The Warden

By Anthony Trollope

Others in the series are: Barchester Towers, Dr. Thorne, Framley Parsonage, The Small House at Allington, and Last Chronicle of Barset. According to Wikipedia: "Anthony Trollope ( 1815 – 1882 ) became one of the most successful, prolific and respected English novelists of the Victorian era. Some of Trollope's best-loved works, known as the Chronicles of Barsetshire, revolve around the imaginary county of Barsetshire; he also wrote penetrating novels on political, social, and gender issues and conflicts of his day. Trollope has always been a popular novelist. Noted fans have included Sir Alec Guinness (who never travelled without a Trollope novel), former British Prime Ministers Harold Macmillan and Sir John Major, economist John Kenneth Galbraith, American novelists Sue Grafton and Dominick Dunne and soap opera writer Harding Lemay. Trollope's literary reputation dipped somewhat during the last years of his life, but he regained the esteem of critics by the mid-twentieth century. "Of all novelists in any country, Trollope best understands the role of money. Compared with him even Balzac is a romantic." — W. H. Auden"

• Language: English
• Publisher: Seltzer Books
• Release date: Mar 1, 2018
• ISBN: 9781455372591

Anthony Trollope

<p><b>Anthony Trollope</b> nació en Londres en 1815, hijo de un abogado en bancarrota y de Frances Trollope, que, tras fracasar montando un bazar en Cincinatti, escribió <i>Usos y costumbres de los americanos</i> (ALBA CLÁSICA núm. XLVIII), con la que inició una carrera literaria que le reportó fama y prosperidad económica. Anthony se educó en Harrow, Sunbury y Winchester, donde se sintió a disgusto entre los miembros de la aristocracia, y nunca llegó a la Universidad. En 1824 empezó a trabajar en el servicio de correos, donde permanecería hasta 1867. Tras siete años en Londres fue trasladado a Irlanda, y de ahí a nuevos destinos por el Reino Unido, Egipto y las Indias Occidentales.</p> <p>En 1847 publicó su primera novela, <i>The Macdermots of Ballycloran</i>, y en 1855 <i>El custodio</i>, la primera del ciclo ambientado en la mítica ciudad de Barchester (trasunto de Winchester) y en las intrigas políticas de su clero. Este ciclo lo consolidó como autor realista y le dio una gran popularidad. En 1864 inició con <i>Can You Forgive Her?</i> otro ciclo, el de las novelas de Palliser, en el que retrataría los entresijos de la vida política y matrimonial de los parlamentarios londinenses. En 1868 él mismo se presentó como candidato liberal a las elecciones, pero no fue elegido. Entre sus últimas obras cabe destacar <i>The Way We Live Now</i> (1875), una gran sátira del capitalismo. Murió en Londres en 1882.</p>

Book preview

THE WARDEN BY ANTHONY TROLLOPE

published by Samizdat Express, Orange, CT, USA

established in 1974, offering over 14,000 books

Barsetshire novels by Anthony Trollope:

The Warden

Barchester Towers

Dr. Thorne

Framley Parsonage

The Small House at Allington

Last Chronicle of Barset

feedback welcome: [e-mail]

visit us at samizdat.com

Chapter 1.  Hiram's Hospital

Chapter 2. The Barchester Reformer

Chapter 3.  The Bishop of Barchester

Chapter 4.  Hiram's Bedesmen

Chapter 5.  Dr Grantly Visits the Hospital

Chapter 6.  The Warden's Tea Party

Chapter 7.  The Jupiter

Chapter 8.  Plumstead Episcopi

Chapter 9.  The Conference

Chapter 10.  Tribulation

Chapter 11.  Iphigenia

Chapter 12.  Mr Bold's Visit to Plumstead

Chapter 13.  The Warden's Decision

Chapter 14.  Mount Olympus

Chapter 15.  Tom Towers, Dr Anticant, and Mr Sentiment

Chapter 16.  A Long Day in London

Chapter 17.  Sir Abraham Haphazard

Chapter 18.  The Warden is very Obstinate

Chapter 19.  The Warden Resigns

Chaper 20.  Farewell

Chapter 21.  Conclusion

CHAPTER I Hiram's Hospital

The Rev. Septimus Harding was, a few years since, a beneficed clergyman residing in the cathedral town of ---; let us call it Barchester.  Were we to name Wells or Salisbury, Exeter, Hereford, or Gloucester, it might be presumed that something personal was intended; and as this tale will refer mainly to the cathedral dignitaries of the town in question, we are anxious that no personality may be suspected.  Let us presume that Barchester is a quiet town in the West of England, more remarkable for the beauty of its cathedral and the antiquity of its monuments than for any commercial prosperity; that the west end of Barchester is the cathedral close, and that the aristocracy of Barchester are the bishop, dean, and canons, with their respective wives and daughters.

Early in life Mr Harding found himself located at Barchester. A fine voice and a taste for sacred music had decided the position in which he was to exercise his calling, and for many years he performed the easy but not highly paid duties of a minor canon.  At the age of forty a small living in the close vicinity of the town increased both his work and his income, and at the age of fifty he became precentor of the cathedral.

Mr Harding had married early in life, and was the father of two daughters.  The eldest, Susan, was born soon after his marriage; the other, Eleanor, not till ten years later.

At the time at which we introduce him to our readers he was living as precentor at Barchester with his youngest daughter, then twenty-four years of age; having been many years a widower, and having married his eldest daughter to a son of the bishop a very short time before his installation to the office of precentor.

Scandal at Barchester affirmed that had it not been for the beauty of his daughter, Mr Harding would have remained a minor canon, but here probably Scandal lied, as she so often does; for even as a minor canon no one had been more popular among his reverend brethren in the close than Mr Harding; and Scandal, before she had reprobated Mr Harding for being made precentor by his friend the bishop, had loudly blamed the bishop for having so long omitted to do something for his friend Mr Harding.  Be this as it may, Susan Harding, some twelve years since, had married the Rev. Dr Theophilus Grantly, son of the bishop, archdeacon of Barchester, and rector of Plumstead Episcopi, and her father became, a few months later, precentor of Barchester Cathedral, that office being, as is not usual, in the bishop's gift.

