364 THE TAME SWAN. 



royal property, and it is accounted felony to steal their eggs. 

 In the reign of Edward the IV. swans were held in such esti- 

 mation, that "no person who did not possess a freehold of the 

 clear yearly value of five marks" was permitted to keep any. 



Nothing can exceed the beauty and elegance with which the 

 swan rows itself along in the water, throwing itself into the 

 proudest attitudes imaginable before the spectators ; and there 

 is not perhaps in all nature a more lively or striking image of 

 dignity and grace. In the exhibition of its form, we see no 

 broken or harsh lines, no constrained or abrupt motions, but the 

 roundest contour and the easiest transitions imaginable : the eye 

 wanders over every part with pleasure, and every part takes new 

 grace with new postures. 



The swan, with arched neck 

 Between her white wings mantling, proudly rows 

 Her state with oary feet. 



It exhibits, however, but an inelegant appearance on land. 



The swan will swim faster than a man can walk. It is very 

 strong, and at times extremely fierce : it has not unfrequently 

 been known to throw down and trample upon youths of fifteen 

 or sixteen years of age ; and an old swan, we are told, is able to 

 break the leg of a man with a single stroke of its wing. A 

 female, while in the act of sitting, observed a fox swimming 

 towards her from the opposite shore : she instantly darted into 

 the water, and, having kept him at bay for a considerable time 

 with her wings, at last succeeded in drowning him ; after which, 

 in the sight of several persons, she returned in triumph. This 

 circumstance took place at Pensy, in Buckinghamshire. 



Swans are very long-lived, sometimes arriving at the great 

 age of a hundred years. The flesh of the old birds is hard and 

 ill-tasted ; but that of the young, or cygnets, was formerly much 

 esteemed. 



