I02 Charles G. Osgood, 



(2) Another poem of this class, pubHshed in 1545, forty-five 

 years earHer than the Tivo Swans, is the so-called Cygnca Cantio, 

 in Latin hendecasyllabics, by Leland. It is confessedly an anti- 

 quarian work, of 699 lines, with a full commentary by the author, 

 all reprinted in Hearne's Leland, vol. 9, pp. 1-108. 



In his dedicatory address to Henry VIII, Leland explains that 

 this is his swan-song" to the Muses before turning to more serious 

 antiquarian studies. He then cites a multitude of Latin authors 

 in verse and prose to support the tradition of the swan-song. 

 The swan whose song constitutes the poem lives in the island of 

 the divided Isis at Oxford. It tells how it was seized with a 

 desire of roving, and, summoning other swans, chose twelve 

 companions, made a farewell speech, and proceeded on its way. 

 reviewing the beauties and antiquities of various sites down 

 along the Thames — Reading, Windsor, Eton, Richmond, Kew, 

 London, Greenwich, and Deptford. Then, from speaking" of 

 England's ships and prowess by sea, it begins a eulogy of Henry 

 VIII, and a review of his works and exploits, which occupy the 

 rest of the poem. At the end, the swan bids its mates farewell, 

 in preparation for its journey to heaven. 



(3) The third poem of the group, already mentioned on p. 

 71, is incomplete, but available in sufficient length for the pres- 

 ent purpose. It is written in Latin hexameters, of which some 

 93 verses survive in Camden's Britannia, quoted in fragments at 

 various points.^*' Camden calls it De Connubio Tamis et Isis^ 

 and is himself probably the author of it."' It describes the wed- 

 ding- of the bride, Thame, to the groom, Isis. 



*" 1610, Oxfordshire, p. 373, 6]A lines ; pp. 384-5, 61 lines ; Middlesex,, 

 p. 419, 7 lines ; Surrey, p. 298, two passages of 95^ and 9 lines. I give 

 these in what appears to have been their order in the complete poem. 



*" Upton, in his note on F. Q. IV. iii. 3 (quoted in Todd's Si'ciiscr 5. 

 431), says confidently: 'When Camden was a young man he wrote Tlic 

 Bridale of the Isis and Tame'. This is but a guess of Upton's, though 

 probably a correct one. Camden frequently quotes verses, and is usually 

 explicit concerning the author. In this case he mentions no author, but 

 says : 'Poeticam vero f ontis descriptionem, ex Tamei et Isis Conubio 

 subjunxi, quam sive admittas, sive omittas, minimi refert' (1590, Oxford- 

 shire, p. 282). On page 285 he again mentions the marriage, 'de quo 

 quidam non ita pridem cecinit'. This probably amounts to a pleasant 

 acknowledgment of authorship. The Life prefixed to Cough's edition 

 of the Britannia, 1806, and based on Smith's account, enumerates Camden's 