Now there are peculiar circumstances connected with the precentorship which must be explained.  In the year 1434 there died at Barchester one John Hiram, who had made money in the town as a wool-stapler, and in his will he left the house in which he died and certain meadows and closes near the town, still called Hiram's Butts, and Hiram's Patch, for the support of twelve superannuated wool-carders, all of whom should have been born and bred and spent their days in Barchester; he also appointed that an alms-house should be built for their abode, with a fitting residence for a warden, which warden was also to receive a certain sum annually out of the rents of the said butts and patches.  He, moreover, willed, having had a soul alive to harmony, that the precentor of the cathedral should have the option of being also warden of the almshouses, if the bishop in each case approved.

From that day to this the charity had gone on and prospered --at least, the charity had gone on, and the estates had prospered. Wool-carding in Barchester there was no longer any; so the bishop, dean, and warden, who took it in turn to put in the old men, generally appointed some hangers-on of their own; worn-out gardeners, decrepit grave-diggers, or octogenarian sextons, who thankfully received a comfortable lodging and one shilling and fourpence a day, such being the stipend to which, under the will of John Hiram, they were declared to be entitled.  Formerly, indeed--that is, till within some fifty years of the present time--they received but sixpence a day, and their breakfast and dinner was found them at a common table by the warden, such an arrangement being in stricter conformity with the absolute wording of old Hiram's will: but this was thought to be inconvenient, and to suit the tastes of neither warden nor bedesmen, and the daily one shilling and fourpence was substituted with the common consent of all parties, including the bishop and the corporation of Barchester. Such was the condition of Hiram's twelve old men when Mr Harding was appointed warden; but if they may be considered as well-to-do in the world according to their condition, the happy warden was much more so.  The patches and butts which, in John Hiram's time, produced hay or fed cows, were now covered with rows of houses; the value of the property had gradually increased from year to year and century to century, and was now presumed by those who knew anything about it, to bring in a very nice income; and by some who knew nothing about it, to have increased to an almost fabulous extent.

The property was farmed by a gentleman in Barchester, who also acted as the bishop's steward--a man whose father and grandfather had been stewards to the bishops of Barchester, and farmers of John Hiram's estate.  The Chadwicks had earned a good name in Barchester; they had lived respected by bishops, deans, canons, and precentors; they had been buried in the precincts of the cathedral; they had never been known as griping, hard men, but had always lived comfortably, maintained a good house, and held a high position in Barchester society.  The present Mr Chadwick was a worthy scion of a worthy stock, and the tenants living on the butts and patches, as well as those on the wide episcopal domains of the see, were well pleased to have to do with so worthy and liberal a steward.

For many, many years--records hardly tell how many, probably from the time when Hiram's wishes had been first fully carried out--the proceeds of the estate had been paid by the steward or farmer to the warden, and by him divided among the bedesmen; after which division he paid himself such sums as became his due.  Times had been when the poor warden got nothing but his bare house, for the patches had been subject to floods, and the land of Barchester butts was said to be unproductive; and in these hard times the warden was hardly able to make out the daily dole for his twelve dependents.  But by degrees things mended; the patches were drained, and cottages began to rise upon the butts, and the wardens, with fairness enough, repaid themselves for the evil days gone by.  In bad times the poor men had had their due, and therefore in good times they could expect no more. In this manner the income of the warden had increased; the picturesque house attached to the hospital had been enlarged and adorned, and the office had become one of the most coveted of the snug clerical sinecures attached to our church. It was now wholly in the bishop's gift, and though the dean and chapter, in former days, made a stand on the subject, they had thought it more conducive to their honour to have a rich precentor appointed by the bishop, than a poor one appointed by themselves.  The stipend of the precentor of Barchester was eighty pounds a year.  The income arising from the wardenship of the hospital was eight hundred, besides the value of the house. Murmurs, very slight murmurs, had been heard in Barchester--few indeed, and far between--that the proceeds of John Hiram's property had not been fairly divided: but they can hardly be said to have been of such a nature as to have caused uneasiness to anyone: still the thing had been whispered, and Mr Harding had heard it.  Such was his character in Barchester, so universal was his popularity, that the very fact of his appointment would have quieted louder whispers than those which had been heard; but Mr Harding was an open-handed, just-minded man, and feeling that there might be truth in what had been said, he had, on his instalment, declared his intention of adding twopence a day to each man's pittance, making a sum of sixty-two pounds eleven shillings and fourpence, which he was to pay out of his own pocket. In doing so, however, he distinctly and repeatedly observed to the men, that though he promised for himself, he could not promise for his successors, and that the extra twopence could only be looked on as a gift from himself, and not from the trust.  The bedesmen, however, were most of them older than Mr Harding, and were quite satisfied with the security on which their extra income was based.

This munificence on the part of Mr Harding had not been unopposed.  Mr Chadwick had mildly but seriously dissuaded him from it; and his strong-minded son-in-law, the archdeacon, the man of whom alone Mr Harding stood in awe, had urgently, nay, vehemently, opposed so impolitic a concession: but the warden had made known his intention to the hospital before the archdeacon had been able to interfere, and the deed was done.

Hiram's Hospital, as the retreat is called, is a picturesque building enough, and shows the correct taste with which the ecclesiastical architects of those days were imbued.  It stands on the banks of the little river, which flows nearly round the cathedral close, being on the side furthest from the town.  The London road crosses the river by a pretty one-arched bridge, and, looking from this bridge, the stranger will see the windows of the old men's rooms, each pair of windows separated by a small buttress.  A broad gravel walk runs between the building and the river, which is always trim and cared for; and at the end of the walk, under the parapet of the approach to the bridge, is a large and well-worn seat, on which, in mild weather, three or four of Hiram's bedesmen are sure to be seen seated.  Beyond this row of buttresses, and further from the bridge, and also further from the water which here suddenly bends, are the pretty oriel windows of Mr Harding's house, and his well-mown lawn.  The entrance to the hospital is from the London road, and is made through a ponderous gateway under a heavy stone arch, unnecessary, one would suppose, at any time, for the protection of twelve old men, but greatly conducive to the good appearance of Hiram's charity.  On passing through this portal, never closed to anyone from 6 A.M.  till 10 P.M., and never open afterwards, except on application to a huge, intricately hung mediaeval bell, the handle of which no uninitiated intruder can possibly find, the six doors of the old men's abodes are seen, and beyond them is a slight iron screen, through which the more happy portion of the Barchester elite pass into the Elysium of Mr Harding's dwelling.

