time it is felony “to steal, or injure in any way, a young swan.” There are many curious ordinances respecting swans on the river Witham, in the county of Lincolnshire, together with an original roll of ninety-seven swan-marks, which were communicated by Sir Joseph Banks to a work published by the Society of Antiquaries of London. These ordinances were made the 24th of May, 1524, in the fifteenth year of the reign of our sovereign lord King Henry VIII., by the lord Sir Christopher Willuby, Sir E. Dymoke, and others, justices of the peace, and commissioners appointed by our sovereign lord the king, “for the confirmation and preservation of his highness’s game of swans and signets of his stream of Witham, within his county of Lincoln, from a Breges called Boston Breges, unto the head of the same stream.” A full copy of the parchment roll being too long, I shall only quote a few particulars. No persons having swans could appoint a new swan-herd without the licence of the king’s swan-herd. Every swan-herd on the stream was bound to attend upon the king’s swan-herd upon warning, or to suffer fine. The king’s swan-herd was bound, under heavy penalties for disobedience, to keep a book of swan-marks, and no new marks were permitted to interfere with the old ones. The marking of the signets was generally performed in the presence of all the swan-herds on that stream, and on a particular day, of which all had notice. Cygnets received the mark found on the parent bird, but if the old swans had no mark, the whole were seized for the king and marked accordingly. No swan-herd was allowed to affix a mark but in the presence of the king’s swan-herd or his deputy. Formerly, when the swan made her nest on the banks of the river, rather than on the islands, one young bird was given to the owner of the soil who protected the nest, and this was called the ground bird. A money consideration is now given. It is still felony to steal or injure a swan. The swan-mark, called by Sir E. Coke cigni-nota, was cut in the skin, or on the beak of the swan, with a sharp knife or other instrument. These marks consisted of amulets, chevrons, crescents, crosses, initial letters, and other devices, as may be seen in the annexed specimens.
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Nos. 1 and 2 are the marks of Henry VIII., No. 3 that of the Abbey of Swinstead, on the Witham, in Lincolnshire; and it is worthy of remark that the crozier or crook is borne by the divine, the shepherd, the swan-herd, and the goose-herd, as emblematical of a pastoral life and the care of a flock. No. 4 is the mark of Sir E. Dymoke, of Lincolnshire; the descendant of this family still exists, and the Championship of England is hereditary in that house, who hold the Manor of Scrivelsby by that tenure. Nos. 5, 6, and 7, are of the time of Elizabeth; they are taken from the Losely manuscripts; 6 is the mark of Lord W. Howard, Lord High Admiral of England; 7 the mark of Lord Buckhurst, the keys bear reference to his office of Chamberlain of the Household. At the present day the appointment of the royal swan-herds is vested in the Lord Chamberlain for the time being. No. 8 is the mark of Sir W. More, who was appointed by Lord Buckhurst to the office of Master of the Swans for Surrey. One of the conditions of the grant or appointment is as follows:—“But this order must be kept, that the upping or marking of the swans near or within the said branches of the Tems, may be upped all in one day, with the upping of the Tems, which is referred to Mr. Mayland, of Hampton Court, who hath the ordering of the Tems; so if it please you from time to time, send and confer with him.”
The following is a copy of a letter from R. Mayland, the Master of the Swans on the Thames, to Sir William More, as Master of the Swans for Surrey:—
