ; and these, having
vanquished them, plucked the golden feathers from
the wings of the sirens, and formed them into crowns,
with which they adorned their own heads. The Argo¬
nauts are said to have been diverted from the enchant¬
ment of their songs by the superior strains of Orpheus.
Ulysses, however, had great difficulty in securing
himself from seduction.—See Odyssey, book xii.
 THK MERMAID. 7
Pope, in his notes to the twelfth book of the

Odyssey, observes that the critics have greatly labour¬

ed to explain what was the foundation of this fiction

of the sirens. We are told by some that the sirens

were queens of certain small islands, called Sirenus<e,

that lie near Capraea, in Italy, and chiefly inhabited

the promontory of Minerva, upon the top of which

that goddess had a temple, as some affirm, built by

Ulysses. Here there was a renowned academy, in the

reign of the sirens, famous for eloquence and the liberal

sciences, which gave occasion to the invention of the

fable of the sweetness of the voice and attracting songs

of the sirens. But wh}T then are they fabled to be de¬

stroyers, and painted in such dreadful colours ? We

are told that at last the students abused their know¬

ledge to the colouring of wrong, the corruption of

manners, and the subversion of government ; that is,

in the language of poetry, they were feigned to be
transformed into monsters, and with their music to
have enticed passengers to their ruin, who there con¬

sumed their patrimonies, and poisoned their virtues

with riot and effeminacy. The place is now called

Massa. Some writers tell us of a certain bay, con¬

tracted within winding straits and broken cliff’s, which,

w

by the singing of the winds and beating of the waters,

returns a delightful harmony, that allures the passen¬

ger to approach, who is immediately thrown against

8 THE MERMAID.

the rbcks, and swallowed up by the violent eddies.

Thus Horace, moralizing, calls idleness a siren :

u ■ Vitanda est improba siren,

“ Desidia.”--— -

But the fable may be applied to all pleasures in

general, which, if too eagerly pursued, betray the
incautious into ruin; while wise men, like Ulysses,
stop their ears against their insinuations.
The learned Mr. Bryant says, that the sirens were
Cuthite and Canaanitish priests, who had founded
temples in Sicily, which were rendered infamous on
account of the women who officiated. They were
much addicted to cruel rites, so that the shores upon
which they resided are described as covered with the
bones of men destroyed by their artifice.— Virgil,
JEneid, lib. v. v. 864.
All ancient writers agree in telling us that Sirens
inhabited the coasts of Sicily. The name, according
to Bochart, who derives it from the Phoenician
language, implies a songstress. Hence it is probable,
says Dr. Burney, that in ancient times there may have
been excellent singers, but of corrupt morals, on the
coast of Sicily, who, by seducing voyagers, gave rise
to this fable. And if this conjecture be well-founded,
he observes, the Muses are not the only pagan
divinities who preserved their influence over mankind
 THE MERMAID. 9
in modern times; for every age has its sirens, and

every siren her votaries; when beauty and talents,

both powerful in themselves, are united, they become

still more attractive.

Such is the substance of the accounts derived from

antiquity of the sirens, which, however clouded by

fiction, evidently prove that the most learned of the

ancients had heard of, and really believed in the ex¬

istence of animals half human and half piscine; whose

places of resort they have pointed out in the Medi¬

terranean Sea. It should be observed, that the an¬

cient authors are not to be ranked as the romance

writers of the present day, who coin monsters, in

order to display their powers of invention; the former

always veiled some important truth or mystery under

the most seemingly improbable stories, which could

be only unriddled by the initiate, and were meant to

be kept sacred from the vulgar. The

• * * ■ . jij \ . J . - vv i; v . •' -ft ►j ( ' . . . t •" '.. ■■■ .. •* c ; \ ) l f

\ 1
“ Odi profanum vulgus, et arceo — ”
»

of Horace seems to have been the maxim of all the

learned men in all ages, and many of the important

truths and facts, which were couched under allegory,

or depicted by hieroglyphics, are now for ever lost to

the world; which, had the same liberal plan of com¬

municating knowledge existed then, as at the present

days, had, perhaps, added much to our general stock,

 !0 THE MERMAID.

and greatly increased our admiration of those sages

of antiquity. Because there are no sirens of late

years to be met with in the Mediterranean Sea, it

should not be inferred that there never were any such.

