The Cross-Cut — Thomas Love Peacock

According to Wikipedia: Thomas Love Peacock (18 October 1785 - 23 January 1866) was an English satirist and author. Peacock was a close friend of Percy Bysshe Shelley and they influenced each other's work. He wrote satirical novels, each with the same basic setting - characters at a table discussing and criticising the philosophical opinions of the day. He worked for the British East India Company.