The Warden

The Warden is Anthony Trollope's first Barsetshire novel, set around a charitable institution in the cathedral town of Barchester. Its gentle warden, Septimus Harding, finds his comfortable income challenged by a campaign for the elderly men the charity supports. The dispute passes through newspapers, legal arguments, and family loyalties, but Harding's conscience remains its centre. Trollope treats both institutional complacency and aggressive reform with irony, giving the quiet decision to relinquish an advantage greater importance than winning a public argument.