Robert Herrick. Twelfth-Night : or, King and Queen.

TWELFTH NIGHT :  OR, KING AND QUEEN.
by Robert Herrick

      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 queen here.

      Next crown a 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 from hence
      As free from offence
As when ye innocent met here.

Source:
Herrick, Robert. Works of Robert Herrick. vol II.
Alfred Pollard, ed.
London, Lawrence & Bullen, 1891. 145-146.

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