Cakes and Ale means "lively enjoyment"
Cakes and ale are "good things in life" and both are things that can be enjoyed and considered pleasurable.
The writer uses a lot of adjectives that portray the rat as a dirty creature, and by using enumeration with the feelings, he conveys that the character is overwhelmed . Also, the use of similes helps us a visual image of the rat, making us feel as though we were there to experience this ourselves
