THE MERMAID. 33 



^vith a bosom as prominent as one of sixteen, having a 

 profusion of long dark-brown hair, and full, dark eyes. The 

 hands and arms were formed like those of a man, with a 

 slight web connecting the upper part of the fingers, which 

 were frequently employed in throwing back and dividing 

 the hair. The tail appeared like that of a dolphin." This 

 creature remained basking on the rocks during an hour, in 

 the sight of numbers of people, until frightened by the flash 

 of a musket, when 



" Away she went with a sea-gull's scream, 

 And a splash of her saucy tail," * 



for it instantly plunged with a scream into the sea. 



From Irish legends we learn that those sea-nereids, the 

 " Merrows," or " Moruachs " came occasionally from the sea, 

 gained the affections of men, and interested themselves in 

 their affairs ; and similar traditions of the " Morgan " (sea- 

 women) and the " Morverch " (sea-daughters) are current in 

 Brittany. 



In English poetry the mermaid has been the subject of 



many charming verses, and Shakspearc alludes to it in his 



plays no less than six times. The head-quarters of these 



" daughters of the sea " in England, or of the belief in their 



existence, are in Cornwall. There the fisherman, many a 



time and 



" Oft, beneath the silver moon,t 

 Has heard, afar, the mermaid sing," 



and has listened, so they say, to 



"The mermaid's sweet sea-soothing lay 

 That charmed the dancing waves to sleep." f 



* Tom Hood. ' The Mermaid at Margate.' 

 t John Leyden. 



D 



