addition to about thirty novels. But of all his works perhaps only 'The Parliamentary Series,' 'The Chronicles of Barset,' and 'Orley Farm,'-by many considered his best story,— have permanent qualities of merit. Phineas Finn,' 'Phineas Redux,' 'Can You Forgive Her?' 'The Duke's Children,' 'The Prime Minister,' afford an intimate acquaintance with London life and the complications of English politics; and are full of brilliant character sketches. But for simple human interest they are inferior to the Chronicles.' Wandering about Salisbury one day, Anthony Trollope conceived the idea of 'The Warden,' - the first and shortest of the five included in this series. Its reception showed him that he had learned at last how to gratify the public. The imaginary county of Barset became very real to novel readers. Gentle Bishop Proudie, impotent under the rule of his shrewish wife; the impressive but shallow archdeacon, his good sensible wife, and his wife's relations, with their exaggerated respect for ecclesiastical precedences, involving petty squabbles, form the background for pleasant romances. Trollope delights in pretty, sensible, spirited girls. Grace Crawley, Lily Dale, Mary Thorne, and their sisterhood, are fine warm-hearted young women. Perhaps the most lovable character in all Trollope's works is mild Mr. Harding, a pure-minded and simple Christian, loving his faith, and trying his best to live it consistently. Trollope never forces a moral. His tales were written for the recreation of others, although it was a matter of pride with him that the pleasure he furnished was always wholesome. Trollope saw the world as a sphere of many satisfactions, much pleasure, and little joy. Most people, it seemed to him, struggling more or less cheerfully through difficulties, find life something of a makeshift. This truth he shows, and emphasizes in a rich voluminous style,-like that of a ready talker with a copious vocabulary at command. It is pleasant to remember that after his hard youth, Anthony Trollope passed years of comfort and congenial companionship. His frank delight in the Garrick Club - where he met Dickens, Thackeray, Wilkie Collins, and other gifted men - compensated his solitary boyhood. Another enduring pleasure was hunting. He kept fine horses, and followed the hounds clumsily but enthusiastically almost to the time of his death in 1882. |