ABSTRACT
While Trollope expressed the utmost admiration for Fielding's works, and Tom Jones in particular, to the best of the author's knowledge, no-one breaks wind in a Trollope novel. Before going any further into an exploration of how Trollope might manage to indulge his taste for scatology beneath a veneer of respectability which successfully hoodwinks even Mrs Grundy, people could remind themselves why this is so. That men will tend to make vulgar jokes amongst themselves when free from the civilising influence of women was as true in Trollope's time as it is now. All Trollope's vulgar jokes depend on a suggestive ambiguity that would do credit to Frankie Howerd - indeed, it may help if a person has watched some Carry On films recently - and one can identify some broad types. Some are the expression of vulgar ideas wrapped in elegant language.
