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CHAPTER VII 



IT is recorded of King Edward the First of 

 England that on a certain solemn occasion 

 in the year 1304, his investiture as a knight, 

 two swans decorated with gold nets were 

 brought in, and he thereupon swore an oath 

 to the God of Heaven on these swans. The 

 heathen origin of this oath is plain enough; 

 it is like the oath on the king's peacock or 



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