The inhabitants of Reading, Newbury, Abingdon, and places adjacent, have been much astonished by the exhibition of "a real mermaid and merman," which are stated to have been caught alive by a Scotch fisherman on the Isle of Sandy, one of the Orkney islands. They are upwards of three feet in length, having very long arms, and are webbed between the fingers. The heads have very long thick curly hair, no ears, but gills like fish. The lower part from the breast is covered with scales, and the tail, finds, &c., are extremely large and strong. They are said to have been taken during a storm on the 2d of January. The Royal College of Surgeons has declared them to be well worthy of inspection.
Dublin Morning Register, 8th February 1840.
Showing posts with label exhibition. Show all posts
Showing posts with label exhibition. Show all posts
Exhibition of a Mermaid. Or Turnip. Durham (1849)
A strolling showman, who was exhibiting a "Mermaid" at Durham, was taken into custody the other day, a constable, an unbelieving dog, having conceived that the mermaid was not real, wanting all those charms which (as Tennyson makes his Mermaid sing) could so fire the inmates of the deep that
"The great sea-snake under the sea,
From his coiled sleeps in the central deeps,
Would slowly trail himself seven-fold
Round the hall where I sate, and look in at the gate,
With his large calm eyes, for the love of me."
When uncovered the Durham mermaid, shown for "the small charge of a penny," was found to consist of a skin stuffed with cotton rags, and a face fashioned out of a fresh turnip.
Inverness Courier, 29th November 1849.
"The great sea-snake under the sea,
From his coiled sleeps in the central deeps,
Would slowly trail himself seven-fold
Round the hall where I sate, and look in at the gate,
With his large calm eyes, for the love of me."
When uncovered the Durham mermaid, shown for "the small charge of a penny," was found to consist of a skin stuffed with cotton rags, and a face fashioned out of a fresh turnip.
Inverness Courier, 29th November 1849.
At the Museum of Surgeons Hall (1821)
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| A dugong, probably the species mentioned. CC image Gejuni. |
It was mentioned in all the Journals some time ago, that a Mermaid caught in the Indian Seas, had been brought to this country. The creature so described, and no doubt, one of the species which has given rise to so many fabulous stories, is now in the Museum of Surgeon Hall, London. It is about eight feet in length, and bears a strong resemblance to the common seal. There is also a young female, of the same species, in the same place. They belong to the class of Mammalia; the fins terminate (internally) in structure like the human hand; the breasts of the female are not very prominent, and in suckling the young, not only this appearance, but their situation on the body, must cause the extraordinary phenomenon which has led to popular belief. In other respects, the face is far from looking like [print unreadable].
Dublin Weekly Register, 5th May 1821.
The Surgeons' Hall Museums have been refurbished and look like an excellent place to visit today.
Herefordshire gets on the mermaid exhibition bandwagon (1837)
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| A mermaid admiring Svalbard at sunrise, by Fridtjof Nansen. |
At our Guildhall on Monday, a person made his appearance to prefer some complaint against the police, by whom a relative of his, the exhibitor of a mermaid and a merman in this city during the week, had been taken into custody and detained until he consented to repay half-a-crown to a person who swore that such a piece was given in mistake for a penny for witnessing the interesting exhibition.
The magistrates expressed their willingness to hear any complaint, but observed that the man was guilty of an act of vagrancy and swindling in exhibiting something for a creature which he knew had no real existence.
The complainant, who seemed to believe in the reality of the fabled syren, then left the hall very dissatisfied with the police.
A gentleman present observed that the article, which appeared to be partly formed of wax, was a very clumsy deception.
Hereford Journal, Wednesday 17th May 1837.
It seems that enterprising people were quite happy to make some money out of the mermaid craze, even if their creative efforts weren't very good. Perhaps they hoped mermaid-hunters in the provinces wouldn't be as fussy as those in London.
A half crown and a penny were similar size I think, but surely different colours. Besides, surely you have to be careful what you're handing out (the half crown being worth 30x the penny).
Other exhibited (and lucrative) chimaeras
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| An Etruscan sculpture of the original Chimera. CC image by Sailko. |
The Mermaid.
I need scarcely remind the reader that the preparation lately exhibited under the name of a mermaid is quite fictitious, or rather factitious - a species of fraud which is often practised by knaves upon collectors of curiosities. When I was visiting, some years ago, the fine botanic garden of Mr. Templeton, near Belfast, a boy brought him a very singular looking production, a very pretty daisy and a shamrock growing from the same stem. It was a fraud: but so neatly executed that it was only after several hours' minute examination that we detected the artificial joining of the two plants.
In the Hunterian Museum at Glasgow is a specimen of a beetle got up in this way, for which Dr. Hunter gave no less, if I recollect right, than fifty guineas. It was the body of one species of beetle united to the head of another species, and, as the specimen appeared to be of uncommon beauty and rarity, it was considered of great value. To add to the interests, it was said to have been found floating in the Ganges.
Such seems to be the exhibited preparation called the mermaid, an ingenious union of the head of some monkey to the body of a fish. -- Professor Rennie.
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| Trinity House in Newcastle. CC image by Andrew Curtis |
Newcastle Journal - 23rd June 1832.
I.W.M. informs me that some time ago a relation of his visited the Newcastle Trinity House, and was shown, among other things, a mermaid. The head was human, the expression of the face intelligent, but below the waist the body was fashioned like a fish, with scales and fins. At least, this was the account which was given to I.W.M., who now asks me to say whether it is true or not. As I have never been into this particular Trinity House, I am not in a position to express an opinion on the subject. I confess I did not know that this peculiar class of being had any existence except in popular mythology, although stuffed mermaids have been exhibited since the days of Bartholomew Fair downwards.
All the world over, however, there are legends about these mysterious creatures. The Ottawas and other American Indians have their man-fish and woman-fish, and the Chinese tell stories not unlike our own about the sea-woman of their Southern seas. We are taught on the most excellent evidence that a mermaid was captured at Bangor, on the shores of the Belfast Lough, in the sixth century, while another caught at Edam in 1403 was carried to Haarlem and kept there for many years.
Perhaps the authorities at the Newcastle Trinity House will unburden themselves of their secret. If they have a mermaid in their possession it is hardly fair to keep the bewitching maiden all to themselves.
Pearson's Weekly, 25th May 1895.
I don't know if Professor Rennie was talking about the mermaid exhibited in London, or a Newcastle mermaid. Anyway it seems appropriate that 60 years later there was a mermaid at Trinity House, as that was / is on the quayside and still provides services for seafarers.
Next to track down Liban, the mermaid from the lough at Belfast.
Standing up for reason
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| An illustration from 1817, held by the Wellcome Trust. |
To the Editor of the Morning Chronicle.
