Chamberss Edinburgh Journal, No. 427

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Chambers's Edinburgh Journal,
No. 427

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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: ISO-8859-1
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CHAMBERS'S EDINBURGH ***

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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 1½
_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 at once to symbolise and inaugurate the
hospitality of his mansion. He had a snug bar curtained with crimson
drapery, for the convenience of those who, declining the ostentation of
the public room, might prefer to imbibe their morning-draught with
becoming privacy. He had a roomy tap-room, where a cheerful fire was
to blaze the winter through, and a civil Ganymede minister to the wants
of the humblest guest. There was a handsome parlour hung round with
sporting-prints, with cushioned seats and polished mahogany tables,
where the tradesmen of the neighbourhood might take their evening
solace after the fatigues of business; and, more than all this, he had an
immense saloon on the first floor above, calculated for social
conviviality on the largest scale, and furnished with mirrors, pictures,
and an old grand-piano, a portion of the lares of the deceased Sir
Plumberry Muggs.
Mr Bowley, however, soon made the unpleasing discovery, that it is
one thing to open an establishment of the kind--which had already
swallowed up two-thirds of his capital--and another thing to induce the
public to patronise it. Notwithstanding the overflow which had
gathered at his house-warming, and the numberless good wishes which
had been expressed, and toasts which had been drunk to his prosperity,
yet the prosperity did not come. Of the hundred and fifty enthusiastic
well-wishers who had done honour to his entertainment, squeezed his
hand, and sworn he was a trump, not a dozen ever entered the house a
second time. Do what he would, Bowley could not create a business;
and the corners of his mouth began visibly to decline ere the
experiment had lasted a couple of months. He made a desperate effort
to get up a Free-and-easy; he had the old piano tuned, and set an old
fellow to play upon it with open windows; exhibited a perpetual
announcement of 'A Concert this Evening;' and