Inspired by a stroll around Salisbury Cathedral, The Warden centres on Reverend Harding and his youngest daughter Eleanor. It tells, with gentle humour and subtle satire, of the moral dilemma he faces when accused of living on the funds that should be distributed to the almshouse to which he has been appointed warden.
Inspired by a stroll around Salisbury Cathedral, The Warden centres on Reverend Harding and his youngest daughter Eleanor. It tells, with gentle humour and subtle satire, of the moral dilemma he faces when accused of living on the funds that should be distributed to the almshouse to which he has been appointed warden.
One of his chief critics is John Bold, a zealous, passionate young man who makes the injustice, as he sees it, known to the press. Eleanor is in love with Bold and he returns her affection but she would sacrifice him to save her father from shame and mortification. Urged to fight the charge by his son-in-law Dr Grantly, Harding wants to act courageously but in a way that will not alienate Eleanor or her lover.
The first of the much-loved Chronicles of Barsetshire, The Warden is a sympathetic account of a man struggling to do his best when society proves unbending.
I Hiram’s Hospital
II The Barchester Reformer
III The Bishop of Barchester
IV Hiram’s Bedesmen
V Dr Grantly Visits the Hospital
VI The Warden’s Tea Party
VII The Tupiter
VIII Plumstead Episcopi
IX The Conference
X Tribulation
XI Iphigenia
XII Mr Bold’s Visit to P]umstead
XIII The Warden’s Decision
XIV Mount Olympus
XV Tom Towers, Dr Anticant, and Mr Sentiment
XVI A Long Day in London
XVII Sir Abraham Haphazard
XVIII The Warden is very Obstinate
XIX The Warden Resigns
XX Farewell
XXX Conclusion