The Sun.
London, England, 1812-08-29 00:00:00

M R?IAIDS.

Mg. EDITOR,--4 think it is now about a year
ago, the London Newspapers gave a very curious
account of a Mermaid which had been seen on
sonic part of the coast of Scotland. The existence
of such an extraordinary animal/has beeo, and no
doubt is still considered by many people as tabu-
' louts. Indeed, 1 have been myself one of those
who held the Mermaid as the mere offspring of
the imagination, and preserved in the catalogue
of substantial beings by credulity. • But•I am now
convinced of my error • and if you think it will
interest or amuse any of your readers by giving
publicity to the following account relating to this
' animal, I beg you will do so. It mar, moreover,
call the attention of some able naturalist to the
subject; and perhaps he may favour „the public,
through the same channel, ',with his opinion as to..
the probable economy of, this Wonderful being.
-The day of yesterday being very fine, I joined a
party, of ladies and. gentlemen in a sailing excur-
sion. ' When we had got about ti mile to the S.E:
of Exmouth Bar, our attention was suddenly. ar-
rested bya very singular noise, by no means un-
pleasant to the ear, but of which it is impossible
•
to give a correct idea by mere description. It was
not, however, 'unaptly -cotepared by one of our
Ladies to the wild melodies of the .harp,
combined with a noise, similar to that made:by a
stream of Water falling gently, on the. leaves of a
tree. The soUnd„ however, bad not 411:the va-
riety, nor the soft cadence of the /Bohan notes,
but appeared like four or five different notes,- each
tone repeated,severel times on the same key. In
the mean time we observed something about one
hundred yards from us, to windward. We all ima-
gined it to be some human being, though at the
same time we were at a loss to account for this, at
such a distance from the shore, and no other boat
near. We hailed, but received no reply, and we
made towards this creature as soon as possible;
when, to the great astonishment of us all, it eluded
our pursuit by plunging under water. In a few
mi-
mutes it rose again, nearly in the same place,
and ,by that time we had got sufficiently near for
one of;the boatmen to throw into the water a
piece of boiled fish which he had in his locker.—
This seemed to alarm the animal, though it soon
recovered from its fears, for we presently observ-
ed it to lay hold of the fish, which it ate withxap-
.parent relish. Several other pieces were. thrown
out, by which the creature was induced to keep
at a short distance from our bOat, and afforded us
the. opportunity of observing it with 'attention,
and found, to our astonishment, that it •was no
other than a mermaid. As the sea was calm, and in
a great degree transparent, every part of the ani-
mal's body became in turn visible. The head, from
the crown to the chin, forms rather a long oval,
, - and the face seems to resemble that of the seal,
though, at the same time, it is far more agree-
, able, possessing a peculiar softness, which renders
the whole set of features very interesting. The
upper and back part of the: head appeared to be
furnished with something like hair, and the fore
part of the body with something like down, be-
, tween a very. light fawn and Ver;pale pink colour,
-which at a distance had the appearance of flesh,
and may have given rise to.the idea that the body
,-of the mermaid is, externally, like that of the hu-
man being. This creature has two arms, each of
which terminates into a hand with four fingeTs ,con-
nected to each other by means Of a very thin elastic
membrane. The animal used its arms with great
agaily, and its motions in general were very grace-
ful: From the waist it gradually tapered so as
to font a tail, which had the appearance of being
covered with strong broad polished scales, which
'Occasionally reflected the rays of the sun in a very
-beautiful manner; and front the back and upper
•part.lB,f the neck, down to the loins; the body ah3o
appeared covered with short round broad feathers,
lOf the eolOur of down •on the fore part of the
body. The whole length of the. animal, from the
crown 'of the head to the extremity Of the tail,
was supposed to be about five feet, or five feet and
a half. ,

In akout ten minutes, from the time we ap7
proacTed, the animal gave two or three planges in
quick succession, as if it were at play. After this,
it gave aisudden spring, appearing to swim away
from us very rapidly, and in a few seconds we lost
sight of this wonder-creati;7g animal. •
Crowds of boats are this day on the water' in
the hope of witnessing such a novel sight, and a
medical gentleman of Exeter has offered a reward
of 201. to whoever may succeed- in catching the
animal, and will bring it to him for, disseetion.—.
In consequence of this, all the fishermen are'very.
busy iri making preparations' to endeavour to en-,
tangle in their nets this fair nymph' of the ocean,
lam, Sir, your most obedient servant,
J. TOUPIN.
, .
1-v-Ixmouth, Aug. 13, 1812. . ,

S. It was reported here a few days ago, that
a large strange• fish had been seen in the neigh-
bourhood of Torbay, and is supposed to have
been this animal.

A TRITON.—On the .11st of July, an extraor-
dinary animal was seen by five fishermen, in the
creek of Port Main (111orbian). Its shape re-
sembled that of a man. It had arms, and the
bust was completely human, hut the lower part
terminated in a fish's tail. Its head was bald,
with the exception of the fore part, on which was
a bunch of black hair, and another buneh'was
• perceptible upon the chin. The seafaring people,
whoA have sent us these particulars, had time tq
'observe the monster at their leisure ; it was with-
in half a musket shot of tlie shore, between two
boats, but they were afraid of it, and did not go
any nearer.—(From a French Paper.)

ttEcdtroil OF BOOTH.

