of Orley Farm is the question of individual judgment versus group judgment. Augustus Staveley purports to advise Felix Graham that a person must allow oneself "to be governed by the united wisdom of others" rather than to take it upon oneself to "judge as to every step by his own lights." Trollope calls this advice into question. Similarly, a comic minor character, Mr. Moulder, defends Lady Mason's acquittal thus: "If a jury of her countrymen doesn't make a woman innocent, what does?" A darker theme, also seen in Trollope's other books such as Castle Richmond and Framley Parsonage, is that the changing Victorian world often brought anguish and disillusionment to those who had started out with great advantages. Another theme, which recurs often throughout Trollope's works, is the threat of the loss of a house. Reception Trollope has made a few comments over the background and his regard to Orley Farm. In Book IX of his autobiography, Trollope says, "The plot of Orley Farm is probably the best I have ever made; but it has the fault of declaring itself, and thus coming to an end too early in the book." He continues by admitting, "When Lady Mason tells Sir Peregrine that she did forge the will, the plot of Orley Farm has unraveled itself; – and this she does in the middle of the tale." Notes References Oxford Reader's Companion to Trollope. ed. R.C. Terry. Oxford University Press. 1999. 622 pp. Cockshut, A. O. J. Anthony Trollope: A Critical Study. New York University Press. 1968. 256 pp. Epperly, Elizabeth R. Patterns of Repetition in Trollope. Catholic University of America Press. 1989. 238 pp. Lansbury, Coral. The Reasonable Man: Trollope's Legal Fiction. Princeton University Press. 1981. 228 pp. External links 1861 British novels Novels set in England Novels by Anthony Trollope Chapman & Hall books