I found Domestic Manners of the Americans on Google Books, in a pleasantly readable form (scanned pages from an old edition, and the type is large).
Link
Reading Trollope: 'The Warden' chapters 19-21
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Primula Baggins
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“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
I have an old copy of Domestic Manners and have read it a couple of times. So interesting!!!
I heartily dislike the condescending criticism of Trollope which compares him unfavourably to both Jane Austen and Thackeray. Trollope did himself great harm by publishing his autobiography and revealing that he, among other things, paid his servant extra wages for waking him early. He woke early so he could write a set number of pages before going off to work in the post office. Yes, he is credited with the invention of the pillar box. It's cute, actually, to find that a postman or postmistress is sometimes used as a point upon which to turn one of his plots. He credits the Post Office and Ireland as the two things which saved him from the dissolute and expensive life he was wasting himself in. He is frank about his lifestyle and it can be read, as well, in the novels in Charlie Tudor (in The Three Clerks) and the young Johnny Eames in The Small House at Allington.
I am not, myself, nearly as fond of Thackeray as I am of Trollope. Thackeray tried too hard, imho. Vanity Fair is his ONLY masterpiece, also imho, and Trollope wrote several books that fall into the "masterpiece" category, if one man can have more than one. It was fashionable for decades, indeed for much of the last century, to sneer at Trollope, but from the moment I entered Barsetshire I have loved him. I like the big, sprawling books which seem to go on forever and always sigh at the end. I love some of his characters as much as I love some RW people, to be honest. After all, at this remove, Lily Dale is as "real" as a lot of other people who used to be alive.
I heartily dislike the condescending criticism of Trollope which compares him unfavourably to both Jane Austen and Thackeray. Trollope did himself great harm by publishing his autobiography and revealing that he, among other things, paid his servant extra wages for waking him early. He woke early so he could write a set number of pages before going off to work in the post office. Yes, he is credited with the invention of the pillar box. It's cute, actually, to find that a postman or postmistress is sometimes used as a point upon which to turn one of his plots. He credits the Post Office and Ireland as the two things which saved him from the dissolute and expensive life he was wasting himself in. He is frank about his lifestyle and it can be read, as well, in the novels in Charlie Tudor (in The Three Clerks) and the young Johnny Eames in The Small House at Allington.
I am not, myself, nearly as fond of Thackeray as I am of Trollope. Thackeray tried too hard, imho. Vanity Fair is his ONLY masterpiece, also imho, and Trollope wrote several books that fall into the "masterpiece" category, if one man can have more than one. It was fashionable for decades, indeed for much of the last century, to sneer at Trollope, but from the moment I entered Barsetshire I have loved him. I like the big, sprawling books which seem to go on forever and always sigh at the end. I love some of his characters as much as I love some RW people, to be honest. After all, at this remove, Lily Dale is as "real" as a lot of other people who used to be alive.
Dig deeper.
Well, nothing, of course. But it has no "romance", no "inspiration", no "art". Trollope was despised for setting himself a number of pages every day (which he seldom failed to accomplish, and often did more). Critics felt that as an "artist", Trollope should have written from "inspiration".Cerin wrote:What is wrong with paying your servant extra wages to wake you early?
He replied that a shoemaker didn't wait for inspiration to make shoes, he made them because he had to earn his living. Anthony Trollope wrote, he said, for the same reason. But it was more and it's evident from his work that he had a lot to say.
He was a master craftsman, the master of his "art". But you know, even then, people had these ideas of a literary man being somehow "above" such common concerns as paying bills and educating his children. But to see him as a mere scribbler is to ignore the real art in his work. He was a great writer and he knew it. It does not lessen his greatness that he was careful with his money and time.
He did not live in an airy-fairy world, but in the real world of servants' wages and school fees and mortgages. He did earn a good living in the Post Office, but he wanted more. He eventually became quite rich. And then, in his autobiography he disgusted people by revealing his income and "bragging" about it. He had been very poor as a boy. His father could not pay his school fees half the time and he never had spending money for treats. He was badly, badly dressed. He was big and clumsy and mooney, daydreaming his life away. Not a very prepossessing figure!!!
Many of his books, such as The Warden, were quite "topical". His publishers actually suggested certain subjects for him and sometimes he took the suggestion, turning a potboiler-to-order into great literature.
Dig deeper.
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Primula Baggins
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Terrible thing, these mercenary writers out for what they can get. 
(Who was it who said that a writer who didn't admit that he wrote for money was a blockhead?
)
(Who was it who said that a writer who didn't admit that he wrote for money was a blockhead?
)“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
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Primula Baggins
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In my dreams, dear vison.
In my dreams.
In my dreams.
“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
I have several copies of The Warden. One is very old, but not, sadly, a First Edition. I don't treasure books as objects, but I admit I would love to have a first edition of a Trollope book.
At any rate, here is what David Skilton had to say about The Warden (taken from his introduction). " . . . It examines the moral position of an individual holder of a socially responsible office, so that it can ask disturbing questions about the connection between private virtue and public wrong, and raise doubts as to the adequacy of personal integrity in a corrupt system."
The novel was very topical, indeed. At this time, in the England of the 1840's and 1850's, there were several notorious instances of "the possession by the Church of certain funds and endowments which had been intended for charitable purposes, but which had been allowed to become incomes for idle Church dignitaries."
The most famous or infamous one was that of the Hospital of St. Cross at Winchester, where the Reverend Francis North, 5th Earl of Guilford, was enjoying an income from the Mastership much greater than the portion applied to the charitable purposes of the hospital while at the same time holding a well-endowed Canonry at Winchester and 2 parish livings beside. The Earl was a wealthy man in his own right, as well. His father was the Bishop of Winchester and his brother was the Prime Minister. You can imagine that this case became a cause celebre and it is very, very interesting to read about it.
