The Digital Ark: Early Modern Collections of Curiosities in England and Scotland, 1580-1700

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Neptune / Poseidon ( - )

Greek and Roman god of the sea and fresh water. Dictionary of National Biography entry: http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780198606413.001.0001/acref-9780198606413-e-4387?rskey=mInNuk&result=4&q=neptune Other biography: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neptune_%28mythology%29 Relationships: Neptune / Poseidon was a father of Atlas (mythology) (-)
Neptune / Poseidon was a brother of Juno / Hera (-)
Neptune / Poseidon was a son of Saturn / Cronus (-)
Neptune / Poseidon was a husband of Tethys (-)
Neptune / Poseidon was a brother of Vesta / Hestia (-)

Arion of Corinth (-fl. 625 BC) was a son of Neptune / Poseidon
Jupiter / Zeus (-) was a brother of Neptune / Poseidon
Pegasus (-) was a son of Neptune / Poseidon
References in Documents:
Consolidated catalogue of 1695: The Book of the Vice-Chancellor (MacGregor, ed.) 397 b M. Agrippa L. T. Coss. III. Caput Agrippæ cum corona rostratâ. S.C. Neptunus cum Delphino dextra, Tridente sinistra Ær. Q re to 865 Agrippa. The head of Agrippa in a rostral crown; Neptune with a dolphin in his right hand, a trident in his left.
Consolidated catalogue of 1695: The Book of the Vice-Chancellor (MacGregor, ed.) Neptune and Tethys, riding on a dolphin; in low relief.
MS Book of the dean of Christ Church (MacGregor, ed.) 537 Cama ex Rubicello vel Amethysto albo, in quo Neptunus in concha et tridentem dextra gerens. Camaauro munita. 497 Cameo of ruby or white amethyst, in which Neptune rides on a shell and holds a trident in his right hand. The cameo is mounted in gold. MacGregor 1983, no. 152.
18th-c coin catalogue (Canterbury Cathedral Lit MS E 16d)
No. 32 Head perhaps of Neptune Reverse a Trident between two Dolphins Bargrave pw : g 4 : 4½
18th-c coin catalogue (Canterbury Cathedral Lit MS E 16d)
No 55 Head of Neptune By the side of it NEPTVN. Reverse a Præteriac Ship under sail Q. NASIDIVS Bargrave 4 : 10 ¼
18th-c coin catalogue (Canterbury Cathedral Lit MS E 16d)
No. 61 Head of Agrippa.   put.68 73 M AGRIPPA L.F COS III. Reverse A Neptune standing (Occo says) a Dolphin in his right Hand His Trident in his Left. S. C. Bargrave 6 : 6¼
Grew, Musaeum Regalis (1685)

The SHIPHALTER. Echeneis. Remora. Johnston hath given an indifferent figure of it. But I meet with no tolerable Description any where.

'Tis about ¼ of a yard long. His Body before, three inches and ½ over; thence tapering to the Tail-end. His Mouth two inches and ½ over. His Chaps ending somewhat angularly. The nether a little broader, and produced forward near an inch more than the upper. His Lips rough with a great number of little prickles. His Eyes round, ¼ of an inch over, an inch behind his Mouth.

His Head squat, adorned with a kind of Oval Coronet, somewhat Concave, five inches and ½ long, above two broad, cut traversly with three and twenty Incisions or long Apertures, making so many distinct Membranes, with rough edges, joyned altogether with a Ligament running through the middle of the Coronet, and perforated on each side the Ligament.

The Gills wind from an inch and ½ behind the Eyes down to the Throat. The Fins seven. The Gill-Fins above four inches long; The Breast-Fins as long. About a ¼ of a yard behind the Coronet a fifth extended on the Back above ¼ of a yard. A sixth like it on the Belly. The Tail-end, like a Spear, a little compressed. The Tail-Fin three inches and ½ long. The Anus open about the middle of the Fish. His Skin is (now) brown, smooth, and tough, or like tan'd Leather.

Perhaps the same Fish, which Ligon (a) (a) Hist. of Barbadoes. saith, always swims along with the Shark, and frequently sticks to some part about his Head. At least, it is very probable, that this Fish is able to fasten himself to any great Fish, Boat, or Ship, with the help of the Coronet or Sucker on his Head; which seems to be most fitly contrived for that purpose. In some sort answerable to the Tail of a Leech, whereby she sticks her self fast to the smoothest Glass. Or to those round Leathers, wherewith Boys are us'd to play, called Suckers, one of which, not above an inch and ½ diametre, being well soaked in water, will stick so fast to a Stone, as to pluck one of twelve or fourteen pounds up from the ground.