Sir. -- The credulity of the good people of England has often been noticed and commented on, and many a fine fortune has been realized thereby in the hands of the acute natives of France and Italy, &c. yea, the heavy tobacco-headed German, has not failed in the business. While the facility with which the native rogues have managed to impose on their unsuspecting countrymen has been proved in but too many instances. All of these considerations seem to have incited brother Jonathan to try his hand at imposing on brother John, by getting up a monstrous composition under the name and form of a Mermaid forsooth, and impiously and impudently to attribute the abominable forgery to the Divine Being, as his handy work.
In order that you may be aware of the grounds on which I make the foregoing assertions, I have to inform you that the composition was brought from Japan (where I believe it to have been manufactured for the purpose of levying contributions from off the ignorant and unsuspecting). The lower part is a real fish (of a species found in the rivers of China and Japan) the head and shoulders being cut off and replaced by a skeleton, artificially composed, and covered with the muscles, arms, and skin, stripped from off the bust of an old Japanese woman, all which being tolerably well put together, and afterwards smoke-dried, became the "Wonderful Mermaid" now exhibiting in London.
I handled, and minutely inspected the creature, on its arrival at Batavia from Japan, and on that inspection formed my opinion as expressed above. Many blunders have been committed in the making up of the fabric, too numerous to be here distinctly detailed, nor is it necessary, as it will be readily perceived by any anatomist if opportunity be afforted for the purpose.
I therefore assert that the thing is a composition, and if that be denied, do challenge the proprietor to submit it to be dissected by a person or persons appointed by the Royal College of Surgeons; and if it he then found to be a real production of natuer, I will then come forward and reimburse the loss, if any, which a Jury may pronounce him to have incurred thereby..
I am, yours obediently,
"SAWNEY."
Liverpool Mercury, 8th November 1822.
The muscles etc. of an old Japanese woman - that's a bit grim. I'd like to think not though.
Exhibition in Cape Town
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| The Feejee Mermaid in Boston Museum (1857) - the same creature? |
Extract of a letter from the Rev. Dr. Philip, representative of the London Missionary Society, at Cape Town, Cape of Good Hope, dated April 28, 1822:--
"I have today seen a mermaid, now exhibiting in this town. I have always treated the existence of this creature as fabulous; but my scepticism is now removed. As it is probable no description of this extraordinary creature has yet reached England, the following particulars respecting it may gratify your curiosity and amuse you: - The head is almost the size of that of a baboon. It is thinly covered with black hair, hanging down, 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 mallarum, 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 any 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 creature met its death. It bears the appearance of having died in great agony. The ears, nose, lips, chin, breasts, nipples, fingers, and nails, resemble those of a human figure. The spinous processes of the vertebrae are very prominent, and apparently arranged as in the human body. From the position of the arms, and the manner in which theya re placed, and from such an examination 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 considerably, and must have been both longer and thicker when alive than it is now. Its resemblance to the human species ceases immediately under the mammae.
On the line of separation, and directly under the breast, are two fins. From the point where the human 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 parts of the animal, the scales resemble those of a fish; but on that part of the animal that resembles the human form, they are much less, and scarcely perceptible, except on a near inspection.
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 sometimes represented combing its hair. --The figure of the tail is exactly that which is given in the usual representation 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 following particulars: - It was caught some where on the North of China, by a fisherman, who sold it for a trife; after which it was brought to Batavia. Here it was purchased by Captain Eades for 5,000 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 American 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 will, probably, be soon exhibited in London."
In the Kentish Weekly Post, 23rd July 1822.
Is this just a long advert? It'd certainly have piqued my interest. I'd be hoping to go and see it when it arrived.
Mermaid abduction
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| The cover of Yevgeny Zamyatin's A Provincial Tale |
A thief, by some means, got access to the Mermaid, at Mr. Lefevre's exhibition, on the Parade, and whilst Mr. L. was delivering a Lecture on the properties of glass, succeeded in carrying her off; but was detected in passing down stairs, and the fair prize was restored to her home. It is doubted whether the delinquent may not be brought before a very high Tribunal for this offence, as the Maid is stated to be a Ward of Chancery. -- Cork Paper.
Morning Advertiser, 17th January 1824.
I'm not entirely clear about the whole 'ward of chancery' thing, but you can read about it here in Jan Bondeson's book.
In the same paper on 27th December 1822, they report the entertainments at the Olympic Theatre. "The humourous transformation of a baloon and a salmon into a mermaid, and making it a Ward of Chancery, created the highest mirth."
Even accusations of fraud can be turned to business advantage.
Advertisement - The Mermaid in the Sporting World.
So much has been said for and against this wonderful ainimal, and perhaps with a view to bring the period of dissection earlier than is intended by the proprietor, and we understand it is his determination to satisfy the public opinion on this important question, by some of our first medical men and naturalists, as soon as the bare expenses that he has incurred by bringing it to this country are liquidated, which cannot be long now, from the many hundreds of spectators that daily call to view it, among the number many of our Noble Families, it has also been honoured by visits of Royalty.
The difference of opinion is now so great, whether it will turn out a natural production or a made-up deception, that a great deal of betting has taken place on the event; and as many persons back the strength of their opinion for and against the Mermaid, the sporting men will have a fine opportunity of making a good book, as some are laying 5 and 6 to 4 on the Mermaid being a natural production, while others are laying the same odds and even 2 to 1 against it. A sporting Gentleman, who is supposed to have some concern in this Mermaid, has taken many bets and some long odds to a large amount, that it really is what is represented - a Mermaid.
It is now exhibiting at Watson's, Turf Coffee-house, St. James's-street.
Morning Chronicle, 20th November 1822.
In common with everybody else who could raise a shilling, we yesterday went to see this interesting specimen at the Turf Coffee-house, St James's-street. The visitors were too numerous to permit us to make so close an examination of it as we yet hope to do. Its head has some resemblance to that of a baboon, and there is still a remnanat of pendant hair upon it. The hands, and fingers with nails, seem perfectly human. Its mammae are small but perfect, and its lower part bears considerable resemblance to that of a salmon.
It was obtained by a Dutchman from the natives of the Molaccas, in whose possession it had been some time. It proves that they know how to preserve animals. The skin is much shrivelled, and we should say that the animal was aged, though it is not large; being with the tail straitened, not more than a yard in length.
We are told that Sir Everard home had it for some hours to inspect, and could discover nothing like deception in it. It has also been examined Mr. Brooks and other celebrated anatomists. We shall give more particulars of it hereafter. A vast number of females go to see it; but we think it right for their information, to caution them that it is, however curious, a most hideous looking animal, and its beauty has acquired no addition by the means used to preserve it in a dried state.
(True Briton).
In the Manchester Mercury, 12th November 1822.
