Last Chronicle of Barset - Anthony Trollope

[KEV67]

The Grantly family seem to have changed again. In the first book I came across them the Grantly's had two daughters, both high-spirited girls. The next time one of the girls had changed character. She was beautiful but dull. The other one had been bumped off, although her family did not seem all that cut up about it. In this book it turns out they also have two sons. I have not heard of them before. One of them is a retired major with Victoria Cross no less. The other is a clergyman, but he has not been introduced yet.

[KEV67]

The first part of the story revolves around a stolen cheque.

Spoiler

What I don't understand is that it must have been signed for it to have been cashed. Either Mr Soames signed blank cheques that he kept about his person, or he wrote a cheque out to Cash and mislaid it at Mr Crawley's home, or Mr Crawley found one of Mr Soames cheques and forged his signature. Mr Crawley would definitely remember doing that. If Mr Crawley did not have an example of Mr Soames' signature then the forgery would be easily spotted. If he did have his signature he would have had to practice forging it to get it right.

 

[KEV67]

Mr Crawley, or is it Rev Crawley, is a perpetual curate in a constant state of poverty. He is paid £130 a year. That is not much by middle class standards, but the majority of the population were much poorer than that. Factory workers earned about £1 a week. Costermongers and farm labourers earned about half that. Most Victorians were really, really poor.

[KEV67]

I'm getting quite into this book, although I still do not understand why anyone would leave signed cheques made out to cash lying about. I certainly hope Mrs Proudie, the bishop's wife, gets hers.

[KEV67]

This book is a bit more London based then some of the others. Johnny Eames has developed a sense of humour. There is a fair bit of witty to-and-fro, but it is of the old, posh English type. It would be like listening to David Niven chatting to Dirk Bogarde. Those sorts of accents have almost disappeared now.

[KEV67]

I wonder if the Last Chronicle of Barset is the best of the series. I still have over 30 chapters to read. I still do not understand the issue of the cheque. Perhaps it was not so much a cheque as a postal order. However I will resist googling it in case the plot is spolit.

[KEV67]

My problem with the cheque is resolved. Whoever signed it must have made it payable to cash. Then the cheque could be handed on like money. Still seems like a rum way of going about things to me. I have never paid a cheque to cash. 

 

In one part of the book, one of the protagonists travels to Italy in search of another character. I was very surprised he could get from England to Italy in little over a day. Railways must have been built all over large parts of Europe by then. I was also surprised the ease with which this protagonist found this other character. He arrives in a foreign city, asks around, and is told where she is. I suppose it was customary for people to leave their contact details. But say you are in a city like Turin. There must be lots of hotels in Turin. How do you know which one to go to?

 

The book was first published in 1867.

[KEV67]

Charles Dickens was lower middle class, bordering on working class. I suspect that was why he was better at lower middle class and working class characters. Anthony Trollope was upper middle class. I think that may be why he is better at upper middle class characters and gentry. Trollope is at home in town and country. The Last Chronicle of Barset is more cosmopolitan than the other Barset books. Much more of it occurs in London. This is my favourite book out of the series.

[KEV67]

Spoiler

I am a little disappointed some of the romances did not come off, especially the one between Johnny Eames and Madalina Demolines. They seemed to get on so well. I suppose Madalina is a bit scheming and a bit of a gold digger. She was still very witty.