"Mr Sparkler apologised for the circumstance, pleaded that he
couldn't help it, and said that 'our fellows,' without more
particularly indicating whose fellows, used to call him by the name
of Quinbus Flestrin, Junior, or the Young Man Mountain."

From Gulliver's Travels:
"Articles of Impeachment against Quinbus Flestrin (the Man-Mountain)
ARTICLE I

Whereas, by a Statute made in the Reign of his Imperial Majesty Calin Deffar Plune, it is enacted, That whoever shall make water within the Precincts of the Royal Palace, shall be liable to the Pains and Penalties of High Treason; Notwithstanding, the said Quinbus Flestrin, in open breach of the said Law, under colour of extinguishing the Fire kindled in the Apartment of his Majesty's most dear Imperial Consort, did maliciously, traitorously, and devilishly, by discharge of his Urine, put out the said Fire kindled in the said Apartment, lying and being within the Precincts of the said Royal Palace, against the Statute in that case provided, etc., against the Duty, etc. "

How odd. What an odd story from Gulliver's Travels, which I never read.

But Dr. Johnson did and completely discounted it because of the nature of its obvious imagination--nothing, according to Dr. J, that required great thinking and imagination.

However, upon reading this Quinbus Flestrin story, I must say it's at least as imaginative as some of what I've seen in contemporary late-night scripts....