Love's Labour's Lost! Trivia Quiz

Answer: Barchester Towers

Anthony Trollope 1815-1882 is best known as the chronicler of ordinary lives, in the fictional county of Barsetshire, a citadel of rural values always under threat from new ways.

"Barchester Towers", which begins with the arrival of Dr Proudie, the new Bishop, centres round the conflict between the "high church" and the "low church" parties. The first is led by irascible, apoplectic Archdeacon Grantly ("Good Heavens!") and the second is led by the hen-pecked Bishop, his formidable wife and Mr Slope, the unctuous self-seeking Bishop's Chaplain. Mr Septimus Harding, Warden of a charitable home for retired wool-carders, is the guileless and truly Christian peacemaker. It is he whose spirited daughter, who also happens to be a rich widow, Mr Slope is fruitlessly courting. His proposal and rejection in the local squire's garden is one of the funniest in fiction, only equalled by Jane Austen's Mr Collins and Lizzie Bennet. His invitation to wander hand in hand to the throne of grace is met with a resounding box on the ear!

Answer: Bertie Stanhope

Perhaps a bit severe! Ethelbert, aka Bertie, Stanhope is another touch of delightful comedy in this Trollopian battle of wills. His father having been for a very long time an absentee clergyman in Italy, " suffering" from an entirely imaginary sore throat, Bertie had spent his time idling and earning a desultory non-living as a sculptor. When the family is forced to return to England by the Bishop's domineering wife, he and his two mischievous sisters are more than a match for her.

In one amusing scene, at the Bishop's inaugural party, inappropriately clad in bright blue Eastern looking trousers, he moves a sofa to accommodate his lame sister and in the process traps Mrs Proudie's skirt, causing a great rent in both it and the lady's dignity! In response to her imperious "Unhand me, sir!", he drops to his knees and, comically abject, implores to be allowed to "fly to the looms of the fairies" to effect a repair. He is entirely without malice but sees in Eleanor Bold a way to continue his harmless yet idle life. His sister tells him to propose to her and he is unwise enough to tell Eleanor this. He is puzzled by her reply that he almost got the same reply as Mr Slope!

Answer: Signora Vesey Neroni

The second daughter of the Stanhope's, calling herself Signora Vesey Neroni, although a cripple was yet so attractive as to bewitch almost every man whom she met. Slope is reduced to incoherent, lovesick, babblings by Signora Neroni. She transfixes him with her bright eyes and silvery laughter. Seduced by her witchery, he is humiliated by her. Further, he incurs the wrath of his patroness, Mrs. Proudie, with his attentiveness to Signora Neroni. She was so infuriated that she secured his dismissal, although the Bishop had earlier acquiesced in his ambition to become Dean of the Cathedral.


In Chapter 46 of "Barchester Towers" we read this -

"And then came Mr Slope. All the world now knew that Mr Slope was a candidate for the deanery and that he was generally considered to be the favourite. Mr Slope, therefore, walked rather largely upon the earth. He gave to himself a portly air, such as might become a dean, spoke but little to other clergymen, and shunned the bishop as much as possible. How the meagre little prebendary, and the burly chancellor, and all the minor canons and vicars choral, ay, and all the choristers, too, cowered and shook and walked about with long faces when they read or heard of that article in the Jupiter. Now were coming the days when nothing would avail to keep the impure spirit from the cathedral pulpit. That pulpit would indeed be his own. Precentors, vicars, and choristers might hang up their harps on the willows. Ichabod! Ichabod! The glory of their house was departing from them.
Mr Slope, great as he was with embryo grandeur, still came to see the signora. Indeed, he could not keep himself away. He dreamed of that soft hand which he had kissed so often and of that imperial brow which his lips had once pressed, and he then dreamed also of further favours."

She then teases him further,

"And one other piece of advice, Mr Slope; I'll only offer you one other;" and then she commenced singing

It's gude to be merry and wise, Mr Slope;
It's gude to be honest and true;
It's gude to be off with the old love - Mr Slope,
Before you are on with the new."

Answer: Can You Forgive Her?

The guardians of Lady Glencora MacClusky, rich daughter of The Lord of the isles, have persuaded her to marry Plantagenet Palliser, a reticent and undemonstrative politician, against her inclination. She is unhappy in her marriage and unable to repress her feelings for Burgo Fitzgerald, the man she gave her heart to before her marriage. Fitzgerald is charming but feckless and unworthy and not entirely honest.

After her marriage he tries to persuade her to elope with him and live as his mistress and almost succeeds.

She cannot ultimately do what she knows to be wrong. She is spirited, unconventional and makes many mistakes but she is basically a good person. Love gradually grows between her and "Planty Pal" as he is called by his Parliamentary friends and they eventually have three children who cement their relationship.

She retains her love for Burgo for a long time and on her comparatively early deathbed begs Palliser to allow their daughter to follow her heart.

Answer: Phineas Finn

Phineas Finn is an incredibly attractive young Irishman from Killahoe in County Clare,son of a local doctor, who as a young barrister is secured the family seat in the British Parliament by an Irish landowner. In London he is universally popular and falls in love with Lady Laura Standish.

