The Comic English Grammar: A New And Facetious Introduction To The English Tongue. Leigh Percival

a rusty weathercock, never varies. Thus we say, "A certain cabinet; certain rogues." But as a rusty weathercock may vary in being more or less rusty, so an adjective varies in the degrees of comparison.

      The degrees of comparison, like the Genders, the Graces, the Fates, the Kings of Cologne, the Weird Sisters, and many other things, are three; the Positive, the Comparative, and the Superlative.

      The Positive state simply expresses the quality of an object; as, fat, ugly, foolish.

      The Comparative degree increases or lessens the signification of the positive; as fatter, uglier, more foolish, less foolish.