The Warden (Penguin Classics)

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Party leaders apparently took advantage of Trollope's eagerness to stand, and of his willingness to spend money on a campaign. [43] Beverley had a long history of vote-buying and of intimidation by employers and others. Every election since 1857 had been followed by an election petition alleging corruption, and it was estimated that 300 of the 1,100 voters in 1868 would sell their votes. [46] The task of a Liberal candidate was not to win the election, but to give the Conservative candidates an opportunity to display overt corruption, which could then be used to disqualify them. [44] Craig, Amanda (30 April 2009). "Book of a Lifetime, The Way We Live Now by Anthony Trollope". independent.co.uk. Now I will not say that the archdeacon is strictly correct in stigmatising John Bold as a demagogue, for I hardly know how extreme must be a man’s opinions before he can be justly so called; but Bold is a strong reformer. His passion is the reform of all abuses; state abuses, church abuses, corporation abuses (he has got himself elected a town councillor of Barchester, and has so worried three consecutive mayors, that it became somewhat difficult to find a fourth), abuses in medical practice, and general abuses in the world at large. Bold is thoroughly sincere in his patriotic endeavours to mend mankind, and there is something to be admired in the energy with which he devotes himself to remedying evil and stopping injustice; but I fear that he is too much imbued with the idea that he has a special mission for reforming. It would be well if one so young had a little more diffidence himself, and more trust in the honest purposes of others — if he could be brought to believe that old customs need not necessarily be evil, and that changes may possibly be dangerous. . .. John Bold, a young surgeon, a zealous church reformer. He is romantically interested in Eleanor Harding, and later drops the lawsuit.

To learn more about this type of narrator, you can read this post in Lit 101 section: “All About Narrators: Who’s Telling This Story, Anyway?” This quote from that post applies to the narrator in The Warden: Trollope and the Matter of Ireland," Anthony Trollope, ed. Tony Bareham, London: Vision Press 1980, pp. 24–25 The Warden‘s cast of characters includes, of course, Mr. Harding himself, as well as Archdeacon Grantly, his assertive authoritative son-in-law with a high church position; Eleanor Bold, Mr. Harding’s young unmarried daughter, a lady with a loving heart but a fine sense of justice; and John Bold, the young Barchester physician who hankers to reform all injustice wherever he finds it–as well as to marry Mr. Harding’s daughter.Later in that year he moved to Waltham Cross, about 12 miles (19km) from London in Hertfordshire, where he lived until 1871. [35]

Shumaker, Wayne (1954). "The Mixed Mode: Trollope's Autobiography." In English Autobiography, Berkeley: University of California Press. Born in London, Anthony attended Harrow School as a free day pupil for three years from the age of seven because his father's farm, [b] acquired for that reason, lay in that neighbourhood. After a spell at a private school at Sunbury, he followed his father and two older brothers to Winchester College, where he remained for three years. He returned to Harrow as a day-boy to reduce the cost of his education. Trollope had some very miserable experiences at these two public schools. They ranked as two of the élite schools in England, but Trollope had no money and no friends, and was bullied a great deal. At the age of 12 he fantasised about suicide. He also daydreamed, constructing elaborate imaginary worlds.Anthony Trollope (1815-82) had an unhappy childhood characterised by a stark contrast between his family's high social standing and their comparative poverty. He wrote his earliest novels while working as a Post Office inspector, but did not meet with success until the publication of the first of his 'Barsetshire novels', The Warden (1855). As well as writing over forty novels, including such popular works as Can You Forgive Her? (1865) , Phineas Finn (1869) , He Knew He Was Right (1869) and The Way We Live Now (1875) Trollope is credited with introducing the postbox to England.