330 ANATID^, 



before bis accession to tbe tbrone used tbe silver swan ; 

 afterwards tbe fire-beacon appears to bave been bis cogni- 

 sance. Over bis tomb in Westminster Abbey is a represen- 

 tation of an antelope and a swan, cbained to a beacon. — 

 Montagues Heraldry. 



In tbe twenty-second year of tbe reign of Edward IV. 

 (1483), it was ordered tbat no person, except tbe king's 

 sons, sbould bave a swan-mark, or 'game' of swans, unless be 

 possessed a freebold of tbe clear yearly value of five marks. 



Sometimes, tbougb rarely, tbe crown, instead of granting 

 a swan-mark, conferred tbe greater privilege of enjoying 

 tbe prerogative rigbt (witbin a certain district) of seizing 

 Wbite Swans not marked. Tbus tbe Abbot of Abbotsbury, 

 in Dorsetsbire, bad a ' game ' of swans in tbe estuary formed 

 by tbe Isle of Portland and tbe Cbesil Bank. 



In tbe eleventh year of tbe reign of Henry VII. (1496), 

 it was ordered tbat stealing or taking a Swan's egg sbould 

 bave a year's imprisonment, and make fine at tbe king's 

 will. Stealing, setting nets or snares for, or driving Grey 

 or Wbite Swans, was punisbed still more severely. 



Tbe king bad formerly a swanberd {Magister deductus 

 cygnorum), not only on tbe Thames, but in several otber 

 parts of tbe kingdom. We find persons exercising tbe office 

 of " Master of tbe King's Swans," sometimes called tbe 

 swansbip, witbin tbe counties of Huntingdon, Cambridge, 

 Northampton, and Lincoln. Richard Cecil, the father of 

 Lord Burleigh, was bailifi" of Whittlesey Mere, and had tbe 

 custody of the Swans in the time of Henry VIII. Anciently 

 the crown had an extensive swannery annexed to the royal 

 palace Or manor of Clarendon in Wiltshire. It bad also a 

 swannery in the Isle of Purbeck. 



In the ' Archseologia,' published by the Society of Anti- 

 quaries of London, vol. xvi. 1812, ordinances respecting 

 Swans on the river Witham, Lincolnshire, together with an 

 original roll of ninety-seven swan-marks appertaining to the 

 proprietors on the said stream, were communicated by the 

 late Sir Joseph Banks. A true copy of the Parchment Roll 

 being too long, only the following particulars are here inserted. 



