"_Mermaid shapes that still the waves with ecstasies of song._"
T. SWAN,
"The World within the Ocean."
"_And fair Ligea's golden comb,
Wherewith she sits on diamond rocks,
Sleeking her soft alluring hair._"
MILTON, "Comus."
[Illustration]
This fabulous creature of the sea, well known in ancient and modern times
as the frequent theme of poets and the subject of numberless legends, has
from a very early date been a favourite device. She is usually represented
in heraldry as having the upper part the head and body of a beautiful
young woman, holding a comb and glass in her hands, the lower part ending
in a fish.
Ellis (Glasfryn, Merioneth).--_Argent, a mermaid gules, crined or, holding
a mirror in her right hand and a comb in her left, gold. Crest, a mermaid
as in the arms._ _Motto_, "Worth ein ffrwythau yn hadna byddir." Another
family of the same name, settled in Lancashire, bears the colours
reversed, viz., _gules, a mermaid argent_.
[Illustration: Crest of Ellis.]
SIR JOSIAH MASON.--CREST, _a mermaid, per fess wavy argent and azure, the
upper part guttée de larmes, in the dexter hand a comb, and in the
sinister a mirror, frame and hair sable_.
Balfour of Burleigh.--_On a rock, a mermaid proper, holding in her dexter
hand an otter's head erased sable, and in the sinister a swan's head,
erased proper._ The supporters of Baron Balfour are an otter and a swan,
which will account for the heads appearing in the hands of the mermaid,
instead of the traditionary comb and mirror. In some other instances the
like occurs, as in the mermaid crest of Cussack, _the mermaid sable crined
or, holds in dexter hand a sword, and in the sinister a sceptre_.
Sir George Francis Bonham, Bart.--_Crest, a mermaid holding in dexter hand
a wreath of coral, and in the sinister a mirror._
Wallop, Earl of Portsmouth, bears for crest _a mermaid proper_, with her
usual accompaniments, the comb and mirror. Another family of the same name
and bearing the same arms has for crest _a mermaid with two tails extended
proper, hair gold, holding her tails in her hands extended wide_.
In foreign heraldry the mermaid is generally termed _Mélusine_, and
represented with two fishy extremities.
[Illustration: Die Ritter, of Nuremberg]
Die Ritter of Nuremberg bears _per fess sable and or, a mermaid holding
her two tails, vested gules, crowned or_.
The Austrian family of Estenberger bears for crest _a mermaid without
arms, and having wings_.
A mermaid was the device of Sir William de Brivere, who died in 1226. It
is the badge of the Berkeleys; in the monumental brass of Lord Berkeley,
at Wolton-under-Edge, 1392 A.D., he bears a collar of mermaids over his
camail. The Black Prince, in his will, mentions certain devices that he
appears to have used as badges; among the rest we find "Mermaids of the
Sea." It was the dexter supporter in the coat-of-arms of Sir Walter Scott,
and the crest of Lord Byron. The supporters of Viscount Boyne are
mermaids. Skiffington, Viscount Marsereene, the Earl of Caledon, the Earl
of Howth, Viscount Hood, and many other titled families bear it as crest
or supporters. It is also borne by many untitled families.
The arms of the princely house of Lusignan, kings of Cyprus and Jerusalem,
"Une sirène dans une cuvé," were founded on a curious mediæval legend of
a mermaid or siren, termed Mélusine, a fairy, condemned by some spell to
become on one day of the week only, half woman, half serpent. The Knight
Roimoudin de Forez, meeting her in the forest by chance, became enamoured
and married her, and she became the mother of several children, but she
carefully avoided seeing her husband on the day of her change; one day,
however, his curiosity led him to watch her, which led to the spell being
broken, and the soul with which by her union with a Christian she hoped to
have been endowed, was lost to her for ever.
This interesting myth is fully examined in Baring Gould's "Curious Myths
of the Middle Ages."
The mermaid is represented as the upper half of a beautiful maiden joined
to the lower half of a fish, and usually holding a comb in the right hand
and a mirror in the left; these articles of the toilet have reference to
the old fable that always when observed by man mermaids are found to be
resting upon the waves, combing out their long yellow hair, while admiring
themselves in the glass: they are also accredited with wondrous vocal
powers, to hear which was death to the listener. It was long believed such
creatures really did exist, and had from time to time been seen and spoken
with; many, we are told, have fatally listened to "the mermaid's charmèd
speech," and have blindly followed the beguiling, deluding creature to her
haunts beneath the wave, as did Sidratta, who, falling in the Ganges,
became enamoured of one of these beautiful beings, the Upsaras, the
swan-maidens of the Vedas.
All countries seem to have invented some fairy-like story of the waters.
The Finnish Nakki play their silver harps o' nights; the water imp or
Nixey of Germany sings and dances on land with mortals, and the "Davy"
(Deva), whose "locker" is at the bottom of the deep blue sea, are all
poetical conceptions of the same description. The same may be said of the
Merminne of the Netherlands, the White Lady of Scotland and the Silver
Swan of the German legend, that drew the ship in which the Knight
Lohengrin departed never to return.
In the "Bestiary" of Philip de Thaun he tells us that "Siren lives in the
sea, it sings at the approach of a storm and weeps in fine weather; such
is its nature: and it has the make of a woman down to the waist, and the
feet of a falcon, and the tail of a fish. When it will divert itself, then
it sings loud and clear; if then the steersman who navigates the sea hears
it, he forgets his ship and immediately falls asleep."
The legendary mermaid still retains her place in popular legends of our
sea coasts, especially in the remoter parts of our islands. The stories of
the Mirrow, or Irish fairy, hold a prominent place among Crofton Croker's
"Fairy Legends of the South of Ireland." Round the shores of Lough Neagh
old people still tell how, in the days of their youth, mermaids were
supposed to reside in the water, and with what fear and trepidation they
would, on their homeward way in the twilight, approach some lonely and
sequestered spot on the shore, expecting every moment to be captured and
carried off by the witching mere-maidens. On the Continent the same idea
prevails. Among the numerous legends of the Rhine many have reference to
the same fabled creature.
As we know, mariners in all ages have delighted in tales of the
marvellous, and in less enlightened times than the present, they were not
unlikely to have found many willing listeners and sound believers. Early
voyagers tell wonderful stories of these "fish-women," or "women-fish," as
they termed them. The ancient chronicles indeed teem with tales of the
capture of "mermaids," "mermen," and similar strange creatures; stories
which now only excite a smile from their utter absurdity. So late as 1857
there appeared an article in the _Shipping Gazette_, under intelligence of
June 4, signed by some Scotch sailors, and describing an object seen off
the North British coast "in the shape of a woman, with full breast, dark
complexion, comely face" and the rest. It is probable that some variety of
the seal family may be the prototype of this interesting myth.
The myth of the mermaid is, however, of far older date; Homer and later
Greek and Roman poets have said and sung a great deal about it.