

E-text prepared by Delphine Lettau and Joseph E. Loewenstein, M.D.



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,