The Warden
Chapters 16-18

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Chapter 16
A Long Day in Lodon

Paternoster Row
The name of a real street in London, on which is located the fictitious publishing shop to which Mr. Harding used to take his written music. This name consists of two Latin words, "pater" and "noster," which can be translated as "our father;" this seems to be a reference to the Christian prayer the "Our Father," or "Pater Noster" in Latin.  It makes sense because Mr. Harding is a clergyman who studies and writes about Church music, and thus has certainly worked with the prayer in the past.  [MD]

He hoped better things
The English translation of one of several popular Latin phrases, spero meliora or sperans meliora, literally meaning "I hope better things" and "hoping better things."  [MD]

Patronage
The patronage which the bishop of Barchester has given to Mr. Harding is the wardenship of the hospital, some 800 pounds a year. The bishop is referred to as the patron in this instance, and therefore Mr. Harding is shown to be the client in the relationship. This patron-client relationship dates back to the Roman Empire, in which the practice of a dominant, upper-class and powerful citizen would give monetary and physical support to an unspecified number of clients, who would in turn offer their services, votes, and any other requested support to their patron; it was a mutually beneficial relationship, and Trollope is showing how the modern bureaucratic structure of the church has imitated the Roman patron-client relationship.  [MD]

Per annum
This Latin phrase means literally "through the year" or "by year," thus "yearly," and is used here to describe amounts of money received annually.  [MD]

Hecatombs
This word originally referred to the sacrifice of 100 animals, usually oxen, by the ancient Greeks in order to appease the gods. It is used in this instance to refer to lobsters, which are being stored in the tavern in which Mr. Harding is eating at the time, and surely refers to their future fate of being cooked. A hecatomb in ancient culture would probably have involved the burning of parts or entire bodies of animals, however, these lobsters would have been boiled, not burnt.  This allusion is probably meant to be humorous because it shows the reader that this is just a shop with a lot of food in it and that there are not going to be any actual sacrifices performed.  [MD]

Chapter 17
Sir Abraham Haphazard

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Chapter 18
The Warden is Very Obstinate

[13-15]   [19-21]  

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