The Muffin Man is preserved in the Bodleian Library with lyrics very similar to those used today: <poem> Do you know the muffin man? The muffin man, the muffin man. Do you know the muffin man Who lives in Drury Lane?</poem> Victorian households had many of their fresh foods delivered, such as muffins, which were delivered door-to-door by a muffin man. The "muffin" in question was the bread product known in the United States as English muffins, not the much sweeter cupcake-shaped American variety. Drury Lane is a thoroughfare bordering Covent Garden in London. The rhyme and game appear to have spread to
English muffin around the corner from the first at 337 West 20th Street in a building that remains known as "The Muffin House".The Merriam-Webster dictionary gives the origin of the term "English Muffin" as 1902. In a trademark filing in 1926, it was stated that the Thomas' name of the product was first used in 1894. Thomas' is a brand of English muffins and bagels in North America, founded by Samuel Bath Thomas. Today the company is owned by Bimbo Bakeries USA, which also owns the Entenmann's, Boboli, Stroehmann, and Arnold bakeries. Foster's sourdough English muffins were a popular brand English muffin