So much has been said for and against this wonderful ainimal, and perhaps with a view to bring the period of dissection earlier than is intended by the proprietor, and we understand it is his determination to satisfy the public opinion on this important question, by some of our first medical men and naturalists, as soon as the bare expenses that he has incurred by bringing it to this country are liquidated, which cannot be long now, from the many hundreds of spectators that daily call to view it, among the number many of our Noble Families, it has also been honoured by visits of Royalty.
The difference of opinion is now so great, whether it will turn out a natural production or a made-up deception, that a great deal of betting has taken place on the event; and as many persons back the strength of their opinion for and against the Mermaid, the sporting men will have a fine opportunity of making a good book, as some are laying 5 and 6 to 4 on the Mermaid being a natural production, while others are laying the same odds and even 2 to 1 against it. A sporting Gentleman, who is supposed to have some concern in this Mermaid, has taken many bets and some long odds to a large amount, that it really is what is represented - a Mermaid.
It is now exhibiting at Watson's, Turf Coffee-house, St. James's-street.
Morning Chronicle, 20th November 1822.
In common with everybody else who could raise a shilling, we yesterday went to see this interesting specimen at the Turf Coffee-house, St James's-street. The visitors were too numerous to permit us to make so close an examination of it as we yet hope to do. Its head has some resemblance to that of a baboon, and there is still a remnanat of pendant hair upon it. The hands, and fingers with nails, seem perfectly human. Its mammae are small but perfect, and its lower part bears considerable resemblance to that of a salmon.
It was obtained by a Dutchman from the natives of the Molaccas, in whose possession it had been some time. It proves that they know how to preserve animals. The skin is much shrivelled, and we should say that the animal was aged, though it is not large; being with the tail straitened, not more than a yard in length.
We are told that Sir Everard home had it for some hours to inspect, and could discover nothing like deception in it. It has also been examined Mr. Brooks and other celebrated anatomists. We shall give more particulars of it hereafter. A vast number of females go to see it; but we think it right for their information, to caution them that it is, however curious, a most hideous looking animal, and its beauty has acquired no addition by the means used to preserve it in a dried state.
(True Briton).
In the Manchester Mercury, 12th November 1822.
Westmorland Gazette on a London mermaid
Another Mermaid of better manufacture than the former has just been brought to London, for exhibition. The cockneys swallowed the last tolerably for a while, we wonder how this will go down. -- The Duke of Gloucester has been to see it!
A Swiss Giantess, is now exhibiting in London, measuring six feet five inches high, and being proportionally stout.
The cockneys we understand are flocking in crowds to see the invisible girl at the Lower Room, Spring Gardens.
Westmorland Gazette, 26th June, 1824.
Here's the Duke referred to. He looks pretty wide eyed. Perhaps he was quite decent: he was all for the abolition of slavery. But he did have a nickname: Silly Billy. Perhaps that was all part of why the Westmorland Gazette thought they'd take the piss.
A Swiss Giantess, is now exhibiting in London, measuring six feet five inches high, and being proportionally stout.
The cockneys we understand are flocking in crowds to see the invisible girl at the Lower Room, Spring Gardens.
Westmorland Gazette, 26th June, 1824.
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Horniman museum has a mermaid
If you want to visit a Feejee mermaid, they have one at the Horniman Museum in London. It's been CAT-scanned and otherwise investigated. You can read about it
at the Guardian,
and also on the Horniman Museum's website itself.
A longer article from the Journal of Museum Ethnography can be downloaded from here.
at the Guardian,
and also on the Horniman Museum's website itself.
A longer article from the Journal of Museum Ethnography can be downloaded from here.
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| A rather similar creature, CC image from the Wellcome Trust |
Norwich mermaids
Mermaid -- There are now exhibiting about this city, two curious nondescripts; they are termed the Mermaid and Merman. They were caught by a fisherman on the Isle of Sanda, one of the Orkney Islands, on the 2nd January last. -- Norwich Mercury.
In the Leicestershire Mercury, 20th July 1839.
In the Leicestershire Mercury, 20th July 1839.
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| CC image Danielclauzier |
The Rossbeigh mermaid pressed into service by the church.
Work for the Kerry Mermaid.
-- A correspondent informs us - "The mermaid on the bay of Dingle is nothing but a northern seal, being larger and more silvery in its colour than those on this coast, I have seen it repeatedly, probable the creature is weak, which may be the cause of it being so much out of its latitude. Of course the supersitious called it a mermaid, and the priest encouraged the idea, saying it was sent to frighten off the fish from the coast, as a punishment for fishing on Sundays." - Limerick Chronicle
In the Belfast Commercial Chronicle, 5th September 1836.
The Kerry Evening Post also seems to have treated the tale humourously:
--The Rossbeigh MERMAID presents her compliments to the JACKANAPES of the Tralee Mercury, and requests he will be pleased to accept her best thanks for the kind notice he has, in his last publications, honoured her with on her arrival on those shores. The JACKANAPES and all other APES (particularly the OURANG-OUTANG,) have as grotesque a resemblance to "the human form divine" as the Mermaid herself; she, therefore, requests that in future her scaly tail may be left untouched. The great deficiency in the apish tribes, is however immediately perceptible in the interior of the skull of the jackanapes; its emptiness being proved by the incessant saucy chatter of the animal, its malicious grimace and its attempts to bite its betters, who sometimes tame it by a few sound kicks, though, in general, they look down upon it with utter contempt. Notwithstanding its habitual impertinence, it fawns on and cringes to a beast (not a baboon without a tail, but a kind of WANDEROO, with nearly forty joints to his hinder extremity) bearing a monstrous draggle-tail now trailing in the mire. The poor jackanapes vainly hoping to pick up a few fragments that may fall from the jaws of this voracious beast. The jackanapes is now, we understand about to travel which may mend his manners.
A jackanapes is a tame monkey / a cheeky person. But I'm not sure I'm in on this joke.
-- A correspondent informs us - "The mermaid on the bay of Dingle is nothing but a northern seal, being larger and more silvery in its colour than those on this coast, I have seen it repeatedly, probable the creature is weak, which may be the cause of it being so much out of its latitude. Of course the supersitious called it a mermaid, and the priest encouraged the idea, saying it was sent to frighten off the fish from the coast, as a punishment for fishing on Sundays." - Limerick Chronicle
In the Belfast Commercial Chronicle, 5th September 1836.
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| Did you know the ten commandments aren't even consistent? Image |
--The Rossbeigh MERMAID presents her compliments to the JACKANAPES of the Tralee Mercury, and requests he will be pleased to accept her best thanks for the kind notice he has, in his last publications, honoured her with on her arrival on those shores. The JACKANAPES and all other APES (particularly the OURANG-OUTANG,) have as grotesque a resemblance to "the human form divine" as the Mermaid herself; she, therefore, requests that in future her scaly tail may be left untouched. The great deficiency in the apish tribes, is however immediately perceptible in the interior of the skull of the jackanapes; its emptiness being proved by the incessant saucy chatter of the animal, its malicious grimace and its attempts to bite its betters, who sometimes tame it by a few sound kicks, though, in general, they look down upon it with utter contempt. Notwithstanding its habitual impertinence, it fawns on and cringes to a beast (not a baboon without a tail, but a kind of WANDEROO, with nearly forty joints to his hinder extremity) bearing a monstrous draggle-tail now trailing in the mire. The poor jackanapes vainly hoping to pick up a few fragments that may fall from the jaws of this voracious beast. The jackanapes is now, we understand about to travel which may mend his manners.
