"_Of monsters all, most monstrous this; no greater wrath
God sends 'mongst men; it comes from depth of pitchy hell:
And virgin's face, but womb like gulf unsatiate hath,
Her hands are griping claws, her colour pale and fell._"
VIRGIL.
"_Thou art like the harpy,
Which to betray, doth wear an angel's face,
Seize with an eagle's talons._"
"Pericles Prince of Tyre," Act iv. sc. 4.
A poetical monstrosity of classical origin, described as "winged creatures
having the head and breasts of a woman, and the body and limbs of a
vulture; very fierce and loathsome, living in an atmosphere of filth and
stench, and contaminating anything which they come near. Pale and
emaciated, they were continually tormented with insatiable hunger." They
are best known from the story of the Argonauts, where they appear as the
tormentors of the blind king Phineus, whose table they robbed of its
viands, which they either devoured or spoiled. They were regarded by the
ancients as ministers of sudden death.
[Illustration: The Harpy, Greek sculpture.]
In Miss Millington's admirable book, "Heraldry in History, Poetry and
Romance," it is stated that unlike the generality of such mythical beings,
the harpies appear originally, as in Homer's "Odyssey," as persons instead
of personations; while later authors for the most part reduced them to
whirlwinds and whirlpools. Homer mentions but one harpy. Hesiod gives two,
later writers three. The names indicate that these monsters were
impersonations of whirlwinds and storms. The names were: _Ocypeta_
(rapid), _Celeno_ (blackness), _Aello_ (storm).
"I will ... do any embassage ... rather than
Hold three words' conference with this harpy."
_Much Ado About Nothing_, Act ii. sc. 1.
"Bravely the figure of this harpy hast thou
Performed, my Ariel; a grace it had devouring."
_Tempest_, Act iii. sc. 3.
[Illustration: A Harpy displayed and crowned. German version.]
_Azure, a harpy with her wings disclosed, her hair flotant, or, armed of
the same._ This coat existed in Huntingdon Church in Guillam's time.
The arms of the City of Nuremberg are: _azure, a harpy displayed armed,
crined and crowned, or_. It occurs as the city device as early as 1243. In
German heraldry it is termed _jungfraundler_.
[Illustration: Shield of Nüremberg.]
A creature very similar to the harpy (a combination of several badges),
was one of the favourite devices of Richard III., viz., a falcon with the
head of a maiden holding the white rose of York.