"Scenes of Clerical Life" by George Eliot is a collection of three short stories. "The Sad Fortunes of the Reverend Amos Barton" , "Mr. Gilfil's Love Story", and "Janet's Repentance are set during the last twenty years of the eighteenth century and the first half of the nineteenth. The stories take place in and around the fictional town of Milby in the English Midlands. Each of the Scenes concerns a different Anglican clergyman. Eliot examines, among other things, the effects of religious reform and the tension between the Established and the Dissenting Churches on the clergymen and their congregations, and draws attention to various social issues, such as poverty, alcoholism, and domestic violence.