She loves him but her spendthrift brother has depleted her fortune and she feels she has to marry money. She marries the wealthy Kennedy who literally becomes insane with jealousy, tries to murder Finn and is committed to an asylum. Finn then goes on to fall in love with Violet Effingham and then Madame Max. We forgive him his susceptibility because he is so attractive!

Answer: A pregnant Irish girl

The political books of Trollope are concerned a great deal with "The Irish Question" especially the matter of tenant rights. Phineas lost his Parliamentary salary because he supported the unpopular cause in the House. As a result he was unable to pay the cost of re-election and continue his political career. Madame Max, a rich widow, who has long loved him, offers him her hand and fortune.

He desperately wants to accept but his sense of responsibility will not allow it. On an earlier visit home a romantic interlude with a childhood sweetheart, pretty and artless Mary Flood, has resulted in her pregnancy and he feels he must go back and marry her. Alas, poor susceptible Phineas! But do not despair.

The Gods are kind. Poor Mary and her child die in childbirth and he is free to return in "Phineas Redux", when Madame Max saves him from a murder charge.

Answer: The Duke's Children

"The Duke's Children" (1880) is all about the necessity of change. The novel opens with the death of the Duchess of Omnium (formerly Lady Glencora Palliser), implying that nothing will ever be the same again. The Duke's grief is made more unbearable by the behaviour of his children, who all favour inclination over duty, seeking happiness rather than strategic advantage. The Duke must set aside tradition in favour of the new progressive generation, who share few of the values he holds dear.

One of the most memorable characters is Lady Mabel Grex, one time lover of both Lord Silverbridge and Lady Mary's suitor, Frank. She represents the faded aristocracy. Her father and brother have gambled away the family fortune, leaving only their name and enormous debts. Lady Mabel is reliant on a good marriage to survive, but her cynicism and coolness eventually repels the two men in turn, and she is left alone, an embittered spinster.

Silverbridge marries Isabel Boncasson the daughter of a self- made American. Palliser withdraws his opposition, the death of his wife having changed his attitudes.

Answer: The Way We Live Now

Melmotte's story is the tale of a railway fraud, mad speculation and, finally, the bursting of the bubble in a crash that utterly disgraces him.

Marie, as a reputed heiress of millions, was sought in marriage by several highly placed but impecunious young noblemen. She fell in love with the most worthless of them all, Sir Felix Carbury. She planned an elopement with him and stole enough of her father's money to finance it, but Sir Felix gambled away the money and failed to keep the appointment. Melmotte, to bolster up his vanishing credit, forged yet another paper that would give him possession of his daughter's trust fund. When this failed, deserted by the men who had fawned upon him, and after disgracing himself by appearing on the floor of the House while intoxicated he committed suicide.

This book is by many regarded as Trollope's finest. It reflects the atmosphere of Victorian England very well- the entrepreneurial spirit, impecunious and morally dubious aristocracy and ruthless empire building by a rising middle class. This last led to the many financial scandals and bubbles of the day. Melmotte might have been the model for Robert Maxwell. The parallel is quite remarkable.

Answer: A previous mistress

Roger Carbury is a good-looking, kind gentleman who loves his impecunious cousin Hetta and asks her to marry him. She likes, admires and trusts him, but... she does not love him. Instead she fancies his best friend.

A quote from the novel:

"She did refuse the offer very plainly, but still with some apparent lack of persistency. When Roger suggested that she should take a few months to think of it, and her mother supported Roger's suggestion, she could say nothing stronger than that she was afraid that thinking about it would not do any good. Their first visit to Carbury had been made in September. In the following February she went there again,- much against the grain as far as her own wishes were concerned; and when there had been cold, constrained, almost dumb in the presence of her cousin. Before they left the offer was renewed, but Henrietta declared that she could not do as they would have her. She could give no reason, only she did not love her cousin in that way. But Roger declared that he by no means intended to abandon his suit"

Hetty is in love with Roger's best friend Paul Montague who was conned by Melmotte and engaged to build a railway from the States to Mexico, the funds for which railway did not exist. His relationship with Hetty is threatened when Mrs Hurtle, his mistress from his time in America arrives.

Answer: He is a Jew

Marriage was often less of a joining of two hearts and minds and more of an outright financial contract. The moneyed sought the social legitimacy that a title or a family estate could provide, and the peerage and gentry looked for the heir or heiress who could bring a sizable sum to prop up their position in society.

Ezekiel Brehgert is a rich Jewish banker who maintains his dignity in the face of exceedingly virulent English Antisemitism. In Trollope's novel, pandemonium breaks out when Georgiana announces her engagement to Mr Brehgert, a Jew. Her appalled parents, who forbid her to marry him, have a hard time believing that their daughter would ever consider marrying someone society considers inferior:

"I'm sure your papa won't allow it. If he's fixed about anything, it's about the Jews. An accursed race; - think of that, Georgiana; - expelled from Paradise... I'm sure that Mr Whitstable, who is to be your brother-in-law, will never condescend to speak to him"

Perhaps this is the place to mention the anti-Jewish attitudes that are occasionally expressed in Trollope's novels. Certainly, anti-Jewish feeling was quite common in Victorian society. Mr Breghert, who is the only unambiguously Jewish character in "The Way We Live Now", is also unambiguously kind, respectable, and honest. He is also one of Melmotte's victims, and Georgiana's treatment of him is a reflection of her weak and shallow nature.