Chapter Sutton to Swim of S by Brewer's Readers Handbook

The 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 Dunciad, iii. 19 (1728).

Swan Alley, London. So called from the Beauchamps, who at one time lived there, and whose cognizance is a swan.

Swan-Tower of Cleves. So called because the house of Cleves professed to be descended from the “Knight of the Swan” (q.v.).

Swans and Thunder. It is said that swans cannot hatch without a crack of thunder. Without doubt, thunder is not unfrequent about the time of the year when swans hatch their young.

Swane or Swegen, surnamed “Fork-Beard,” king of the Danes, joins 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 forth-coming, 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 the 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.).

Swaran, king of Lochlin (Denmark), son and successor of Starno. He invaded Ireland in the reign of Cormac II. (a minor), and defeated Cuthullin general of the Irish forces. When Fingal arrived, the tide of battle was reversed, and Swaran surrendered. Fingal, out of love to Agandecca (Swaran’s sister), who once saved his life, dismissed the vanquished king with honour, after having invited him to a feast. Swaran is represented as fierce, proud, and high-spirited; but Fingal as calm, moderate, and generous.—Ossian: Fingal.

Swash — Buckler (A), a riotous, quarelsome person. Nash says to Gabriel Harvey, “Turpe senex miles, ’tis time for such an olde fool to leave playing the swash-buckler” (1598).

Swedenborgians (calling themselves the New Jerusalem Church) are believers in the doctrines taught in the theological writings of Emanuel Swedenborg (1688–1772). The principal points are that Jesus Christ is the only God and contains a Trinity of attributes; salvation is attained by obedience to the Lord’s commandments; the sacred Scripture has a soul or spiritual sense, which exists among the angels, and this has now been revealed; “there is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body,” and man continues to live on without interruption in the spiritual world when he drops his material body at death.

Swedish Nightingale (The), Jenny Lind, the public singer. She married Mr. Goldschmidt, and retired (1821–1886).

Sweedlepipe (Paul), known as “Poll,” barber and bird-fancier; Mrs. Gamp’s landlord. He is a little man, with a shrill voice but a kind heart; in appearance “not unlike the birds he was so fond of.” Mr. Sweedlepipe entertains a profound admiration of Bailey, senior, whom he considers to be a cyclopædia “of all the stable- knowledge of the time.”—Dickens: Martin Chuzzlewit (1844).

Sweepclean (Saunders), a king’s messenger at Knockwinnock Castle.—Sir W. Scott: The Antiquary (time, George III.).

Sweet Singer of Israel (The), David, who wrote some of the Psalms.