BARCHESTER TOWERS, the second of Anthony Trollope's Chronicles of Barsetshire --(The Warden) (1855), (Barchester Towers) (1857),
particularly suggests Hawthorne's comment upon Trollope's books in general: ((They prn cisely suit my taste,— solid and substantial, written on the strength of beef and through the inspiration of ale, and just as real as if some giant had hewn a great lump out of the earth and put it under a glass case, with all its inhabitants going about their daily business, and not suspecting that they were being made a show of. And these books are just as Eng lish as a beefsteak.°
Towers' is not a book of the spirit, for Trollope cared neither for mysteries nor for doctrines. It is essentially comic but essentially humane, with out sharp satire or caricature. The plot is easy and credible, the good humor unflagging, the style, if not distinguished, yet clear; the set ting and descriptions are always full of truth. The characters, however, give the book its memorable excellence. It is not only that they think, speak and act naturally. They are pre sented with a picturesqueness which never dis torts them and a comic force which but adds to their verisimilitude. Such personages as Bertie Stanhope and Mrs. Proudie, the particu lar triumphs of this novel, may reasonably be mentioned with the immortals.