FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE, place, embosomed as it is amid a profusion of beau- tiful trees, in an extensive park raised up on a kind of table land in the midst of one of nature's choicest valleys, and from which a long series of exquisite views of the surrounding country are obtained, sur- rounded by its gardens and shrubberies, and the walls covered with a profusion of ivy and creeping plants, is one of the most charming and poetic spots we have ever visited, and one which seems to be pecu- liarly well suited to be the home of such a pure and holy character as Miss Nightingale." From her earliest childhood, Florence Nightingale displayed a constant and active sympathy with the suffering, the desolate, and the distressed, among the poor around Lea Hurst and Enabley. As a friend, a benefactress, and a consoler, she was daily welcomed in manya cottage; and to the alleviation of pains and sorrows she devoted her personal energies, and her large fortune. She was for many years, as a voluntary teacher, the principal support of the schools for the poor in the neighbouring villages; for she never wearied of well-doing. Having attained the age when young ladies of birth and fortune generally " come out," and partake of the brilliant gaieties of society, Florence Night- ingale visited London. But it was for the purpose of frequenting and studying the hospitals, schools, and reformatory institutions of the metropolis, a self-imposed duty, which she performed with an un- tiring energy and diligence. Yet she did not neglect 8
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