A jackanapes is a tame monkey / a cheeky person. But I'm not sure I'm in on this joke.
Mermaid court case
In the Court of Chancery, on Wednesday, Mr. Hart applied for his Lordship's injunction to restrain a Mr. Eles for removing a certain Mermaid or dried specimen, from the room in which it was now exhibiting in St. James's-street, and from selling or disposing of it. He moved upon the affidavit of Mr. Stephen Ellery, the plaintiff, who stated that in the year 1817 he became interested jointly with Eles, the defendant, in a vessel called the Pickering. The plaintiff's share was seven-eights, and the defendant the remaining one eighth; in consideration of which he was to act as master and commander of the vessel. He proceeded on a fishing expedition, and afterwards to other ports, taking up merchandize and disposing of them again, and generally carrying on a running trade. Communications were made by the defendant to the plaintiff from time to time as to the success or loss of his traffic.
In December, 1821, the plaintiff received a letter from him, stating that he had received a cargo at Battavia, and was coming to Europe. In January, 1822, he received another letter, informing him that the defendant had sold the ship and cargo for 6,543l. and was returning to Antwerp for the purpose, as he alleged, of soliciting a remuneration for himself and crew, for having saved a Dutch man of war. He did not go to Antwerp, but came to London. His reason for thus changing his destination was that a vessel having arrived at Battavia bringing the mermaid, or specimen, which the defendant bought for the sum of 5,000 dollars. This money had been procured from the sale of the vessel and caargo, seven-eights of which belonged to the plaintiff. Upon the defendant's arrival in London he had taken a room for the exhibition of this mermaid, and retained the possession and the profits of his traffic for his own use.
The affidavit stated that the plaintiff believed that the defendant had no money of his own, having regularly remitted his one-eighth of the profits of his traffic for the support of his wife and family. The defendant threatened that if any claim was made he would remove the mermaid, and thus the plaintiff would be defrauded of his just share of the profits. The Lord Chancellor said that whether man, woman, or mermaid, if the right to the property was clearly made out, it was the duty of the Court to protect him. He asked whether the plaintiff swore positively to his belief that it was purchased with his money.
Mr. Hart said it was so sworn, and that he believed this purchase was the motive of the defendant's return to England. No account of the profits had been given to the plaintiff. The Lord Chancellor pronounced the injunction, and directed that the service of the minutes on the servants or agents of the defendant should be good.
The Sunday Times, 24th November 1822.
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| Mermaid in the Musée des Civilisations de l’Europe et de la Méditerranée, Marseille. CC image Morburre. |
In December, 1821, the plaintiff received a letter from him, stating that he had received a cargo at Battavia, and was coming to Europe. In January, 1822, he received another letter, informing him that the defendant had sold the ship and cargo for 6,543l. and was returning to Antwerp for the purpose, as he alleged, of soliciting a remuneration for himself and crew, for having saved a Dutch man of war. He did not go to Antwerp, but came to London. His reason for thus changing his destination was that a vessel having arrived at Battavia bringing the mermaid, or specimen, which the defendant bought for the sum of 5,000 dollars. This money had been procured from the sale of the vessel and caargo, seven-eights of which belonged to the plaintiff. Upon the defendant's arrival in London he had taken a room for the exhibition of this mermaid, and retained the possession and the profits of his traffic for his own use.
The affidavit stated that the plaintiff believed that the defendant had no money of his own, having regularly remitted his one-eighth of the profits of his traffic for the support of his wife and family. The defendant threatened that if any claim was made he would remove the mermaid, and thus the plaintiff would be defrauded of his just share of the profits. The Lord Chancellor said that whether man, woman, or mermaid, if the right to the property was clearly made out, it was the duty of the Court to protect him. He asked whether the plaintiff swore positively to his belief that it was purchased with his money.
Mr. Hart said it was so sworn, and that he believed this purchase was the motive of the defendant's return to England. No account of the profits had been given to the plaintiff. The Lord Chancellor pronounced the injunction, and directed that the service of the minutes on the servants or agents of the defendant should be good.
The Sunday Times, 24th November 1822.
Don't miss it
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| PD image |
The most astonishing Phenomenon ever offered to public inspection, viz.
THE MERMAID!!
Now exhibiting at the ROTUNDA, must positively close on SATURDAY next, it being about to proceed to the Continent immediately.
Admission One Shilling British.
An advertisement in Saunders's News-Letter, 25th August 1823.
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| Possibly, the Rotunda referred to. CC Kleon3. |
Exhibited Merman (and Mermaid) in Piccadilly
A.k.a. a DIY guide to making your own genuine mermaid, I think.
THE MERMAN.
There is a Merman now exhibiting in a lodging-house in Piccadilly, and it has followed the Mermaid from Batavia. Both were manufactured by the Japanese; both were purchased (we believe unsuspectingly) by Captains of ships, and they are alike genuine. The Mermaid was the better piece of work of the two, and if exhibited, as we mentioned at the time, as an example of the mechanical ingenuity of the curiosity-caterers in Japan, would have been praiseworthy.
The head was that of the green African monkey, the arms those of the monkey and ape, the body and tail the salmon's, the skin of which was, when fresh taken off, in a gelatinous state, then dried, fined down with pummice-stone, gummed, and laid on over the dorsal bones (of a fish) so as to display the vertebrae, and finally exposed to the air and insects, so as to acquire the discolouration and perforation of antiquity. The arms in the Mermaid being those of the ape and monkey, the nails being well cut out of birds' quills, and the whole figure was capitally managed for a show.
But not so this Merman, who is (probably as a distinction of his sex) constructed of ruder materials. The head is hideous; and if, like Cerberus, "op'ning his greedy grinning jaws," he does not "gape with three enormous mouths," he has one mouth bigger and more hideous than them all. The head is exactly that of the catfish, which is remarkable for its round head and projecting teeth (as in this figure); the distended and deformed face is an artificial mask, manufactured upon the fish-skull; but the most clumsy contrivance of all, is the hair upon the head. Now surely a Merman or Mermaid ought, were it only in common courtesy to the best authenticated accounts, ancient and modern, to have the green hair flowing in graceful curls down the shoulders, so as to permit the elegant action of throwing it aside when buffetting the "angry deep;" then we can understand Shakspeare's
"Mermaid on a dolphin's back
"Uttering such dulcet and harmonious breath,
"That the rude sea grew civil at her song."
