congregation several others concerned | hibit one of the most glorious triumphs in the plot. This enthusiastic sermon, I am sorry to say, is in print, as also are the violent proceedings of the clergyman and the magistrates against many of the unfortunate people, who, though confined in dungeons, and tortured, still persisted in their innocence. that had ever been seen in China. The people rejoiced at his condescension, and on the appointed day assembled at the gates of the palace with the most eager expectation. There they waited for some time, without seeing any of those preparations which usually precede a pageant: the lantern with the thousand tapers did not appear; and the fireworks, which usually covered the city-walls, were not yet lighted. The people once more began to murmur at this delay, when, in the midst of their impatience, the palace gate flew open, and the emperor himself cence, but in an ordinary habit, followed by the blind, the maimed, and the strangers of the city, all in new clothes, and each carrying in his hand money enough to supply his necessities for a year. The people were at first amazed, but soon perceived the wisdom of the king, who taught them that to promote virtue, and make men happy, was the summit of human glory. On the Sunday following, the magistrates ordered that a chalice of wine, uncovered, should be placed for the space of an hour upon the altar, which had scarcely elapsed, when they beheld the wine filled with myriads of insects; and, by tracing whence they came, it was at length perceived, by the rays of the sun, that they proceed-appeared, not in splendour or magnified from the lady who had been buried the preceding fortnight. The people not belonging to the vestry were dismissed, and four men were employed to open the grave and the coffin; in doing which, two of them dropped down and expired on the spot, and the other two were only saved by the utmost exertions of medical talents. It is beyond the power of words to describe the horrid sight of the corpse when the coffin was opened. The whole was an entire mass of putrefaction; and it was now clearly demonstrated, that the numerous insects, both large and small, together with the effluvia, which had issued from the body, had caused the pestilential infection, which was a week before attributed to poison. I am happy to add, that, on this discovery, the persons accused were instantly liberated, and every atonement made by the clergyman and the magistrates for their misguided zeal. ANECDOTE OF HAMITI, A CHINESE THEATRICAL EXHIBITION IN HUAHINE, ONE OF THE SOCIETY ISLANDS. WHEN our circumnavigators visited this island, in the early periods of its history, some gentlemen were present at a dramatic entertainment, performed by the natives. The subject chosen by the actors was, that of a girl running away from her parents, and was evidently levelled at a young female who had come from Otaheite in Captain Cook's ship, and who happened to be present on the occasion. She was not ignorant of its allusion, nor insensible to the pointed sarcasm; and it was with much difficulty that she HAMITI, reputed one of the wisest and could be prevailed on to refrain from best of the Chinese emperors, after tears during the exhibition, or to rehaving gained great advantages over main until it was completed. The the Tartars, who had invaded his do- concluding scene represented the prominions, returned to the city of Nan- bable manner in which she would be kin, in order to enjoy the happiness of received by her parents and friends on his success. After he had rested some her return, which was far from being days, the people, who are naturally enviable or gratifying. This represenfond of pageantry and show, expected tation had a double meaning; it was the triumphal entry which emperors intended to satirize the behaviour of upon such occasions are accustomed the girl, and, by conveying their opito make. Their murmurs came to the nion of her conduct, to deter others emperor's ears. He loved his people, from imitating so unworthy an examand was willing to do all in his power ple. It would be a happy circumstance to satisfy their just desires. He there- if theatrical representations nearer fore assured them, that he intended, home, were of a tendency equally beupon the next public festival, to ex-neficial to public morals. DISSERTATION ON THE MERMAID. (By I. COUCH, F. L. S.) THERE are few subjects connected with the history of nature, that have excited a greater diversity of opinions, or have more obstinately defied the inquiries of the curious, than the question regarding the existence of a creature which has been denominated the Mermaid. At one time its existence was believed with a certainty that defied contradiction; at another, to express a suspicion that such a thing could possibly be, was enough to cause a man's claim to the possession of understanding to be called in question. At the present moment, when the remotest quarters of the earth and sea have been explored, and observation has been on the alert to make a discovery of all the forms which it has pleased the great Creator of all to cause