The Rev. Septimus Harding was, a few years since,
a beneficed clergyman residing in the cathedral town
of ——; let us call it Barchester.
Were we to name Wells or Salisbury, Exeter, Hereford,
or Gloucester, it might be presumed that something
personal was intended; and as this tale will refer
mainly to the cathedral dignitaries of the town in
question, we are anxious that no personality may be
suspected. Let us presume that Barchester is
a quiet town in the West of England, more remarkable
for the beauty of its cathedral and the antiquity of
its monuments than for any commercial prosperity; that
the west end of Barchester is the cathedral close,
and that the aristocracy of Barchester are the bishop,
dean, and canons, with their respective wives and
daughters.
Early in life Mr Harding found himself located at
Barchester. A fine voice and a taste for sacred
music had decided the position in which he was to
exercise his calling, and for many years he performed
the easy but not highly paid duties of a minor canon.
At the age of forty a small living in the close vicinity
of the town increased both his work and his income,
and at the age of fifty he became precentor of the
cathedral.
Mr Harding had married early in life, and was the
father of two daughters. The eldest, Susan,
was born soon after his marriage; the other, Eleanor,
not till ten years later.
At the time at which we introduce him to our readers
he was living as precentor at Barchester with his
youngest daughter, then twenty-four years of age;
having been many years a widower, and having married
his eldest daughter to a son of the bishop a very
short time before his installation to the office of
precentor.
Scandal at Barchester affirmed that had it not been
for the beauty of his daughter, Mr Harding would have
remained a minor canon; but here probably Scandal
lied, as she so often does; for even as a minor canon
no one had been more popular among his reverend brethren
in the close than Mr Harding; and Scandal, before
she had reprobated Mr Harding for being made precentor
by his friend the bishop, had loudly blamed the bishop
for having so long omitted to do something for his
friend Mr Harding. Be this as it may, Susan
Harding, some twelve years since, had married the
Rev. Dr Theophilus Grantly, son of the bishop, archdeacon
of Barchester, and rector of Plumstead Episcopi, and
her father became, a few months later, precentor of
Barchester Cathedral, that office being, as is not
unusual, in the bishop’s gift.
