Donnithorne, Squire

The "Old Squire"--Arthur Donnithorne's grandfather, "the delicately clean, finely-scented, withered old man… with his air of punctilious, acid politeness," who is the penurious owner of Donnithorne Chase. He is disliked by his tenants as a stingy landlord who will not afford a proper steward, mismanages his woods and refuses to make repairs. He dislikes Adam Bede for his independence, but eventually puts him in charge of the woods. In order to strike a better bargain with a prospective tenant, he tries to deprive the Poysers of some needed land, but is fairly driven from the field by Mrs. Poyser, who "has her say out". The original of Squire Donnithorne is said to have been Mr. Francis Parker Newdigate, the patron of Robert Evans, George Eliot's father. In 1806 when Mr. Newdigate succeeded to the Arbury Hall estates in Warwickshire, Robert Evans went with him to Warwickshire. (See Olcott, George Eliot, p. 24.)

<em>Adam Bede</em>

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