ABSTRACT
Though there had been earlier studies examining changes in attitude to childhood, Phillippe Aries' Centuries of Childhood, was the first to construct a historiography of childhood. Although primarily a study of French childhood, Aries' thesis is that the concept, the very nature of childhood, has changed over the centuries. The narrative of childhood that can be constructed from Trollope's novels is different again. Here there are no inspiring death-bed scenes of children too good for this world; there are no godly and devout teenagers. No lad expires confessing the sin of disappointing his mother. A popular parlour game for Trollopians has always been spotting Trollope's careless errors and the fluctuating number of children that Glencora and Plantaganet Palliser are blessed with is a regular chestnut. The wives who fall pregnant in Trollope's novels only ever give birth to the boys.
