Rumor in the Markets Continued

            The publishing market is very remarkably to the financial market of the railway in consideration of its need for rumors to ensure success. The novel itself opens with Lady Carbury writing letters to three editors in order to promote her new book, Criminal Queens.In order to secure their promise that they will endorse her book in their papers Lady Carbury shamelessly flatters and flirts with these men, insinuating there “might be some mysterious bond between her and them” that she never plans to act upon (Trollope, 9). The book itself focuses on the personal details of what Lady Carbury considers to be “criminal queens” – Marie Antoinette, Mary Queen of Scots, Cleopatra, and so on – and essentially amounts to gossip about their lives and behaviors. Though Lady Carbury “would not probably say that the book was accurate” or even that it is well written, but she did put significant effort into its completion and is dependent upon its success to bring her income (Trollope, 11).  Clearly, Lady Carbury does not expect to obtain this money by “producing good books, but by inducing certain people to say that her books were good” (Trollope, 19). For Lady Carbury, the rumor that she wrote a quality book is significantly more important than actually producing that book and she is willing to go to great lengths to ensure these rumors will be spread by the right people. Once these rumors are spread, Lady Carbury can count on significant support from what would become her readership and the financial support that would follow.

            The marriage market is significantly more straight-forward than the financial and publishing markets. Here the rumor of vast wealth is the key factor, for a woman, in ensuring a desirable match or, for a man, in pursuing that match. When they arrive in England, Marie Melmotte becomes the most eligible bachelorette on the market. Marie, by various accounts, “was not beautiful, she was not clever, and she was not a saint,” rather it is the rumors of her father’s great fortune that makes her a desirable match for every bachelor in like social standing or above. For this reason Sir Felix Carbury must borrow money from his mother, Lady Carbury. He says, “’If I can marry Miss Melmotte, I suppose all will be right. But I don’t think the way to get her would be to throw up everything and let all the world know that I haven’t got a copper’” (Trollope, 25). Without the appearance of having money Sir Felix stands no chance of effectively courting Marie Melmotte; when he tries and it is discovered he has no money Augustus Melmotte will not approve of the match and claims he would never give Marie any of his wealth if she elopes with him (Trollope, 183). The importance of both money and heritage are incredibly important in the marriage market. As in Felix’s case, without the wealth to support a title, there is little chance that a courtship would be successful.