158 
THE RAT. 
tlie enemy, and I call upon you to furnish me with your 
most serious and unfettered opiuions. The first mode of 
attack I propose is to down with the stack, and kill the 
enemy as they fly ; the second is to undermine their fortifi- 
cation with gunpowder, and blow them and beans into the 
air together." 
His two companions gave their judgments in favour 
of the first plan, as the latter would destroy all the beans. 
" As for that," said the general, ^' the beans could be picked 
up afterwards ; but as you have given your verdict in favour 
of the first mode of attack, I of course bow to your decision ; 
and now, gentlemen, let's draw out for action." The rat- 
catcher put his ferrets into the stack, two of which were 
soon killed, without dislodging any of the enemy. By this 
time the men arrived, and set to work to remove the stack, 
when out ran rats in all directions, numbers of which on 
every side were killed by the dogs or bludgeons. However, 
at the conclusion of the battle, the number of the slain nearly 
filled a tumbril or dung-cart. 
Thus did the determination of the general not only save 
his beans and other articles from destruction by rats, but 
rendered an essential service to the whole of the surrounding 
district. 
We will now pass into Suffolk, and notice some of the 
exploits of a rat-catcher, in that county. In twelve 
weeks onlv this celebrated rat-catcher brought to one 
public-house in Ipswich no less than 11,464 rats for the 
purpose of sport, which he sold at half-a- crown per dozen, and 
took from the town in that short space of time no less a 
sum than £254:. He declared that another year of this 
sort of work would have made his fortune, and expressed 
his full conviction, that when the magisterial authorities 
put a stop to rat-pitting, they struck a severe blow at the 
prosperity of Ipswich and its surrounding country. 
The author of a work entitled " London Labour and 
the London Poor," has given the results of his researches 
and calculations as to the number of rat-pits existing, 
and the rats destroyed in the metropolis in the course 
of the year. He says there are forty public rat-pits 
in London, the chief of which are held at public-houses, and 
that their average destruction of rats is about twenty per 
