The Warden

Visits th

h was not the case with Dr Grantly. He did not believe in the Gospel with more assurance than he did in the sacred justice of all ecclesiastical revenues. When he put his shoulder to the wheel to defend the income of the present and future precentors of Barchester, he was animated by as strong a sense of a holy cause, as that which gives courage to a missionary in Africa, or enables a sister of mercy to give up the pleasures of the world for the wards of a hospital. He was about to defend the ho

but this did not much disturb him. He preferred to bear the brunt of the battle alone, an

ick handed him a letter; which he read, stroking the tight-gaitered calf of his right leg as he did so. Messrs Cox and Cummins merely said that they had as yet received no notice from their adversaries;

them. Haphazard is no doubt the best man; a thorough churchman, a sound conservative, and

ick quit

ince the question of St Cross had been mooted by the public, one noble lord had become "the earl," par excellence, in the doctor's estimation. "How he silenced that

think it not impossible that that great man might be induced t

; and as he walked across the hallowed close, and looked up at the ravens who cawed with a peculiar reverence as he wended his w

ndary when walking the quiet length of that long aisle at Winchester, looking at those decent houses, that trim grass-plat, and feeling, as one must, the solemn, orderly comfort of the spot! Who could be hard upon a dean while wandering round the sweet close of Hereford, and owning th

dead wood, for how much good fruit have not we to be thankful? Who, without remorse, can batter down the dead branches of an old oak, now useless, but, ah! still so beautiful, or

tations in the warden's drawing-room, he did not scruple to commence an attack on "pestilent" John Bold in the

om the back room," said her father, anxiou

rother-in-law that it might be as well not to say anything about Bold before her, and then retreated. Nothing had be

h a large, bright-coloured handkerchief, for he had felt busy, and had walked qui

ewhat unwillingly, th

he ground from under us while we sit looking on." The archdeacon, who was a practical man, allowed himself the use of everyday expressive modes of speech when among his cl

slow, and the upper hand would not be seen to work; nay, the strings on which it operated would sometimes lie concealed in the musician's pocket, and the instrument on which he played would be beneath his chair;-but as his spirit warmed to the subject,-as his trusting heart looking to the bottom of that which vexed hi

"They say we must secure Sir Abraham Haphazard. I shall not have

t and saddest of tunes. It w

ster Bold know what he's about. I fancy I hear Sir

sy work; and nothing issued from that single cord, but a low wail of sorrow. "I suppose they've sent

h a command as you have in the place, or should have with suc

" asked t

w pettifogger, Finney;-and get up this petition too

been hardly wise,

ng themselves. I must go up to the palace and answer it now, I

dn't they peti

n the hospital were expected to hear him through the walls; "why shouldn't they? I'll let them

ressly determined not to interfere in any step which the men might wish to take in the matter under dispute; he was most anxious neither to accuse them nor to defend him

quiet in the matter," said

speaking with his brazen trumpet;

to be ruined

e;-we must act; just let me ring the bell, and send

ters ran from the four corners of the square to a grating in the centre; and attached to the end of Mr Harding's house was a conduit with four cocks covered over from the weather, at which the old men got their water, and very generally performed their morning toilet. It was a quiet, sombre place, shaded over by the trees of the warden's garden. On the side towards the river, there stood a row of stone seats, on which the old

were assembled in the quad, and the archdeac

ming," said he, seeing that Mr Har

excuse me," sa

e archdeacon: "let us have a long pull and a strong pull, but above all

o do that which was not his duty; he was not, however, stron

here he lay; 'tis true he had no friend on earth, but those whom the hospital contained; and of those the warden and his daughter were the most constant and most appreciated; 'tis true that everything was administered to him which his failing body could require, or w

on him, and he too doffed his hat. Bunce, advancing before the others, bowed lowly to the archdeacon, and with affectionate reverence expressed his wish, that the warden and Miss Eleanor were quite well; "and the d

sion as plainly as does the Quaker's broad brim; his heavy eyebrows, large open eyes, and full mouth and chin expressed the solidity of his order; the broad chest, amply covered with fine cloth, told how well to do was its estate; one hand ensconced within his pocket, evinced the practical hold which our moth

just ground of complaint on your part would be removed at once by the warden, or by his lordship, or by me on his behalf, without the necessity of any petition on your part." Here the orator stopped for a moment, expecting that some little murmurs of applause would show that the weakest of the men were beginning to g

you do not receive from Hiram's estate all that is your due." Here most of the men expressed thei

old Moody, with a voice as

eir work, cripples, blind, bed-ridden, and such like, do you think he meant to make gentlemen of them? Do you think John Hiram intended to give a hundred a year to old single men, who earned perhaps two shillings or half-a-crown a day for themselves and families in the best of their time? No, my men, I'll tell you what John Hiram meant: he meant that twelve poor old worn-out labourers, men who could no longer support themselves, who had no friends to support them, who must starve and perish misera

hdeacon, was their intended estate. They grimly stared upon his burly figure, but did not then

twice a better bed, ten times more money in your pocket than you were ever able to earn for yourselves before you were lucky enough to get into this place? And now you send a petition to the bishop, asking for a hundred pounds a year! I tell you what, my friends; you ar

to the tirade of his son-in-law; "no, my friends. I want no changes,-at least no chan

, God bless you, sir: we know you was always our friend," was exclaimed

it; but he felt that he could not recommence with dignity after this little ebu

I think I spoke to them plainly." And he wiped the perspiration from his brow; for making a sp

eplied the warden, in a tone wh

f; "that's everything: with those sort of people one must be plain, or one will not

hought they had understood to the

pirit on their part; they know that we are not afraid of them. And now I'll just step into Chadwick's

o avoid even a semblance of rupture with any of his order, and was painfully fearful of having to come to an open quarrel with any person on any subject. His life had hitherto been so quiet, so free from strife; his little early troubles had required nothing but passive fortitude; his subsequent prosperity had never forced upon him any active cares,-had never brought him into disagreeable contact with anyone. He felt that he would give almost

ty, would he have abandoned the half of his income for all time to come, could he by so doing have quietly dispelled the clouds that were gathering over him,-could

uld have done so from the sheer love of quiet, and from a horror of being made the subject of public talk. He had very often been moved to pity,-to that inward weeping of the heart for others' woes; but none had he ever pitied more than that old lord, whose a

infirm? Was he to be gibbeted in the press, to become a byword for oppression, to be named as an example of the greed of the English church? Should it ever be said that he had robbed those old men, whom he so truly and so tenderly loved in his h

he expected, the petition lying in his father's library, he wrote a short answer to the men, in which he told them that they had no evils to redress, but rath