Two kinds especially attracted the attention of true connoisseurs of that class of _gourmets_ elect, whose palate is ever testing, and whose sure taste detects and appreciates shades, of almost imperceptible tenuity--first, the bean of Egypt, recommended for its rich, nutritious, and wholesome pulp; this bean was also cultivated in Syria and Cilicia:[VIII-15] and secondly, the Greek bean, which passed at Rome for a most delicious dish.[VIII-16] Certain gastronomists, however, preferred another vegetable of which we are going to speak. Ever since the middle ages the bean has played a very important part in the famous “Twelfth-night cake,” almost all over Europe. The ephemeral royalty it bestowed was often sung by the poets, and consecrated in chronicles. Thomas Randolph informs us that Lady Flemyng was queen of the bean in 1568.[VIII-17] Some days after the Duke of Guise was assassinated by Poltrot. History has its puerilities as well as its great tragedies. The Spaniards had also their Twelfth-night cake. When John, Duke of Braganza, had obtained the crown of Portugal (1640), Philip IV. of Spain informed Count Olivares of the event, and added, as if it were a consolation for the loss of a kingdom, that this new sovereign was nothing more than a “king of the bean.”[VIII-18] Philip was mistaken. These cakes were made in former days nearly in the same manner that we make them now. Sometimes they contained honey, flour, ginger, and pepper. One portion was for God, another for the Holy Virgin, and three others for the Magi; that is to say, they gave all these portions to the poor.[VIII-19] In England the cake was often full of raisins, among which one bean and one pea were introduced. “Cut the cake,” says Melibœus to Nisa; “who hath the beane shal be kinge; and where the peaze is, shal be queene.”[VIII-20] “At the present day the bean is one of the vegetables most cultivated in Egypt and Italy. At Naples, as in Egypt, they are eaten raw when young, and the large ones cooked and grilled in the oven. They are publicly sold already cooked.”--LEMAN. HARICOTS. It is well known that Alexander the Great was fond of travelling, and that he was generally accompanied in his peregrinations by a certain number of soldiers, who occasionally took for him, on his route, cities, provinces, and sometimes kingdoms. It happened, one day, that as the Macedonian prince--worthy pupil of Aristotle--was herbalizing in India, his eyes fell upon a field of haricots, which appeared to him very inviting. It was the first time that he had seen this plant, and he immediately ordered his cook to prepare a dish of them--we do not know with what sauce; but he thought them good, and, thanks to this great conqueror, Europe was enriched with a new vegetable.[VIII-21]