the poet and semi-professional sadomasochist Algernon Charles Swinburne

Okay, that is *not* a thing I knew about Swinburne.
posted by tavella at 12:10 PM on January 10, 2019 [2 favorites]

They poop cubes! What's not to love?
posted by Grither at 12:35 PM on January 10, 2019 [1 favorite]

This article enchants me.
posted by Hypatia at 12:43 PM on January 10, 2019 [1 favorite]

Meanwhile, within days, Rossetti¡¯s sister, Christina, had sent him breathless verses in Italian entitled ¡°O Uommibatto¡±, in which she described the animal as ¡°agil, giocondo¡± (nimble, cheerful), as well as ¡°irsuto e tondo¡± (hairy and round).

Like so?

Morning and evening
Maids heard the wombats cry:
¡°Come buy our cubist poop,
Come buy, come buy...
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 1:25 PM on January 10, 2019 [6 favorites]

This rather nonchalant kangaroo turned out to have escaped from Mr Wombwell¡¯s Wild Beast Show, which had lately occupied The Mound.

The second reference comes sixteen years later, in October 1850, and likewise concerns a kangaroo escapee, this time from a menagerie that belonged to a newly-elected Member of Parliament, W. J. Evelyn, of Wotton, near Dorking in West Surrey. Raising the alarm, Evelyn called out the local hunt, replete with huntsmen, a pack of beagles, whippers-in and so forth.

Try reading this aloud without giggling.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 1:40 PM on January 10, 2019 [3 favorites]

Previously on MetaFilter: Rossetti and the Wombat. (Main link goes to an earlier version of the same article by the same author, with some extra material but without the illustrations.)

Bonus link: Katherine Rundell, Consider the Wombat.
posted by verstegan at 2:11 PM on January 10, 2019 [2 favorites]

My interest in the animal is probably due to Ursula Vernon.

My love for the word ¡°wombat¡± itself goes back to the first time I encountered it. It¡¯s such a fun word to say. Wombat. Wombat. WooommBat!
posted by tdismukes at 2:14 PM on January 10, 2019 [7 favorites]

May I present my own efforts in this specialised field: my most popular tweet ever.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 2:16 PM on January 10, 2019 [2 favorites]

Okay, that is *not* a thing I knew about Swinburne.

Oddly enough, my experience as a Victorianist has been that nobody knows anything else about Swinburne.
posted by thomas j wise at 4:58 PM on January 10, 2019 [7 favorites]

Today I learned there is a place called Dorking in West Surrey.
posted by medusa at 5:08 PM on January 10, 2019 [1 favorite]

What some say with irony, I say with conviction: this is relevant to my interests.
posted by BeeDo at 9:26 PM on January 10, 2019 [2 favorites]

That was fascinating! Genuinely surprised by the account of wombat domestication - I'd always been under the impression that they were somewhat unfriendly up close.
posted by yours in calendrical heresy at 6:42 AM on January 11, 2019

Wombats on Maria Island so cute that tourists urged to take pledge to keep distance [Aussie ABC]

Can confirm- wombats on Maria Island are outrageously cute. (I didn't get a selfie though.)
posted by freethefeet at 7:07 PM on January 18, 2019 [1 favorite]

In the 4th image, "ye peculiar or prickly porcupine" looks like a cross between an Edward Gorey drawing and a Nickelodeon cartoon character.

On the other hand I will have to fight the temptation to get a tattoo of "ye sheepe" somewhere silly. Maybe on my back with just a tiny bit peeking out of a tank top, so someone will ask what the tattoo is and expect something serious. And then I pull back the shirt at reveal ye sheepe.

"ye horse" does not appear to be a horse at all, but perhaps a cat stretching?

"Ye greate blacke Deville" is definitely a Rodent of Unusual Size, which many of us know from The Princess Bride.
posted by Emmy Rae at 4:16 PM on January 19, 2019 [1 favorite]