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THE REV. MARMADUKE MERRYTHOUGHT. 



THE CHAPLAIN OF THE HUNT. 



CHAPLAIN nowadays seems a necessary append- 

 age to every association of any importance, from 

 the British Army down to, say, the Gig-lamp 

 Makers' Company, with whose jovial spiritual adviser, 

 indeed, we are personally acquainted, and proud to know 

 him, especially when he invites us, as he sometimes does, to 

 his worshipful company's hall for a light little luncheon, or 

 what vulgar people would call a "snack," consisting of the 

 native oyster, the succulent turtle-soup, and the exhilara- 

 ting champagne. It's about as good a luncheon as a man 

 can have, and we swagger along westward after one of 

 these entertainments feeling as if the whole of London 

 belonged to us. 



Private individuals, too, as well as regiments, societies, 

 &:c., indulge in the luxury of a chaplain. 



Take, for example, Mr. Benjamin Bobbin, of Birming- 

 ham, who has made a fortune in staylaces. Bobbin thinks 

 it necessary, in order to show off his '' brass " as he calls 

 it, to set up as a country gentleman at once, if not sooner, 

 with which laudable purpose he forthwith buys a bit of 

 land, on which springs up in less than half a no-time a 

 huge nondescript sort of mansion, in appearance not at all 

 unlike one of her majesty's prisons, and which he is 

 pleased to adorn with the high-sounding name of castle. 

 *' It only wants a moat to be puffect/' said Mr. Bobbin 