Of the stupendious power which this Fish is supposed to have, there are many concur in the story; as that he is able to stop a Ship in its career under full Sail: and what not? and great pains is taken to assign the Cause; and to prove, That though the Moon be made of a Green Cheese, yet is not the only Nest of Maggots. Rondeletius alone, in ascribing it to his easily altering the position of the Helm, and so the motion of the Ship, coming near to good sense: especially if he had proved, That the Name of the Fish, and the Story, were not Things much older than the Helm of a Ship.

'Tis plain, that the Tradition had a very early beginning, when little light Boats were the Ships which people us'd. To the side whereof, this Fish fastening her self, might easily make it swag, as the least preponderance on either side will do, and so retard its Course. And the Story once begot upon a Boat, might still, like the Fish it self, stick to it, though turn'd to a Ship. Assigning as great a power to this Neptune in the Sea, as the Poets have done to Apollo the God of Life in the Heavens; who yet appears by the best accounts of him put together, to have been at first no better than a Crafty Mountebank.

Grew, Musaeum Regalis (1685)

ANOTHER, with the same curious Work, but different Phancy. Neptune making towards the Shore, without his Mace, advances and spreads abroad his Arms, in Courtship towards Diana. Who stands on the Shore in her Mantle half naked, and holding forth her Hand in the posture of denial. Between them, two naked Nymphs, one giving aim to the other, shooting a Dart at Neptune to give him a further repulse. And a Cupid flying away over Dianas Head.

