Ah. I have Cousin Phillis [thus spelt] in the Penguin Classic edition, where it is coupled with Cranford. I am most grateful for Lois The Witch, which I have just finished reading. I much admire the distinct but understated style, different from Mrs Gaskell's usually quite colloquial language, of religious text. I note it first appeared in the first, 1859, issue of Dickens' literary journal All The Year Round. In which connection, I remember Walter once telling me that he read Dickens with great pleasure; but I don't recall his mentioning Mrs Gaskell. He looked a bit doubtful, I seem to recall, when I said I thought he would enjoy Jane Austen; whether he did ever get round to her I know not. I don't quite remember how this conversation had arisen, though I am pretty sure it was at a Norwich Folk Festival run by the late Alex Atterson.

BTW, I had an article once in OUP's Notes And Queries on "A folksong reference in 'Sylvia's Lovers'", about how the leader of the press gang that catches Charles Kinraid on his way back to his whaler quotes "William Taylor".

"Nesh" was a word much used by my dear dead Valerie, who said it was common dialect in her native Forest Of Dean. Where was your mother from, Jim?

~M~