Mr Harding is a small man, now verging on sixty years, but bearing few of the signs of age; his hair is rather grizzled, though not gray; his eye is very mild, but clear and bright, though the double glasses which are held swinging from his hand, unless when fixed upon his nose, show that time has told upon his sight; his hands are delicately white, and both hands and feet are small; he always wears a black frock coat, black knee-breeches, and black gaiters, and somewhat scandalises some of his more hyperclerical brethren by a black neck-handkerchief.

Mr Harding's warmest admirers cannot say that he was ever an industrious man; the circumstances of his life have not called on him to be so; and yet he can hardly be called an idler.  Since his appointment to his precentorship, he has published, with all possible additions of vellum, typography, and gilding, a collection of our ancient church music, with some correct dissertations on Purcell, Crotch, and Nares.  He has greatly improved the choir of Barchester, which, under his dominion, now rivals that of any cathedral in England. He has taken something more than his fair share in the cathedral services, and has played the violoncello daily to such audiences as he could collect, or, faute de mieux, to no audience at all.

We must mention one other peculiarity of Mr Harding.  As we have before stated, he has an income of eight hundred a year, and has no family but his one daughter; and yet he is never quite at ease in money matters.  The vellum and gilding of 'Harding's Church Music' cost more than any one knows, except the author, the publisher, and the Rev. Theophilus Grantly, who allows none of his father-in-law's extravagances to escape him.  Then he is generous to his daughter, for whose service he keeps a small carriage and pair of ponies.  He is, indeed, generous to all, but especially to the twelve old men who are in a peculiar manner under his care.  No doubt with such an income Mr Harding should be above the world, as the saying is; but, at any rate, he is not above Archdeacon Theophilus Grantly, for he is always more or less in debt to his son-in-law, who has, to a certain extent, assumed the arrangement of the precentor's pecuniary affairs.

CHAPTER II The Barchester Reformer

Mr Harding has been now precentor of Barchester for ten years; and, alas, the murmurs respecting the proceeds of Hiram's estate are again becoming audible.  It is not that any one begrudges to Mr Harding the income which he enjoys, and the comfortable place which so well becomes him; but such matters have begun to be talked of in various parts of England.  Eager pushing politicians have asserted in the House of Commons, with very telling indignation, that the grasping priests of the Church of England are gorged with the wealth which the charity of former times has left for the solace of the aged, or the education of the young.  The well-known case of the Hospital of St Cross has even come before the law courts of the country, and the struggles of Mr Whiston, at Rochester, have met with sympathy and support.  Men are beginning to say that these things must be looked into.

Mr Harding, whose conscience in the matter is clear, and who has never felt that he had received a pound from Hiram's will to which he was not entitled, has naturally taken the part of the church in talking over these matters with his friend, the bishop, and his son-in-law, the archdeacon.  The archdeacon, indeed, Dr Grantly, has been somewhat loud in the matter. He is a personal friend of the dignitaries of the Rochester Chapter, and has written letters in the public press on the subject of that turbulent Dr Whiston, which, his admirers think, must wellnigh set the question at rest.  It is also known at Oxford that he is the author of the pamphlet signed 'Sacerdos' on the subject of the Earl of Guildford and St Cross, in which it is so clearly argued that the manners of the present times do not admit of a literal adhesion to the very words of the founder's will, but that the interests of the church for which the founder was so deeply concerned are best consulted in enabling its bishops to reward those shining lights whose services have been most signally serviceable to Christianity. In answer to this, it is asserted that Henry de Blois, founder of St Cross, was not greatly interested in the welfare of the reformed church, and that the masters of St Cross, for many years past, cannot be called shining lights in the service of Christianity; it is, however, stoutly maintained, and no doubt felt, by all the archdeacon's friends, that his logic is conclusive, and has not, in fact, been answered.

With such a tower of strength to back both his arguments and his conscience, it may be imagined that Mr Harding has never felt any compunction as to receiving his quarterly sum of two hundred pounds.  Indeed, the subject has never presented itself to his mind in that shape.  He has talked not unfrequently, and heard very much about the wills of old founders and the incomes arising from their estates, during the last year or two; he did even, at one moment, feel a doubt (since expelled by his son-in-law's logic) as to whether Lord Guildford was clearly entitled to receive so enormous an income as he

 does from the revenues of St Cross; but that he himself was overpaid with his modest eight hundred pounds--he who, out of that, voluntarily gave up sixty-two pounds eleven shillings and fourpence a year to his twelve old neighbours--he who, for the money, does his precentor's work as no precentor has done it before, since Barchester Cathedral was built,--such an idea has never sullied his quiet, or disturbed his conscience.

Nevertheless, Mr Harding is becoming uneasy at the rumour which he knows to prevail in Barchester on the subject.  He is aware that, at any rate, two of his old men have been heard to say, that if everyone had his own, they might each have their hundred pounds a year, and live like gentlemen, instead of a beggarly one shilling and sixpence a day; and that they had slender cause to be thankful for a miserable dole of twopence, when Mr Harding and Mr Chadwick, between them, ran away with thousands of pounds which good old John Hiram never intended for the like of them.  It is the ingratitude of this which stings Mr Harding.  One of this discontented pair, Abel Handy, was put into the hospital by himself; he had been a stone-mason in Barchester, and had broken his thigh by a fall from a scaffolding, while employed about the cathedral; and Mr Harding had given him the first vacancy in the hospital after the occurrence, although Dr Grantly had been very anxious to put into it an insufferable clerk of his at Plumstead Episcopi, who had lost all his teeth, and whom the archdeacon hardly knew how to get rid of by other means.  Dr Grantly has not forgotten to remind Mr Harding how well satisfied with his one-and-sixpence a day old Joe Mutters would have been, and how injudicious it was on the part of Mr Harding to allow a radical from the town to get into the concern. Probably Dr Grantly forgot at the moment, that the charity was intended for broken-down journeymen of Barchester.

