The Sun.
London, England, 1841-07-05 00:00:00

A MODERN SIREN, OR LIVING

MERMAID.
EXTRAORDINARY STORY OF CRUELTY.
(From L' Audience—Paris Journal.)
The following " cock and bull" story, which, as the
Americans say, is " extraordinary if true," appears in
in one of the Parisian Journals
The Sirens, those supernatural Creations—half woman
and half fish—owe their existence to that fruitful source
of wonders, fabulous history. They were, according to
this authority, the daughters of the river Achelons and
the muse Calliope ; their names were Parthenope, Len-
cothce, and Ligeia. These beautiful divinities, having in
their pride dared to defy the Goddesses of Olympus and
the Muses of Parnassus, lost their wings as a punish-
ment, and retired into the deserts of Sicily and Campania.
Those who have chosen to moralise upon this fable, assert
that the Sirens were nothing better than courtezans, who
dwelt near the sea-shore in Sicily, and, who, by their volup-
tuous attractions, so fascinated all -who paSSekthat they
utterly forgot their occupations and lost their way.
They add, moreover, that the names and number of the
three Sirens were founded upon the triple pleasure of
the senses—music, love, and wine. From this idea they
have derived the etymology of the word Siren—namely,
from the Greek word seira, a chain—by which it is sig-
nified that their charms were as a chain about those who
came within their influence.
The last great occasion on which the Sirens appeared
on the scene was when the sage Ulysses made his escape
from them—thanks to the counsels of Circe. The
Sirens, seeing the learned warrior escape them, were so
chagrined that they plunged into the ocean and were
never seen more—such is the assertion of the mytholo-
gical writers. But it now appears that this is a mistake:
they have once more appeared. M. Amedie Pichot, the
learned editor of the Revue Britanniquc, has published
an article upon the Sirens, which would alone suffice to
re-establish the fact of their existence and their powers
in our own days. The story it contains is as follows
Towards the end of the month of February last, an
Englishman, named Hudson, took up his residence at
Rome, near the Porta del Popolo, and announced in the
Diario di Roma, the Gazette of the Holy City, that he
had a most extraordinary object for public exhibition, in
a word, no less rare an object than a Siren ! On the
appearance of this announcement all the sevens of Rome
hastened to visit the rooms of Mr. Hudson, and, surpri-
prising as it may seem, every one came away with a full
conviction of,the bona fide character of the exhibition, a
most charming creature, half woman half fish, was found
reclining in an immense bath ; her head was adorned
with long black locks, among which marine plants ap-
peared to grow ; her face was charming, and the features
perfectly regular ; but in the place of a neck she ap-
peared to have a sort of collar of scales, and the " crea-
ture" terminated in an immense fish-tail, which floated
in the water with all the vitality of a real natural fish
But cette bizarre creature spoke not a word—ever and
anon she would Open her mouth as if about to speak, and
then instantly plunge into the water. It will readily be
conceived that such au exhibition excited a lively cu-
riosity among all the wonder-loving world. The Prince
Borghese, the Due de Bordeaux, Count Briggeis, and
Don Sebastiano d'Alvar, of Spain, were among those
ivho satisfied themselves that " it" was alive and en bonne
sante. •The people shared the curiosity of the great, and
manifested even a larger share of enthusiasm, as well as
a strong desire to penetrate into the mysteries of the
existence of. Zevelar (the name which Hudsor had
!riven to his monster), and one of the servants of the
b •
hotel glided unperceived into the principal room occu-
pied by him, concealed himself in the fire-place, and
waited the result of his voyage of discovery. He had
not been there long when he saw Hudson come into the
room, dragging after him by the hair of the head the
poor Zevelar. The poor Siren was drripping wet, and
the big tears rolled from her sorrowful eyes ; she walked
upright, and the fish's skin which formed the lower ex-
tremity dragged along the ground. She threw herself on
the floor, and cried out in perfectly intelligible English,
" Oh, pity ! for mercy's sake, pity ! pity !" The ser-
vant, who did not understand the English. language,
thought she spoke in her "langue maritime." The fel-
low then began to beat her, upon which she exclaimed,
a spare my life, oh God ! and I obey " No longer
able to bear the frightful spectacle, the servant seized
away, and recounted all
he had seen.means of awakening
thethe firstattention
o f opportunitytHis
the
e story
authorities,
o st% steal
the
and Doctor Amarati
was sent to visit the pretended divinity of the waters.
The Doctor soon discovered that the Siren was, in point
of fact, none other than a young woman of about twenty
years of age, whose mind had given way under the cruel