ary, painted with variegated colours, glitter by excess of light" from mirrors against the walls festooned with artificial "wonders of Flora." This "paradise of dainty devices," is crowded by successive and successful desirers of the seasonable delicacies, while alternate tapping of hammers and peals of laughter, from the throng surrounding the house, excite smiles from the inmates.

The cause of these sounds may be inferred from something like this passing outside.

Constable. Make way, make way! Clear the way! You boys stand aside! Countryman. What is all this; Is any body ill in the shop?

Ist Boy. Nobody, sir; it's only Twelfth day!

2d Boy. This is a pastrycook's, sir; look at the window! There they stand! What cakes!

3d Boy. What pretty ones these are! 4th Boy. Only see that! 5th Boy. Why it's as large as the hindwheel of a coach, and how thick!

6th Boy. Ah! it's too big to come out at the door, unless they roll it out.

7th Boy. What elegant figures, and what lots of sweetmeats!

8th Boy. See the flowers; they look almost like real ones.

Countryman. What a crowd inside! 9th Boy. How the people of the house are packing up all the good things! Countryman. What a beautiful lady that is behind the counter!

10th Boy. Which?

Countryman. Why the young one! 10th Boy. What her? oh, she's the pastrycook's daughter, and the other's her mother.

Countryman. No, no; not her; I mean her, there.

10th Boy. Oh, her; she's the shopwoman; all the pastrycooks always try to get handsome ladies to serve in the shop!

11th Boy. I say, I say! halloo! here's a piece of work! Look at this gentlemannext to me his coat-tail's nailed to the window! Look, look!

Countryman. Aye, what?

All the boys. Ah! ah! ah! Huzza. Countryman. Who nailed my coat-tail? Constable!

12th Boy. That's the boy that's got the hammer!

2d Boy. What me? why that's the boy-there; and there's another boy ham

mering! and there's a man with a hammer!

1st Boy. Who pinned that woman to the gentleman! Why there's a dozen pinned together.

Countryman. Constable ! constable! 2nd Boy. Here comes the constable. Hark at him!

Let

Const. Clear away from the doors! Let the customers go in! Make way! Go back, boy! the cakes come out! 13th Boy. If you please, Mr. Constable, I'm going to buy a cake! Const. Go forward, then!

Man with cakes. By your leave! by your leave.

Const. Clear the way!

All the Boys. Huzza! huzza! More people pinned - and plenty nailed up!

To explain, to those who may be ignorant of the practice. On Twelfthnight in London, boys assemble round the inviting shops of the pastry cooks, and dexterously nail the coat-tails of spectators, who venture near enough, to the bottoms of the window frames; or pin them together strongly by their clothes. Sometimes eight or ten persons find themselves thus connected. The dexterity and force of the nail driving is so quick and sure, that a single blow seldom fails of Withdoing the business effectually. drawal of the nail without a proper instrument is out of the question; and, consequently, the person nailed must either leave part of his coat, as a cognizance of his attachment, or quit the spot with a hole in it. At every nailing and pinning shouts of laughter arise from the perpetrators and the spectators. Yet it often happens to one who turns and smiles at the duress of another, that he also finds himself nailed. Efforts at extrication increase mirth, nor is the presence of a constable, who is usually employed to attend and preserve free "ingress, egress, and regress," sufficiently awful to deter the offenders.

Scarcely a shop in London that offers a halfpenny plain bun to the purchase of a hungry boy, is without Twelfth-cakes and finery in the windows on Twelfth-day. The gingerbread-bakers-there are not many, compared with their number when the writer was a consumer of their manufactured goods,-even the reduced gingerbread-bakers periwig a few plum-buns with sugar-frost to-day, and coaxingly interpolate them among their new made

25

sixes, bath-cakes, parliament, and ladies' fingers. Their staple-ware has leaves of untarnished dutch-gilt stuck on; their upright cylinder-shaped show-glasses, con taining peppermint-drops, elecampane, sugar-sticks, hard-bake, brandy-balls, and bulls'-eyes, are carefully polished; their lolly-pops are fresh encased, and look as white as the stems of tobacco-pipes; and their candlesticks are ornamented with fillets and bosses of writing paper; or, if the candles rise from the bottom of inverted glass cones, they shine more sparkling for the thorough cleaning of their receivers in the morning.

