It’s time for the annual Clothes in Books trope of Christmas in Books – seasonal scenes from random books, for no better reason than I like looking for the pictures, and I and some readers
find them cheery
and Xmas-y
Orley Farm by Anthony Trollope
published 1861-1862
[excerpt] I do not know of anything more pleasant to the eye than a pretty country church, decorated for Christmas-day. The effect in a city is altogether different. I will not say that churches there should not be decorated, but comparatively it is a matter of indifference. No one knows who does it. The peculiar munificence of the squire who has sacrificed his holly bushes is not appreciated. The work of the fingers that have been employed is not recognised. But here at Noningsby church, the winter flowers had been cut by Madeline and the gardener, and the red berries had been grouped by her own hands. She and the vicar's wife had stood together with perilous audacity on the top of the clerk's desk while they fixed the branches beneath the cushion of the old-fashioned turret, from which the sermons were preached.
comments: I explained
last year about reading Orley Farm in the hope of
finding Christmas Scenes, and it was full of them.
Here we are having Christmas at Noningsby, home of Judge
Staveley and his family: they have a number of visitors for the celebration.
Going to church on Christmas morning is of course very
important, and there is much discussion of how the houseparty will travel: who
will walk and who will take the carriage.
One visitor is Sophie Furnival, who generously offers to
accompany the Judge’s wife in her carriage:
It was a mile to the church,
and Miss Furnival knew the advantage of appearing in her seat unfatigued and
without subjection to wind, mud, or rain.
I tend to think Sophie gets a raw deal in this book – she
is indeed a young woman on the make, and relies on her wits. But what other
choice does she have? – she needs to marry well, she can hardly get a job in
finance or become a lawyer like her father. Usually Trollope understands and is
generous about that – we had a fabulous discussion of all this in the comments
of this
post on The Small House at Allington, The Riding Habit and the
Marriage Plot – but he is very unforgiving of Sophie.
Meanwhile, a proper houseparty offers all kinds of
interesting opportunities for exciting outings. Here, Lucius wants to go and talk
to someone who has been bad-mouthing his mother, and invites Peregrine along:
"I must have some one
with me, some gentleman whom I can trust, and therefore I have ridden over to
ask you to accompany me as far as Hamworth."
"I suppose he is not a
man that you can kick," said Peregrine.
"I am afraid not,"
said Lucius; "he's over forty years old, and has dozens of children."
"And then he is such a
low beast," said Peregrine.
"I have no idea of
kicking him, but I think it would be wrong to allow him to go on saying these
frightful things of my mother, without showing him that we are not afraid of
him."
Upon this the two young men
got on horseback, and riding into Hamworth, put their horses up at the inn.
This entertained me hugely in terms of a Christmas outing, particularly ‘he is not a man
that you can kick’ - a phrase I cherish.
The characters will
enjoy the Christmas celebration in this part of the book, but life will change
for many of them afterwards,
One of the visiting young men has an accident while out
hunting – very splendidly, the horsey Miss Tristram says to his host:
"I do not know much about
your friend, but I think I may comfort you by an assurance that your horse is
none the worse. I could see as much as that.
This incident will have long-lasting consequences. The
paths of the young people will not always be clear…
More Trollope all over the
blog, and more Orley Farm too.
Going to church from NYPL
I felt a lot of ambiguity towards characters in this book. There were characters who did questionable things for understandable reasons--and other characters who did the "right" thing for questionable reasons. Which is a tribute to Trollope's characterizations, but had my loyalties confused more than usual. I couldn't sympathize with the "hero" at all. It didn't hold my interest as much as Trollope usually does. The Christmas house party was the best part by far!
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you say - not my favourite Trollope. I have been thinking a lot recently about characters who do wrong but are romantic, while others are in the right but repel the reader. It's an interesting trope.
DeleteAnd yes, the Christmas scenes are excellent!
In the last Palliser novel there's a clergyman who is a model of integrity and conviction, but is just an impossible person. I remember being surprised that his wife could put up with him. He first appeared in Framley Parsonage, I think, and was bad enough there!
DeleteI think being "a man that you can kick’" reflected class as well as age prejudices. You would horsewhip an equal and kick a social inferior. Presumably you had to take someone with you to hold them while you carried out the operation.
ReplyDeleteThey are like people getting involved in a duel, with one young chap asking the other to be his second. They are also bored over Christmas and this gives them something to do, an unusual outing.
DeleteNot sure, but I think the bad-mouther was in fact socially inferior to Lucius, although not of the lowest classes. A lawyer, maybe---I don't really remember. But I know there was some doubt about whether his claims were true....Trollope let you wonder about it.
DeleteI think his understanding of the difficulties of young women developed as he went on. This is a relatively early work, isn't it, not as subtle as the Palliser novels, for instance. I am interested too in characters who act admirably but who are repellent and vice versa . Do you have any one in mind? I am thinking of the characters in Anna Karenina. Chrissie
ReplyDelete