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Peacock, Thomas Love, 1785-1866

"Nightmare Abbey"

_) Fatout! when
did I think of going to Cheltenham, and did not go?

FATOUT
De Juillet twenty-von, de last summer, Monsieur. (_Fatout retired._)

THE HONOURABLE MR LISTLESS
So it was. An invaluable fellow that, Mr Larynx--invaluable, Miss
O'Carroll.

MARIONETTA
So I should judge, indeed. He seems to serve you as a walking memory,
and to be a living chronicle, not of your actions only, but of your
thoughts.

THE HONOURABLE MR LISTLESS
An excellent definition of the fellow, Miss O'Carroll,--excellent,
upon my honour. Ha! ha! he! Heigho! Laughter is pleasant, but the
exertion is too much for me.

A parcel was brought in for Mr Listless; it had been sent express.
Fatout was summoned to unpack it; and it proved to contain a new
novel, and a new poem, both of which had long been anxiously expected
by the whole host of fashionable readers; and the last number of a
popular Review, of which the editor and his coadjutors were in high
favour at court, and enjoyed ample pensions[5] for their services to
church and state. As Fatout left the room, Mr Flosky entered, and
curiously inspected the literary arrivals.

MR FLOSKY
(_Turning over the leaves._) 'Devilman, a novel.' Hm. Hatred--revenge--
misanthropy--and quotations from the Bible.


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