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197:. Mr Glowry's melancholy leads him to choose servants with long faces or dismal names such as Mattocks, Graves and Skellet. The few visitors he welcomes to his home are mostly of a similar cast of mind, with the sole exception of his brother-in-law, Mr Hilary. The visitors engage in conversations, or occasionally monologues, which serve to highlight their eccentricities or obsessions.
201:
Celinda Toobad, fleeing from a forced engagement to an unknown suitor, appeals to
Scythrop for shelter and he hides her in a secret room. The change in Scythrop's demeanour spurs on Marionetta to threaten to leave him forever, and he is forced to admit to himself that he is in love with both women and cannot choose between them.
275:(1811), the hero is loved by two women at the same time. Scythrop’s unlucky affairs of the heart also have similar endings. Prior to the novel’s start, his match with Emily Girouette had been called off. Though they had parted "vowing everlasting constancy", she had married someone else within three weeks.
288:
The first of
Scythrop's later loves, she was the orphaned daughter of Mr Glowry's youngest sister, who had formerly made a runaway love-match with an Irish officer O'Carroll. When her mother died, Marionetta was taken in by Mr Glowry's other sister, Mrs Hilary. A capricious coquette, she is generally
204:
There is a brief interruption to the usual round of life at the Abbey when the misanthropic poet, Mr
Cypress, pays a farewell visit before going into exile. After his departure, there are reports of a ghost stalking the building, and the appearance of a ghastly figure in the library throws the guests
213:
from
Celinda and Marionetta, who announce their forthcoming marriage to two of the other guests instead. Scythrop is left to console himself with the thought that his recent experiences qualify him "to take a very advanced degree in misanthropy" so that he may yet hope to make a figure in the world.
212:
After all the guests depart, Scythrop proposes suicide and asks his servant Raven to bring him "a pint of port and a pistol". He is only dissuaded when his father promises to leave for London and intercede for his forgiveness with one or other of the women. When Mr Glowry returns, it is with letters
208:
Scythrop's secret comes out when Mr Glowry confronts his son in his tower and asks what are his intentions towards
Marionetta, "whom you profess to love". Hearing this, Miss Toobad (who has been passing herself off under the name of Stella) comes out of the hidden chamber and demands an explanation.
200:
Mr Glowry's son
Scythrop is recovering from a love affair which ended badly. A failed author, he often retires to his own quarters in a tower to study. When he leaves them, he is distracted by the flirtatious Marionetta, who blows hot and cold on his affections. A further complication arises when
318:
in that he believes that the world is governed by two powers, one good and one evil; and he is a
Millenarian in that he believes that the evil power is currently in the ascendant but will eventually be succeeded by the good power – "though not in our time". His favourite quotation is
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331:
Daughter of the above and the second lady involved in
Scythrop's love triangle. Her intellectual and philosophical qualities are contrasted with the more conventional femininity of Marionetta. She adopts the pseudonym Stella, the name of the eponymous heroine of
139:
was
Peacock's third long work of fiction to be published. It was written in late March and June 1818, and published in London in November of the same year. The novella was lightly revised by the author in 1837 for republication in Volume 57 of
344:. But Celinda's appearance is quite different from that of the future Mary Shelley, and this has led some commentators to surmise that the person Peacock had in mind when he created Celinda/Stella was in fact Elizabeth Hitchener or
176:, it similarly contrasts the product of the inflamed imagination, or what Peacock's Mr Hilary describes as the "conspiracy against cheerfulness", with the commonplace course of everyday life, with the aid of light-hearted ridicule.
323::12: "Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come among you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time". His character is based on J. F. Newton, a member of Shelley's circle.
279:
is the French for "weathercock" and the episode was based on
Shelley's romance with his cousin Harriet Grove (1791–1867). Nor was Scythrop any luckier with his two other loves, both of whom married within a month of leaving the
209:
During the ensuing row, Mr Toobad recognises his runaway daughter, whom he had really intended for Scythrop all along. But both women now renounce Scythrop and leave the Abbey, determined never to set eyes on him again.
