For novellas from the master satirist!Nightmare Abbey (much like Northanger Abbey of the same period) is a satire on the phenomenon that the 'Gothic Novel' had become and spoofs the genre while being a part of it. Headlong Hall was his first long work of fiction, and Crotchet Castle – in both books Peacock follows the same framework of assembling a group of eccentrics, each with a single monomaniacal obsession, and derives humour and social satire from their various interactions and conversations. The Misfortunes of Elphin is a short historical romance set in sixth century Wales, which recounts the adventures of the bard Taliesin, the princes Elphin ap Gwythno and Seithenyn ap Seithyn, and King Arthur.