That sea was then never traversed but by barks on

coasting voyages, and the monsters of the deep

roamed undisturbed. The sea-coasts themselves were

barren inhospitable wilds, where scarce human voice

was heard, or the foot of man ever trod. Whether

in the ocean, or on land, we plainly perceive how all

kinds of animals, save those which have been domes¬

ticated, fly from the destructive hand of man. The
mammoth has disappeared from the wilds of America,

and the hippopotamus from the shores of Egypt: nay,

the Northern Ocean, which was once covered with

whales, is now but very scantily supplied, and none

are now to be found of that prodigious bulk to which

we have authentic accounts of their having formerly

attained. The species is, in fact, evidently decreased.

We now come to the more modern accounts, which,

though divested of all ambiguity, and seemingly well

attested and authenticated, have never been able to

rescue the existence of these animals from its charac¬

ter of being the offspring of fiction and fable.

In the year 1187, as Laray informs ns, such a

monster was fished up on the coast of Suffolk, and

kept by the governor for six months. It bore so near

a conformity with man, that nothing seemed wanting

 \ THE MERMAID, n

to it but speech. One day it took the opportunity of

making its escape, and, plunging into the sea, was

never more heard of.—Hist, de i’Angl-eterre, part i.

p. 403.

In the year 1430, after a huge tempest, which

broke down the dikes in Holland, and made way for

the sea into the meadows, ,&c. some girls of the

town of Edam, in West Friesland, going in a boat

to milk their cows, perceived a mermaid embarrassed

in the mud, with very little water. They took it into

their boat, and brought it with them to Edam, dressed

it in women’s apparel, and taught it to spin. It fed

like one of them, butcould never be brought to. offer at

speech. Some time afterwards it was brought to Haer-

lem, where it lived for some years, though still showing

an inclination to the water.—Delices d'Hollande.

) <

Another creature of the same species was caught in

the Baltic, in 1531, and sent as a present to Sigis-

mond, king of Poland, with whom it lived three days,

and was seen by all the court. Another very young-

one was taken near Rocca da Cintra, as related by

Damien Goes. The king of Portugal and the grand

master of the order of St. James are said to have had

a suit at law to determine which party these monsters

belonged to.

In the year 1560, near the Island of Manar, on the

western coast of Ceylon, some fishermen brought up,

at one draught of a net, seven mermen and mermaids;

 12 THE MERMAID.

of which several Jesuits, and, amongst the rest, F.

Hen. Henriques and Dimas Bosquer, physicians to the
viceroy of Goa, were witnesses. The physician, who
examined them with a great deal of care, and made
dissection thereof, asserts, that all the parts, both
external and internal, were found perfectly conforma¬
ble to those of men.—Hist, de la Compagnie de Jesus,
part ii. t. iv. No. 276.
We have another account of a merman seen near
the great rock called the Diamond, on* the coast of
Martinico. The persons who saw it gave a precise
description of it before a notary. They affirmed that
they saw it wipe its hand over its face, and even heard
it blow its nose.
In Pontoppidan’s Natural History of Norway, also,
we have accounts of mermaids; but not more re-
r * .

markable, or any way better attested than the above.

More modern instances are the following : In 1613
a mermaid was taken in the harbour of Cherbourg,
after a violent storm, and was carried by the mayor of
that place as a present to the French court; but, dying
before it reached Versailles, it was afterwards shown
publicly in the streets of Paris.
In the year 1758, a mermaid was exhibited at the
fair of St. Germaine’s in France. It was about two
feet long, very active, sporting about in the vessel of
water in which it was kept with great agility and
seeming delight. It was fed with bread and small
 THE MERMAID, IS

fish. Its position, when at rest, was always erect.

