Avion on a Dolphin. 
97 
That the rude sea grew civil at her song 
And certain stars shot madly from their spheres, 
To hear the sea-maid’s music.” 
(.Midsummer Night's Dream , ii. 1, 148.) 
Here, as elsewhere, Shakspeare confuses the mermaid of 
mediaeval times with the siren of classical authors. The 
fish-like tail of the mermaid, which would have rendered 
her quite independent of any assistance from the dolphin, 
would also have caused her to have a somewhat insecure 
seat on so frolicsome a steed. In Twelfth Night (i. 2, 14) 
we find another allusion to this water Pegasus. The 
captain of the shipwrecked vessel encourages Viola to 
hope for her brother’s safety by telling how he saw 
Sebastian bind himself—• 
“ To a strong mast that lived upon the sea; 
Where, like Arion on the dolphin’s hack, 
I saw him hold acquaintance with the waves 
So long as I could see.” 
Sir Thomas Browne treats as a vulgar error the notion 
that the back of the dolphin was permanently bowed, 
alluded to by Ford:— 
“ Straight comes a dolphin playing near your ship, 
Heaving his crooked back up.” 
(The Lover's Melancholy , i. 1.) 
In art the dolphin was employed as an emblem of 
social feeling and affection. 
The Narwhal, or Sea-Unicorn, another semi-mythical 
beast of the sea, was the object of much specu¬ 
lation, and his horn was supposed to have arw 
the same virtue as an antidote to poison as that of the 
land unicorn. It is described in a letter quoted from 
Mr. Wormen, a Danish gentleman, as having the head 
of a whale, with a long pointed horn, fixed to the upper 
part of the left jawbone. The creature is called by the 
Icelanders narwhall, which implies a whale living upon 
H 
