The Landleaguers   By: Anthony Trollope (1815-1882)

Transcriber's note:

In 1834, at age 19, Anthony Trollope became a junior clerk in the British postal service. He did not get on well with his superiors, and his career looked like a dead end. In 1841 he accepted an assignment in Ireland as an inspector, remaining there for ten years. It was there that his civil service career began to flourish. It was there, also, that he began writing novels.

Several of Trollope's early novels were set in Ireland, including The Macdermots of Ballycloran , his first published novel, and Castle Richmond . Readers of those early Irish novels can easily perceive Trollope's great affection for and sympathy with the Irish people, especially the poor.

In 1882 Ireland was in the midst of great troubles, including boycotts and the near breakdown of law and order. In May of that year Lord Frederick Cavendish, the newly appointed Chief Secretary for Ireland, and Thomas Burke, a prominent civil servant, were assassinated in Dublin. The news stirred Trollope, despite his poor health, to travel to Ireland to see for himself the state of things. Upon his return to England he began writing The Landleaguers . He made a second journey to Ireland in August, 1882, to seek more material for his book. He returned to England exhausted, but he continued writing. He had almost completed the book when he suffered a stroke on November 3, 1882. He never recovered, and he died on December 6.

Trollope's second son, Henry, arranged for publication of the almost finished novel. The reader should note Henry Trollope's preface to Volume I and Postscript at the end of the book.

Readers familiar with Trollope's early Irish novels will be struck, as they read The Landleaguers , by his bitterness at what was happening in Ireland in 1881 and 1882.

THE LANDLEAGUERS

by

ANTHONY TROLLOPE

In Three Volumes VOL. I.

London Chatto & Windus, Piccadilly 1883 [All rights reserved]

Charles Dickens and Evans, Crystal Palace Press.

CONTENTS

Chapter

I. MR. JONES OF CASTLE MORONY. II. THE MAN IN THE MASK. III. FATHER BROSNAN. IV. MR. BLAKE OF CARNLOUGH. V. MR. O'MAHONY AND HIS DAUGHTER. VI. RACHEL AND HER LOVERS. VII. BROWN'S. VIII. CHRISTMAS DAY, 1880. IX. BLACK DALY. X. BALLYTOWNGAL. XI. MOYTUBBER. XII. "DON'T HATE HIM, ADA." XIII. EDITH'S ELOQUENCE. XIV. RACHEL'S CORRESPONDENCE. XV. CAPTAIN YORKE CLAYTON. XVI. CAPTAIN CLAYTON COMES TO THE CASTLE.

NOTE.

This novel was to have contained sixty chapters. My father had written as much as is now published before his last illness. It will be seen that he had not finished the forty ninth chapter; and the fragmentary portion of that chapter stands now just as he left it. He left no materials from which the tale could be completed, and no attempt at completion will be made. At the end of the third volume I have stated what were his intentions with regard to certain people in the story; but beyond what is there said I know nothing.

HENRY M. TROLLOPE.

THE LANDLEAGUERS.

CHAPTER I.

MR. JONES OF CASTLE MORONY.