FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE, of the Established Church, that the Hon. Mrs. Sidney Herbert was obliged to step forward and defend her absent friend, and show " how cruel and unjust " were the aspersions thrown upon her. " It is melancholy to think," she wrote to the wife of the Rev. gentleman, " that in England no one can undertake anything without the most un- charitable and sectarian attacks ; and had you not told me, I should scarcely have believed that a clergy- man of the Established Church would have been the mouth -piece of slander. Miss Nightingale is a mem- berof the Established Church of England, andwhat is called rather Low Church. But ever since she went to Scutari, her religious opinions and character have been assailed on all points :-one person writes to upbraid us for having sent her, understanding she is a Unitarian;' another,' that she is a Roman Catholic,' and so on. It is a cruel charge to make towards one to whom England owes so much. As to the charge of no Protestant nurses being sent, the sub- joined list will convince you of its fallacy. We made no distinctions of creed ; any one who was a good and skilful nurse, and understood the practice in surgical wards, was accepted, provided, of course, that we had their friends' consent, and that they were, as far as we could judge, of unexceptionable character." Mr. Sidney Herbert, on a subsequent occasion, said, in allusion to the same subject, "I recollect an excellent answer being given to a query of this kind 26
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