179:
Several of the chapters take a dramatic form interspersed with stage directions in order to illustrate without comment how much the speakers characterise themselves through their conversation. The actor and director
430:
of this systematical 'poisoning' of the 'mind' of the 'reading public'." The choice of name for the character, deriving from the Greek like those of others in the novel, is governed by the tree's association with
426:. This was a particular target of Peacock, on which he had commented, "I think it necessary to 'make a stand' against 'encroachments' of black bile. The fourth canto is really too bad. I cannot consent to be
192:
Insofar as the novel may be said to have a plot, it follows the fortunes of Christopher Glowry, a morose widower who lives with his only son Scythrop in the isolated family mansion, Nightmare Abbey, in
301:, "cheerful", and his declared belief is that "the highest wisdom and the highest genius have been invariably accompanied by cheerfulness". It is only family business that takes him to Nightmare Abbey.
245:, rented by the Shelleys in 1816–17 and not far from which Peacock wrote his novel. Mr Glowry is apparently a purely fictional character whose name derives from 'glower', a synonym of frown or scowl.
184:
was eventually to take this approach to its logical conclusion and reduced the whole novel to a successful and popular script. First performed in February 1952, it was eventually published in 1971.
162:
It has been observed that "the plots of Peacock's novels are mostly devices for bringing the persons together and the persons are merely the embodiment of whims and theories, or types of a class".
1034:
380:; and his claim to have written the best parts of his friends' books also echoes a similar claim made by Coleridge. Both men are deeply influenced by German philosophy, especially the
360:"A very lachrymose and morbid gentleman of some note in the literary world". His name is identified in a footnote by Peacock as a corruption of Filosky, from the Greek φιλοσκιος (
170:, Peacock described the object of his novel as being "to bring to a sort of philosophical focus a few of the morbidities of modern literature". Appearing in the same year as
340:
who is involved in a similar love-triangle. There is some uncertainty about the identity of Celinda's historical counterpart. It is often said that she is based upon
261:. Scythrop, like Shelley, for example, would much prefer to enjoy two mistresses than choose between them, and some critics have noticed that in both of Shelley's
229:
Many of the characters who figure in the novel are based on real people. The names they are given by Peacock express their personality or governing interest.
420:, he dominates the single chapter in which he appears, where most of the poet's conversation is made up of phrases borrowed from the fourth canto of Byron's
368:, most of whose conversation is unintelligible – and meant to be so. His criticisms of contemporary literature echo remarks made by Coleridge in his
901:
416:
A misanthropic poet who is about to go into exile. He too was a college friend of Scythrop and is a great favourite of Mr Glowry's. Based on
567:
1024:
688:
David M. Baulch, "The 'Perpetual Exercise of an Interminable Quest': The 'Biographia Literaria' and the Kantian Revolution,
404:
is constantly called on to function as his master's memory. This behaviour is founded on the Windermere anecdote related of
348:. Of a gloomy disposition and educated in a German convent, she was one of the only seven readers of Scythrop's treatise
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A fashionable, former fellow-collegian of Scythrop, for whom the making of any effort is a challenge. He is based on
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identified with Harriet Westbrook, a schoolmate of Shelley's sister Hellen, with whom Shelley eloped when she was 16.
166:
embodies the critique of a particular mentality and pillories the contemporary vogue for the macabre. To his friend
257:, "of sad or gloomy countenance"). It is generally accepted that Scythrop shares many traits with Peacock's friend
1014:
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374:; his ability to compose verses in his sleep is a playful reference to Coleridge's account of the composition of
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Mr Glowry's only son, named after an ancestor who hanged himself. The name is derived from the Greek σκυθρωπος (
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into consternation. Only later is the apparition revealed to have been Mr Glowry's somnambulant steward Crow.
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388:. Throughout the novella there are many minor allusions that confirm the Flosky–Coleridge identification.
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The melancholy master of Nightmare Abbey. That property is modelled on the gothic styled Albion House in
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812:
Claude Annett Prance, The Characters in the Novels of Thomas Love Peacock, E. Mellen Press, 1992
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Scythrop's uncle, the husband of Mr Glowry's elder sister. His name is derived from the Latin
225:
Albion House, the lodgings of the Shelleys on which the portrayal of Nightmare Abbey was based
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in which the author satirised tendencies in contemporary English literature, in particular
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159:. Most of its characters are based on historical figures whom Peacock wished to pillory.
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Walter in the Woods: or Trees and Common Objects of the Forest Described and Illustrated
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The vicar of nearby Claydyke, who readily adapts himself to whatever company he is in.
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Philosophical Gas; or, a Project for a General Illumination of the Human Mind
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144:. The book is Peacock's most well-liked and frequently-read work.
