_Doctor Dove, of Doncaster_.
The names of "_Doctor Dove, of Doncaster_," and his steed "_Nobbs_,"
must be familiar to all the admirers, in another word, to all the
readers, of Southey's _Doctor_.
Many years ago there was published at Canterbury a periodical work
called _The Kentish Register_. In the No. for September, 1793, there is
a ludicrous letter, signed "Agricola," addressed to Sir John Sinclair,
then President of the Royal Agricultural Society; and in that letter
there is frequent mention made of "Doctor _Dobbs, of Doncaster_, and
_his horse Nobbs_." This coincidence appears to be too remarkable to
have been merely accidental; and it seems probably that, in the course
of his multifarious reading, Southey had met with the work in question,
had been struck with the comical absurdity of these names, and had
unconsciously retained them in his memory.