Mr. Harding is not like the Earl of Guilford, though. Mr. Harding was, actually, more of an "archetype" than Trollope usually created. His characters are generally more complex. He believed that in real life no one is entirely evil and no one is entirely good, and poked at Dickens for creating characters who were either one or the other.
At any rate, here is what David Skilton had to say about The Warden (taken from his introduction). " . . . It examines the moral position of an individual holder of a socially responsible office, so that it can ask disturbing questions about the connection between private virtue and public wrong, and raise doubts as to the adequacy of personal integrity in a corrupt system."
The novel was very topical, indeed. At this time, in the England of the 1840's and 1850's, there were several notorious instances of "the possession by the Church of certain funds and endowments which had been intended for charitable purposes, but which had been allowed to become incomes for idle Church dignitaries."
The most famous or infamous one was that of the Hospital of St. Cross at Winchester, where the Reverend Francis North, 5th Earl of Guilford, was enjoying an income from the Mastership much greater than the portion applied to the charitable purposes of the hospital while at the same time holding a well-endowed Canonry at Winchester and 2 parish livings beside. The Earl was a wealthy man in his own right, as well. His father was the Bishop of Winchester and his brother was the Prime Minister. You can imagine that this case became a cause celebre and it is very, very interesting to read about it.
Mr. Harding is not like the Earl of Guilford, though. Mr. Harding was, actually, more of an "archetype" than Trollope usually created. His characters are generally more complex. He believed that in real life no one is entirely evil and no one is entirely good, and poked at Dickens for creating characters who were either one or the other.
Dig deeper.
. But I did find a first edition Dickens that was going for $30,000 
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Primula Baggins
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TM, vison likes Dickens, too. Don't be chintzy!
. . . Are we ready to take a run at Chapters 4 through 6?
. . . Are we ready to take a run at Chapters 4 through 6?
“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
$30,000!!!!! Good heavenly days.
Too rich for my blood.
On the other hand, when Prim is lolling about on piles of gelt from the movie, TV adaptations, action figures, and video games of her trilogy, she can spring for one as a gift for me . . . her biggest fan.
I'm ready to move along, and eager to do so.
Too rich for my blood.
On the other hand, when Prim is lolling about on piles of gelt from the movie, TV adaptations, action figures, and video games of her trilogy, she can spring for one as a gift for me . . . her biggest fan.
I'm ready to move along, and eager to do so.
Dig deeper.
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Primula Baggins
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Do PM her, Cerin. I know she's busy and can't come here on a daily basis.
“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
.This book is full of gems. Here is one of my favourites:
"He was not so anxious to prove himself right, as to be so."
See? That's why I love Mr. Harding.
Dr. Grantly is getting into bed with his wife. He is not wearing his clergyman's clothes, but a nightgown: "Many of us have often thought how severe a trial of faith must this be to the wives of our great church dignitaries. To us these men are the personifications of St. Paul; their very gait is a speaking sermon; their clean and sombre apparel exacts from us faith and submission, and the cardinal virtues seem to hover round their sacred hats. A dean or archbishop, in the garb of his order, is sure of our reverence, and a well-got-up-bishop fills our very souls with awe. But how can this feeling be perpetuated in the bosoms of those who see the bishops without their aprons, and the archdeacon in an even lower state of dishabille?"
That is the kind of paragraph that made people raise their eyebrows. I love it. And in Barchester Towers he says the same thing again, when hapless Bishop Proudie has to get into bed with his wife and listen to her "pillow talk".
How can you not love it? And now onward and upward!!!
"He was not so anxious to prove himself right, as to be so."
See? That's why I love Mr. Harding.
Dr. Grantly is getting into bed with his wife. He is not wearing his clergyman's clothes, but a nightgown: "Many of us have often thought how severe a trial of faith must this be to the wives of our great church dignitaries. To us these men are the personifications of St. Paul; their very gait is a speaking sermon; their clean and sombre apparel exacts from us faith and submission, and the cardinal virtues seem to hover round their sacred hats. A dean or archbishop, in the garb of his order, is sure of our reverence, and a well-got-up-bishop fills our very souls with awe. But how can this feeling be perpetuated in the bosoms of those who see the bishops without their aprons, and the archdeacon in an even lower state of dishabille?"
That is the kind of paragraph that made people raise their eyebrows. I love it. And in Barchester Towers he says the same thing again, when hapless Bishop Proudie has to get into bed with his wife and listen to her "pillow talk".
How can you not love it? And now onward and upward!!!
Dig deeper.
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Primula Baggins
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A detail I loved is that Archdeacon Grantly's wife has never called him anything but "Archdeacon," even in bed.
This kind of formality between married people makes me swoon even more for Darcy's "And so I would still be but for you, dearest, loveliest Elizabeth!" at the end of Pride and Prejudice. What very un-starched language that is! One might almost call it racy.
This kind of formality between married people makes me swoon even more for Darcy's "And so I would still be but for you, dearest, loveliest Elizabeth!" at the end of Pride and Prejudice. What very un-starched language that is! One might almost call it racy.
“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
But, we know he wasn't always an Archdeacon. So did she cry out, "Vicar!" at the appropriate moment? O, dear. I allow myself too much liberality of imagination . . .Primula Baggins wrote:A detail I loved is that Archdeacon Grantly's wife has never called him anything but "Archdeacon," even in bed.
This kind of formality between married people makes me swoon even more for Darcy's "And so I would still be but for you, dearest, loveliest Elizabeth!" at the end of Pride and Prejudice. What very un-starched language that is! One might almost call it racy.
Dig deeper.
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Primula Baggins
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Far too much liberality of information, vison.
Please do share any further insights you may have at other points in the story. . . .
“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King