But what will the reader think when he is informed that the Piccadilly Merman has a fine well-brushed head of hair, rising perpendicularly from the crown of the head in the newest Dandy fashion?
It is soft and downy, resembling in length the best muff fur - it is in fact, nothing more nor less than the thinner coat of hair of the young fox or jackall, the colour almost that of the common animal, light reddish brown with a gray root. We imagine they are not much in the habit in Japan of seeing the seal or other marine animals which are tufted with hair, or they would have seen that such hair is long and fibrous, and from the nature of the element it lives in, always clinging along the skin, and in its growth and texture bearing no resemblance to that of land animals. It would have been just the same trouble to have manufactured the one hair as the other, and there is no doubt that the Japanese will improve upon the model.
The arms are entirely artificial, and in that respect the Merman is very inferior to the Mermaid. If anyone will take the trouble to observe the articulation of the shoulders, they will see a very imperfect imitation of the ball and socket, and then again, the fingers at the palm of the hand; on the back, the shape and flexibility of the fingers is given, but no so in the inner side, there is no attempt made there to define the shape which gives to them the lateral or circular motion, or for lodging the tendons of what are called "the flexor muscles." These fingers could not bend - they want all the beautiful mechanism of anatomy: the Japanese must also improve in that science, before they send us another Merman.
As to the shape of the rest of the body, it is that of the common salmon, or cod-fish, the skin of which, a good full grown scaly one being procured, is exposed to the process of drying and darkening as we have already mentioned; it has not been fined down as in the Mermaid, and therefore the wrinkles are coarser, and the vertebrae (the regular fish-bone) not so well displayed; the skin, has, however, collapsed sufficiently upon the bones to give the full outline.
The tail of the Mermaid is coiled up, to give the figure a capacity for moving perpendicularly in the water; through a mistake the Merman's finny extremity has only the common fish's tail, and is only capable of lateral motion: so that, supposing this figure to have life, the impulse of its motion must be horizontal - its face being thus downwards in the water, its eyes become useless, and deprived of exposure to the rays of light; perhaps the laws of nature differ, however, for Mermen. Let some intelligent Merman resolve this optical axiom.
This is our opinion of the Merman, but every spectator can judge for himself. We are not unaware of the danger of opposing the "well-authenticated accounts" of Mermen and Mermaids, from the "wilde or sauvage man in the sixt yeare of King John's raigne at Oreford, in Suffolk," caught by the fishermen "in theyr nettes," and a full account of whom will be found, and how he ultimately "fledded secretlye to the sea, and was never after seene nor hearde off," in The Gentleman's Magazine for 1762, down to the "syren or mermaid," shown "sporting about in the vessel of water at the fair of St. Germain's in the year 1758, (see The Gentleman's Magazine for 1759); but we still want to have better evidence of the fact. We know there are affidavits in abundance to verify "sights" seen at moonlight upon the ocean; and a black man who waits upon the Merman in Piccadilly, has lately sworn before the Lord Mayor, first (and we are glad to hear it) that "he was educated in the Christian religion," and secondly, that about 20 years ago, he saw (not this animal, but ) "an animal alive at Manilla, which was called a Mermaid," that it was kept at the Governor's house, but "its distressing cries" induced him, after three days' keeping, to put it back into the river, and restore it to its natural element.
It is somewhat singular, that it was left to the poor black man, after a lapse of years, to remember what must have been known at the time, according to his statement, throughout the whole Philippine islands, but which was not sooner brought to light; and yet we do know that Sir Joseph Banks took great pains by an extensive correspondence throughout the world, to investigate all the rumours and affidavits of these Mermaids, and was, after a laborious inquiry, satisfied that their existence must be consigned to the imagination of poets.
The exibitor of this Merman states the probable retreat of the Mermaids to be "in the most remote and fathomless depths of the sea." This is as it should be - Poets make ghosts "choose the darkest part o' th' grove," and say of "the ugly subjects" of night, that -
"Asham'd and fearful to appear,
"They skreen their horrid shapes with the black hemispher."
The witches of old, too, before "ill tongues" which are now upon the Mermaids were upon them, always performed their incantations by night. We agree in the propriety of having a "fathomless abyss" for the Mermen.
The exhibitor is quite shocked at the idea of being called upon to expose the figure to dissection, "merely to gratify idle wanton curiosity;" but he declares, "that so soon as a moderate sum is realized by the exhibition, he will offer it to the faculty, to add the final proof of its genuineness, and thus show that Mermaids and Mermen form a part of the creation." The time of this dissection will never come; in the interim, why do not some of the ingenious pupils of Mr. Brookes construct a Mermaid from some of the ample materials in his museum, which would bear dissection? Why are Captains of ships stopped in their voyages at Batavia, by the Japanese mermaid-agents, and poor natives brought from the Philippine islands to make affidavits of what they saw 20 years ago, for a commodity, which if the experiment be made, can, from our better knowledge of anatomy, be made cheaper and more perfect at home?
From The Times, June 26th, 1824.
THE MERMAN.
There is a Merman now exhibiting in a lodging-house in Piccadilly, and it has followed the Mermaid from Batavia. Both were manufactured by the Japanese; both were purchased (we believe unsuspectingly) by Captains of ships, and they are alike genuine. The Mermaid was the better piece of work of the two, and if exhibited, as we mentioned at the time, as an example of the mechanical ingenuity of the curiosity-caterers in Japan, would have been praiseworthy.
The head was that of the green African monkey, the arms those of the monkey and ape, the body and tail the salmon's, the skin of which was, when fresh taken off, in a gelatinous state, then dried, fined down with pummice-stone, gummed, and laid on over the dorsal bones (of a fish) so as to display the vertebrae, and finally exposed to the air and insects, so as to acquire the discolouration and perforation of antiquity. The arms in the Mermaid being those of the ape and monkey, the nails being well cut out of birds' quills, and the whole figure was capitally managed for a show.
But not so this Merman, who is (probably as a distinction of his sex) constructed of ruder materials. The head is hideous; and if, like Cerberus, "op'ning his greedy grinning jaws," he does not "gape with three enormous mouths," he has one mouth bigger and more hideous than them all. The head is exactly that of the catfish, which is remarkable for its round head and projecting teeth (as in this figure); the distended and deformed face is an artificial mask, manufactured upon the fish-skull; but the most clumsy contrivance of all, is the hair upon the head. Now surely a Merman or Mermaid ought, were it only in common courtesy to the best authenticated accounts, ancient and modern, to have the green hair flowing in graceful curls down the shoulders, so as to permit the elegant action of throwing it aside when buffetting the "angry deep;" then we can understand Shakspeare's
"Mermaid on a dolphin's back
"Uttering such dulcet and harmonious breath,
"That the rude sea grew civil at her song."
