So much for a few of the interesting and romantic associations of the river. But it is not thus the holiday crowds regard it. They seek no meaning in place-names, no historical associations in the grand old mansions passed; to them the river is a playground merely, where every yard of a particular backwater is known, where a favourite boatman reserves a special boat or punt, and where crowds of fellow creatures may be sought or shunned as individual fancy prompts. We might paraphrase Wordsworth and say: A place-name on the river's brim, A simple name it was to him, And it was nothing more. One might wander from subject to subject while treating of the Thames, finding in each matter enough for a book, indeed the variety of the subjects rivals in scope that famous conversation which ranged "from sealing-wax to Kings". Romance, history, boating, flowers, regattas, and fish are but a few out of the vast number lying ready for choice, and space is limited. [Illustration: MAIDENHEAD BRIDGE] The Thames swans are a feature to be by no means overlooked. They belong to the Crown, the Vintners' and Dyers' Companies, and so ancient are the rights of the companies in this matter that their origin is lost in the mist of antiquity. The annual stock-taking and marking of the swans gives occasion for a pleasant holiday every year about the middle of July; but though the privileged members of the companies and their friends are no longer conveyed in "gaily decorated barges", they no doubt enjoy their excursion by steam launch just as much. "Swan-hopping", as it is usually called, is really a corruption of "swan-upping", meaning the process of taking up the swans to mark them according to their ownership. The Vintners used to mark their swans with a large V across the mandible, but this custom, having been protested against in the new spirit of tenderness which has swept over the country, they now give two nicks only, one on each side. The well-known tavern sign "The Swan with Two Necks" is really a corruption of this much-used mark of identification, and should be "The Swan with Two Nicks". The King is by far the largest owner, and as he has discontinued the custom of having a number of swans and cygnets taken for the royal table, it is probable that swans will increase on the river very rapidly. The swan has always been a royal bird, and in the time of Edward IV no one was permitted to keep swans unless he had a freehold of at least five marks annually. The order for the regulation of the Thames swans, in which this clause appears, runs to thirty clauses, and is a very quaint document. One sentence is as follows: "It is ordained that every owner that hath any swans shall pay every year ... fourpence to the Master of the Game for his fee, and his dinner and supper free on the Upping Days".