his creatures to assume, our best naturalists appear to have come to a silent determination_to reject as fabulous all evidence that leans towards the affirmative of the question; whilst the less learned but more numerous body of the people seem resolved to credit its existence, in spite of all that can be said against it. In vindication of their obstinacy in this respect, they may urge that it is nothing contrary to the usual course of nature, to suppose that a creature, bearing in its upper parts a resem blance to the human race, may be a dweller in the ocean; that the ox and hog have their counterpart there, and why not man, as well as in the woods of Borneo? Things not less extraordinary are discovered every day. If a fish can fly in the air, a bird swim under water, stones fall from the clouds-if an animal have been in very modern times discovered having the head of a duck united to the body of a quadruped-if creatures be found, even on our own shores, almost every year, that had not been known before, and many phenomena that had not previously been dreamed of in our philosophy-we may very readily be excused if we place some credit in the relation of those who speak of the existence of the mermaid. But whilst this may be admitted as valid argumentation against those who treat the advocates of the possibility of its existence with contempt, care No. 68.-VOL. VI. must be taken that nothing of this kind be permitted to have a weight beyond what it is calculated to bear; and particularly we must be cautious of admitting the possibility of the existence of this creature as in any measure tending to prove its actual being. If there be yet a variety of natural objects that have not hitherto been subjected to human examination, we must at least confess our inability to clothe them with a definite form. It is my design in the following pa per to discuss the question of the ex+ istence of the creature denominated the mermaid; in doing which, it will first be necessary to inquire into the meaning that is to be affixed to the term; and more especially what are the figure and properties usually ascribed to the creature so denomi nated. The notion generally entertained on this subject is, that it is a marine animal, having the upper parts of the body, comprising the head, neck, arms, and chest, resembling the hu man; while the lower parts have been variously represented as like those of the genus phoca (seal), and the order cete (whales). In one instance it has been represented with the legs of a man, and in another we shall have occasion to notice it with the hinder parts of a salmon. It is, however, admitted by all, that though living in the sea, the respiration of air is necessary to its existence; and that though capable of continuing alive out of the water for a considerable time, it cannot remain beneath the surface for an unlimited period. By those who doubt of the actual existence of the mermaid, and who place it in the same class with the sphinx, the wivern, the cockatrice, and other fabulous or heraldric ani mals; it has been said, that the idea of its form has been derived from the ancient poets, and more especially from Homer's account of the syrens, in the twelfth book of the Odyssey This, however, is impossible, as those who will have recourse to the work will easily perceive. Not a word is there said of the form of these seducing ladies; but their residence is described as being “in verdant meads," of course far removed from the haunts of those nymphs of the ocean of which we are now speaking. If the idea were to be found in Homer, we should rather 2 Y 66 look for it in Leucothæa and the Tri- account is subjoined to the figure:- The most ancient author to which I shall have recourse is Gesner, whose Nomenclator Aquitilium Animantium, printed in 1560, contains figures of all the marine animals that were known previously to his day. So careful was this writer to give plates of all known animals, that, beside copying all that could be found in the works of preceding naturalists, he has even included in his collection the fabulous horse that was supposed to be harnessed to the car of Neptune; at the same time confessing that he was only giving a work of fancy. Indeed, his honesty always leads him to point out what he believes to be wrong in his figures; and he gives nothing that he supposed to be fabulous without ac knowledging his opinion concerning it. At page 166 of this work is a figure of the following description “The head is conical on the upper part, no nose, mouth large and open, with a slender tongue and numerous sharp teeth curved inwardly, the lower jaw shorter than the upper; the head has little prominency at the occiput, the neck short and thick, arms like the human, hands with four fingers tipped with sharp claws, no visible thumb; the body becomes slender below, and ends in a tail that is turned upward; this organ seems to be of an horizontal form, but differs from that of the whale tribe in tapering to a point at the middle." The following At p. 181 is a figure copied from Olaus, which he names Cetus jubatus; it is the representation of a