It was a female with ugly negro features. The skin
was harsh, the ears very large, and the back parts and
tail were covered with scales. M. Gautier, a celebrated
\

French artist, made an exact drawing of it.

Another mermaid, which was exhibited in Lon**
don in 1775, was said to have been taken in the gulf
of Stanchio, in the Archipelago, or iEgean Sea, by
a merchantman, trading to Natolia, in August, 1774.
It was therefore an Asiatic mermaid. The descrip¬
tion is as followsIts face is like that of a young
female; its eyes a fine light blue ; its nose small and
handsome; its mouth small; its lips thin, and the
edges of them round like that of the codfish; its
teeth are small, regular, and white; its chin well
shaped, and its neck full. Its ears are like those of
the eel, but placed like those of the human species,
and behind them are the gills for respiration, which
appear like curls. Some are said to have hair upon
their head; but this has only rolls instead of hair,
which, at a distance, might be taken for short curls.
But its chief ornament is a beautiful membrane or fin
rising from the temples, and gradually diminishing
till it ends pyramidically, forming a foretop like a
lady’s head-dress. It has no fin on the back, but a
bone like that of the human species. Its breasts are
fair and full; the arms and hands are well-proportion*
*ed, but without nails on the fingers; the belly is round
€
14 THE MERMAID.
l

and swelling, but there is no navel. .From the waist

downwards the body is in all respects like the codfish ;

it has three sets of fins one above another below the

waist, which enable it to swim erect on the sea.

In the year 1794, a mermaid, as it was called, was

shown at No. 7, New Bioad-Court, Bow-Street,

Covent-Garden ; and said to have been taken in the

North Seas by Capt. Fortier. This nymph of the

sea, a woman from the head down to the lower part

of the waist, and a fish from thence downwards, was

three feet long, having ears, gills, breasts, fins,
shoulders, arms, hands, fingers, and a contiguous

scale covering the fish part.

The next publication of credit, in which we find a

notice relative to the mermaid, is Dr. Chisholm’s

Essay on the Malignant Fever of the West Indies,

published in 1801. The Doctor speaks of it as follows:

—“ I probably hazard the implication of credulity by

the following note:—In the year 1797, happening to

be at governor Van Battenburgh’s plantation, in Ber-

bice, the conversation turned on a singular animal

which had been repeatedly seen in Berbice river, and

some smaller rivers, such, particularly, as Mahay^ony

and Abarv on the same coast. So many circumstances,

relative to this animal, were detailed by Mr. Van

Battenburgh, as removed much of the disinclination

to belief I felt. This animal is the famous mermaid,

hitherto considered as a mere creature of the imagi-

 i
THE MERMAID. 15

nation. It is called by the Indian&\mcm mamma, or

mother of the waters. The description given of it
by the governor is as follows:—The upper portion
resembles the human figure, the head smaller in pro¬
portion, sometimes bare, but oftener covered with a
copious quantity of long black hair. The shoulders
are broad, and the breasts large and well formed.
The lower portion resembles the tail-portion of a fish,
is of immense dimension, the tail forked, and not
unlike that of the dolphin, as it is usually represented.
The colour of the skin is either black or tawny. The
animal is held in veneration and dread by the Indians,
who imagine that the killing it would be attended
with the most calamitous consequences. It is from
this circumstance that none of these animals have
✓

been shot, and, consequently, not examined but at a

\ » ~ *

distance. They have been generally observed in a

sitting posture in the water, none of the lower extre¬
mity being discovered until they are disturbed; when,
by plunging, the tail appears, and agitates the water
to a considerable distance round. They have been
always seen employed in smoothing their hair, or
stroking their faces and breasts with their hands, or
something resembling hands. In this posture, and
thus employed, they have been frequently taken for
Indian women bathing. Mr. Van Battenburgh’s ac-
count was much corroborated by that of some gentle¬
men settled in Mahayqony and Abary. Captain Sted-
 16 THE MERMAID