Inventarie of the Gabions, in M. George his Cabinet (1638) The Inventarie of the Gabions, in M. George his Cabinet. OFf uncouth formes, and wondrous shapes, Like Peacoks, and like Indian apes, Like Leopards, and beasts spoted, Of clubs curiously knoted, Of wondrous workmanships, and rare, Like Eagles flying in the air, Like Centaurs, Maremaids in the Seas, Like Dolphins, and like honie bees, Some carv'd in timber, some in stone, Of the wonder of Albion; Which this close cabine doth include; Some portends ill, some presage good: What sprite Dædalian hath forth brought them, Yee Gods assist, I thinke yee wrought them, Your influences did conspire This comelie cabine to attire. Neptune gave first his awfull trident, And Pan the hornes gave of a bident, Triton his trumpet of a buckie[*]DOST: The shell of a whelk or other mollusc, Propin'd[*]to offer, as a gift to him, was large and luckie: Mars gave the glistring sword and dagger, Wherewith some time he wont to swagger, Cyclopean armour of Achilles, Fair Venus purtrayed by Apelles, The valiant Hectors weightie spear, Wherewith he fought the Trojan war, The fatall sword and seven fold shield Of Ajax, who could never yeeld: Yea more the great Herculean club Brusde Hydra in the Lernè dub[*]Scots: to consign, condemn. Hote Vulcan with his crooked heele Bestow'd on him a tempred steele, Cyclophes were the brethren Allans, Who swore they swet more then ten gallons In framing it upon their forge, And tempring it for Master George: But Æsculapius taught the lesson How he should us'd in goodly fashion, And bad extinguis't in his ale, When that he thought it pure and stale[*]Scots: chiefly of ale: having stood for a time and become clear, free from lees, ready for drinking With a pugill[*]measurement: a large pinch of polypodium[*]extract of the fern genus: And Ceres brought a manufodium[*]Parkinson: a nonce formation, perhaps macaronic (manu, ‘by hand’ + fodium, ‘food’? ‘dug up’?); bread is conventionally the gift of Ceres (Ovid, Met. 11.145, 13.639): And will'd him tost it at his fire And of such bread never to tyre; Then Podalirius did conclude That for his melt was soverainge good. Gold hair'd Apollo did bestow His mightie-sounding silver bow, With musick instruments great store, His harp, his cithar[*] OED: Any of various plucked stringed instruments similar in form to, or believed to have derived from, the cithara (citing Adamson), and mandore[*] OED: A large early form of mandolin (citing Adamson), His peircing arrowes and his quiver: But Cupid shot him through the liver And set him all up in à flame, To follow à Peneïan Dame: But being once repudiat Did lurk within this Cabinet, And there with many a sigh and groane, Fierce Cupids wrong he did bemoane, But this deep passion to rebet Venus bestow'd her Amulet, The firie flame for to beare downe, Cold lactuce and pupuleum; And thenceforth will'd the poplar tree To him should consecrated be. With twentie thousand pretious things, Mercurius gave his staffe and wings: And more this Cabine to decore, Of curious staffs he gave fourescore, Of clubs and cudgels contortized: Some plaine worke, others crispe and frized, Like Satyrs, dragons, flying fowles, Like fishes, serpents, cats, and owles, Like winged-horses, strange Chimaeraes, Like Unicorns and fierce Pantheraes, So livelike that a man would doubt, If art or nature brought them out. The monstrous branched great hart-horne, Which on Acteon's front was borne: On which doth hing his velvet knapsca[*]Scots: A kind of close-fitting metal defensive headpiece, a metal skull-cap, commonly worn under a bonnet or other fabric covering (DSL). Parkinson: Writing to his father-in-law Andrew Simson, James Carmichael recalled how, in 1560, as schoolmaster of Perth, Simson led the forces of reform ‘with the reade knapska’ (Wodrow Misc., pages 441–2, qtd in Durkan, 132).. A scimitare cut like an haksaw[*]i.e. hacksaw. OED: A saw with a narrow fine-toothed blade set in a frame, used esp. for cutting metal, citing Adamson, Great bukies[*]DOST: The shell of a whelk or other mollusc, partans[*]DOST: crab, toes of lapstares, Oster shells, ensignes for tapsters, Gadie[*]Gaudy beeds and crystall glasses, Stones, and ornaments for lasses, Garlands made of summer flowres, Propin'd him by his paramoürs, With many other pretious thing, Which all upon its branches hing: So that it doth excell but scorne The wealthie Amalthean horne[*]Amalthea ("tender goddess"), nursed and nurtured Zeus. In some versions she suckled him in the form of a female goat, and in others, she is a nymph who gives Zeus milk from a goat. In both cases, Zeus broke off one of the goat horns, which became the cornucopia, or horn of plenty (Leeming, The Oxford Companion to World Mythology). . This Cabine containes what you wish, No place his ornaments doth misse, For there is such varietie, Looking breeds no sacietie. In one nooke stands Loquhabrian axes[*]DOST: Lochaber-ax(e), n. A variety of long-handled battle-axe, described as having a single elongated blade, appar. originating in the Highland district of Lochaber. , And in another nooke the glaxe[*]glaxe OED, glaik, n., sense 3, ‘A child’s toy or puzzle’, citing W. Gregor’s note on Dunbar’s use of glaiks (65.497): ‘I have seen a toy called ‘the glaykis’ which was composed of several pieces of notched wood fitted into each other in such a manner that they can be separated only in one way.’ is. Heere lyes a book they call the dennet, There lyes the head of old Brown Kennet,[*]A Kennet is a small hunting dog (DOST). Possibly the name of a “defunct” hunting dog, whose head was preserved in some way. Here lyes a turkasse[*]Turkis. Scots: a pair of smith's pincers, and a hammer, There lyes a Greek and Latine Grammer, Heere hings an auncient mantua bannet[*]i.e. bonnet. OED: A hat or cap of a kind traditionally worn by men and boys; esp. a soft, round, brimless cap resembling a beret; a tam-o'-shanter. Now chiefly Scottish., There hings a Robin and a Iannet,[*]DOST cited Adamson but can provide no definition Upon a cord that's strangular A buffet stoole[*]OED: A low stool; a footstool. Now only Scottish and northern dialect. In the 15th cent. described as a three-legged stool sexangular: A foole muting in his owne hand;[*] lines 105-108. Parkinson: The earthy image is dispelled with an allusion to Proverbs 27.22; raising and suppressing interest in bodily functions is characteristic of ‘M. George’, as in the outcomes of his account of a horn-blowing competition, XXI.61–76. Soft, soft my Muse, sound not this sand, What ever matter come athorter[*]Athwart, Touch not I pray the iron morter. His cougs,[*]A wooden vessel made of hooped staves (DOSL) his dishes, and his caps[*]A wooden bowl or dish (DOST)., A Totum,[*]Parkinson: a four-sided disk with a letter transcribed on each side: T totum, A aufer, D depone and N nihil. The disk was spun like a top, the player’s fortune being decided by the letter uppermost when the disk fell’ (DOST). and some bairnes taps[*]A child's spinning-top (DOST, citing Adamson); A gadareilie,[*]Parkinson: not in DOST or OED. Related to gaud, ‘a plaything, toy … a gewgaw’ (OED, gaud, n.2, sense 2)? Or DOST, gade, n1, sense 3, ‘A bar of wood’? See DOST, (rele,) reil(l, n., sense 1b, ‘A reel on to which cord or rope may be wound up in a controlled manner …’; or sense 2, ‘A whirling or turning motion; an action that communicates such motion; a roll or stagger.’ and a whisle, A trumpe, an Abercome mussell,[*]Could be either a mussel or a muzzle (both senses in the DOST) His hats, his hoods, his bels, his bones, His allay bowles, and curling stones, The sacred games to celebrat, Which to the Gods are consecrat. And more, this cabine to adorne, Diana gave her hunting horne, And that there should be no defect, God Momus gift did not inlake[*]inlaik, v. to be deficient; to come or run short; to be wanting or missing (DOST): Only * * *,[*]Parkinson: possibly Eris, giver of the golden apple of discord that led to the Judgement of Paris and hence the Trojan War was to blame Who would bestow nothing for shame; This Cabine was so cram'd with store She could not enter at the doore. This prettie want for to supplie A privie parlour,[*]An apartment in a monastery set aside for conversation (DOST) stands neere by In which there is in order plac't Phœbus with the nine Muses grac't, In compasse, siting like a crown. This is the place of great renown: Heere all good learning is inschrynd, And all grave wisedome is confin'd, Clio with stories ancient times, Melpomené with Tragick lines, Wanton Thalia's comedies, Euterpe's sweetest harmonies, Terpsichore's heart-moving cithar, Lovely Erato's numbring meeter, Caliope's heroick songs, Vranias heavenly motions; Polymnia in various musick Paints all with flowres of Rhetorick, Amidst sits Phœbus laureat, Crown'd with the whole Pierian State. Here's Galene and Hippocrates, Divine Plato and Socrates, Th' Arabian skill and exccellence, The Greek and Romane eloquence, With manie worthie worke and storie Within this place inaccessorie. These models, in this Cabine plac'd, Are with the world's whole wonders grac'd: What curious art or nature framd, What monster hath beene taught or tamd, What Polycletus in his time, What Archimedes rich ingine, Who taught the Art of menadrie[*]The sub-discipline of mechanics pertaining to machines that leverage force, such as cranes and pulleys. See Jessica Wolfe, Humanism, Machinery, and Renaissance Literature (CUP, 2004), p. 59. The Syracusan synedrie. What Gods or mortals did forth bring It in this cabinet doth hing, Whose famous relicts are all flowr'd, And all with precious pouldar stowr'd: And richly deckt with curious hingers, Wrought by Arachne's nimble fingers. This is his store-house and his treasure, This is his Paradise of pleasure, This is the Arcenall of Gods, Of all the world this is the oddes: This is the place Apollo chuses, This is the residence of Muses: And to conclude all this in one, This is the Romaine Pantheon.
Inventarie of the Gabions, in M. George his Cabinet (1638) Then did we talk of citie toiles and cares, Thrice happie counting him shuns these affaires, And with us have delight these fields to haunt Some pastorall or sonnet sweet to chant. 66 And view from far th'ambitions of this age, Turning the helmes of states, and in their rage Make shipwrake of the same on shelfs and sands, Running be lawles lawes and hard commands, And often drown themselves in flouds of woes, As many shipwraks of this kinde well showes. We passe our time upon the forked mountain, And drink the cristall waters of the fountain. Dig'd by the winged horse; we sing the trees The cornes, and flocks, and labours of the bees; Of sheepheard lads, and lasses homelie love, And some time straine our oaten pipe above That mean: we sing of Hero and Leander Yea Mars, all cled in steel; and Alexander. But Cynthius us pulling by the ear Did warning give, to keep a lower air, But keep what air we will, who can well say That he himself preserve from shipwrake may? In stormie seas, while as the ship doth reele Of publick state, the meanest boy may feele Shipwrack, as well as he the helme who guides, When seas do rage with winds and contrare tides. Which: ah too true I found, upon an ore He speaketh of Gowries conspiracie. Not long ago, while as I swim'd to shore, Witnesse my drenshed cloaths, as you did see, Which I to Neptune gave in votarie And signe of safetie. Answered Master Gall, Monsier, your table hung on Neptunes wall Did all your losse so livelie point to me, That I did mourne, poore soul, when I did see. 67 But you may know in stormes, thus goeth the mater, No fish doth sip in troubled seas clean water. Courage therefore, that cloud is overgone, Therefore as we were wont, let us sing on. For in this morning sounded in mine ear The sweetest musick ever I did hear In all my life, good Master Gall, quod I You to awake, I sung so merrielie. Monsier, quoth he, I pray thee ease my spleane, And let me heare that Musick once againe. With Hay the day now dawnes, then up I got, And did advance my voice to Elaes note, I did so sweetlie flat and sharply sing, While I made all the rocks with Echoes ring.
Thoresby, Musaeum Thoresbyanum (1713) NEPTUNENeptune upon the Hippocapmus, with a Trident in one Hand, and a Dolphin in the other, resting upon the Head of the Sea-Horse, whose Fore-part and Legs are of a dark Colour, the hinder Parts and Tail blewish, and scaled like a Fish: The Body of the Deity is of a tawny Carnation, the Head is unhappily wanting, only the Tassels of the Beard extend to the Breast. It is of Earthen Ware, and very well performed, about ten Inches high to the Shoulders, and the rest proportionable. Tis different from all the modern Sorts of Earthen Ware that I have observed, which hath made the Description more particular, to know whether the Criticks will allow it to be of Roman Antiquity; in which Times we are told they had Images of their Gods, not only of Silver, Brass and Stone, but Earthen Ware. I should not have been so pendulous if I was certain that it was found at Aldburgh, (from whence my Father had many Roman Curiosities transmitted by Mr. Gilbert the Vicar) but being then very young, I cannot be positive.