Title:  Chambers’s Edinburgh Journal, No. 427 Volume 17, New Series, March 6, 1852

Author:  Various

Editor:  Robert Chambers and William Chambers

Release Date:  December 8, 2005 [EBook #17256]

Language:  English

Character set encoding:  ASCII

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Chambers’Edinburgh journal

Conducted by William and Robert Chambers, editors of ’Chambers’s
information for the people,’ ‘Chambers’s educational course,’ &c.

No. 427.  New series.  Saturday, march 6, 1852.  Price 11/2 d.

THE CHARITABLE CHUMS’ BENEFIT CLUB.

The ‘Mother Bunch’ public-house stands modestly aside from the din, traffic, and turmoil of a leading London thoroughfare, and retires, like a bashful maiden, from the gaze of a crowd to the society of its own select circle.  It is situated in a short and rather narrow street, leading from an omnibus route running north from the city to nowhere in particular—­or, if particulars must be given, to that complicated assemblage of carts, cabs, and clothes-lines; of manure heaps and disorganised pumps; of caged thrushes, blackbirds, and magpies; of dead dogs and cats, and colonies of thriving rats; of imprisoned terriers and goats let out on parole; of shrill and angry maternity and mud-loving infancy; and of hissing, curry-combing grooms and haltered horses, to which Londoners have given the designation of a Mews.  Mr Peter Bowley, the landlord of the ‘Mother Bunch,’ was the late butler of the late Sir Plumberry Muggs; and having succeeded, on the demise of the baronet, to a legacy of L.500, and finding himself unable any longer to resist the charms of his seven years’ comforter and counsellor, the cook, supplemented as they were by the attractions of a legacy of the like amount, he had united his destiny and wealth with hers in one common cause.  The name of Sir Plumberry Muggs, even though its worthy proprietor was defunct, was still of sufficient influence to procure a licence for his butler; and within a few months of his departure, Mr Bowley had opened the new Inn and Tavern for the accommodation of Her Majesty’s thirsty lieges.  He had congratulated himself upon the selection of the site, and upon the suitableness of the premises to the requirements of a good trade; and his heart swelled within him, as he sat at the head of his own table, on the occasion of the house-warming, dispensing with no niggard hand the gratuitous viands and unlimited beer, which were