Dominic's was the devil.
Southey was particularly fond of acoustic humour. He represents
Wilberforce as saying of the unknown author of the Doctor--Pooo-oo-oo-oo-r
cr[=e][=e][=e]a-ture. Perhaps his familiarity with the works of Nash,
Decker, and Rabelais suggested his word coming.
One of the interchapters begins with the word _Aballiboozobanganorribo_.
He questions in the "Poultry Yard" the assertion of Aristotle that it is
an advantage for animals to be domesticated. The statement is regarded
unsatisfactory by the fowl--replies to it being made by Chick-pick,
Hen-pen, Cock-lock, Duck-luck, Turkey-lurkey, and Goosey-loosey.
He occasionally coins words such as Potamology for the study of rivers,
and Chapter cxxxiv is headed--
"A transition, an anecdote, an apostrophe, and a pun, punnet, or
pundigrion."
He proposes in another chapter to make a distinction between masculine
and feminine in several words.
"The troublesome affection of the diaphragm which every person has
experienced is to be called according to the sex of the
patient--He-cups or She-cups--which upon the principle of making
our language truly British is better than the more classical form
of Hiccup and Hoeccups. In the Objective use, the word becomes
Hiscups or Hercups and in like manner Histerrics should be altered
into Herterics--the complaint never being masculine.
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