The Warden | Page 4

the option of being also warden
of the almshouses, if the bishop in each case approved.
From that day to this the charity had gone on and prospered --at least,
the charity had gone on, and the estates had prospered. Wool-carding in
Barchester there was no longer any; so the bishop, dean, and warden,
who took it in turn to put in the old men, generally appointed some
hangers-on of their own; worn-out gardeners, decrepit grave-diggers, or
octogenarian sextons, who thankfully received a comfortable lodging
and one shilling and fourpence a day, such being the stipend to which,
under the will of John Hiram, they were declared to be entitled.
Formerly, indeed--that is, till within some fifty years of the present
time--they received but sixpence a day, and their breakfast and dinner
was found them at a common table by the warden, such an arrangement
being in stricter conformity with the absolute wording of old Hiram's
will: but this was thought to be inconvenient, and to suit the tastes of
neither warden nor bedesmen, and the daily one shilling and fourpence

was substituted with the common consent of all parties, including the
bishop and the corporation of Barchester. Such was the condition of
Hiram's twelve old men when Mr Harding was appointed warden; but
if they may be considered as well-to-do in the world according to their
condition, the happy warden was much more so. The patches and butts
which, in John Hiram's time, produced hay or fed cows, were now
covered with rows of houses; the value of the property had gradually
increased from year to year and century to century, and was now
presumed by those who knew anything about it, to bring in a very nice
income; and by some who knew nothing about it, to have increased to
an almost fabulous extent.
The property was farmed by a gentleman in Barchester, who also acted
as the bishop's steward--a man whose father and grandfather had been
stewards to the bishops of Barchester, and farmers of John Hiram's
estate. The Chadwicks had earned a good name in Barchester; they had
lived respected by bishops, deans, canons, and precentors; they had
been buried in the precincts of the cathedral; they had never been
known as griping, hard men, but had always lived comfortably,
maintained a good house, and held a high position in Barchester society.
The present Mr Chadwick was a worthy scion of a worthy stock, and
the tenants living on the butts and patches, as well as those on the wide
episcopal domains of the see, were well pleased to have to do with so
worthy and liberal a steward.
For many, many years--records hardly tell how many, probably from
the time when Hiram's wishes had been first fully carried out--the
proceeds of the estate had been paid by the steward or farmer to the
warden, and by him divided among the bedesmen; after which division
he paid himself such sums as became his due. Times had been when the
poor warden got nothing but his bare house, for the patches had been
subject to floods, and the land of Barchester butts was said to be
unproductive; and in these hard times the warden was hardly able to
make out the daily dole for his twelve dependents. But by degrees
things mended; the patches were drained, and cottages began to rise
upon the butts, and the wardens, with fairness enough, repaid
themselves for the evil days gone by. In bad times the poor men had

had their due, and therefore in good times they could expect no more.
In this manner the income of the warden had increased; the picturesque
house attached to the hospital had been enlarged and adorned, and the
office had become one of the most coveted of the snug clerical
sinecures attached to our church. It was now wholly in the bishop's gift,
and though the dean and chapter, in former days, made a stand on the
subject, they had thought it more conducive to their honour to have a
rich precentor appointed by the bishop, than a poor one appointed by
themselves. The stipend of the precentor of Barchester was eighty
pounds a year. The income arising from the wardenship of the hospital
was eight hundred, besides the value of the house. Murmurs, very slight
murmurs, had been heard in Barchester--few indeed, and far
between--that the proceeds of John Hiram's property had not been fairly
divided: but they can hardly be said to have been of such a nature as to
have caused uneasiness to anyone: still the thing had been whispered,
and Mr Harding had heard it. Such was his character in Barchester, so
universal was his popularity, that the very fact of his appointment
would have quieted louder whispers than those which