head swimming in the sea, all the body being hid in the waves; the forehead, eye, nose, mouth, and cheek are human; but it has a mane reaching from the summit of the head down the neck, and a beard consisting of a number of straight processes closely resem Rondeletius, to whom I shall next have recourse, wrote before Gesner, and was copied by him; but my copy of the latter being deficient in that part, and not having the works of Rondeletius himself, I am obliged to copy him at second hand, from a note in Walton's Angler, p. 28, 6th edition. “The story of the bishop-fish is told by Rondeletius, and vouched by Bellonius; without taking much pains in the translation, it is as follows:- In the year 1531, a fish was taken in Polonia, that represented a bishop; he was brought to the king, but seeming to desire to return to his own element, the king commanded him to be carried back to the sea, into which he immediately threw himself.' Rondeletius had before related a story of a monkfish." The following is a description of these creatures, as contained in Rondeletius's work, or the posthum→ ous works of the reverend and learned John Gregory:-"The bishop' has a high conical head, which, with the body, is covered with what appear to be large scales; the face is human; the arms are not distinctly represented, being covered with what might be taken for a garment hanging from the side of the head half way down the legs; there are four fingers and a thumb; the thighs and legs are separate through their whole length, ending in a foot without distinct toes. "The monk's' head resembles the at other times quite close to their boats, standing upright, and formed like a human creature down to the middle; the rest they could not see. I have spoken with many of these people, all eye-witnesses to the ex human, bald on the top, but with a rim of hair round the lower part. The body is covered with large scales, and appears as if dressed out in female garments; the arms are separate, resembling below the elbow the branch of a tree putting out shoots, but with-istence of this creature; and I have out fingers; the extremity of the body is flat and expanded." taken all possible precautions in examining them strictly on the subject. The result was, that I found them all to agree in every particular of their account, which answers to the de ky and Kircher, (which the bishop quotes,) so far as they could judge by the sight of them only at a small distance. But of those who have handled them, I have not been able to find more than one person of credit who could vouch it for truth. As I may safely give credit to this person, namely, the Rev. Mr. Peter Angel, who is still living, and minister of Vand Elvens Gield on Sundmoer, I shall relate what he assured me of last year when I was on my visitation journey... Stow, in his Annals from the Chronicle of Radulphus Cogglesball, gives the following relation of a sea monster taken on the coast of Suffolk, inscription lately published by Jablonsthe reign of Henry the Second:"Neare unto Orford, in Suffolk, certaine fishers of the sea took in their nets a fish having the shape of a man in all points; which fish was kept by Bartlemew de Glaunvile, custos of the Castle of Orford in the same castle, by the space of six months and more, for a wonder; he spake not a word. All manner of meates he did eate, but most greedily raw fish, after he had crushed out the moisture. Oftentimes he was brought to the church, where he shewed no tokens of adoration. At length, (says this author,) when he was not well looked to, he stole away to the sea, and never afterwards appeared." My next quotation shall be from Crantz's History of Greenland; he observes," Both Mr. Hans Egede and Thermodor Torfæus speak of the merman, which has a head enveloped in a skin resembling a monk's hood, and a nose, mouth, and eyes like a man. It is generally believed that one of these creatures, three fathoms in length, was found dead on the shores of Norway. The same authors maintain the existence of the mermaid, which has black lank hair, a woman's breast, long arms, hands with webbed fingers, and a fish's tail." In a note by the editors are subjoined the following accounts; first from Pontoppidan, the reverend and pious bishop: after giving the authority of respectable writers, he proceeds "Upon these authorities I may say, that if the existence of the European merman be called in question, it must proceed entirely from the fabulous stories usually mixed with the truth. Here, in the diocese of Bergen, as well as in the manor of Nordland, are several hundred persons of credit, who affirm with the strongest assurances that they have seen this kind of creature; sometimes at a distance, and * "He says, that in the year 1719, he then being about twenty years old, along with several other inhabitants of Alstahaug in Nordland, saw what is called a merman lying dead on a point of land near the sea, which had been cast on shore by the waves, along with several seals and other dead fish. The length of this creature was much greater than what has been mentioned of any before, namely, three fathoms. It