man, in his Narrative of the Expedition against the

Revolted Negroes of Surinam, from 177$ to 1777?
(vol. ii. p. 176,) maintains, that the animal called a
mermaid, is really and truly a viviporous fish, the
female of which is furnished with breasts; that the
appearance of hair is a deception proceeding from a
fin running down the back, of a curious construction;
that the hands are fleshy fins, &c* But it is to be
observed, that he drew his information from old
negroes and Indians, whose remarks, we may sup¬
pose, were not very accurate, especially as they were,
whilst looking at the animal, under the influence of
dread* The reader may compare this with Lord
Monboddo's curious relations, and believe as much as
he chooses of it : as what I have said comes from very
respectable authority, I thought it meriting attention.”
At Sandside, in the parish of Reay, in the county
of Caithness, there was seen, on the 12th of
January, 1809, an animal supposed to be the mermaid.
The head and the chest, being all that was visible,
exactly resembled those of a full-grown young woman.
The breasts were perfectly formed; the arms longer
than in the human body, and the eyes somewhat
smaller. When the waves dashed the hair, which
was of a sea-green shade, over the face, the hands
were immediately employed to replace it. The skin
was ©f a pink colour. Though observed by several
persons within the distance of twenty yards, for about
 THE MERMAID. 17

an hour and a half, it discovered no symptoms of

alarm. It was seen by four or five individuals, of un¬
questionable veracity, at the same time. Something
of the same kind was observed in the same neigh¬
bourhood, about seven or eight years before, by a
ft
gentleman then residing near the spot.
A young man, named John M'Isaac, of Corphine,

in Kintyre, in Scotland, made oath, on examination,

at Campbeltown, before the sheriff-substitute of Kin-
» \

tyre, that he saw, on the afternoon of the 13th of

October, 1811, on a black rock on the sea-coast, an
animal, of the particulars of which he gives a long
and curious detail, answering in general to the de¬
scription commonly given of the mermaid. He
states, that the upper half of it was white, and of
the shape of a human body ; the other half, towards
the tail, of a brindled or reddish-grey colour, appa¬
rently covered with scales ; but the extremity of the
tail itself was of a greenish-red shining colour; that
the head was covered with long hair; at times it
would put back the hair on both sides of its head; it
would also spread its tail like a fan ; and, while so ex¬
tended, the tail continued in tremulous motion, and,
when drawn together again, it remained motionless,
and appeared to the deponent to be about twelve or
fourteen inches broad; that the hair was long and
light brown ; that the animal was between four and
five feet long; that it had a head, hair, arms, and
body, down to the middle, like a human being; that
18 THE MERMAID.

the arms were short in proportion to the body, which

appeared to be about the thickness of that of a young
lad, and tapering gradually to the point of the tail; that
when stroking its head, as above mentioned, the
fingers were kept close together, so that he cannot
say whether they were webbed or not; that he saw
it for near two hours, the rock on which it lay being
dry; that, after the sea had so far retired as to leave
the rock dry to the height of five feet above the
• i i

water, it tumbled clumsily into the sea; a minute

I

after he observed the animal . above water, and

then he saw every feature of its face, having all
the appearance of a human being, with very hollow
eyes. The cheeks were of the same colour with the
rest of the face; the neck seemed short; and it was
constantly, with both hands, stroking and washing its
breast, which was half immersed in the water; he,
therefore, cannot say whether its bosom was formed
like a woman’s or not. He saw no other fins or feet
upon it, but as described. It continued above
water, for a few minutes, and then disappeared. He
was informed that some boys in a neighbouring farm
saw a similar creature in the sea, close to the shore, on
the same day. The minister of Campbeltown, and
the chamberlain of Mull, attest his examination, and
declare they know no reason why his veracity should
be questioned.
Mr. Toupin, of Exmouth, published the following
account of his having seen a mermaid, in the local

