Drop, drop, slow tears!And bathe those beauteous feet,Which brought from heavenThe news and Prince of peace.Cease not, wet eyes,For mercy to entreat:To cry for vengeanceSin doth never cease.In your deep floodsDrown all my faults and fears;Nor let His eyeSee sin, but through my tears. Phineas Fletcher At the heart of Ruth, published in 1853, is the tale … Continue reading Elizabeth Gaskell’s Ruth: A Perilous Slog Through Moral Terrain