In February 1845 an absent-minded visitor to The Swan Inn at Lympstone forgot to take away his water-spaniel. Mr Coombe, the landlord of The Swan, advertised the dog in The Flying Post (11th February) and, such his panache, he composed for the occasion a verse in rhyming-couplets:
"LYMPSTONE
A WATER SPANIEL DOG left at the SWAN INN
Should this meet the Owner's eye it's there to be seen.
His marks are liver colour, mixed with white.
The owner might have't again by paying what's right
- shaggy hair is his coat, and a stump for a tail,
If not owned in three weeks he'll be put up for sale,
So let his master look out and be wide awake,
He'll be sold for the expences and no mistake."
There is, I sense, an admirable, Miller-of-the-Dee spirit of self-confdence and independence about Mr Coombe, the rhyming Victorian innkeeper. He was clearly a no-nonsense, free man, with an eye to business and no doubt a man who rejoiced in his liberties as a true Briton.
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