There is living at Barchester, a young man, a surgeon, named John Bold, and both Mr Harding and Dr Grantly are well aware that to him is owing the pestilent rebellious feeling which has shown itself in the hospital; yes, and the renewal, too, of that disagreeable talk about Hiram's estates which is now again prevalent in Barchester.  Nevertheless, Mr Harding and Mr Bold are acquainted with each other; we may say, are friends, considering the great disparity in their years.  Dr Grantly, however, has a holy horror of the impious demagogue, as on one occasion he called Bold, when speaking of him to the precentor; and being a more prudent far-seeing man than Mr Harding, and possessed of a stronger head, he already perceives that this John Bold will work great trouble in Barchester.  He considers that he is to be regarded as an enemy,

 and thinks that he should not be admitted into the camp on anything like friendly terms.  As John Bold will occupy much of our attention we must endeavour to explain who he is, and why he takes the part of John Hiram's bedesmen.

John Bold is a young surgeon, who passed many of his boyish years at Barchester.  His father was a physician in the city of London, where he made a moderate fortune, which he invested in houses in that city.  The Dragon of Wantly inn and posting- house belonged to him, also four shops in the High Street, and a moiety of the new row of genteel villas (so called in the advertisements), built outside the town just beyond Hiram's Hospital.  To one of these

Reviews for The Warden

[john257hopper · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This short novel is the first of the author's six Barsetshire chronicles, set in the fictional county town and cathedral city of Barchester, a generic West country location. It's a simple tale of a legal dispute over the distribution of charitable funds under an ancient will, and the conflicts this causes in the family of warden Septimus Harding, especially with his married daughter Susan and son in law Archdeacon Grantly, and his unmarried daughter Eleanor and her suitor John Bold. Despite its seemingly trivial nature, this strikes a chord and was quite an enjoyable read, with the author's writing style fairly simple and direct, by 19th century standards. He satirises Dickens as Mr Popular Sentiment.

[seriousgrace · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Reverend Septimus Harding, at fifty years old, became Precentor of the Cathedral as well as the Warden of Hiram's Hospital. Because of his dual employment he makes a significantly higher wage than others. This inequality of salary is a modern conflict and no one is more bothered by this than John Bold. But Mr. bold has a conflict of interest. While he is against Mr. Harding's significant salary and starts a petition to challenge it, he is also attracted and betrothed to Harding's twenty four year old daughter, Eleanor. When he realizes the heartache he has caused the Harding family he tries to retract his complaint..but of course it is too late. The wheels of justice have been set in motion. The lesson for John Bold is you made your bed, now you have to lie in it.The lesson for the Warden is one of morality. Eventually, the suit is abandoned but Harding is still wracked with guilt. He resigns despite everyone's urging to reconsider.

[richardderus · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Book Circle Reads 155Rating: 3.5* of five The Book Description: The Warden centers on Mr. Harding, a clergyman of great personal integrity who is nevertheless in possession of an income from a charity far in excess of the sum devoted to the purposes of the foundation. On discovering this, young John Bold turns his reforming zeal to exposing what he regards as an abuse of privilege, despite the fact that he is in love with Mr. Harding's daughter Eleanor. It was a highly topical novel (a case regarding the misapplication of church funds was the scandalous subject of contemporary debate), but like other great Victorian novelists, Trollope uses the specific case to explore and illuminate the universal complexities of human motivation and social morality. My Review: First read in the 1980s, during the first Reagan Administration, I was struck at how little things had changed in the past 130 years. Mr. Bold's lawsuit and its unintended consequences, the fuss and kerfuffle over the uses of “public” (really now, could the specific bequest of a trust to support a charitable activity and administered by the church be considered public today?) funds in a manner the onlooker simply didn't like...think Chrysler bailout, but not International Harvester or US Steel...all of this resonated with me.Eleanor Harding was no one's fool, hooking up with that pill of the first water John Bold! And I have to say that the portrait of Dickens as Mr. Popular Sentiment made me chortle.But on re-reading the book in 2012...well...the magic eluded me. I think this was a book that needed the element of not knowing the ending to make the events fun. Since I knew already who was going to do what, I had no huge amount of interest in following the path laid out for me. It was still amusing. It wasn't ever gripping, but it was involving. Now, after 30 years, much of what took place had fled from my head until the words hit my eyes. But as they returned, it was as blocks and lumps and boulders, not flowing back into the river of my thoughts like cool springs and bright brooks.Good Victorian stodge. But once was enough.

[rosareads · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Gorgeous writing!

[pnorman4345 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Wonderful novel of politics and individuals.

[hemlokgang · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I absolutely loved this gem of a novel and am glad that it is the first of the well-known Barchester series by Trollope. How can you go wrong with a melodrama and a morality tale blend along with characters with names such as Dr. Pessimist Anticant, Mr. Popular Sentiment, and Mr. Quiverful? This is the story of a man beset by doubts as to the validity of his source of income. A meek, mild, honorable man, he takes one of his first strong stands about what he believes to be right, even though those who questioned him in the first place had backed down. Themes include: honor, loyalty, the nature of friendship, the absurdity of pundits, and the willingness of people to make judgements based in their own personal interests with limited information. Certainly sounds like issues which are still relevant today!

[smiler69 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A clergyman, Mr. Harding, is accused of abusing of his privilege of receiving a high income for very little work, and that church funds are being misappropriated; both accusations made by a young reformer who also happens to be in love with the clergyman's daughter, and influences those who are directly under the clergyman's protection and benefiting from his generosity. Mr. Harding is well-loved by all, and the combination of savage media outcry and his unimpeachable honesty pushes him to take actions which are against his best interests. Can't say I absolutely loved this novel, but in the context of the tutoring thread in which Liz and Genny both provided lots of useful information about the clergy and moral attitudes of the time and so on, certainly helped this modern reader appreciate the story a lot more than I would have without my mentors.

[mercury57 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Brilliant depiction of a changing point in Victorian Britain. The clash between Septimus Harding and the Grantly's epitomises the clash between the old values and the new. Harding is a wonderfully drawn portrayal of what Newman considered to be the true nature of a gentleman.

