Trollope v Hardy

I was diverted from a task at hand this morning by a fascinating Twitter exchange with @jeetheer about the respective merits of the novelists Anthony Trollope and Thomas Hardy. I do love many of Trollope's novels. My own venture into fiction finishes with a favorite quotation from Phineas Finn. It occurs after Phineas has just suffered the defeat of his bill to improve the condition of Irish tenant farmers. Despairing, he is consoled by an elder statesman of his party.