Twelfth Night: Or, King And Queen
Now, now the mirth comes
With the cake full of plums,
Where bean's the king of
the sport here;
Beside we must know,
The pea also
Must revel, as queen, in the court here.
Begin then to choose,
This night as ye use,
Who shall for the present delight here,
Be a king by the lot,
And who shall not
Be Twelfth-day queen for the night here.
Which known, let us make
Joy-sops with the cake;
And let not a man then be seen here,
Who unurg'd will not drink
To the base from the brink
A health to
the king and the queen here.
Next crown the
bowl full
With gentle lamb's
wool:
Add sugar,
nutmeg, and ginger,
With store of ale too;
And thus ye must do
To make the wassail a swinger.
Give then to the king
And queen wassailing:
And though with ale ye be whet here,
Yet part ye from hence,
As free from offence
As when ye innocent met here.
- 1648
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| “Lord of Misrule” - David Teniers the Younger |
The custom of choosing Twelfth Night “royalty” is described in Herrick's poem. The king and queen are those who find a bean (the king) and a pea (the queen) in a plum cake; thus the revelers have their king and queen. Twelfth Night, or Epiphany Eve, is celebrated the twelfth night after Christmas.
Tonight, January 6, is Epiphany, or Three Kings Night, which is celebrated with children opening presents.
