A reptile, nameless and unknown,
Sprung from the slime of Warburton,
Whose mingled learning, pride, and blundering,
Make wise men stare, and set fools wondering."
X.
Doctor Dobbs and his Horse Nobbs.—I remember having read somewhere of "Doctor Dobbs and his horse Nobbs," but where I cannot now recall. I only remember one anecdote. The horse Nobbs was left, one cold night, outside a cottage, whilst the Doctor was within officiating as accoucheur (I believe); when he was ready to start, and came out, he found the horse apparently dead. The Doctor was miles from home, and, as the horse was dead, and the night dark, in place of walking home, he, with his host, dragged the horse into the kitchen, and skinned him, by way of passing the time profitably. But, lo! when the skinning was finished, the horse gave signs of returning animation. What was to be done? Doctor Dobbs, fertile in resources, got sheepskins and sewed them on Nobbs, and completely clothed him therein; and—mirabile dictu!—the skins became attached to the flesh, Nobbs recovered, and from thenceforward carried a woolly coat, duly shorn every summer, to the profit of Doctor Dobbs, and to the wonder and admiration of the neighbourhood.
I have also read somewhere that Coleridge told the story of "Doctor Dobbs and his horse Nobbs" to Southey at Oxford.
J.M.B.
Dr. Dobbs and his Horse Nobbs.—Although of small moment, it is, perhaps, worth recording, that a Doctor Daniel Dove, of Doncaster, and his horse Nobbs, form the subjects of a paper in "The Nonpareil, or the Quintessence of Wit and Humour," published in 1757, and which, there can be little doubt, was the source whence Southey adopted, without alteration, the names so well known to all readers of the Doctor.
JNO. SUDLOW.