racter. While the company sat
round the yule-log blazing on the hearth, eating mince-pies, or plum
porridge, and quaffing a bowl of well-spiced elder wine, the mummers
would enter, decked out in ribands and strange dresses, execute
their strange antics, and perform their curious play. So the wintry
days passed until Twelfth Night, with its pleasing associations and
mirthful customs.

Twelfth Night was a very popular festival, when honour was done to
the memory of the Three Wise Men from the East, who were called the
Three Kings. The election of kings and queens by beans was a very
ancient custom. The farmer invited his friends and labourers to
supper, and a huge plumcake was brought in, containing a bean and a
pea. The man who received the piece of cake containing the bean was
called the King of the Bean, and received the honour of the company;
and the pea conferred a like privilege on the lady who drew the
favoured lot. The rest of the visitors assumed the rank of ministers
of state or maids of honour. The festival was generally held in a
large barn decorated with evergreens, and a large bough of mistletoe
was not forgotten, which was often the source of much merriment.
When the ceremony began, some one repeated the lines--

"Now, now the mirth comes
With the cake full of plums,
When Bean is King of the Sport here.
Beside, you must know,
The Pea also
Must revel as Queen of the Court here."

Then the cake was cut and distributed amid much laughter and merry
shouts. The holders of the bean and pea were hailed as king and
queen for the night, the band struck up some time-honoured melody,
and a country dance followed which was ever carried on with much
spirit. The king exercised his royal prerogative by choosing
partners for the women, and the queen performed a like office for
the men; and so they merrily played their parts till the hours grew
late.

But the holidays were nearly over, and the time for resuming work
had arrived. However, neither the women nor the men seemed to be in
any hurry to begin. The day after Twelfth Day was humorously called
St. Distaft's[3] Day, which was devoted to "partly work and partly
play." Herrick, the recorder of many social customs, tells us that
the ploughmen used to set on fire the flax which the maids used for
spinning, and received pails of water on their heads for their
mischief. The following Monday was called Plough Monday, when the
labo