But what will the reader think when he is informed that the Piccadilly Merman has a fine well-brushed head of hair, rising perpendicularly from the crown of the head in the newest Dandy fashion?
It is soft and downy, resembling in length the best muff fur - it is in fact, nothing more nor less than the thinner coat of hair of the young fox or jackall, the colour almost that of the common animal, light reddish brown with a gray root. We imagine they are not much in the habit in Japan of seeing the seal or other marine animals which are tufted with hair, or they would have seen that such hair is long and fibrous, and from the nature of the element it lives in, always clinging along the skin, and in its growth and texture bearing no resemblance to that of land animals. It would have been just the same trouble to have manufactured the one hair as the other, and there is no doubt that the Japanese will improve upon the model.
The arms are entirely artificial, and in that respect the Merman is very inferior to the Mermaid. If anyone will take the trouble to observe the articulation of the shoulders, they will see a very imperfect imitation of the ball and socket, and then again, the fingers at the palm of the hand; on the back, the shape and flexibility of the fingers is given, but no so in the inner side, there is no attempt made there to define the shape which gives to them the lateral or circular motion, or for lodging the tendons of what are called "the flexor muscles." These fingers could not bend - they want all the beautiful mechanism of anatomy: the Japanese must also improve in that science, before they send us another Merman.
As to the shape of the rest of the body, it is that of the common salmon, or cod-fish, the skin of which, a good full grown scaly one being procured, is exposed to the process of drying and darkening as we have already mentioned; it has not been fined down as in the Mermaid, and therefore the wrinkles are coarser, and the vertebrae (the regular fish-bone) not so well displayed; the skin, has, however, collapsed sufficiently upon the bones to give the full outline.
The tail of the Mermaid is coiled up, to give the figure a capacity for moving perpendicularly in the water; through a mistake the Merman's finny extremity has only the common fish's tail, and is only capable of lateral motion: so that, supposing this figure to have life, the impulse of its motion must be horizontal - its face being thus downwards in the water, its eyes become useless, and deprived of exposure to the rays of light; perhaps the laws of nature differ, however, for Mermen. Let some intelligent Merman resolve this optical axiom.
This is our opinion of the Merman, but every spectator can judge for himself. We are not unaware of the danger of opposing the "well-authenticated accounts" of Mermen and Mermaids, from the "wilde or sauvage man in the sixt yeare of King John's raigne at Oreford, in Suffolk," caught by the fishermen "in theyr nettes," and a full account of whom will be found, and how he ultimately "fledded secretlye to the sea, and was never after seene nor hearde off," in The Gentleman's Magazine for 1762, down to the "syren or mermaid," shown "sporting about in the vessel of water at the fair of St. Germain's in the year 1758, (see The Gentleman's Magazine for 1759); but we still want to have better evidence of the fact. We know there are affidavits in abundance to verify "sights" seen at moonlight upon the ocean; and a black man who waits upon the Merman in Piccadilly, has lately sworn before the Lord Mayor, first (and we are glad to hear it) that "he was educated in the Christian religion," and secondly, that about 20 years ago, he saw (not this animal, but ) "an animal alive at Manilla, which was called a Mermaid," that it was kept at the Governor's house, but "its distressing cries" induced him, after three days' keeping, to put it back into the river, and restore it to its natural element.
It is somewhat singular, that it was left to the poor black man, after a lapse of years, to remember what must have been known at the time, according to his statement, throughout the whole Philippine islands, but which was not sooner brought to light; and yet we do know that Sir Joseph Banks took great pains by an extensive correspondence throughout the world, to investigate all the rumours and affidavits of these Mermaids, and was, after a laborious inquiry, satisfied that their existence must be consigned to the imagination of poets.
 |
| Barnum's mermaid |
The exibitor of this Merman states the probable retreat of the Mermaids to be "in the most remote and fathomless depths of the sea." This is as it should be - Poets make ghosts "choose the darkest part o' th' grove," and say of "the ugly subjects" of night, that -
"Asham'd and fearful to appear,
"They skreen their horrid shapes with the black hemispher."
The witches of old, too, before "ill tongues" which are now upon the Mermaids were upon them, always performed their incantations by night. We agree in the propriety of having a "fathomless abyss" for the Mermen.
The exhibitor is quite shocked at the idea of being called upon to expose the figure to dissection, "merely to gratify idle wanton curiosity;" but he declares, "that so soon as a moderate sum is realized by the exhibition, he will offer it to the faculty, to add the final proof of its genuineness, and thus show that Mermaids and Mermen form a part of the creation." The time of this dissection will never come; in the interim, why do not some of the ingenious pupils of Mr. Brookes construct a Mermaid from some of the ample materials in his museum, which would bear dissection? Why are Captains of ships stopped in their voyages at Batavia, by the Japanese mermaid-agents, and poor natives brought from the Philippine islands to make affidavits of what they saw 20 years ago, for a commodity, which if the experiment be made, can, from our better knowledge of anatomy, be made cheaper and more perfect at home?
From The Times, June 26th, 1824.
Mermaid in Loch Fyne (or not)
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| Loch Fyne. CC image by Julian Nizsche |
From the North Wales Chronicle and Advertiser for the Principality, 20th September 1865.
A MERMAID SEEN IN LOCHFYNE.
The Inverary correspondent of the Glasgow Herald communicates the following: "One morning, recently, before sunrise, a labourer, setting out for his work along the shores of Lochfyne, about five miles from Inverary, saw, or he imagined he saw, what is seldom seen by mortal eyes. On a smooth rock by the water's edge was reclining a creature which, in the struggling light, he thought to be a seal. When he approached, it splashed into the water, and, as he saw its head bobbing up and down, and its long grey hair floating on the wave, he altered his opinion, and became convinced that it was an ancient mermaid. Unromantic wretch that he was, he began to throw stones, to avoid which, the creature moved further from the shore, but soon, for some reason not explained, changed its purpose, and made straight again for the rock, on which it landed.
The man, no doubt from the laudable desire of furnishing the British Museum with a true specimen of a mermaid (a person could hardly send such a creature to the Zoological Gardens among wild beasts), drew a large knife from his pocket and advanced. He had hitherto kept at a respectful distance. But he stopped suddenly, for to his amazement the creature spoke. To hear in the early dawn of a peaceful autumn morning, a mermaid speak! - that surely were bliss beyond compare. Not so thought the labourer; terror added wings to his feet and he fled, circulating over the parish, that surely his end was near, for he had seen a mermaid, and heard her tongue. Eventually however, his delusion was dispelled, for the mermaid turned out to be the wife of a Glasgow professor, who had come down to spend his holidays on the shores of Lochfyne. It is superfluous to add that the lady had gone out to bathe. We understand that the man is still living.
Why bother with the expense of a mermaid?