t
 THE MERMAID. 19
London newspapers: "The day (August 11, 1812)
being very fine, I joined a party of ladies and gen¬
tlemen in a sailing excursion. When we had got
about a mile to the south-east of Exmouth-Bar, our
attention was suddenly arrested by a very singular
noise, by no means unpleasant to the ear, but of
which it is impossible to give a correct idea by mere
description. It was not, however, unaptly compared
by one of our ladies to the wild melodies of the
iEolian harp, combined with a noise similar to that
made by a stream of water falling gently on the leaves
of a tree. In the mean time we observed something
about one hundred yards from us, to windward. We
all imagined it to be some human being, though at
the same time we were at a loss to account for this,
at such a distance from the shore, and no other boat
near. We hailed, but received no reply, and we
made toward this creature as soon as possible ; when,
to the great astonishment of us all, it eluded our pursuit
by plunging under water. • In a few minutes it rose
again, nearly in the same place ; and by that time we
had got sufficiently near for one of the boatmen to
throw into the water a piece of boiled fish which he
had in his locker. This seemed to alarm the animal,
/

though it soon recovered from its fears, for we pre¬

sently observed it to lay hold of the fish, which it ate
with apparent relish. Several other pieces were
thrown out, by which the creature was induced to
20 THE MERMAID.

keep at a short distance from our boat, and afforded

us the opportunity of observing it with attention, and
found, to our astonishment, that it was no other than
* i

a mermaid. As the sea was calm, and in a great de¬

gree transparent, every part of the animal’s body
became in turn visible. The head, from the crown
to the chin, forms rather a long oval, and the face
seems to resemble that of the seal, though, at the same
time, it is far more agreeable, possessing a peculiar
softness, which renders the whole set of features very
interesting. The upper and back part of the head
appeared to be furnished with something like hair,
and the fore-part of the body with something like
*

down, between a very light fawn and a very pale pink

colour, which at a distance had the appearance of
flesh, and’may have given rise to the idea that the
body of the mermaid is, externally, like that of the
human being. This creature has two arms, each of
which terminates into a hand with four fingers, con¬
nected to each other by means of a very thin elastic
membrane. The animal used its arms with great
agility, and its motions in general were very graceful.
From the waist it gradually tapered so as to form a
tail, which had the appearance of being covered with
strong broad polished scales, which occasionally re¬
flected the rays of the sun in a very beautiful manner;
and, from the back and upper part of the neck, down
to the loins, the body also appeared covered with
 /

THE MERMAID. 21

short round broad feathers, of the colour of the down

on the fore-part of the body. The whole length of
the animal, from the crown of the head, to the ex¬
tremity of the tail, was supposed to be about five feet,
or five feet and a half. In about ten minutes, from
the time we approached, the animal gave two or three
plunges, in quick succession, as if it were at play.
After this, it gave a sudden spring, and swam away
from us very rapidly, and in a few seconds we lost
sight of it.”

Mermaids, of course, do not always continue maids.

And, accordingly, we are informed that two mer-
children were lately discovered by three respectable
tradesmen of Douglass, Isle of Man, during an ex¬
cursion on the Calf of Man, in quest of sea-fowl.
Attracted by a sound somewhat resembling the cries
of a young kitten, they found, on searching amongst
the rocks, two small marine animals, exactly resem-
0

bling in their form that species of creature , so often

described and known by the name of the mermaid.
One of them was dead, and much ulcerated by the
violence with which it had been driven on shore,
during a violent gale of wind on the preceding night;
the other was, however, conveyed to Douglass, where
it was living when this account was sent. It was one
foot eleven inches and three quarters in length, from the
crown of the head to the extremity of the tail; five inches
D
 2<2 THE MERMAID.

