end the gamesters’ men have knowledge thereof, that they may attend accordingly. I do think it wold greatly satisffie them yf yo did appointe the same upon Tuesday the 9th of August, for upon that day they will be at the entrance of the rivers, and so praing you to p’don me for my absence at this time I humbly take my leave. R. Mayland.
Hampton Courte, this Mondaie, July, 1593.
Yor poore frend to comande.
No. 9 is the swan-mark of the Bishop of Norwich, to whose kindness I was indebted for many of the particulars I am now relating, and also for this account of the feeding of the young swans for the table.
The town-clerk sends a note from the town-hall to the public swan-herd, the corporation, and others who have swans and swan rights. On the second Monday in August, when the young swans are collected in a small stew, or pond, the number annually varying from fifty to seventy, and many of them belonging to private individuals, they begin to feed immediately, and being provided with as much barley as they can eat, they are usually ready for killing early in November. They vary in weight, some reaching to 28 lbs. They are all cygnets. If kept beyond November they begin to fall off, losing both flesh and fat, and the meat becomes darker in colour and stronger in flavour. A printed copy of these lines is generally sent with each bird:
TO ROAST A SWAN.
Take three pounds of beef, beat fine in a mortar,
Put it into the swan (that is, when you’ve caught her),
Some pepper, salt, mace, some nutmeg, an onion,
Will heighten the flavour in gourmand’s opinion.
Then tie it up tight with a small piece of tape,
That the gravy and other things may not escape.
A meal paste, rather stiff, should be laid on the breast,
And some whited-brown paper should cover the rest,
Fifteen minutes, at least, ere the swan you take down.
Pull the paste off the bird, that the breast may get brown.
In former times the swan was served up at every great feast, and I have occasionally seen a cygnet exposed for sale in a poulterer’s shop in London.
No. 10 is the mark that belongs to Eton College, as they have the privilege of keeping these birds: it represents the armed point and the feathered end of an arrow; this mark is affixed to the door of one of the inner rooms in the College. No. 11 was the mark of the Bishop of Lincoln in old times. Nos. 12 and 13 are the marks belonging to the Dyers’ and Vintners’ Companies in the City of London, as used in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. These two companies have uninterruptedly enjoyed the privilege of keeping swans on the River Thames from London to some miles above Windsor, and they still keep the old custom of going with their friends and acquaintances, accompanied by the royal swan-herdsman and their own swan-herds and assistants, on the first Monday in August, every year, from Lambeth, on what is called their swan voyage, for the purpose of catching and marking all the cygnets of the year, and also renewing any marks on the old birds that may have become obliterated. Mr. Kempe says the struggles of the swans when caught by their pursuers, and the duckings that the men get in the contests, rendered this a diversion much esteemed by our ancestors. The forming of the circles or amulets on the beak, as may be seen in the two ancient marks, caused more severe pain to the bird than making only straight lines; the rings are therefore omitted at the present day, and the lines doubled, as shown in marks 14 and 15, being those now in use for the Dyers’ and Vintners’ Companies. Mr. Kempe appears to discountenance the popular notion that the sign of the Swan with Two Necks had any reference to the two nicks in the swan-mark of this Company (the Vintners’), but the sign has been considered a fair heraldic representation of the term, united as it is with the following considerations, namely: the swan has been for some hundred years identified with the Vintners’ Company and its privileges; that the principal governing officers of the company, for the time being, are a master and three wardens, the junior warden of the year bearing the title of the swan-warden; that models of swans form conspicuous ornaments in their hall, and that the first proprietor of the well-known inn, the Swan with Two Necks, was a member of this very company. No. 16 is the royal swan-mark of our Most Gracious Queen; this mark has been used through the reigns of George III., George IV., and William IV., down to the present time.
The swan, in its wild state, is found in Europe, Asia, and America; it has seldom been seen in England excepting in some singularly severe winters. As spring approaches they leave the warmer regions where they spend the colder months and go northward for the breeding season. In some parts of America, Hudson’s Bay, &c, they assemble in large numbers; many hundreds have been seen together. The strength of this bird in its wild state is very formidable; the stroke of the wings is so powerful that it protects the bird even from the attacks of the eagle. The tame swan that frequents our English lakes and rivers differs in some few particulars from the wild species, but in outward appearance they are nearly similar. The tame bird is larger. The habits of both species are nearly the same. The beauty, graceful motion, and majesty of this bird, when it is sailing along on the clear transparent surface of some lake or river must attract the admiration of every one. It is curious that on the river Trent they are found without any owner at all, also on an inlet of the sea in Dorsetshire, and on some other rivers. No one claims them, they are unmarked, and so they go on from year to year, no one heeding them in any way whatever. The female swan makes her nest among very rough herbage near the edge of the water. She lays from six to eight beautiful large white eggs, and she sits on them six weeks. Many an hour have I found amusement watching the swans with their broods. The care taken of the young ones by the parent birds is very pleasing to see. Where the stream is very strong, I have often seen the swan sink herself low enough to bring her back on a level with the water, when the cygnets would get on it, and in this manner they were conveyed across the river, or into stiller