[dmmjlllt · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Gentle and pleasant - pretty funny in places. Gentle smile funny, not laugh out loud funny.

[weeksc07-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

After years of reading around Trollope, I was finally hit by the urge to pick up one of his books, and boy am I glad I did. In doing research to find out where I should start, I read that [The Warden], while important as the first of the Barsetshire novels, is one of Trollope's lesser works. If that is true, I can't wait to move on the remainder of Barsetshire, and after that, the Palliser novels. But on to my review.In simplest terms, it is easy to describe this book as [Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell] without the magic or Downton Abbey without the melodrama: not a whole lot of importance happens, but the narrator and characters are so charming, the story is worthwhile. The dialogue is outstanding. It was extremely easy to imagine these conversations actually taking place in Victorian parlors. The characterization is quite strong, and there are little details, like Mr. Harding's habit of playing an imaginary cello in times of stress, that are just so enjoyable.There are a few points that I do feel I have to harp on though. There are two consecutive chapters in the middle of the book that are extended metaphors that bog the flow of the story down, without contributing much. Not coincidentally, these are both thinly veiled attacks on institutions of the time: one the journalistic establishment; the other, Charles Dickens. Not long after these two chapters, Trollope suddenly falls in love with footnotes for a single chapter...with the unfortunate fact that every one of these says essentially the same thing.In the end, however, I greatly enjoyed this novel and highly recommend it to fans of Victorian literature, and possibly even to people who enjoy Downton Abbey, as long as they can deal with the lack of opulence. If you've made it this far, I'd just like to add that this is my first review on LT and am grateful for your having stuck with me till the end.

[tess_schoolmarm · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is the first Trollope book I've read and it was slow-moving and somewhat mediocre. However, I have been promised that the ones that follow are better! That being said, the story revolves around the question of the possible misuse of charitable funds by Septimus Harding, a well-liked clergyman in the town of Barhcester, who is also the warden of a man's alms house. The chief protagonist who suggests the accusations against the warden is also in love with the Harding's daughter and there is the conflict of duty and love. Definitely a Victorian read.

[beyondedenrock · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I really didn’t mean to set out on my journey through Trollope’s Barsetshire novels this year. I loved the Palliser novels, I planned to read a few more of his stand-alone novels before I began his other series; and, if I’m honest, I have to admit that I was a little wary of this first book, that many have said is weaker that the books that follow and that I gave up on back in the days before I came to understand what makes Trollope so very special.A disappointing dramatisation of a book from the middle of this series – I’ll say no more because others who know and love that book have said it already, and much better than I could – made me want to read that book. Because, disappointing though it was, I could see enough in the underpinning to suggest that it was likely to be a book I would love.That was why, with just a little apprehension, I picked up this first book in the series.I loved it. And now that I am well into the second book in the series I have to say that I’m not enjoying it as much as I enjoyed this first book. ‘Barchester Towers’ feels rambling and unstructured after this book; I do like it, but not as much as I had hoped, and so I have put it to one side for a while.‘The Warden’ is one of Trollope’s shorter novels, and I would liken it to a beautifully wrought miniature; not quite perfect but lovely nonetheless.This story, like many a Trollope, spins around a will. An alms house was set up under the terms of the will of John Hiram in the fifteenth century, to provide food, comfort and shelter for twelve old men who had no home and no means. They were also granted a shilling and fourpence a day for any other wants they might have.What surplus there was – and sometimes there was very little – was granted to the warden a clergyman responsible for the running of what would become known as ‘Hiram’s Hospital’ and for the spiritual welfare of the men who resided there.The explaining of this took a while, and that may have been why I put the book down first time around. This time though I felt at home in the author’s company and I recalled that my aunt had been warden of a similar alms house, albeit in a different age and under very different terms.This story begins when Septimus Harding, a respected, well-liked clergyman, was the warden of Hiram’s Hospital, and when the value of the bequest had grown significantly. That meant that Mr Harding had a very healthy income as well as a lovely house and garden; and he was happy in his work; he cared for his twelve residents and they all liked and respected him.It is the story of the trials of Mr Harding.John Bold, an earnest young reformer, was convinced that the hospital funds were being unfairly allocated and that the warden’s income was out of proportion to the minimal duties he is expected to perform. Mr Harding was unworldly, he had never thought to question the financial arrangements of the hospital, though he had had used his personal funds to increase the allowance given to the hospital’s residents to one and sixpence a day.The popular press took up Mr Bold’s cause, it became a cause celebre, and a court case ensued.The clerical community, with the forceful archdeacon Dr Grantly, son of the Bishop and husband of Mr Harding’s elder daughter at the forefront, supported the continuation of the warden’s right to the surplus income from the bequest.John Bold took the opposite view; even though he considered Mr. Harding as a friend, even though he sought the hand in marriage of his younger daughter, Eleanor.Mr Harding wanted to do the right thing, but he was none to sure what the right thing was.I loved the way that Trollope told this story. He presented his characters and all of the arguments so well; his narrative voice was warm, acute and witty; and I was particularly taken with how well he created the letters and newspaper reports that illuminated his story.I appreciated that, though I had a good idea where his sympathies lay, he presented both sides of the matter quite clearly. That made it easy to feel empathy with Mr Harding, a good man who really didn’t know what the rightness of the case was. And to wonder what had been the intentions of John Hiram when he made his will, and what would happen to the old men at the institution the bore his name.I was very taken with archdeacon, Dr Grantly. He was so certain of the rightness of his cause, and so formidable as he set out to fight for that cause. He was wonderfully entertaining on the printed page, and, though I’m not sure I’d like to meet him in real life, I loved his tenacity, and his loyalty to his family and the church.I loved Eleanor Harding. She was as devoted to his father as he was to her, and she snubbed John Bold while he was in the enemy camp. She didn’t cut her ties with him though; his sister continued to be her dearest friend, and she hoped that her romance could be rekindled when the court case was over and the dust had settled. She would always be loyal to her father, but she would never lose sight of the future that she knew was ahead of her, the life she wanted to lead.Most of all though I loved Septimus Harding. He loved his daughters, he loved the old men who were in his care, he loved the work he had been called to do, he appreciated all of the good things he had in his life; and when finally decided what was the right thing to do he proved to be as tenacious, in his own quiet way as his formidable son-in-law.The sequence of events, as he travelled to London and found his way to the people he needed to see – very much an innocent abroad – was beautifully judged and a joy to read.,His subsequent visit to the bishop, an old and sympathetic friend, and his return to Hiram’s Hospital were every bit as good.There were one or two character I would have liked to spend a little more time with – Mary Bold, Susan Grantly and certain of the residents of Hiram’s Hospital – but this is a small book and there is a whole series ahead of me to see a little more of the characters in this book and to meet others.I’m not sure that I’ll like the next book as much as this one, but I do want to give it another chance and I do want to spend more time in this world.

