66 FISHES OF FANCY. 



fish-world in general, being placed at the feet of Venus, on 

 the tripod of Apollo, in the beard of Poseidon, at the heels 

 of Orpheus, and employed perpetually to symbolize the 

 ocean itself, — so in the modern art of emblematic designing 

 it is the hieroglyph of fish in general. Thus a great many 

 towns that owe their prosperity to their fisheries bear a 

 dolphin as their cognizance. Two dolphins embowed within 

 a shield are upon the seal of Brighton. Poole carries a 

 dolphin and mermaid. So, too, among many others on 

 the Continent, Dunkirk, Dornheim, Otranto, Bernbach, 

 Onoltzbach, Swartzac, bear the dolphin as a " fish." 



Old gems show us Neptune on a dolphin, Arion on 

 another, Amphitrite in her shell drawn by a team of 

 dolphins, and ships always attended by friendly dolphins. 

 Emperors of Rome had the dolphin and anchor* for the 

 device of their seals, and under the Greek empire the 

 dolphin continued an imperial cognizance. So in later 

 times English admirals took the sea-god or the dolphin 

 for their supporters. Italian academies bore the emblem 

 of Arion with his harp — 



" A fiddler on a fish through waves advanced ; 

 He twanged his catgut, and the dolphin danced." 



Princesses borrowed Amphitrite's shell and steeds, and 

 European kings adopted the ensigns of bygone empires. 

 Fortune on a dolphin was the device of Charles, Archduke 

 of Austria. Admiral Chabot had the dolphin and anchor 

 of Titus and Vespasian, as also had that Adolphus of Nassau 

 who was killed at the Battle of the Spurs. Charles V. 



* A dolphin twisted round the anchor, with the legend " Hasten 

 slowly " (so the English family of On-slow). Analogous devices are 

 the crab and butterfly of Augustus, and the tortoise rigged with sails of 

 the Tuscan Dukes. 



