“Our emblem is taken from Alciatus, and has a different meaning. He reports, namely, that ‘when violent winds disturb the sea, as Lucretius says, and the anchor is cast by seamen, the dolphin winds herself round it, out of a particular love for mankind, and directs it, as with a human intellect, so that it may more safely take hold of the ground; for dolphins have this peculiar property, that they can, as it were, foretell storms. The anchor, then, signifies a stay and security, whilst the dolphin is a hieroglyphic for philanthropy and safety.’”--_Joach. Camerarius_, “_Symbolorum et Emblematum Centuriæ Quatuor_.” _Centuria_ iv. p. 19; _Moguntia_, 1697. This sign was afterwards adopted by William Pickering, a worthy “Discipulus Aldi,” as he styled himself; Sir Egerton Bridges made some verses upon it, amongst which occur the following:-- “Would you still be safely landed, On the Aldine _Anchor_ ride; Never yet was vessel stranded, With the Dolphin by its side. * * * * * “Nor time, nor envy ever shall canker The sign that is my lasting pride; Joy then to the Aldus Anchor, And the Dolphin at its side. “To the Dolphin as we ‘re drinking, Life and health and joy we send; A poet once he saved from sinking, And still he lives--the poet’s friend.” The DOLPHIN AND COMB was the sign of E. Herne, a milliner on London Bridge in 1722. This is an instance of one of the articles sold within being added to the original sign of the house. Milliners in those days used to have a much more extensive variety of objects for sale than they have now, comprehending almost every article required for female apparel,--and including knives, scissors, combs, pattens, patches, poking sticks, fans, bodkins, &c. Such additions to signs were of frequent occurrence, thus the Fox and Topknot, the Lamb and Breeches, the Fox and Cap, and the LAMB AND INKBOTTLE, which last figures on the imprint of Thomas Roch, Newgate Street, a bookseller who made “the best ink for deeds and records,” 1677. Frequently the sign of the Fish is seen without any further specification; in this case it is probably meant for the Dolphin, which is the signboard-fish _par excellence_. The Fish sign is a very common public house decoration at the present day, probably for the same reason as the Swan, because he is fond of liquor,--nay, to such an extent goes his reputation for intemperance, that to “drink like a fish” is a quality of no small excellence with publicans. In Carlisle, however, there are two signs of the FISH AND DOLPHIN, a rather puzzling combination,--unless it has reference to the dolphin’s chase after the shoals of small fishes. The FISH AND BELL, Soho, may either allude to a well-known anecdote of a certain numskull, who, when he caught a fish, which he desired to keep for dinner on some future grand occasion, put it back into the river, with a bell round its