[tuke_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Strangely contemporary . . .

[bencritchley · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I seem to have revealed rather a lot about the plot - please exercise caution etcThe first part of a series, but a standalone novel nonetheless. I really enjoyed it (I know I seem to say that a lot) and see as its central theme the conflict between public and private, internal and external, personal and social. It's a novel about then-current newspaper scandals and church reform, but it's also a deeply personal story of one man, the titular warden, and his internal moral struggle. Mr Harding is a pleasant and well-liked man, and what happens to him is unfair and unpleasant. The end is both a victory and a defeat for Harding, which is a good illustration of the central split of the novel. Both forces acting upon Harding, broadly speaking, the external and the external, are acting from good motives, on the side of Right, (almost all the main characters are connected to the church) and yet they are set in opposition quite early in the text, as Harding realises he cannot do right by the church and his own conscience concurrently.This split continues as although firmly rooted in contemporary, mid-Victorian issues, scandals and mores, it is very relevant now with regard to charity and obligation in a changing world, and how the best of intentions - and John Bold has the best of intentions - can have unforeseen results when we treat people as statistics. Bold sees Harden as The Warden and, in seeing the injustice of the position, overlooks the kindness and charity of the man.

[pilgrimjess · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

“Did you ever know a poor man made better by law or a lawyer!'Four hundred years before the action starts John Hiram establishes a charitable hospital for the poor men of the nearby town of Barchester. Overseeing the hospital is a warden, a position gained from the preferment of the town's bishop. The estate is now making enough money that the warden can be paid a high salary. Local man John Bold,who sees himself to be a kind of moral crusader, believes that this position and salary is a corruption, of the original bequest so starts a legal battle.The case is important. The clergy believes that this can set a legal precedent concerning the role of the Church of England. In contrast Tom Towers, a reporter for the newspaper the Jupiter, takes up the case for the bedesmen (residents) and writes several slanderous editorials attacking the Church and the warden.The Warden is largely the exploration of Mr. Harding's conscience, his craving for privacy, his sense of duty, and his love for Eleanor and the men of the almshouse. At the centre of it is the wonderfully complex figure of Mr. Harding, thrust into a limelight he loathes and forced to defend a position he is beginning to consider indefensible. Trollope makes repeated references to Greek Gods and Goddesses. When Eleanor decides that she must sacrifice herself for her father's sake, she is inspired by the myth of Iphigenia, who sacrificed herself for her father. Tom Towers sees his office at the Jupiter as Mount Olympus and he sees himself as a god, shaping the reality of all the people. The comparison of the characters to heroes and heroines from ancient myths hints at the cruel, detached nature of most gods and goddesses. The story is told in third person by a narrator who often seems to be omniscient, revealing many characters' innermost thoughts. Once in a while, however, the narrator speaks conversationally to the reader, as though the reader and narrator are sitting together telling a story. Sadly time has not been beneficial to Trollope.I doubt if the subject matter is relevant any more,assuming it ever really was. Whilst the prose is beautiful there is very little action and this is often stymied by over elaboration, either about the environs or the characters themselves giving it rather stilted feel IMHO. That said this my first experience of Trollope so I cannot honestly say if this representative of his output or merely the result of this being the first book in a series. The tale is a gentle, heart-warming affair but I can imagine that this book will have an almost marmite quality to it, either you will love or loathe it.

[ridgewaygirl · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I had been warned that this is not Anthony Trollope's most exciting novel, but as it is the first in the Barsetshire Chronicles and I had a copy at hand, it was the first Trollope that I've read. It hasn't generally aged well, nineteenth century Church of England politics being somewhat out of fashion as a topic of interest, but the writing is strong and reminded me why I enjoy Victorian authors so much. Reverend Harding is a pleasant, ineffectual man who has a sinecure as the warden of a small retirement home for deserving working class men that includes a house with pleasant gardens and an annual salary of 800 pounds, given to him because one of his two daughters had married the son of the bishop. Here he lives comfortably, enjoying his music, reading books and visiting the old men in the adjoining hospital now and again. His life would have continued in pleasant routine had not a spirit of reform begun to sweep England and a young reformer, the aptly named John Bold, questioned the generosity of the annual allowance. Trollope is clearly on the side of the status quo, and he breaks from the narrative to complain about the tactics of an author (supposedly Charles Dickens), whom he calls Mr Popular Sentiment, and who he accuses of biasing the public by creating characters and situations that manipulate the reader into sympathy with his poor working class characters. Of course, Trollope is doing exactly the same thing here; Harding is so mild and inoffensive that it is impossible not to hope that he can keep his generous and largely unearned salary. Outside of the machinations of the lawyers, clergymen and journalists, there is a sub-plot involving Harding's unmarried daughter and John Bold. They had feelings for each other before Bold discovered possible shady dealings on the matter of the wardenship and it's uncertain as to whether their love will survive the conflict. This part of the novel is particularly satisfying, as Eleanor is an interesting character and Bold's conflict as he tries to do what he sees is right without losing her love results in the most satisfying chapters in this brief novel. I'm looking forward to continuing on with the Barsetshire Chronicles.

