# Honourable Mr. Listless — Nightmare Abbey character guide

> Honourable Mr. Listless in Nightmare Abbey by Thomas Love Peacock.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Mr. Listless, The Honourable Mr. Listless

**First appearance:** 0006-v

## Snapshot

A fashionable, indolent dandy who visits Nightmare Abbey for amusement and finds even the trouble of taking trouble hardly worth taking.

## Who they are

The Honourable Mr. Listless drifts through the Abbey as a specimen of fashionable ennui, too languid even to go abroad, since the most eccentric Englishman is the one who stays home. He submits to Marionetta's coquetry and bursts briefly into life under her influence, like an evening primrose, while professing his own nothingness before Mr. Flosky. His indolence sharpens the satire of fashionable vapours that the novel sets against Scythrop's more ardent follies.

## Relationships

### [Scythrop Glowry](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/nightmare_abbey_se/characters/scythrop_glowry)

_social_

Mr. Listless is a vapid acquaintance of Scythrop, providing comic contrast to Scythrop's intense romantic brooding.

### [Fatout](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/nightmare_abbey_se/characters/fatout)

_professional_

Fatout is Mr. Listless's French valet, who serves him with exaggerated formality and comic incompetence.

### [Fatout](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/nightmare_abbey_se/characters/fatout)

_professional_

Fatout is Mr. Listless's French valet, who serves him with exaggerated formality and comic incompetence.

## In the story

### [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/nightmare_abbey_se/chapters/iii)

Arrives at Nightmare Abbey at Mr. Glowry's invitation; travels with his French valet Fatout.

### [V](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/nightmare_abbey_se/chapters/v)

Coquetted with by Marionetta, receives new books, and expresses his love for modern misanthropic literature.

### [Chapter VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/nightmare_abbey_se/chapters/vi)

Participates in the discussion about Dante and blue devils, and is the target of Marionetta's playful satire about invalids.

### [XI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/nightmare_abbey_se/chapters/xi)

Comments on the fashion of travel and his own lack of energy.

### [XII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/nightmare_abbey_se/chapters/xii)

Inquires about ghosts from Mr. Flosky, expresses nervousness, and hides under a sofa during the apparition.

### [XIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/nightmare_abbey_se/chapters/xiii)

Attracted by the tumult to the scene of action.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/nightmare_abbey_se/characters/honourable_mr_listless
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/nightmare_abbey_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/nightmare_abbey_se/characters