across the shoulders; its skin \yas of a very pale

brown colour, and the scales on the tail tinged with
violet; the hair, if it may be so called, was of a light
green cast, attached to the crown of the head, only
hanging loose about the face, about four inches in
length, very gelatinous to the touch, and somewhat
resembling the green sea-weed commonly growing on
rocks; its mouth was small and has no appearance of
teeth. It delighted much in swimming about in a
N x ' i

large tub of sea-water, and fed chiefly on muscles and

other shell-fish ; it would also now and then swallow
small portions of milk and water, when given to it
in a quill.
In addition to these authorities, a gentleman, of un¬
questionable veracity, assures me that about seven or
eight years ago, he saw two young mermaids (a male
and a female) alive, which were caught by a person
near Worthing, having been washed ashore by a tre¬
mendous storm. They were about two feet long:
the breasts of the female were prominent; their hair
«

somewhat resembling sea-weed, and in ringlets,

which falling over their eyes when they plunged under
water, they would, immediately on coming up to the
surface again, put back with their fingers, in the same
manner as our modern dandies accomodate their bmtus
fore tops. They were kept in a large tub of sea-water
resembling a brewer’s mash-tub, where they were ex¬
hibited to numbers of people, being fed on small
 THE MERMAID. 23

fishes, which would occasion a contest between them

for the largest share, the male having no notion of
politeness for his fair companion. They made a noise
somewhat similar to the cry of a young child. If
required, the gentleman offered to make affidavit of
the above fact.
In this doubtful state was the literary and scientific
part of the world kept on a point so interesting in
natural philosophy, when the question seemed to be
very likely to be brought forward in somewhat like a
tangible shape. The important announcement was
first made to the public through the medium of Bell’s
Weekly Messenger of the 21st July, 1822, as fob*
lows

A MERMAID.

\T0 the Editor of Bell’s Weekly Messenger.']

London Missionary Society’s Rooms,

8, Old Jewry, July 18.
Sir,—I enclose you a copy of an extract of a letter
we have received from our Society’s representative
at the Cape of Good Hope, for insertion in your
paper.
I am, Sir, your most obedient servant,
G. HODSON, Assist. Sec.
»

Extract of a letter from the Rev. Dr. Phillip, Re¬

presentative of the London Missionary Society, at
24 THE MERMAID.

Cape Town, Cape of Good Hope, dated April 26th,

1822
“ I have to day seen a Mermaid, now exhibiting in
this town. I have always treated the existence of
this creature as fabulous ; but my scepticism is now re¬
moved. As it is probable no description of this extra¬
ordinary creature has yet reached England, the fol¬
lowing particulars respecting it may gratify your cu¬
riosity and amuse you.
“ The head is almost the size of that of a baboon.
It is thinly covered with black hair, hanging down
i

and not inclined to frizzle. On the upper lip and on

the chin there are a few hairs resembling those upon
the head. The ossa malarum, or cheek-bones, are
prominent. The forehead is low, but, except in this
particular, the features are much better proportioned,
and bear a more decided resemblance to the human
countenance than those of ajiy of the baboon tribes.
The head is turned back, and the countenance has an
expression of terror, which gives it an appearance of
a caricature of the human face ; but I am disposed to
think that both these circumstances are accidental
and have arisen from the manner in which the crea¬
ture met its death. It bears the appearance of having
died in great agony.
“ The ears, nose, lips, chin, breasts and nipples,
fingers and nails, resemble those of a human figure.
 THE MERMAID. 25

u The spinous processes of the vertebrae are very pro¬

minent, and apparently arranged as in the human body.
“ From the position ot the arms, and the manner
in which they are placed, and from such an examina¬
tion as could be made in the circumstances in which
I was placed at the time I saw it, I can have no doubt
that it has clavicles, an appendage belonging to the
human subject, which baboons are without.
“ The appearance of the teeth afford sufficient
evidence that it is full grown ; the incisores being worn
on the upper surface. There are eight incisores, four
canine, and eight molares. The canine teeth resemble
those of a full grown dog; all the others resemble
those of a human subject.
“ The length of the animal is three feet; but not
having been well preserved, it has shrunk considera¬
bly, and must have been both longer and thicker
when alive than it is now. Its resemblance to the
human species ceases immediately under the mamma.
On the line of separation, and directly under the
breasts, are two fins. From the point where the hu¬
man figure ceases, which is about twelve inches below
the vertex of the head, it resembles a large fish of
the salmon species. It is covered with scales all over.
On the lower part of the animal the scales resemble
those of a fish ; but on that part of the animal which
resembles the human form, they are much less, and
scarcely perceptible, except on a near inspection.
26 THE MERMAID,

