The heiress Anthelia Melincourt is besieged by suitors at her castle, among them Mr. Sylvan Forester, who has brought with him Sir Oran Haut-ton, an orangutan he has educated, bought a baronetcy for and set up as member of Parliament for the borough of Onevote. Peacock’s talkative cast skewers rotten boroughs, paper money, slavery sugar and the poets who turned Tory.
The most political of Peacock’s comic novels, introduced by George Saintsbury. Download the free EPUB.