XII.

The Dog=fish, Sea=lions, and other Monsters.

The Dog-fish is a kind of shark, found on the shores of Great Britain of this species the white shark is the most terrific to mankind, being supposed to have a particular desire for human flesh. The gula of this fish is so wide that a man may be swallowed entire. A shark issuant regardant, swallowing a man, is the crest of the family of Yeates of Ireland. A shark's head regardant, and swallowing a negro, is the crest of the family of Molton. A very similar crest was granted to that of Garmston, mentioned at page 67. Sir Brook Watson, Alderman of London, created Baronet in 1803, lost his leg from the bite of a shark in the harbour of Havannah, and assumed for crest, a demi-triton, grasping a trident and repelling a shark in the act of seizing its prey. The incident is also commemorated in a picture by Copley, at Christ's Hospital. Almost all the species of shark have received some name resembling hounds, as beagle, rough-hound, smooth-hound, spotted-dog, and dog-fish, from their habit of following their prey, or hunting in company or packs.

Argent, three dog-fish in pale sable, are the arms of the family of Gesse.

Gules, a mallet dog-fish argent, are the arms of the family of Malvish; a demi dog-fish sable is the crest of the family of Meer of Dorsetshire.

*

*Randle Holme.

66

Unnatural animals appear in the heraldry of all nations. It is related that an Austrian nobleman asked an English ambassador at Vienna, whose arms presented a griffin, " in what forest that beast was met with!" to which the ambassador readily answered, "the same in which the eagles with two heads are found."

The monsters found in antique sculpture are generally combinations of parts of known animals; the sea-lions and seahorses, originating in the superstition of mariners, are embellished by art and fable. The lion and the horse being well known and familiar animals, the creatures of the water obtained similar names, whenever a fancied resemblance would appear to warrant the application of them. Or, on a bend wavy, between two sea-lions sable, three bucks' heads caboshed argent, and crest, a sea-lion supporting an anchor, are the insignia of Sir Robert Harland, Baronet, of Orwell Park in Suffolk, who is descended from a distinguished naval commander.

A sea-lion sejant, is the crest of the Earl of Thanet, a title derived from the isle of Thanet, a district on the Kentish coast, where the inhabitants, partaking of the amphibious character of the sea-lion, live by sea and land, making the most of both elements, as farmers and fishermen. The Earl of Thanet, by descent

from the Cliffords, is also lord of the honor of Skipton in Craven. Two sea-lions argent, guttée de l'armes, were assumed as supporters by the Viscount Falmouth, the title granted to the brave Admiral Boscawen for his important services in America.

A tower in flames, on its side a sea-lion azure, its paws pressing against the tower, was granted as a crest to Sir John Thomas Duckworth, Bart. of Weare, in Devonshire. It was this gallant admiral who forced the passage of the Dardanelles in 1807. A sea-lion and anchor was granted as one of the supporters of the arms of Viscount Bridport, second admiral in command on the memorable 1st of June 1794.

The lion, the king of beasts, is the type of bold and invincible courage; and a fanciful animal, the marine lion, is assumed as the emblem of those qualities, so absolutely necessary to a naval commander: it is always represented in heraldry with the upper part of a lion and the tail of a fish. The sculptors of antiquity, as well as the poets, appear to have had great pleasure in converting lions into aquatic animals: at Rome lions spout water at several fountains, and on the channels of roofs they are made to fill an office by no means characteristic of the fiercest of beasts.

Delphinum sylvis appingit, fluctibus aprum.

The sea-horse, more common in heraldry than the sea-lion, is also of classical origin; the horse was closely connected with the history of Neptune, and upon Roman festivals in honour of the ocean god, led horses, crowned with garlands, formed a principal part. Neptune is also represented flying over the surface of the sea in a chariot formed of a large shell, drawn by winged horses.

The poets of the northern nations, who delighted in hieroglyphical personifications, sometimes term a ship the horse of the ocean, and the savage chief who pursues the flying damsel is said to traverse the waves on an enchanted steed in some of the older ballads and popular tales recited by the scalds. In this manner the classical fable of Andromeda and the sea-monster may be explained, by the probable fact of her being wooed by the captain of a ship, who attempted to carry her off, but was prevented by the interposition of a more favoured lover.

Plutarch admits that the celebrated monster Chimæra was derived from a captain of pirates, whose ship bore the figures of

a lion, a goat, and a dragon. Another explanation is, that it was a burning mountain of Lycia, the top of which was the resort of lions, the middle of goats, and the marshy ground at bottom abounding with serpents. Bellerophon, who first made his habitation on the mountain, is thus said to have conquered the Chimæra. King Philip II, after his marriage with Queen Mary of England, assumed as a device, Bellerophon fighting with the monster, inscribed "Hinc Vigilo," implying that he only wanted a favourable time to combat the heresy of this kingdom.⁕

Sea-horses, as an emblem of naval dominion, are sculptured on the front of the Admiralty of England, and are often assumed as supporters to the arms of noblemen whose honours are derived from the distinguished success of their ancestors at sea: they form the supporters of the arms of the towns of Newcastle† and Cambridge, and of the Pewterers' Company in London.

Azure, a chevron between three sea-horses or, are the arms of the ancient family of Tucker of Milton, in Kent.

A sea-horse forms one of the charges in the arms of the unrivalled David Garrick: he was the grandson of a merchant of France, who settled in England upon the revocation of the edict of Nantes, in 1685. Both the sea-horse and dolphin were depicted on the standard of Trevellian in the reign of Henry VIII; and, argent, a sea-horse rampant, issuing from waves vert, are the arms of the family of Eckford of Scotland. As a crest, the sea-horse is borne by the noble families of Brudenel and Jenkinson, the Earls of Cardigan and Liverpool.

In form the sea-horse of heraldry bears resemblance to the

Menestrier.

+ The arms of Newcastle are among the embellishments of Mr. Martin's catalogue of privately printed books. Coll. Topog. vol. iii.

hippocampus brevirostris of Cuvier and the early naturalists; two found on the Hampshire coast are engraved in Mr. Yarrell's History of British Fishes.

The griffin, half eagle half lion, of classical origin, is found upon many basso relievos at Rome: the iron griffins ornaments of the Strozzi Palace at Florence, wrought in the time of Lorenzo the Magnificent, are curious specimens of art, and still as sharp as when they came from Caparra's smithy.⁕ The sea-griffin, an imaginative instance of marine zoology, half eagle half fish, appears in architectural sculpture on a capital of the Anglo-Norman Church of Iffley, in Oxfordshire,† and is also found in heraldry. Argent, a marine griffin sable, is the armorial ensign of the family of Mestich, in Silesia; and a sea-griffin rampant, that of Usedom, in Pomerania, an island at the mouth of the Oder, in the Baltic, belonging to the kingdom of Prussia.

The unicorn is entirely fabulous, like the griffin and chimæra: the long twisted horn which is commonly seen is the weapon of defence of the sea-unicorn, a fish which possesses two horns, although they are seldom found perfect, being liable to be destroyed by accidents. The unicorn of heraldry is derived from the horse armed with a spiked chanfron; and it is this fictitious animal with a fish's tail which is intended in the Prussian arms, per fess argent and gules, a sea-unicorn counter-changed, borne by the family of Die Niemptscher; and gules, a fish with the head of a stag or, is the ensign of the family of Die Pogorsker und Rüditzky, in Silesia.‡

Capricorn, one of the zodiacal signs, having the head of a goat and the tail of a fish, is represented on the medals of Augustus, to signify, according to the medallists, his horoscope, from which the empire was predicted to him at Apollonia.

⁕ Forsyth.

Palliot.

P