In England in later times, a large cake was made, with a bean or silver penny inserted, and this was called Twelfth-cake. The family and friends being assembled, the cake was divided by lot, and whoever got the piece containing the bean was accepted as the king for the day, and called King of the Bean. It appears also that there was always a queen as well as a king on Twelfth-Night. A writer, speaking of the celebration in the South of England in 1774, says: “After tea a cake is produced with two bowls containing the fortunate chances for the different sexes. The host fills up the tickets, and the whole company, except the king and queen, are to be ministers of state, maids of honour, or ladies of the bed-chamber. Often the host and hostess, more by design than accident, become king and queen. According to Twelfth Day law, each party is to support his character till midnight.”
In the sixteenth century it would appear that some peculiar ceremonies followed the election of the king and queen. Barnaby Googe, in his paraphrase of the curious poem of Naogeorgus, The Popish Kingdom, 1570, states that the king, on being elected, was raised up with great cries to the ceiling, where with chalk he inscribed crosses on the rafters to protect the house against evil spirits.—Book of Days, 1863, vol. i. p. 62. See also Every Day Book, 1827, vol. i. p. 51.
Herrick, the poet of our festivals, has several allusions to the celebration of this day of our ancestors, as may be seen in the subjoined poem:
“TWELFE-NIGHT, OR KING AND QUEENE.
“Now, now the mirth comes
With the cake full of plums,
Where beane’s the king of the sport here;
Besides, we must know,
The pea also
Must revell, as queene, in the court here.
Begin then to chuse
(This night as ye use)
Who shall for the present delight here,
Be a king be the lot,
And who shall not
Be Twelfe-day queene for the night here.
Which knowne, let us make
Joy-sops with the cake;
And let not a man then be seene here.
Who unurg’d will not drinke,
To the base from the brink,
A health to the king and queene here.
Next crowne the bowle full
With gentle lamb’s-wooll;
Adde sugar, nutmeg, and ginger,
With store of ale too;
And thus ye must doe
To make the wassaile a swinger.
Give them to the king
And queene wassailing;
And though with ale ye be whet here;
Yet part ye from hence,
As free from offence,
As when ye innocent met here.”
In the last century Twelfth Night Cards represented ministers, maids of honour, and other attendants of a court, and the characters were to be supported through the night. John Britton, in his Autobiography tells us “he suggested and wrote a series of Twelfth Night characters, to be printed on cards, placed in a bag, and drawn out at parties on the memorable and merry evening of that ancient festival. They were sold in small packets to pastrycooks, and led the way to a custom which annually grew to an extensive trade. For the second year my pen-and-ink characters were accompanied by prints of the different personages by Cruikshank (father of the inimitable George), all of a comic or ludicrous kind.” Such characters are still printed.—Book of Days, vol. i. p. 64.