Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell, often referred to simply as Mrs. Gaskell, was an English novelist and short story writer during the Victorian era. She is perhaps best known for her biography of Charlotte Bronte. Her novels offer a detailed portrait of the lives of many strata of society, including the very poor, and as such are of interest to social historians as well as lovers of literature. Wikipedia
This extract is taken from Barbara Brill, William Gaskell 1805-84 (Manchester: Manchester Literary and Philosophical Publications Ltd, 1984), pp.81-83. www.lang.nagoya-u.ac.jp/~matsuoka/EG-Plymouth.html
The definitive Wikipedia entry for Elizabeth Gaskell. Wikipedia is the biggest multilingual free-content encyclopedia on the Internet. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Gaskell
