FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE, at which the Lord Mayor presided, and at which the names of many of the most influential merchants, traders, and manufacturers were announced as having consented to become members of a Com- mittee. A copy of the proceedings at the meeting at Willis' Rooms was sent out to Miss Nightingale ; to this she returned, in January, 1856, a letter most characteristic of her firm, practical, and yet gracious, kindly disposition. " Exposed as I am," she says, to be misinterpreted and misunderstood, in a field of action in which the work is new, complicated, and distant frommanywho sit in judgment on it, -it is, indeed, an abiding support to have such sympathy and such appreciation brought home to me in the midst of labours and difficulties all but over- powering. I must add, however, that my present work is such as I would never desert for any other, so long as I see room to believe that what I may do here is unfinished. May I, then, beg you (Mrs. Herbert) to express to the Committee that I accept their proposal, provided I may do so on their under standing of this great uncertainty, as to when it will be possible for me to carry it out,." This gift of gratitude was, in very truth, but giving its recipient more work to execute ; yet, as her friend, Mr. Sidney Herbert, observed. : " Miss Nightingale looks to her reward from this country in having a fresh field for her labours, and means of extending the good that she has already begun. A compliment 40
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