Would simply have frightened the mates of Ulysses.
Fancy the horror of blubberous kisses
From a mouth that's like a tarpaulin flap!
That Merman must be a most amorous chap
Who would sue her and woo her under the sea.
As TENNYSON sings—a nice treat it would be
Were a Mermaid merely a Manatee!
From Punch, July 20th, 1878, in reference to the so-called Mermaid then being exhibited at the Westminster Aquarium.
Tennyson's—The Poet—was in fourteen verses of four lines each; it commenced thus:—