How to eat Twelfth-cake requires no recipe; but how to provide it, and draw the characters, on the authority of Rachel Revel's "Winter Evening Pastimes," may be acceptable. First, buy your cake. Then, before your visitors arrive, buy your characters, each of which should have a pleasant verse beneath. Next look at your invitation list, and count the num ber of ladies you expect; and afterwards the number of gentlemen. Then, take as many female characters as you have invited ladies; fold them up, exactly of the

same size, and number each on the back; taking care to make the king No. 1, and the queen No. 2. Then prepare and number the gentlemen's characters. Cause tea and coffee to be handed to your visitors as they drop in. When all are assembled and tea over, put as many ladies characters in a reticule as there are ladies present; next put the gentlemen's characters in a hat. Then call on a gentleman to carry the reticule to the ladies as they sit, from which each lady is to draw one ticket, and to preserve it unopened. Select a lady to bear the hat to the gentlemen for the same purpose. There will be one ticket left in the reticule, and another in the hat, which the lady and gentleman who carried each is to interchange, as having fallen to each. Next, arrange your visitors according to their numbers; the king No. 1, the queen No. 2, and so on. The king is then to recite the verse on his ticket; then the queen the verse on hers; and so the characters are to proceed in numerical order. This done, let the cake and refreshments go round, and hey! for merriment!

nance of character is essential to the drawing. Within the personal observation of the writer of these sheets, character has never been preserved. It must be admitted, however, that the Twelfth-night characters sold by the pastrycooks, are either commonplace or gross-when genteel they are inane; when humorous, they are vulgar.

Twelfth-day is now only commemorated by the custom of choosing king and queen. "I went," says a correspondent in the Universal Magazine for1774," to a friend's house in the country to partake of some of those innocent pleasures that constitute a merry Christmas. I did not return till I had been present at drawing king and queen, and eaten a slice of the Twelfthcake, made by the fair hands of my good Young folks anticipate Twelfth-night friend's consort. After tea yesterday, a as a full source of innocent glee to their noble cake was produced, and two bowls, light little hearts. Where, and what is containing the fortunate chances for the he who would negative hopes of happidifferent sexes. Our host filled up the ness for a few short hours in the daytickets; the whole company, except the spring of life? A gentle spirit in the king and queen, were to be ministers of London Magazine beautifully sketches a state, maids of honour, or ladies of the scene of juvenile enjoyment this evening: bed-chamber. Our kind host and hostess, "I love to see an acre of cake spread out whether by design or accident, became -the sweet frost covering the rich earth king and queen. According to Twelfth below---studded all over with glittering day law, each party is to support their flowers, like ice-plants, and red and green character till midnight." The mainte- knots of sweetmeat, and hollow yellow

erusted crowns, and kings and queens, and their paraphernalia. I delight to see score of happy children sitting huddled all round the dainty fare, eyeing the cake and each other, with faces sunny enough to thaw the white snow. I like to see the gazing silence which is kept so religiously while the large knife goes its round, and the glistening eyes which feed beforehand on the huge slices, dark with citron and plums, and heavy as gold. And then, when the "Characters" are drawn, is it nothing to watch the peeping delight which escapes from their little eyes? One is proud, as king; another stately, as queen; then there are two whispering grotesque secrets which they cannot contain (those are sir Gregory Goose and sir Tunbelly Clumsy.) The boys laugh out at their own misfortunes; but the little girls (almost ashamed of their prizes) rit blushing and silent. It is not until the lady of the house goes round, that some of the more extravagant fictions are revealed. And then, what a roar of mirth! Ha, ha! The ceiling shakes, and the air is torn. They bound from their seats like kids, and insist on seing Miss Thompson's card. Ah! what merry spite is proclaimed-what ostentatious pity! The little girl is almost in tears; but the large lump of allotted cake is placed seasonably in her hands, and the glass of sweet wine all round' drowns the shrill urchin laughter, and a gentler delight prevails." Does not this make a charming picture?

them, go round to the female part of tre society in succession, and what one puts into the uppermost bowl the attendant collectress slips into the bowl beneath it. All are expected to contribute something, but not more than a shilling, and they are best esteemed who give in.ost. The men choose two from themselves, and follow the same custom, except that as the gentlemen are not supposed to be altogether so fair in their dealings as the ladies, one of the collectors is furnished with pen, ink, and paper, to set down the subscriptions as soon as received.

If a satirical prophecy in " Vox Graculi," 4to. 1623, may be relied on as authority, it bears testimony to the popularity of Twelfth-night at that period. On the 6th of January the author declares, that "this day, about the houres of 5, 6. 7, 8, 9, and 10, yea, in some places till midnight well nigh, will be such a massacre of spice-bread, that, ere the next day at noon, a two-penny browne loafe wili set twenty poore folkes teeth on edge. Which hungry humour will hold so violent, that a number of good fellowes will not refuse to give a statute-marchant of all the lands and goods they enjoy, for half-a-crown's worth of two-penny pasties." He further affirms, that there will be "on this night much masking in the Strand, Cheapside, Holbourne, or Fleetstreet."