was of a dark gray colour all over; in the lower part it was like a fish, and had a tail like that of a porpoise. The face resembled that of a man, with a mouth, forehead, eyes, &c. The nose was flat, and as it were pressed down to the face, in which the nostrils have ever been very visible. The breast was not far from the head; the arms seemed to hang to the side to which they were joined by a thin skin or membrane. The hands were, to appearance, like the paws of a seal. The back of this creature was very fat, and a great part of it was cut off, which, with the liver, yielded a large quantity of train oil." 1 That this creature, which is reckoned among the whale kind, is a fish of prey, and lives upon the smaller sort, may be concluded from what Mr. Luke Debes relates in his description of Faroe. He tells us, that they have there seen a mermaid with a fish in in proportion to his body, and had her hand. Torfæus relates that seve-short curled black hair, which did not ral mermen, along with other monreach below his ears; his eyes lay sters, were seen at one time on the deep in his head, and he had a meagre coast of Iceland. and pinched face, with a black beard that looked as if it had been cut. His skin was coarse and very full of hair. One related what the others did not observe, that this merman was about the body and downward quite pointed like a fish. This same man likewise deposed that about twenty years before, as he was in a boat near Kulleor, the place where he was born, he saw a mermaid with long hair and large breasts. Attested, &c. In the year 1624 a merman, thirtysix feet long, was taken in the Adriatic sea, according to Henry Seebald's Breviar. Histor.-to this the last mentioned was but a dwarf. The latest instance I have learned of a merman being seen, was in Denmark; and this stands attested so well, that it deserves to be quoted after all the others: “A.D. 1723, on the 20th of September, the burgomaster, A. Bussæus, of Elsineur, had, by his majesty's orders, three ferrymen, inhabitants of Elsineur, examined before the privy counsellor, Fridvon Graen: the depositions were on oath. It appeared that about two months before, the aforesaid ferrymen were towing a ship just arrived from the Baltic, and which was then under full sail, when they were at a considerable distance from land. The calm weather induced them to lie by a little, and at the distance of an English mile, or about one quarter of a Norway mile, they observed something floating on the water like a dead body; which made them row to it, that they might see what it was. "When they first came within seven or eight fathoms it still appeared as at first, for it had not stirred; but at that instant it sunk, and came up again almost immediately in the same place. Upon this, out of fear, they lay still, and then let the boat float, that they might the better examine the monster, which, by the help of the current, came nearer and nearer to them. He turned his face and stared at the men, which gave them a good opportunity of examining him narrowly; he stood in the same place for half a quarter of an hour, and was seen above the water down to his breast; at last they grew apprehensive of some danger, and began to retire; upon which the monster blew up his cheeks, and made a kind of roaring noise, and then dived under the water, so that they did not see him any more. In regard to his form and shape, they say, he appeared to them like an old man, strong-limbed, and with broad shoulders; but his arms they could not see. His head was small "The before mentioned marmacle, or, as some call it, marmate, says the bishop, belongs also to this class of mermaid: though I shall not call it the merman's offspring, yet one might give it this name till properly inquired into. This creature is often caught on hooks, and is well known to most of the fishermen. They are of different sizes; some are of the bigness of an infant half a year old, and others again as big as a child of three years old; of this last size was one taken lately on Selloe Sogn: the upper part was like a child, but the rest like a fish; those who caught it threw it directly into the sea." We now come to still more modern times. The following is copied from the News newspaper, No. 1126:"The mermaid seen on the coast of Caithness. Letter from Miss Mackay, daughter of the Rev. David Mackay, minister of Reay, to Mrs. Innes, dow| ager, of Sanside :— "Reay Manse, May 25, 1809. Madam,-To establish the truth of what has hitherto been considered improbable and fabulous, must be at all times a difficult task, and I have not the vanity to think that my testimony alone would be sufficient for this purpose; but when to this is added that of four others, I hope it will have some effect in removing the doubts of those who may suppose that the wonderful appearance I reported having seen in the sea on the 12th of January was not a mermaid, but some other uncommon, though no less remarkable, inhabitant of the deep. As I would willingly contribute to remove the doubts of the sceptical on this subject, I beg leave to state to you the following account, after pro |