INTRODUCTION
Thomas Love Peacock was born at Weymouth in 1785. His first
poem, "The Genius of the Thames," was in its second edition when he
became one of the friends of Shelley. That was in 1812, when Shelley\'s
age was twenty, Peacock\'s twenty-seven. The acquaintance strengthened,
until Peacock became the friend in whose judgment Shelley put especial
trust. There were many points of agreement. Peacock, at that time, shared,
in a more practical way, Shelley\'s desire for root and branch reform; both
wore poets, although not equally gifted, and both loved Plato and the
Greek tragedians. In "Crotchet Castle" Peacock has expressed his own
delight in Greek literature through the talk of the Reverend Dr. Folliott.
But Shelley\'s friendship for Peacock included a trust in him that was
maintained by points of unlikeness. Peacock was shrewd and witty. He
delighted in extravagance of a satire which usually said more than it meant,
but always rested upon a foundation of good sense. Then also there was a
touch of the poet to give grace to the utterances of a clear-headed man of
the world. It was Peacock who gave its name to Shelley\'s poem of
"Alastor, or the Spirit of Solitude," published in 1816. The "Spirit of
Solitude" being treated as a spirit of evil, Peacock suggested calling it
"Alastor," since the Greek [Greek text] means an evil genius.