Warden-Anthony Trollope

The Reverend Septimus Harding was, a few years since, a benefice clergyman residing in the cathedral town of ...

Well, let us call it Barchester.

Were we to name Wells or Salisbury, Exeter, Hereford, or Gloucester, it might be presumed that something personal was intended.

And as this tale will refer mainly to the cathedral dignitaries of the town in question, we are anxious that no personality may be suspected.

Let us presume that Barchester is a quiet town in the west of England, more remarkable for the beauty of its cathedral and the antiquity of its monuments than for any commercial prosperity, that the west end of Barchester is the cathedral close, and that the aristocracy of Barchester are the bishop, dean, and canons, with their respective wives and daughters.

Early in life, Mr. Harding found himself located at Barchester.

A fine voice and a taste for sacred music had decided the position in which he was to exercise his calling, and for many years he performed the easy but not highly paid duties of a minor canon.

At the age of 40, a small living in the close vicinity of the town increased both his work and his income, and at the age of 50 he became precentor of the cathedral.

Mr. Harding had married early in life and was the father of two daughters.

The eldest, Susan, was born soon after his marriage, the other, Eleanor, not till 10 years later.

At the time at which we introduce him to our readers, he was living as precentor at Barchester with his youngest daughter, then 24 years of age, having been many years a widower and having married his eldest daughter to a son of the bishop a very short time before his installation to the office of precentor.

Scandal at Barchester affirmed that had it not been for the beauty of his daughter, Mr. Harding would have remained a minor canon.

But here, probably scandal lied, as she so often does, for even as a minor canon, no one had been more popular among his reverend brethren in the close than Mr. Harding.

And scandal, before she had reprobated Mr. Harding for being made precentor by his friend the bishop, had loudly blamed the bishop for having so long omitted to do something for his friend Mr. Harding.

Be this as it may, Susan Harding, some 12 years since, had married the Reverend Dr. Theophilus Grantly, son of the bishop, archdeacon of Barchester, and rector of Plumstead Episcopi, and her father became, a few months later, precentor of Barchester Cathedral, that office being, as is not unusual, in the bishop's gift.

Now, there are peculiar circumstances connected with the precentorship which must be explained.

In the year 1434, there died at Barchester one John Hiram, who had made money in the town as a wool stapler, and in his will he left the house in which he died and certain meadows and closes near the town, still called Hiram's Butts and Hiram's Patch, for the support of 12 superannuated wool carders, all of whom should have been born and bred and spent their days in Barchester.

He also appointed that an almshouse should be built for their abode, with a fitting residence for a warden, which warden was also to receive a certain sum annually out of the rents of the said butts and patches.

He moreover willed, having a soul alive to harmony, that the precentor of the cathedral should have the option of being also warden of the almshouses, if the bishop in each case approved.

From that day to this, the charity had gone on and prospered, at least the charity had gone on and the estates had prospered.

Wool carding in Barchester, there was no longer any, so the bishop, dean, and warden, who took it in turn to put in the old men, generally appointed some hangers-on of their own, worn-out gardeners, decrepit grave diggers, or octogenarian sextons, who thankfully received a comfortable lodging and one shilling and fourpence a day, such being the stipend to which, under the will of John Hiram, they were declared to be entitled.

Formerly indeed, that is till within some 50 years of the present time, they received but sixpence a day.

