T. Moore has a poem on this subject in his Irish Melodies, entitled “The Song of Fionnuala” (1814).
Swan (The), called the bird of Apollo or of Orpheus (2 syl.). (See “Swan.”)
Swan (The knight of the), Helias, king of Lyleforte, son of King Oriant and Beatrice. This Beatrice had eight children at a birth, one of which was a daughter. The mother-in-law (Matabrune) stole these children, and changed all of them, except Helias, into swans. Helias spent all his life in quest of his sister and brothers, that he might disenchant them and restore them to their human forms.--Thoms, Early English Prose Romances, iii. (1858).
Eustachius vanit ad Buillon ad domum ducissæ quæ uxor erat militis qui vocabatur “Miles Cygni.”--Reiffenberg, Le Chevalier au Cygne.
Swan (The Mantuan), Virgil, born at Mantua (B.C. 70-19).
Swan (The Order of the). This order was instituted by Frederick II. of Brandenburg, in commemoration of the mythical “Knight of the Swan” (1443).
Swan-Tower, of Cleves. So called because the house of Cleves professed to be descended from the “Knight of the Swan” (q.v.)
Swan of Avon (The Sweet). Shakespeare was so called by Ben Jonson (1564-1616).
Swan of Cambray, Fénelon, archbishop of Cambray (1651-1715).
Swan of Lichfield, Miss Anna Seward, poetess (1747-1809).