On the lower part of the body it has six fins, one

dorsal, two ventrical, two pectoral, and the tail,
♦

“ The pectoral fins are very remarkable; they are

horizontal, and evidently formed as an apparatus to
support the creature when in an erect posture, like
that in which it has been sometimes represented,
combing its hair.
“ The figure of the tail is exactly that which
is given in the usual representations of the mermaid.
“ The proprietor of this extraordinary animal is
Captain Eades, of Boston, in the United States of
America. Since writing the above description he has
called upon me, and I have learned from him the fol¬
lowing particulars.
“ It was caught somewhere on the north of China,
by a fisherman, who sold it for a trifle ; after which
it was brought to Batavia. Here it was purchased by
Captain Eades for 5000 Spanish dollars, and he has
since been offered 10,000 Spanish dollars for it, but
refuses to part with it for that sum. Captain Eades is
a passenger on board the ship Lion, now in Table
Bay ; he leaves this port in about a fortnight, and the
Lion visits the Thames on her passage to America, so
that it (the mermaid) will probably be soon exhibited
in London.”
The newspapers having thus announced, that an
animal of this sort had been brought to the Cape of
Good Hope, by an American, who had purchased it on

I
 THE MERMAID.

the coast of China, I must confess my incredulity,

being suspicious, from experience, as well as many others,
of every thing coming from an American quarter.
Such, also, was the case with the landlord of the
Bush-tavern, at Bristol, who, hearing an American
assert the reality of these animals, said, “ JNo doubt
of it, Sir; Captain-told me that as his vessel
lay at anchor, one Sunday, a merman appeared with
his head frizzed and powdered, like a cauliflower,
• *

and desired to speak to the Captain.’5 “ Sir,” said he,

“ have the goodness to order }7our anchor to be
weighed, as it lies precisely against my street-door,
and prevents my family from going to church!”
The arrival of this animal, and its intended exhibi¬
tion, at 39, St. James’s Street, was no sooner an¬
nounced, than I resolved to gratify my curiosity, by
seeing another loose fish added to the shoals which al¬
ready are too numerous in London, and to retain my
4

scepticism, or satisfy myself of the reality, by as

accurate an inspection as would be permitted me to
take of it. The exhibitant, I thought, if a man of
liberal principles will court the most accurate inves¬
tigation of one of the greatest wonders of nature—
the connecting link between the human a'nd the pis¬
cine tribes. I, therefore, entered the room prepared
against being imposed upon by a factitious compound—
a manufacture of American ingenuity, of which I had
seen many instances during my residence in that
28 THE MERMAID.

country. The announcement that ten thousand dollars

had been offered, and refused for the creature at
the Cape of Good Hope, greatly increased my sus¬
picions, as a kind of puff direct. Even allowing, what
t

there seems no reason to doubt, that the proprietor is

a gentleman of the strictest sense of honour, who
\

would revolt at the idea of an imposition on a

generous people, still it is well known that the Chinese,
from whom the animal was first purchased, are a
set of the most arrant cheats, and so dexterous at
putting off their impostures on foreigners, that there
is scarcely a vessel that touches in their harbours,
whose crew has not experienced some specimens of
their ingenuity; so that, if there should be any trick
in the business, it is to them that suspicion would
rather attach, than to a native of a free and enlight¬
ened country.
The animal is placed in an upright position for
the upper two-thirds of its length, when it is bent
and the tail turned up. The left hand is placed
against the head, and the right arm is bent so that
the hand comes just under the jaw-bone. This
position of the hands, if not artificial, and the ex¬
pression of the face betoken, as Dr. Phillip observes,
that it died in great agony, or rather terror. The
whole of the Doctor's description is so very precise
and accurate as to need very little addition. Indeed,
it should seem that he examined the subject more
 THE MERMAID. 29

