The Warden: Introduction by Graham Handley [Hardcover]

When John Bold decides to challenge corruption in the Church of England he sets the whole town of Barchester by the ears with consequences both comic and sad. Trollope's first masterpiece is the study of conflicting loyalties and principles in a cathedral city where the gentle warden becomes an unwilling focus of national controversy. The resulting story is both a fine comedy of manners and a magnificent group portrait. THE WARDEN is the first novel of the Barsetshire series.

“Trollope will remain one of the most trustworthy . . . of the writers who have helped the heart of man to know itself.”
—Henry JamesAnthony Trollope (1815-1882) was born in London to a bankrupt barrister father and a mother who, as a well-known writer, supported the family. Trollope enjoyed considerable acclaim both as a novelist and as a senior civil servant in the Post Office. He published more than forty novels and many short stories that are regarded by some as among the greatest of nineteenth-century fiction.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 fló