CHARLES II. IN DORSET. 27 



remembered many years ago the inn had a painted signboard of 

 " George and the Dragon." That looks as if it were more 

 probably named after the national saint and not king George. 



Mr. Hughes goes on to say (on the authority of Mr. Dowland) 

 that a " hiding-place in the roof was also shown, communicating 

 with the top of the stairs through a passage masked by a sliding 

 panel, which was asserted to have been the King's hiding-place," 

 and gives it as his opinion " that it was subsequently made by 

 some shrewd publican, possibly by honest Rice Jones himself. 

 There exists still a piece of an old bedstead reported to have been 

 presented by the King to Jones after his restoration, which is 

 standing as part of an old summer-house. ' It was of extremely 

 massive oak,' says Mr. Dowland, ' having the insignia of royalty 

 beautifully carved, fluted, and gilded.' " 



Whether there be any truth in this I do not know, but I have in 

 my possession two old oak and handsomely carved bed-posts, 

 (which I purchased a few years ago from Mr. Ewens, of Crewkerne, 

 to whose ancestors the George Inn at one time belonged), which 

 were said to have formed part of the bedstead which Charles II. 

 used the night he stayed at Broadwindsor. This bedstead was 

 removed from the inn, (probably when it was pulled down and 

 rebuilt), and taken to pieces, one member of the family taking 

 the tester, and another, or others, the bed-posts. The tester is 

 now in the possession of a member of the family, and the two 

 posts I now possess were placed in a cottage at Mill Lane, Broad- 

 windsor, which also belonged to the same family, where they were 

 scorched and charred whilst doing duty as supports to a chimney 

 corner, until, I believe, the cottage was either burnt or pulled 

 down. To this duty I have again relegated them, for now, 

 thoroughly scraped and cleaned, they form two excellent columns 

 or supports to an oak mantel-piece in my own library at Symonds- 

 bury. At the present time there seems to be no trace of the old 

 George, except in the name ; nor was I able to extract any 

 further information or traditions about it during an interview I 

 had with one of Broadwindsor's oldest inhabitants. 