minutely than any person has now the opportunity of

doing, it being covered by a glass-case which permits
inspection, but not handling. I looked most atten¬
tively to that part where the junction of the two
natures took place, but could not discern any thing
like a seam or suture to justify suspicion. If it be an
imposture, it is decidedly one of the very first order
for ingenuity ; but, to remove every shadow of doubt,
the exhibitant informed the company,-then present,
that, beside Dr. Phillip, at the Cape of Good Hope,
the animal had been investigated by Sir Everhard
Home, whose skill no man, in London, would feel
inclined to call in question. It must be granted that
the inspection allowed is liberal, and the subject
advantageously displayed; but something more
seems to be wanting to set beyond all manner of
doubt a question which all the scientific part of
mankind, up to the present day, have treated as
chimerical. The body of a baboon may be so ex¬
actly conjoined to the part of a fish, and the parts
so glued together, and covered with scales, as to
deceive the sight and even the feeling.
I hope I should not be suspected of throwing
out a hint of this kind to spoil the speculation of
the proprietor, who has, as he asserts, been at a great
expense, and highly merits a remuneration, which
he will, undoubtedly, meet with from the British
E
30 THE MERMAID.

public. Indeed, the exhibitant told us, that the

receipts, on Friday, October 18th, amounted to
twenty-jive pounds, for that day, at only one shilling
per head. But the credulity and fondness of John
Bull for raree-shows, which has been noted by our
immortal bard, Shakspeare, in the Tempest, still
hangs by him, and is so much ridiculed by foreigners
of all countries, that I should be sorry to give them
occasion for another grin at our expense. 1 only
throw out a suggestion, therefore, that men of more
skill in physiology, and of more influence, may fully
investigate the business before we wholly resign our
other senses to the evidence of our eyes.
If the reality of the creature should, after accu¬
rate investigation, be fully substantiated, we can
only say, that there is one more species added to
the genus of loose jish; and, if the accounts above
given, of its having been caught and kept alive, and
even received some degree of education, be verified, the
present, or some future generation, may hope to be gra¬
tified with an aquatic exhibition at our theatres, in which
some of these animals, in a living state, may be pre¬
sented playing up their gambols, and frisking about in
their native element. Nay, if the ancient accounts
of their vocal abilities turn out to be accurate, the
ocean may furnish us with a Catalani.oi a Braham,
who may chaunt the wonders of the deep, and expose
 THE MERMAID. 131

to us a scene of existence,* of which we have at pre¬

sent no idea. Some future Byron may record, in
flowing strains, the intrigues of some Don Juan of the
deep ; and a Scot sing the amours of some Lady of
the sea. As a new species of animals has been added
to our stock of natural history, so a newr species of
poetry may inflame the ardour of our poets in
embryo. f
One circumstance ought not, in justice, to be
omitted, as it appears to betoken a degree of li¬
berality in the proprietor; which is, that the price
of admission, on the first exhibition of so extraor-
dinarj' a creature, is fixed so low as one shilling per
head, which will not debar persons of any, even
the lowest rank of life, from gratifying their
curiosity. This is as it should be.
It is a great accommodation to the public, that the
proprietor of the Mermaid has selected a situation so
peculiarly adapted to the exhibition as the Turf Coffee-
House, in St. James’s Street: it is one of the finest situ¬
ations in London. The proprietor, Mr. Watson, who
is a young man of great respectability, and very con¬
versant in life, knows well how to entertain his nu¬
merous visitants, who, we can speak from authority,
may be accommodated with good dinners, and excel¬
lent wines, chocolate, soups, breakfasts, well aired
beds, &c. 8cc. &c. on reasonable terms ; with the
 32 THE MERMAID.

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