CHAPTER II

THE NOVELIST AND THE OFFICIAL IN THE MAKING

Activity at the Post Office during the thirties--The romance of letter-carrying--One of the State’s bad bargains--Trollope’s unhappy life, in the office and out of it--The novelist in the making--London at the beginning of the Victorian era--Lost opportunities--Mrs. Trollope’s influence on her son’s works--Her religious opinions as portrayed in _The Vicar of Wrexhill_--Anthony’s first leanings to authorship--Literary labours of others of his name--With his mother among famous contemporaries at home and abroad--The trials of a youthful London clerk--Trollope’s remarkable friends of school and social life 21