I desire to thank Miss Rosalind Paget for directing me to sources of information and bestowing on me treasures of time and of memory, as well as Miss Eleanor F. Rathbone and the writer of Sir John MacNeill’s Life for help given by their books, and Miss Marion Holmes for permission to quote from her inspiring monograph; and last, but by no means least, to express my sense of the self-sacrificing magnanimity with which Miss E. Brierly, the present editor of _Nursing Notes_, at once offered me and placed in my hands—what I should never have dreamed of asking, even had I been a friend of old standing, instead of a comparative stranger—everything she herself had gathered together and preserved as bearing on the life of Florence Nightingale. When, under the influence of certain articles in the _Times_, I undertook to write this volume for Messrs. Nelson, I knew nothing of the other biographies in the field. Nor had I any idea that an officially authorized life was about to be written by Sir Edward Cook, a biographer with an intellectual equipment far beyond my own, but who will not perhaps grudge me the name of friend, since his courteous considerateness for all leads many others to make a like claim, and the knowledge that he would put no obstacle in my path has spared me what might have been a serious difficulty. Had I known all this, a decent modesty might have prevented my undertaking. But in every direction unforeseen help has been showered upon me, and nothing but my own inexorable limitations have stood in my way. If there be any who, by their books, or in any other way, have helped me, but whom by some unhappy oversight I have omitted to name in these brief documentary thanks, I must earnestly beg them to believe that such an error is contrary to my intention and goodwill. CONTENTS Introductory Chapter 15 I. Florence Nightingale: her home, her birthplace, and her family 25 II. Life at Lea Hurst and Embley 41 III. The weaving of many threads, both of evil and of good 55 IV. The activities of girlhood—Elizabeth Fry—Felicia Skene again 62 V. Home duties and pleasures—The brewing of war 71 VI. Pastor Fliedner 90 VII. Years of preparation 101 VIII. The beginning of the war—A sketch of Sidney Herbert 117 IX. The Crimean muddle—Explanations and excuses 134 X. “Five were wise, and five foolish” 142 XI. The expedition 162 XII. The tribute of Kinglake and Macdonald and the Chelsea Pensioners 172