Plot
Hiram's Hospital, a fifteenth century foundation
attached to Barchester Cathedral, provided a home for
twelve old men. Through the centuries the income of the foundation had greatly
increased, and the Wardenship was a handsome sinecure
for the Precentor of the Cathedral. The incumbent,
the Rev. Septimus Harding a gentle,
'cello-playing old clergyman, lived near the Hospital, with his younger
daughter, Eleanor.
John Bold, a young surgeon of Barchester,
although in love with Eleanor, became convinced that the financial affairs of
the Foundation were mismanaged and demanded a public accounting. Mr. Harding's
son-in-law Archdeacon Grantly, enraged at this
assault on clerical prerogatives, fought the case bitterly until Bold,
distressed by the uproar he had occasioned, withdrew his suit. Nevertheless the
Warden resigned, and after Eleanor and John Bold were married left his post and
became Rector of St. Cuthbert's, a small parish in the Cathedral Close.
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 Valčncia
Press
damoa2@alumni.uv.es