and their breakfast and dinner was found them at a common table by the warden such arrangement being in stricter conformity with the absolute wording of old hiram's will but this was thought to be inconvenient and to suit the tastes of neither warden nor bedesman and a daily one shilling and fourpence was substituted with the common consent of all parties including the bishop and the corporation of barchester such was the condition of hiram's twelve old men when mr harding was appointed warden but if they may be considered as well to do in the world according to their condition the happy warden was much more so the patches and butts which in john hiram's time produced hay or fed cows were now covered with rows of houses the value of the property had gradually increased from year to year and century to century and was now presumed by those who knew anything about it to bring in a very nice income and by some who knew nothing about it to have increased to an almost fabulous extent the property was farmed by a gentleman in barchester who also acted as the bishop's steward a man whose father and grandfather had been stewards to the bishops of barchester and farmers of john hiram's estate the chadwicks had earned a good name in barchester they had lived respected by bishops deans canons and precentors they had been buried in the precincts of the cathedral they had never been known as griping hard men but had always lived comfortably maintained a good house and held a high position in barchester society the present mr chadwick was a worthy scion of a worthy stock and the tenants living on the butts and patches as well as those on the wide episcopal domains of the sea were well pleased to have to do with so worthy and liberal a steward for many many years records hardly tell how many probably from the time when hiram's wishes had been first fully carried out the proceeds of the estate had been paid by the steward or farmer to the warden and by him divided among the bedesmen after which division he paid himself such sums as became his due times had been when the poor warden got nothing but his bare house for the patches had been subject to floods and the land of barchester butts was said to be unproductive and in these hard times the warden was hardly able to make out the daily dole for his twelve dependents but by degrees things mended the patches were drained and cottages began to rise on the butts and the wardens with fairness enough repaid themselves for the evil days gone by in bad times the poor men had had their due and therefore in good times they could expect no more in this manner the income of the warden had increased the picturesque house attached to the hospital had been enlarged and adorned and the office had become one of the most coveted of the snug clerical sinecures attached to our church it was now wholly in the bishop's gift and though the dean and chapter in former days made a stand on the subject they had thought it more conducive to their honour to have a rich precentor appointed by the bishop than a poor one appointed by themselves the stipend of the precentor of barchester was eighty pounds a year the income arising from the wardenship of the hospital was eight hundred besides the value of the house murmurs very slight murmurs had been heard in barchester few indeed and far between that the proceeds of john hiram's property had not been fairly divided but they can hardly be said to have been of such a nature as to have caused uneasiness to anyone still the thing had been whispered and mr harding had heard it such was his character in barchester so universal was his popularity that the very fact of his appointment would have quieted louder whispers than those which had been heard but mr harding was an open-handed just-minded man and feeling that there might be truth in what had been said he had on his instalment declared his intention of adding twopence a day to each man's pittance making a sum of sixty-two pounds eleven shillings and fourpence which he was to pay out of his own pocket in doing so however he distinctly and repeatedly observed to the men that though he promised for himself he could not promise for his successors and that the extra twopence could only be looked on as a gift from himself and not from the trust the bedesmen however were most of them older than mr harding and were quite satisfied with the security on which their extra income was based this munificence on the part of mr harding had not been unopposed mr chadwick had mildly but seriously dissuaded him from it and his strong-minded son-in-law the archdeacon the man of whom alone mr harding stood in awe had urgently nay vehemently opposed so impolitic a concession but the warden had made known his intention to the hospital before the archdeacon had been able to interfere and the deed was done hiram's hospital as the retreat is called is a picturesque building enough and shows the correct taste with which the ecclesiastical architects of those days were imbued it stands on the banks of the little river which flows nearly round the cathedral close being on the side furthest from the town the london road crosses the river by a pretty one-arched bridge and looking from this bridge the stranger will see the windows of the old men's rooms each pair of windows separated by a small buttress A broad gravel walk runs between the building and the river, which is always trim and cared for, and at the end of the walk, under the parapet of the approach to the bridge, is a large and well-worn seat on which, in mild weather, three or four of Hiram's beadsmen are sure to be seen seated.

Beyond this row of buttresses, and further from the bridge, and also further from the water, which here suddenly bends, are the pretty oriel windows of Mr. Harding's house and his well-known lawn.

The entrance to the hospital is from the London Road, and is made through a ponderous gateway under a heavy stone arch, unnecessary one would suppose at any time for the protection of twelve old men, but greatly conducive to the good appearance of Hiram's charity.