Booth, NWy executed at Stafford, flattered
himself with hopes of pardon till within a day or
or two of execution ; his conduct in prison, after
condemnation, was rather weak than otherwise,
and he frequently wept with almost infantine sor-
row. Co the day before his execution, his wife
and children took' their final leave of him ; -the.
scene was of the most affecting description.-7-
Booth lay under sentence of condemna-
tion, sonic implements were found upon WM; for
the purpose of assisting-in effeeting.his escape;
and on'the morning of his execution, when the
gaoler took his leave of hini, Booth said he hoped
he bore him no malice o that account. The
Gavel:nor assured him of feeliug.no such resent-
ment, and with the benedietion of " God 'bless,
you !" 'finally bade him adieu. There are many
reports respecting the property of Booth. Some
represent him to have left almost 'a princely for-
tune, and others that he had nothing to leave:---,
The truth lies, as it commonly dries, between the
two extremes ; there is good authority for •he'
lieving that.he pussessed about 6800/. which he
assigned ,to his family previo4s to his trial There
are also reports in circulation that he denied some
crimes of which be had been suspected, and that
he confessed others ; the, fact is, he was never
presSed to do either, find that be made no confes-
sion of his crimes. On this subject there is no-
, thing:more to hope that-1011e Sincerely repented of
them l---71-lis house was secured like a Bastile, and.
the stories which are in circulation of the crimes
which have been perpetrated therein resemble the
most. romantic and extraordinary fictions. Of the
death of his brother, of Which crime he had been
violently suspected,, the Tury:acqUitted him r and •
every just and merciful man will,'on a perusal of
the evidence, be convinced that it was ncit SuiE-
ekent to establish his glint, although, at the
.same
time, it was not fully.convincing in respect to his
innocence.

The most extraordinary circumstance which has
yet been narrated, and which stands at present un-
cOntradicted, is, that a person Of the name Of
Mises Hall, after receiving a considerable sum of
money, accompanied Booth to his house at Perry
Bar, and was never afterwards heard of. A fe-
male, connected with the- said HallOialso went to
Booth's house to inquire for him, and she also
Was never after seen or heard of. A part of their
clothes. was found in Booth's premiSes, as was also
a halter,. with a noose, -and which apparently had
been used for the purpose of hanging or strangling.
-Some years ago a man was executed for forgery
...an-the bank of -Messrs. Webb and -Co. of Staf-
ford ;.-\v"lien Booth's house; Vias" sv4l-claetU, the
plate was found from which the forged notes were
taken—Lit" Was Very badly executed. Elizabeth.
Chidlow, his servant and accomplice, who was
sentenced to fourteen-years • transportation, might,
from her means of information, have diseloSed most
important facts, if 313 e. had berm induced to confess,
but she refused to turn king's evidence, and was,
to use both a, sporting;a4 gad' phrase, bottom.
However, on receiving, sentence, she burst into a
violent paroxysni of rage and grief, and imprecated
'curses on the head of Booth and her accueers, affirrl-
ing that the latter were sall'peiji.ired.- -The conduct
of Booth towards this woman had the appearance:
of ingratitude; she expected' to nave been assisted
on her trial by the same Counsel who were engag-
ed for Booth, but when she appeared: at the bar
she found herself entirely undefended. One of
the Ingle-is, who was admitted evidence for the
Crown, was 'brought up frorri hiS Irlirncy. with
Booth ; and his testimony against his master: af-
fected him more than any other circumstance on
his trial.--Booth is said to be 33 years of age, but
he appeared much older. -

Lancaster Assizes commenced on Saturday last.
The Calendar, we observe with regret, contains a
long list of commitments, some of which arc on,
charges of ,murder and burglary, and 39 for he-
jag present at, and consenting to., the administra-
tio6 of-Unlawful oaths, purporting to bind the
parties not to reveal or discover an unlawful coat= -
bination or confederacy. There are also several,
principally women, to be tried for rioting- and
stealing provisibns.
A cause of considerable import.ince to land pro-
prietors was tried at Newcastle assizes. hi an
action respecting a hedge; it was declared.bv Mr.
Baron WOOD to be the hiw, that the person t()
the.bedgeblongs has a right to.five feet of
his neighbour's'field, for a ditch 'or other pur-
pose ; nay, that he may hielOsefive feet and plant
it, and ;also claim five arid- Mineral which
may he conttined'untler tliat:rspace. _Against this.
decision, it is, we understand determined to afi•
peal to the House of Lot-as. •
INVe'regKet to state.' th;lt--an itninentHolise in
Siluth Shields has stopped payMent-,. and' that the -
ilematills.against it will amount to littie short 'of
250;0001. , , •
A' Cheshire 'Varincr states, that, fr:l-In his ex
periments .6n. a 'lime-stone roc icy soil, be found,
that by laringrout 'At the rate of 101. an acre in
manure, With. lime, he is able to obtain two white I
win crops folhag.

'Pugi/Wa.---Thursdav afternoon, a, pitched bat-
tle was (ought for 4 OL'a side; in a field 'n(nr Black-
...wall; between a. Lancaster man, of the name of
SCOtchard, and Riley, an Hibernian, both navi-
gators,' and athletic young men ; they, met with
their seconds at the , place -appointed, at two
o'clock, where a great number of spectators as-
'sembled upon the occasion, and a ring being
formed, the combatants
,set-to with equal cou-
rage and spirits, but without any science in the
art of: boxing, when they exchanged very severe
blows; real hard fighting, repeatedly knocking
down each other* both of them fought mostly
at the head and face; bets ran four to three in fa-
vour of the former, who appeared to he the
quickest hitter. The contest was maintained for
-two hours and five minutes, which, at length, ter-
Minuted in, favour of the Lancaster man, his an-
tagonist being so dreadfully bruised as not to he
able to stand or see. 'They were both very much
beaten, and irere taken to their respective homes
by their friends. A great deal of money was de-
riending,npon the issue.
• Partridge, shooting, which commences on Tues-
day next, is likely to be abridged for some time,
owing to the great extent of still standing corn,
'and particularly of beans, which, in the Eastern
Counties will not' be fit to cut for a fOrtnieht: