The Victorians were very fond of nonsense rhyme and prose, as y'all have alluded to with Lear and Carroll. I guess it gave them something to think about besides England. Well, the women, anyway.

In the past couple of days, there was an interview on NPR with a woman who has just published a book on this very subject. As I approach cronehood, I find short-term memory beginning to fail, and a search of NPR yielded no joy. Maybe someone can find out about this book for me.