Thomas Love Peacock was an 18th century English author and satirist. Peacock's work was influenced by his friend Percy Bysshe Shelley. Peacock's novels used the same basic setting that of a group of people at a table discussing and criticizing philosophical opinions. Nightmare Abbey was written in 1818. This satire pokes fun at the Romantic Movement in English literature. The characters in the novel are based on historic figures. Peacock sees the British as being obsessed with transcendental philosophical systems and morbid subjects of any kind. Many of the allusions in the book are specific to the period in which it was written, yet there is enough relevance to make this a delight to read.