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and amateur scientist, his name is that of the genus to which
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which makes good-natured fun of contemporary literary trends.
221:
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Fictional buildings and structures originating in literature
314:A Manichaean Millenarian – that is to say, he is a
155:'s obsession with morbid subjects, misanthropy and
400:, a friend of Shelley's. His drunken French valet
909:
986:
516:Frivolity Unbound: Six Masters of the Camp Novel
817:Dictionary of Real People and Places in Fiction
479:"The Critique of Romanticism: Nightmare Abbey"
895:
483:Peacock Displayed: A Satirist in His Context
609:Aurélien A. Digeon, "Shelley and Peacock",
902:
888:
27:
754:Peacock: The Satirical Novels: A Casebook
519:. Continuum Publishing. pp. 29–30.
485:. Routledge & K. Paul. p. 102.
220:
715:A Century of Anecdote from 1760 to 1860
512:
987:
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33:Title page of the first edition (1818)
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157:transcendental philosophical systems
285:Miss Marionetta Celestina O'Carroll
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859:at The Thomas Love Peacock Society
566:, Rowman & Littlefield, 1985,
447:belong. The character caricatures
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564:The Novels of Thomas Love Peacock
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147:The novel was a topical work of
87:Print (hardback & paperback)
63:novella, Romance novella, Satire
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551:, Volume 80 (May–August 1887)
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873:public domain audiobook at
513:Kiernan, Robert F. (1990).
238:Christopher Glowry, Esquire
16:Book by Thomas Love Peacock
10:
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756:. Macmillan. p. 200.
423:Childe Harold's Pilgrimage
393:The Honourable Mr Listless
342:Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin
956:The Misfortunes of Elphin
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748:Mills, Howard W. (1976).
142:Bentley's Standard Novels
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752:. In Sage, Lorna (ed.).
750:"Nightmare Abbey (1968)"
477:Butler, Marilyn (1979).
382:transcendental idealism
366:Samuel Taylor Coleridge
243:Marlow, Buckinghamshire
187:
1015:Parodies of literature
1000:British bildungsromans
690:Studies in Romanticism
226:
124:is an 1818 novella by
1030:British comedy novels
611:Modern Language Notes
590:Gin & Co., London
224:
799:Rintoul 1993, p. 831
738:Rintoul 1993, p. 259
729:Rintoul 1993, p. 241
704:Rintoul 1993, p. 834
692:43.4 (Winter 2004),
679:Rintoul 1993, p. 311
670:Rintoul 1993, p. 299
661:Rintoul 1993, p. 510
652:Rintoul 1993, p. 823
643:Rintoul 1993, p. 705
634:Rintoul 1993, p. 823
625:Rintoul 1993, p. 468
600:Rintoul 1993, p. 149
371:Biographia Literaria
357:Mr Ferdinando Flosky
259:Percy Bysshe Shelley
168:Percy Bysshe Shelley
1020:Roman à clef novels
995:1818 British novels
912:Thomas Love Peacock
613:25.2 (Feb., 1910),
328:Miss Celinda Toobad
126:Thomas Love Peacock
43:Thomas Love Peacock
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783:Mrs. Samuel Greg,
456:Reverend Mr Larynx
398:Lumley Skeffington
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546:"Peacock",
436:Mr Asterias
431:graveyards.
271:(1810) and
153:Romanticism
110:Maid Marian
989:Categories
932:Melincourt
910:Novels by
769:5 November
694:pp. 557–81
549:Temple Bar
532:4 November
498:5 November
464:References
418:Lord Byron
413:Mr Cypress
377:Kubla Khan
362:philoskios
316:Manichaean
265:novellas,
255:skythrōpos
233:The family
217:Characters
97:Melincourt
615:pp. 41-45
311:Mr Toobad
294:Mr Hilary
277:Girouette
273:St Irvyne
268:Zastrozzi
132:The novel
68:Published
875:LibriVox
445:starfish
250:Scythrop
49:Language
553:, p. 48
334:a drama
299:hilaris
52:English
975:(1861)
967:(1831)
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951:(1822)
943:(1818)
935:(1817)
927:(1815)
789:p. 109
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402:Fatout
338:Goethe
280:Abbey.
263:gothic
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39:Author
57:Genre
771:2020
758:ISBN
719:p.88
568:p.76
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188:Plot
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