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Clerical Portraits In The Nineteenth Century British Novel, Doralee Forsythe Richardson

Master's Theses

Because there were only four recognized professions which a nineteenth century respectable English gentleman could enter and still maintain his family reputation--the army, the navy, and church, and the bar-- it is natural that clergymen should appear frequently in the novels of the period. Through the eyes of numerous novelists one can come to understand better the roles and the personalities of the men of cloth during the 1800's.

By way of limiting myself to a reasonable amount of material, I have chosen to concentrate on those novels in which a clerical scene provides the major characters and action. In …