MUTE SWAN. 219 



times Master of the Swannes," caused to be printed by 

 John Witherings, Esq., Master and Governour of the Royal 

 Game of Swans throughout England, to whom it is de- 

 dicated by John D'Oyly, from Alborn, in Wiltshire, with 

 the plates of the marks used to distinguish the Swans. 



The marks distinguished by the letters, #, and 5, are 

 those of Charles the First and his Queen. The next, , 

 and ?, are those of Oxford and Cambridge. The city of 

 Oxford has a game of Swans by prescription, though none 

 are now kept. In the sixteenth century, when a state 

 dinner was not complete unless a Swan were included in 

 the bill of fare, this game of Swans was rented upon an 

 engagement to deliver yearly four fat Swans, and to leave 

 six old ones at the end of the term. By the corporation 

 books it also appears that in 1557, barley was provided for 

 the young birds at fourteen pence a bushel, and that tithes 

 were then paid of Swans. I learn also from the Rev. Dr. 

 Thackeray, Provost of King^s College, Cambridge, that the 

 old Munden books of that College contain entries of pay- 

 ments made for feeding Swans. 



But the most curious books on swan-marks that I have 

 as yet seen, were two in the library at Strawberry Hill, 



