John Bold, a young friend of Mr Harding’s and suitor for his youngest daughter’s hand in marriage, fancies himself something of a reformer, and takes it upon himself to exposing what he sees as an abuse of privilege. In four centuries the value of this bequest has risen considerably – and so the stipend of the warden is now considerably more than it would have been originally. The old men are thus well provided for, being well fed and comfortably sheltered, and having in addition 1 shilling and fourpence a day for all other wants they might have. For ten years, as the story begins, this good old Anglican priest has been the warden attached to an alms-house the Barchester hospital, which was set up under the terms of a will in the fifteenth century to provide comfort and shelter for twelve old single working men who without such charity would starve. Septimus Harding, the warden of the title is a kind hearted old clergyman. I gobbled it up in no time, as it is probably the shortest of Trollope’s novels, many of them actually being quite thick. I am pleased to say therefore I still love it as much after this re-read. The Warden is the first of those chronicles, and a novel I had remembered well. The famous Barchester chronicles are maybe his best known, understandably so for they are brilliant. There was a time when I devoured many, many Trollope novels, I loved them.
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