South Wales Daily News, 16th January 1894.
THERE WAS NO MERMAID
A remarkable incident happened at Croydon on Saturday evening last. A negro hired a shop in Surrey-street, Croydon, on Saturday night, and announced that he had a mermaid inside. People paid their pennies to see the mermaid, but when they got inside they were only shown some conjuring tricks and fire-eating. When they asked for the mermaid they were shown through a door and found themselves in the street. This went on for about two or three hours. At last the disappointed audiences made an assault on the place. Everything was smashed to atoms. The negro had his clothing torn from him, was severely handled, and had to fly for his life. The police did not interfere.
THERE WAS NO MERMAID
A remarkable incident happened at Croydon on Saturday evening last. A negro hired a shop in Surrey-street, Croydon, on Saturday night, and announced that he had a mermaid inside. People paid their pennies to see the mermaid, but when they got inside they were only shown some conjuring tricks and fire-eating. When they asked for the mermaid they were shown through a door and found themselves in the street. This went on for about two or three hours. At last the disappointed audiences made an assault on the place. Everything was smashed to atoms. The negro had his clothing torn from him, was severely handled, and had to fly for his life. The police did not interfere.
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| CC image by Troy Tolley |
Mermaid for sale, Covent Garden
The Evening Express, 7th June 1899.
"Yes," admitted Mr. J.C. Stevens, the auctioneer, whose auks' eggs are the pride of Covent Garden, "it is quite true. We have a mermaid to dispose of."
"Is she a mermaid with a past?" asked the representative of the "Daily Graphic."
"You cannot expect me, as an auctioneer," remarked Mr. Stevens discreetly, "to say anything against her character."
"Is she young?"
"She's stuffed," said Mr. Stevens.
"Dear, dear, how sad! Beautiful in death I suppose?"
"You'd better come and inspect her for yourself." Mr. Stevens led the way to the auction room, where boomerangs and neatly fractured skulls (like cause and effect) were piled amid old china and infirm pottery. He stopped in front of something which looked like a yellow-bellied shark topped by a cocoa nut.
"There," said Mr. Stevens.
"Well, what about it?"
"That's the mermaid."
A descriptive writer suffers many disillusionments in the course of his profession, but the Covent Garden mermaid was the worse experienced by the representative of the "Daily Graphic" since January 4, 1890. The only resemblance which it bore to the mermaids in the pictures was that it had a tail; and that it made no attempt to veil its charms. The "Daily Graphic," in the interests of the truthfulness of artists, felt compelled to remonstrate.
"Are you sure it's a mermaid?" he asked.
"It's sometimes called a manatee," admitted Mr. Stevens, "but it's the same thing."
"But just look at it! Do you think any sailor - even a Lascar - could mistake that for a siren?"
"It's got a nice head."
"But where's its flowing hair?"
"Look at its sloping shoulders," pleaded Mr. Stevens.
"It's got a hide like the barrel of a musical box."
"But it has a graceful back - look at it!"
"Why," said the disappointed pressman, "its back is sewn up!"
And that, as a matter of fact, was the only feminine thing about it.
The mermaid was put up to auction on Tuesday and sold for twenty guineas.
[The Daily Graphic was launched on January 4th, 1890. A Lascar is an Indian sailor, so I suppose that's a bit of casual racism. But otherwise I like this a lot. Maybe 20 guineas is about £2000 today.]
South Wales Daily News, 8th June 1899.
Sale of a Mermaid.
Mr. J. C. Stevens sold at his rooms in King-street, Covent Garden, on Tuesday, a "very find" mermaid. Nothing could be much uglier - not even a common seal, which the "mermaid" closely resembles. This particular example is about 7ft. high. It comes from the Persian Gulf, and has been most cleverly preserved. But mermaids are apparently not yet sufficiently known to be fully appreciated, for the example sold on Tuesday only fetched 20 guineas.
Presumably the same creature:
Denbighshire Free Press, 5th August 1899.
A REAL MERMAID.-- Visitors to London should not fail, when passing through Oxford Street, to see the very fine Mermaid (Manatea), about 7 feet high, from the Persian Gulf. It is being shewn in the Entrance Hall of Messrs. A. & F. Pears, Ltd. (Pears' Soap).
Evening Express, 25th July 1900.
A Cheap Mermaid.
Some time ago a mermaid fetched twenty guineas.
On Tuesday one was sold in the historic sale rooms at Covent Garden for five shillings. The first was a real one, so far as it isi possible to get one, being a stuffed manatee. The one knocked down on Tuesday was a Japanese concoction, consisting of a monkey's head and arms and a fish tail deftly joined together.
Such supposed creatures used to be not uncommon in penny gaffs in this country, but are now pretty nearly extinct, as even the most ignorant countryman would hardly be made to believe in one at the present day.Included in the same sale was an Arizona mummy from the caves in the Del Muerto Canon. The collector carried it off under his arm.
"Yes," admitted Mr. J.C. Stevens, the auctioneer, whose auks' eggs are the pride of Covent Garden, "it is quite true. We have a mermaid to dispose of."
"Is she a mermaid with a past?" asked the representative of the "Daily Graphic."
"You cannot expect me, as an auctioneer," remarked Mr. Stevens discreetly, "to say anything against her character."
"Is she young?"
"She's stuffed," said Mr. Stevens.
"Dear, dear, how sad! Beautiful in death I suppose?"
"You'd better come and inspect her for yourself." Mr. Stevens led the way to the auction room, where boomerangs and neatly fractured skulls (like cause and effect) were piled amid old china and infirm pottery. He stopped in front of something which looked like a yellow-bellied shark topped by a cocoa nut.
"There," said Mr. Stevens.
"Well, what about it?"
"That's the mermaid."
A descriptive writer suffers many disillusionments in the course of his profession, but the Covent Garden mermaid was the worse experienced by the representative of the "Daily Graphic" since January 4, 1890. The only resemblance which it bore to the mermaids in the pictures was that it had a tail; and that it made no attempt to veil its charms. The "Daily Graphic," in the interests of the truthfulness of artists, felt compelled to remonstrate.
"Are you sure it's a mermaid?" he asked.
"It's sometimes called a manatee," admitted Mr. Stevens, "but it's the same thing."
"But just look at it! Do you think any sailor - even a Lascar - could mistake that for a siren?"
"It's got a nice head."
"But where's its flowing hair?"
"Look at its sloping shoulders," pleaded Mr. Stevens.
"It's got a hide like the barrel of a musical box."
"But it has a graceful back - look at it!"
"Why," said the disappointed pressman, "its back is sewn up!"
And that, as a matter of fact, was the only feminine thing about it.
The mermaid was put up to auction on Tuesday and sold for twenty guineas.
[The Daily Graphic was launched on January 4th, 1890. A Lascar is an Indian sailor, so I suppose that's a bit of casual racism. But otherwise I like this a lot. Maybe 20 guineas is about £2000 today.]
