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Mr. Samgrass declines in the novel from being a young history fellow of Oxford's prestigious All Souls' College to a journalist for a mass circulation newspaper. His skill as an academic politician is demonstrated after Ryder and Sebastian become involved in the night club incident. Here, his diplomacy is on the same level as that of that formidable operator, Rex Mottram, who handles the legal consequences of this episode. Chosen by Lady Marchmain to edit the commemorative volume for one of her soldier brothers, Mr. Samgrass turns in a "deft" performance, (p. 139).
Samgrass is not only a toady and a cheat but is self-centered and devoted to his creature comforts. This is not an asset to a man who might otherwise have been a courtier along the lines of Osric in Hamlet. He is too pushy. At Brideshead Castle...