=Swan.= Fionnuāla, daughter of Lir, was transformed into a swan, and condemned to wander for many hundred years over the lakes and rivers of Ireland, till the introduction of Christianity into that island. 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). =Swan of Padua=, Count Francesco Algarotti (1712-1764). =Swan of the Meander=, Homer, a native of Asia Minor, where the Meander flows (fl. B.C. 950). =Swan of the Thames=, John Taylor, “water-poet” (1580-1654). Taylor, their better Charon, lends an oar, Once Swan of Thames, tho’ now he sings no more. Pope, _The Duncaid_, iii. 19 (1728). =Swane= (1 _syl._) or =Swegen=, surnamed “Fork-Beard,” king of the Danes, joined Alaff or Olaf [Tryggvesson] in an invasion: of England, was acknowledged king, and kept his court at Gainsbury. He commanded the monks of St. Edmund’s Bury, to furnish him a large sum of money, and as it was not forthcoming, went on horseback at the head of his host to destroy the minster, when he was stabbed to death by an unknown hand. The legend is that the murdered St. Edmund rose from his grave and smote him. The Danes landed here again ... With those disordered troops by Alaff hither led, In seconding their Swane ... but an English yet there was ... Who washed his secret knife in Swane’s relentless gore. Drayton, _Polyolbion_, xii. (1613). =Swanston=, a smuggler.--Sir W. Scott, _Redgauntlet_ (time, George III.).