[pgchuis · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

There is not a huge amount of plot to this novel and the Goodreads blurb sums it up really. There is humour in Mr Harding's fear of the archdeacon, but the story is very topical and references several real-life cases of C of E abuses and attempted reforms, as well as parodying Dickens and Carlyle. The introduction and notes in this edition are excellent, almost necessary for a modern reader truly to understand certain sections.I much prefer the next in the series, "Barchester Towers" (I read them out of order), and I agree with the narrator that Dr Grantly doesn't come out of this volume too well. I found John Bold's actions here puzzling: he goes after Mr Harding despite being in love with Eleanor, but when she asks him to drop the case as it is upsetting her father, he agrees immediately. Either he didn't think at all about the consequences of his actions or he is entirely lacking in the kind of principle that the meek Mr Harding displays.

[janesteen_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Where I got the book: audiobook on Audible.This is the first novel in the Barchester Chronicles—attentive friends may remember that I listened to the second novel, Barchester Towers, first, loved it and then found it was the abridged version (grrrr) and decided to go back to the beginning and listen to the whole series, unabridged. There are several different audio versions available, and after listening to the samples I opted for this one, narrated by David Shaw-Parker who does a nice job.It’s a simple enough story: clergyman Septimus Harding is living a peaceful life as the Warden of a hospital (a sort of charity home) for old, indigent men. It’s a nice job with few responsibilities and a fat stipend, allowing Mr. Harding to live as a gentleman and support his single daughter Eleanor. But then reformer John Bold (who happens to be Eleanor’s sweetheart) starts asking questions about the legacy that set up the hospital in the first place, and why the Warden lives so well when the old men only receive a small payment. The newspapers start paying attention, and poor Mr. Harding (who’s been supplementing the old men’s living out of his own pocket) has to choose between giving up his comfortable life or putting up with the glare of publicity brought about by a lawsuit.Trollope’s sympathies seem to be squarely on the side of tradition in this story, which was inspired by a number of cases brought against clergymen who were living too well. Having just listened to Barchester Towers (which, of course, I shall be listening to again soon in the unabridged version) I was surprised to realize how closely the two novels are connected—if you’re going to read Barchester Towers, generally considered Trollope’s greatest novel, you should doubtless read The Warden first. Being Trollope there’s a great deal of legal and political detail, interspersed with character sketches at some length. At one point we follow Mr. Harding through just about every minute of a difficult afternoon spent in London, which is hard going even though for the historian it does supply an enormous amount of detail about how people actually lived. It’s during this day that Trollope also goes into a long riff on the power of the press, which is decidedly tedious. In today’s terms, this novel’s got a bit of a saggy middle. And yet I enjoyed the story on the whole, and the audiobook format definitely makes it easier to digest. I’m looking forward to revisiting Barchester in the near future.

[forthwith-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Anthony Trollope wrote 47 novels by rising three hours early each morning before going to work at the post office and writing an average of 40 pages. He also has non-fiction to his credit and a mother who had a few things to write about her trip to the United States.If he had the discipline to do this much writing everyday, perhaps I have a chance to do some reading. If he never seemed to have writer's block, how could we claim reader's block?The Warden was his fourth novel but the first one that got enough attention to make a lifelong dedication. This is the first of the six Barchester Novels. Some of you may recall that PBS had a series with Sir Alec Guinness that covered The Warden and Barchester Towers back in the Alistair Cooke days.The Warden is written by a Victorian novelist but it has a modest 200 page length. He is heavy page lifting in many of the other novels. Trollope draws an English world that is packed with very real characters. He did not like Dickens and his exaggerated characters. Trollope is critical but kind toward the characters. He is an excellent way to consider a Victorian novel for the post modern reader.Later this year, his full version of The Duke's Children will be released for the first time as a major private publishing event. Significant edits were done for previous releases. This is one of the Barchester novels. Expect to hear much reevaluation of Trollope this year. These would be good Masterpiece Theater fodder for the Downton sorts.

[jbd1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I've not read Trollope before, and just recently decided it was time to fill that particular gap in my education, so resolved to begin picking up nice copies of his works as I found them. Quite literally the next day there was a lovely near-complete set of the Barsetshire books (Everyman's Library edition) on the shelves at a local shop, and I couldn't resist just adding the lot of them to my shelves. A copy of the missing volume was easily obtained, and now I can look forward to savoring them (that is, if I can manage not to read them all in one grand bacchanal, which may be difficult to avoid if this first dip into the pool is any indication). What a delight this was! A lush, leisurely story, filled with dry humor, an intriguing cast of characters, and with a real moral dilemma at its heart. And ooooh, that Archdeacon Grantly! From the very first I had this "no way this can possibly end well" sense, and it was a great pleasure to see how Trollope brought it all together. Effectively satirical and deeply amusing, this volume has very much made me want to read more.

[aliceanna-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

An enjoyable snippet of Victoriana. I mainly read it as a set-up for Barchester Towers which is the next in the series and is supposed to be quite good. This one stood nicely on its own, though. Good introduction to Mr. Harding and the other characters.

[la2bkk · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

My first work by Trollope, and I was impressed. The author writes in a simple and straightforward style that a modern reader can appreciate. Likewise, the story line was straightforward, with just enough characters to complete the work. So often I am left wondering why authors of this period include so many unnecessary persons and detail. Not so with Trollope.Among its messages, I most appreciated the book's powerful statement about how media can be used, or abused.

[nosajeel · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I had been saving Trollope for later life, largely because I was worried that once I got started I might feel compelled to read all 47 of his novels. But somehow read the first few pages of this and couldn't put it down. The story is rather slight, many of the characters absurd, some of the satire over the top, but somehow it is enjoying and compelling from beginning to end.

The story is about a church official who also serves as the beneficent, albeit well remunerated, Warden of an almshouse for twelve elderly, indigent men. He becomes the target of a local reformer who wants more of the endowment to go to the poor and less to the Warden. A series of lawsuits and machinations follow, lightly interspersed with a wooden romance, and along the way Trollope skewers parliament, the media, the Church of England, philosophical writers, Charles Dickens, and others. Unlike Dickens, none of the characters -- minor or major -- have much life to them. And most of them are painfully cardboard.

But somehow the careful descriptions, the impossible situation depicted, and the panormatic view of this tiny segment of time, space and society are compelling. As one of Trollope's earliest works, I can only assume they get better -- and will require some restraint not to pick up another Trollope novel anytime soon.

