Mermaid near Rothsay, Isle of Bute

The following appears in a Glasgow paper:-- "A Gentleman, on whose veracity we can rely, informs us, that, as he was passing along the east coast of Bute, within a mile of Rothsay, on Wednesday last, betwixt two and three o'clock, along with two other persons, they saw, within one yard of the shore, one of those animals, so long considered fabulous - a mermaid - combing her fine black locks with the utmost deliberation, and apparently quite unconscious of the presence of more civilized beings! What rendered the occurrence more extraordinary, was the appearance, in the vicinity, of another large sea monster, having a body resembling that of a man, but with the head of a brute; and which disappeared whenever three Gentlemen came in sight!"

In the Morning Post, July 25th 1826.

Herbert James Draper's 'Ulysses and the Sirens'