The landlord gave us their history, from which it appeared that it
had become necessary to place a stove in a back kitchen and to make an
entrance into an old flue to enable the smoke from the stove-pipe to be
carried up the large chimney. The agent of the estate to which the inn
belonged employed one of his workmen, nicknamed "Holy Joe," to do the
work, who when he broke into the flue-could see with the light of his
candle something higher up the chimney. He could not tell what it was,
nor could the landlord, whom "Joe" had called to his assistance, but it
was afterwards discovered to be the cat and the rat that now reposed in
the glass case. It was evident that the rat had been pursued by the cat
and had escaped by running up the narrow flue, whither it had been
followed by the cat, whose head had become jammed in the flue. The rat
had then turned round upon its pursuer, and was in the act of springing
upon it when both of them had been instantly asphyxiated by the fumes in
the chimney.
With the exception of some slight damage to the rat, probably caused in
the encounter, they were both almost perfect, and an expert who had
examined them declared they must have been imprisoned there quite a
hundred years before they could have been reduced to the condition in
which they were found by "Holy Joe"!
The proprietors of the hostelries patronised by royalty always made as
much capital out of the event as possible, and even the inn at Charmouth
displayed the following advertisement after the King's visit:
Here in this House was lodged King Charles.
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