Plot
The Liberal government fell, and neither Mr.
Gresham nor Mr. Daubeny could form a cabinet.
Largely through the influence of the Duke of St. Bungay,
the Duke of Omnium, very much against his will,
consented to lead a Coalition government. Effective as he had been in the House
of Commons, he was too thin-skinned, too diffident and unbending, too much
inclined to feel that opposition to his views was a personal affront, to be a
successful Prime Minister. The Duchess, by abounding and sometimes indiscriminating
hospitality at Gatherum Castle and Matching Priory,
endeavored to consolidate his supporters, but with indifferent results. Despite
all its handicaps the Coalition government endured for three years, and when it
fell the Duke retired from politics.
Interwoven with the main theme is the story
of Emily Wharton and her disastrous marriage to Ferdinand Lopez. Emily's
father, a wealthy barrister, violently objected to her marriage but was
eventually won to give a grudging consent. Almost immediately it became evident
that Lopez, whose finances were in a precarious condition, had an eye on his
father-in-law's purse rather than on his wife's happiness. He ordered her to
obtain money for his speculations and when she refused made her life a burden.
His social gifts secured for him an invitation to
Meanwhile the business affairs of Lopez and of his
partner Sexty Parker went from had to worse. He gave up his pretentious
apartment for which Mr. Wharton had to pay - and forced Emily to secure for
them a home with his reluctant father-in-law. Utterly discredited, he secured
the promise of the management of a mine in
GEROULD,
WINIFRED GREGORY;
A GUIDE TO TROLLOPE.
© 1948 Princeton University Press,
1976 renewed PUP
Reprinted by permission of
Url: http://www.anthonytrollope.com/
Academic year 2008/2009
© a.r.e.a./Dr.Vicente Forés
López
©Davinia Moreno Arroyo
Universitat de València
Press
damoa2@alumni.uv.es