512 DOLPHIN. 



perpetually ; that is, not when they swim and re- 

 main in their proper figures, but only when they 

 leap, or impetuously whirl their bodies any way ; 

 and this is the opinion of Gesnerus. Or lastly, it 

 may be taken neither really nor emphatically, but 

 only emblematically : for being the hieroglyphic 

 of celerity, and swifter than other animals, men 

 best expressed their velocity by incurvity, and 

 under some figure of a bow : and in this sense pro- 

 bably do Heralds also receive it, when from a 

 Dolphin extended they distinguish a Dolphin em- 

 bowed. And thus also must that picture be taken 

 of a Dolphin clasping an anchor ; that is, not really, 

 as is by most conceived, as out of affection unto 

 man, conveighing the anchor unto the ground; 

 but emblematically, according as Pierius hath ex- 

 pressed it, the swiftest animal conjoyned with that 

 heavy body, implying that common moral, Fes- 

 tttia lente ; and that celerity should always be con- 

 tempered with cunctation." 





