Peacock
Reading edition
Finally, after various minor excursions, I have settled down to the works of Thomas Love Peacock, of whom I had read nothing before except some poems. Why? I don’t know, but I think his name has vaguely repelled me. Anyhow, I am thankful now that I have been able to come fresh to Peacock’s novels. He has a few devotees, but it is surprising that so admirable a writer is not more read. Nightmare Abbey and Headlong Hall are not great masterpieces, but they are certainly small masterpieces. They belong to the class of intellectual comedy to which Candide, and, in some measure, Rasselas belong; in fact, they must certainly have been modelled on Candide. They are burlesques of oneself and one’s friends, and every other discussing, theorizing person and his friends. Charlatans of all kinds, literary, political, ecclesiastical, and scientific, and philosophers of all kinds from the man who believes that upward progress is inevitable to the man who believes that downward progress is undeniable, from the secret revolutionary conspirator to the professional sceptic; he gets them all in, quintessentializes their doctrines into exquisitely flowing prose, and knocks their heads together with charming ruthlessness. Any extract will illustrate the flow of his dialogue:
“‘The anatomy of the human stomach,’ said Mr. Escot, ‘and the formation of the teeth, clearly place man in the class of fungivorous animals.’
“‘Many anatomists,’ said Mr. Foster, ‘are of a different opinion, and agree in discerning the characteristics of the carnivorous classes.’
“‘I am no anatomist,’ said Mr. Jenkinson, ‘and cannot decide where doctors disagree; in the meantime, I conclude that man is omnivorous, and on that conclusion I act.’
“‘Your conclusion is truly orthodox,’ said the Reverend Doctor Gaster; ‘indeed, the loaves and fishes are typical of a mixed diet, and the practice of the Church in all ages shows——’
“‘That it never loses sight of the loaves and fishes,’ said Mr. Escot.”
If loud asseveration on my part sends to Peacock a few people who have not tried him before, I shall feel that the recent rain has not descended in vain.