Chapter King Franconi to King's Cave of K by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

King of Misrule Sometimes called LORD, and sometimes ABBOT, etc. At Oxford and Cambridge one of the Masters of Arts superintended both the Christmas and Candlemas sports, for which he was allowed a fee of 40s. These diversions continued till the Reformation. Polydore Vergil says of the feast of Misrule that it was “derived from the Roman Saturnalia,” held in December for five days (17th to 22nd). The Feast of Misrule lasted twelve days.

“If we compare our Bacchanalian Christmases and New Year-tides with these Saturnalia and Feasts of Janus, we shall finde such near affinitye between them both in regard of time ... and in their manner of solemnising ... that wee must needs conclude the one to be the very ape or issue of the other.”- Prynne: Histrio- Mastix.

King of Painters A title assumed by Parrhasios, the painter, a contemporary of Zeuxis. Plutarch says he wore a purple robe and a golden crown. (Flourished 400 B.C.)

King of Preachers Louis Bourdaloue, a French clergyman (1632-1704).

King of Rome A title conferred by Napoleon I. on his son on the day of his birth. More generally called the Duke of Reichstadt (1811-1832).

King of Shreds and Patches In the old mysteries Vice used to be dressed as a mimic king in a parti- coloured suit. (Shakespeare: Hamlet, iii. 4.) The phrase is metaphorically applied to certain literary operatives who compile books for publishers, but supply no originality of thought or matter.

King of Spain's Trumpeter (The). A donkey. A pun on the word don, a Spanish magnate.

King of Terrors Death.

King of Waters The river Amazon, in South America.

King of Yvetot (pron. Ev-to). A man of mighty pretensions but small merits. Yvetot is near Rouen, and was once a seigneurie, the possessors of which were entitled kings- a title given them in 534 by Clotaire I., and continued far into the fourteenth century.

“Il était un roi d'Yvetot,
Peu connu dans l'histoire;
Se levant tard, se couchant tot,
Dormant fort bien sans gloire;
Et couronne par Jeanneton
D'un simple bonnet de cotton,
Dit on:
Oh! oh! oh! oh! Ah! ah! ah! ah!
Quel bon petite roi c'était; la! la! la!”

A king there was, `roi d'Yvetot' clept,
But little known in story,
Went soon to bed, till daylight slept,
And soundly without glory;
His royal brow in cotton cap
Would Janet, when he took his nap,
Enwrap.
Oh! oh! oh! oh; Ah! ah! ah! ah!
A famous king he! La! la! la! E. C. B.

King of the Bean (roi de la fève). The Twelfth-night king: so called because he was chosen by distributing slices of Twelfth-cake to the children present, and the child who had the slice with the bean in it was king of the company for the night. This sport was indulged in till the Reformation, even at the two universities.

King of the Beggars or Gipsies. Bamfylde Moore Carew, a noted English vagabond (1693-1770).

King of the Forest The oak, which not only braves the storm, but fosters the growth of tender parasites under its arms.

King of the Herrings (The). The Chimæra, or sea-ape, a cartilaginous fish which accompanies a shoal of herrings in their migrations.

King of the Jungle (The). A tiger.

King of the Peak (The). Sir George Vernon.