Nightmare Abbey is a topical satire in which the author pokes light-hearted fun at the romantic movement in contemporary English literature, in particular its obsession with morbid subjects, misanthropy and transcendental philosophical systems. Most of the characters in the novel are based on historical figures whom Peacock wishes to pillory. Mr. Glowry was a very consolate widower, with one small child. That child — a son — was named Scythrop, after a maternal ancestor who had hanged himself one rainy day in a fit of tedium. The coroner's jury eulogized him with the comprehensive phrase of felo de se — on which account Mr. Glowry held his memory in high honor, and made a punchbowl of his skull.