“Of all the novelists of Queen Victoria’s reign there is not one to whom
the present writer turns with such a sense of love and gratitude as to
Mrs. Gaskell. This feeling is undoubtedly shared by thousands of men
and women, for about all the novels there is that wonderful sense of
sympathy, that broad human interest which appeals to readers of every
description.”
(_Women Novelists of Queen Victoria’s Reign._)