98 



THE WHOOPEE. 



alluded to by Dunbar in his " Prayer that the King war 

 John Thomsoun's Man " : l 



I wald gif all that ever I have 



To that conditioun, sa God me saif , 



That he had vowit to the Swan, 2 



Ane yeir to be Johne Thomsoun's man. 



1 The phrase was proverbial for a person who was ruled by his wife. 



2 " ' That ye had vowit to the Swan.' The stanza containing this line is quoted 

 from the Mait. MS. by Mr. Tyrwhytt in his excellent Glossary to Chaucer, who 

 there adduces a singular instance of this vow from Matthew of Westminster. 

 When Edward I. was setting out on his last expedition to Scotland (1306), a festival 

 was held at which 'allati sunt in pompatica gloria duo cygni, vel olores, ante 

 regem, phalerati retibus aureis, vel fistulis deauratis, desiderabile spectaculum 

 intuentibus. Quibus visis rex votum vovit Deo cceli et cygnis se proficisci in 

 Scotiam.' In the days of chivalry it was customary for the knights to make vows 

 to God over a roasted Swan, Peacock, Heron, or other bird, and these vows were 

 held to be inviolable. The bird was afterwards carried to the table." Sibbald's 

 Chron. of Scot. Poetry, vol. i. p. 323. 