South Wales Daily News, 8th June 1899.
Sale of a Mermaid.
Mr. J. C. Stevens sold at his rooms in King-street, Covent Garden, on Tuesday, a "very find" mermaid. Nothing could be much uglier - not even a common seal, which the "mermaid" closely resembles. This particular example is about 7ft. high. It comes from the Persian Gulf, and has been most cleverly preserved. But mermaids are apparently not yet sufficiently known to be fully appreciated, for the example sold on Tuesday only fetched 20 guineas.
Presumably the same creature:
Denbighshire Free Press, 5th August 1899.
A REAL MERMAID.-- Visitors to London should not fail, when passing through Oxford Street, to see the very fine Mermaid (Manatea), about 7 feet high, from the Persian Gulf. It is being shewn in the Entrance Hall of Messrs. A. & F. Pears, Ltd. (Pears' Soap).
Evening Express, 25th July 1900.
A Cheap Mermaid.
Some time ago a mermaid fetched twenty guineas.
On Tuesday one was sold in the historic sale rooms at Covent Garden for five shillings. The first was a real one, so far as it isi possible to get one, being a stuffed manatee. The one knocked down on Tuesday was a Japanese concoction, consisting of a monkey's head and arms and a fish tail deftly joined together.
Such supposed creatures used to be not uncommon in penny gaffs in this country, but are now pretty nearly extinct, as even the most ignorant countryman would hardly be made to believe in one at the present day.Included in the same sale was an Arizona mummy from the caves in the Del Muerto Canon. The collector carried it off under his arm.
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| Dugongs = mermaids in Yemen. Copyright the Canadian Museum of History. |
Mermaid at Reculver / Margate, Kent
From the Stamford Mercury, 12th August 1814.
THE MERMAID -- All the good people of Margate are in a state of consternation, with the well-attested account of a preternatural vision in the sea, which, it is said, took place on Wednesday morning, at day-break, nearly opposite to the Reculvers, and which promises to put the question to rest for ever, as to the doubts which have heretofore been entertained relative to the existence of that species of sea-monsters, called mermaids.
Peter Bourdonner, a farmer of French extraction, who resides in the parish of St. Nicholas in the island, hath made an oath, that as he was driving his cart, laden with potatoes, to the market, on the 3d ultimo, at four a.m. the donkey that drew it began to erect his ears, and bray most violently and tremble, just as he turned the corner of the eminence that forms the angle of Plum-pudding Island; and that on his looking towards the sea, he clearly observed a female form, disporting, as it were, upon the surface of the water, and who seemed to becken him onward with one hand, while she was combing her green locks with a large crab with the other.
She appeared as if coyly playful in her action, as if willing to be seen, and yet unwilling to show that will. --When the honest farmer had put on his spectacles to ascertain the vision more clearly, a puppy that he was bringing in the cart, as a present to Mr. Allum, the baker, began to bark, which frightened the marine gentlewoman so much, that she gave a shriek and disappeared!
Carlisle Journal, 27th August 1814.
The papers contain a humorous and rather curious account of one of those fabled "monsters of the vasty deep," yclept a Mermaid, which it is asserted was seen off Margate, early on the morning of the 3rd inst. A farmer going to market and the clerk and sexton of the Reculvers make oath as to their having seen it, and that it civilly beckoned them towards it; but disappeared on the barking of a dog and crowing of a cock. We presume that this miraculous appearance was neither more nor less than some buxom young damsel cooling her fervid limbs in the pure waters of the ocean, without the incumbrance of bathing chemise. -The farmer positively asserted that he saw her combing her green locks with a large crab! and the sexton, with equal veracity says, he distinctly heard her repeat, in an audible voice, the first stanza of Purcell's celebrated dirge of "Full fathom five my father lies."
Bristol Mirror, 20th August 1814
The wife of a respectable citizen has excited a good deal of curiosity at Margate. She bathes in a green dress, without a cap; and, attached to the shoulders of the dress is something resembling fins. She swims remarkably well, and the peculiarity of her paraphenalia, together with her long black har, have occasioned many to believe, who saw her bathe, that it was a mermaid, and they have actually written home to their friends, assuring them of the fact.
[F.F. - she bathes at four a.m? I think it's unlikely].
THE MERMAID -- All the good people of Margate are in a state of consternation, with the well-attested account of a preternatural vision in the sea, which, it is said, took place on Wednesday morning, at day-break, nearly opposite to the Reculvers, and which promises to put the question to rest for ever, as to the doubts which have heretofore been entertained relative to the existence of that species of sea-monsters, called mermaids.
Peter Bourdonner, a farmer of French extraction, who resides in the parish of St. Nicholas in the island, hath made an oath, that as he was driving his cart, laden with potatoes, to the market, on the 3d ultimo, at four a.m. the donkey that drew it began to erect his ears, and bray most violently and tremble, just as he turned the corner of the eminence that forms the angle of Plum-pudding Island; and that on his looking towards the sea, he clearly observed a female form, disporting, as it were, upon the surface of the water, and who seemed to becken him onward with one hand, while she was combing her green locks with a large crab with the other.
She appeared as if coyly playful in her action, as if willing to be seen, and yet unwilling to show that will. --When the honest farmer had put on his spectacles to ascertain the vision more clearly, a puppy that he was bringing in the cart, as a present to Mr. Allum, the baker, began to bark, which frightened the marine gentlewoman so much, that she gave a shriek and disappeared!
Carlisle Journal, 27th August 1814.
The papers contain a humorous and rather curious account of one of those fabled "monsters of the vasty deep," yclept a Mermaid, which it is asserted was seen off Margate, early on the morning of the 3rd inst. A farmer going to market and the clerk and sexton of the Reculvers make oath as to their having seen it, and that it civilly beckoned them towards it; but disappeared on the barking of a dog and crowing of a cock. We presume that this miraculous appearance was neither more nor less than some buxom young damsel cooling her fervid limbs in the pure waters of the ocean, without the incumbrance of bathing chemise. -The farmer positively asserted that he saw her combing her green locks with a large crab! and the sexton, with equal veracity says, he distinctly heard her repeat, in an audible voice, the first stanza of Purcell's celebrated dirge of "Full fathom five my father lies."
Bristol Mirror, 20th August 1814
The wife of a respectable citizen has excited a good deal of curiosity at Margate. She bathes in a green dress, without a cap; and, attached to the shoulders of the dress is something resembling fins. She swims remarkably well, and the peculiarity of her paraphenalia, together with her long black har, have occasioned many to believe, who saw her bathe, that it was a mermaid, and they have actually written home to their friends, assuring them of the fact.
[F.F. - she bathes at four a.m? I think it's unlikely].
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| Murex pecten shell - Mermaid's comb. CC image Richard Parker |
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