"The twelve days of Christmas," as the extent of its holidays, were proverbial; but among labourers, in some parts, the Christmas festivities did not end till Candlemas. Old Tusser, in his "Five Hundred Points of good Husbandry," would have the merriments end in six days; he begins January with this advice to the countryman:

When Christmas is ended,

bid feasting adue, Goe play the good husband, thy stock to renue. Be mindful of rearing,

in hope of a gaine, Dame Profit shall give thee

There is some difficulty in collecting accounts of the manner wherein Twelfthnight is celebrated in the country. In "Time's Telescope," an useful and entertaining annual volume, there is a short reference to the usage in Cumberland, and other northern parts of England. It seems that on Twelfth-night, which finishes their Christmas holidays, the rustics meet in a large room. They begin dancing at seven o'clock, and finish at twelve, when they sit down to lobscouse, and ponsondie; the former is made of beef, potatoes, and onions fried together; and in ponsondie we recognise the wassail or waes-hael of ale, boiled with sugar and nutmeg, into which are put roasted apples, the anciently admired lambs'-wool. The feast is paid for by subscription: two women From Naogeorgus, in "The Popish are chosen, who with two wooden bowls Kingdome," a poem before quoted, and placed one within the other, so as to which will be frequently referred to for leave an opening and a space between its lore regarding our ancient customs, it

reward for thy paine.

This was the recommendation of prudence tempered by kindness; a desire for diligence in the husbandman, with an allowance of reasonable pastime to sweeten his labour.

CALL

were persons in the family, and each had bis share Portions of it were also assigned to Christ, the Virgin, and the three Magi, and were given in alms.

On Twelfth-day the people of Germaby and the students of its academies chose a king with great ceremony and sumptuous feastings

In France, the Twelfth-cake is plain, with a bean; the drawer of the slice containing the bean is king or queen. All drink to her or his majesty, who reigns, and receives homage from all, during the evening. There is no other drawing, and consequently the sovereign is the In Noronly distinguished character. mandy they place a child under the table, which is so covered with a cloth that he cannot see; and when the cake is divided, one of the company taking up the first piece, cries out, "Fabe Domini pour qui?" The child answers, "Pour le bon Dieu :" and in this manner the pieces are allotted to the company. If the bean be found in the piece for the "bon Dieu," the king is chosen by drawing long or short straws. Whoever gets the bean chooses the king or queen, according as it happens to be a man or woman. According to Brand, under the old order of things, the Epiphany was kept at the French court by one of the courtiers being chosen king, and the other nobles attended an entertainment On the occasion; but, in 1792, during the revolution, La Fête de Rois was abolished; Twelfth-day was ordered to be called La Fête de Sans-Culottes; the old feast was declared anti-civic; and any priest keeping it was deemed a royalist. The Literary Pocket Book affirms, that at La Fête de Rois the French monarch and his nobles waited on the Twelfth night king, and that the custom was not revived on the return of the Bourbons, but that instead of it the royal family washed the feet of some people and gave them alms.

There is a difference of opinion as to the origin of Twelfth-day. Brand says, "that though its customs vary in different countries, yet they concur in the same end, that is, to do honour to the Eastern Magi." He afterwards observes, "that the practice of choosing 'king,' on Twelfth-day, is similar to a custom that existed among the ancient Greeks and Romans, who, on the festival days of Saturn, about this season of the year,

drew lots for kingdom and like kings
exercised their temporary authority." In-
deed, it appears, that the question is
almost at rest. Mr. Fosbroke affirms that
"the king of Saturnalia was elected by
beans, and that from thence came out
king and queen on this day." The coinci
dence of the election by beans having
been cominon to both customs, leaves
scarcely the possibility of doubt that
ours is a continuation of the heathen
practice under another name. Yet "
of the observances on this day are the
remains of Druidical, and other supersti-
tious ceremonies." On these points, f
Mr. Fosbroke's Dictionary of Antiquities
be consulted by the curious inquirer, he
will there find the authorities, and be in
other respects gratified.

some

The Epiphany is called Twelfth-day, because it falls on the twelfth day after Christmas-day. Epiphany signifies manifestation, and is applied to this day because it is the day whereon Christ was manifested to the Gentiles. Bourne in his Vulgar Antiquities, which is the substructure of Brand's Popular Antiquities, remarks that this is the greatest of the twelve holidays, and is therefore more jovially observed, by the visiting of friends and Christmas gambols, than any other.

Finally, on observances of this festival not connected with the Twelfth-night It is a custom in king and queen. many parishes in Gloucestershire on this day to light up twelve small fires and one large one; this is mentioned by Brand: and Mr. Fosbroke relates, that in some countries twelve fires of straw are made in the fields "to burn the old witch," and that the people sing, drink, He takes and dance around it, and practise other ceremonies in continuance. "the old witch" to be the Druidical God of Death. It is stated by sir Henry Piers, in genl. Vallancey's "Collectanea," that, at Westmeath," on Twelve-eve in Christmas, they use to set up as high as they can a sieve of oats, and in it a dozen of candles set round, and in the centre one larger, all lighted; this in memory of our saviour and his apostles, lights of the world." Sir Henry's inference may reasonably be doubted; the custom is probably of higher antiquity than he seems to have suspected.

A very singular merriment in the Isle of Man is mentioned by Waldron, in his He says, that history of that place. "during the whole twelve days of Christ.