[brenzi_3 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Absolutely delightful! Maybe because there is such a shortage of people with true moral character, but the eponymous warden, Septimus Harding, whose courage and sense of honor and fair play will not allow him to continue in his job, won my heart very early on in Trollope’s book that serves as an introductory volume to his well-known Chronicles of Barsetshire series.Harding serves as the warden in an almshouse for 12 elderly men who have no source of income. His employment, as well as the maintenance of the twelve residents, was spelled out in a charitable bequest. John Bold decides to initiate a campaign to rectify what he sees as an injustice in the way the funds are disbursed especially the inflated amount that Harding receives for, what appears to be, very little toil. To complicate matters, Bold and Harding’s younger daughter Eleanor, are romantically involved and he knows Harding to be a conscientious employee with whom he has a cordial relationship. Add in the fact that Harding’s son-in-law is the archdeacon whose intractable opinion on the case, as the lawsuit proceeds, creates an atmosphere that Harding can’t tolerate. As the case advances Trollope skewers The Jupiter, a newspaper modeled after The Times, which has taken up the case as just another example of the misuse of funds by the Church in general and Harding in particular. Mr. Popular Sentiment (Charles Dickens) and Dr Pessimist Anticant (Thomas Carlyle) also take up the case and are caricatured by Trollope.The writing is spectacular and I will certainly be continuing on with the series. But it’s the development of the Harding character that really stands out. It had me wondering how many brave, honest, upright people I know who would stand up for what is right the way Harding did. And the fact that I had a smile on my face throughout the book didn’t hurt either. ”The bishop did not whistle: we believe that they lose the power of doing so on being consecrated; and that in these days one might as easily meet a corrupt judge as a whistling bishop; but he looked as though he would have done so, but for his apron.”So…a quiet little book but a compelling look at a microcosm of British church life, from a time that is long gone. Witty and ironic, sweet and moving it couldn’t have been a better introduction to an author I will continue to explore. Highly recommended.

[sanddune_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The first of Anthony Trollope's Barchester Chronicles, The Warden is a short but beautifully formed book. The story of Mr Septimus Harding, the precentor of Barchester Cathedral, and the warden of Hiram's Hospital, an almshouse in the cathedral city of Barchester. The twelve old men housed by the hospital receive an income of one shilling and four pence per day, whereas the increase in the value of the property in the centuries since the charity was founded leaves the warden with a substantial income of eight hundred pounds a year and the use of a handsome house. But as voices begin to be raised questioning whether this division of funds is in line with the original wishes of John Hiram, the very private Mr Harding must face the public scrutiny of his affairs. And to complicate matters the chief instigator of the enquiries is the man with whom Mr Harding's daughter Eleanor is in love.For me the strength of this book is in the memorable characters that Trollope creates: the honest and generous Mr Harding battling with his own concience; the gentle but ineffectual Bishop; and blowing through the book like a whirlwind there is the wonderful archdeacon Dr Grantley, who alternately organises and terrorises all around him.Trollope's language at times is just perfect. On discovering that Mr Harding's daughter is likely to become engaged to the chief reformer, John Bold:'The bishop did not whistle; we believe that they lose the power of doing so on being consecrated; and that in these days one might as easily meet a corrupt judge as a whistling bishop; but he looked as if he would have done so, but for his apron.'This would probably have rated five stars were it not for some of the satire being lost on the modern reader, although his portrait of the famous novelist Mr Popular Sentiment is still recognisable to anyone who has read any Dickens at all!I'll definitely going on to read the rest of the Barchester Chronicles.

[paradiseporch · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is the first in the classic Chronicles of Barsetshire series and features befuddled cleric Septimus Harding and a kafuffle over his income. Trollope set his story in his current day, in this case 1855. There is lots of social satire (including a veiled reference to Charles Dickens), biting humour, and pokes at church & state.I’ll admit this was humourous, but I’m not really into early Victorian times so began to find Trollope’s references boring. I’m glad I read this (my introduction to Trollope) but I’m not in a hurry to read more by him, even though it’s likely that if I did want Victorian literature, he would be near the top of my list.Read this if: you’re a fan of Victorian literature. 3½ stars

[jmoncton_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The first of the Barsetshire Chronicles by Anthony Trollope. Set in mid 1800's England, Mr. Harding as Warden of a home for the poor. Due to some lucky investments, the Warden receives a sizeable stipend, which was never intended by the original legacy that created the home. Reverend Hardy has the dilemma of choosing between poverty (only 100 pounds a year!) vs. staying in his current comfortable position even though he feels it is morally wrong.

As a Dickens fan, many people have suggested I read Anthony Trollope. I really enjoyed his style, similar setting to Dickens, but not quite the drama of some of Dickens' novels. I have already picked up the next in the series.

I listened to the Simon Vance audio edition of this book. Excellent, excellent, excellent!

[cecrow · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Wading through the first two chapters of exposition, I was wondering why anybody still bothered with Trollope. After that, I found out. There's a tidy little story here about a seemingly straightforward issue that becomes increasingly complex as we become familiar with each side of it. I'm not sure what moral is arrived at by the end, since anything I'm able to imagine has a counter-example when viewed from one of the many other perspectives. Perhaps the press comes off as the one true villain of the piece, although it's side of the story is curiously missing from the epilogue so that might be all that created that impression. Trollope plays very fair to all sides - maybe a little too fair, although my sympathies remain with Mr. Harding. This was pre-reading for Barchester Towers; I'll enjoy revisiting these characters but I hope that story will be a little more clear about its message. (PS - appreciated the dig at Dickens he slips into this novel, not sure I agreed with him though.)EDIT: on further thought, the message is that money can't buy the happiness earned by a clean conscience. The Warden feels no worse off for his reduced income, while the tenants lose many of the pleasures they were enjoying after striving for more.

[wordygirl39 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Sigh...I just don't get all the fuss over Trollope. I read this one, but not joyfully.

[rkreish_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I can't read only fluff in the summertime: my goal for the summer is to bust through a few books in the Barsetshire Chronicles. Loved reading the free ebook, but I used the Penguin Classics edition for the footnotes and intro.