"At the banquet held on this occasion, he vowed before God and the swans, which according to usage were placed on the table, to punish the Scottish rebels."—Keightley's History of England, vol. i. p. 249. ed. 1839.
What authority is there for this statement respecting the swans? What was the origin and significance of the usage to which allusion is here made?
R. V.
Winchester.
Automachia.—I am the possessor of a little book, some 2½ inches long by 1½ wide, bound in green velvet, entitled Automachia, or the Self-conflict of a Christian, and dedicated
"To the most noble, vertuous, and learned lady, the Lady Mary Nevil, one of the daughters of the Right Honourable the Earl of Dorcet, Lord High Treasurer of England."
The book commences with an anagram on the lady's name:
"Add but an A to Romanize your name
Another Pallas is your anagram,
Videlicet