Letters of congratulation and expressions of esteem from all sorts and conditions of people poured in upon Miss Nightingale after it was known that she was settled in her Derbyshire home, and public associations and societies sent deputations. If Florence Nightingale could have been persuaded to hold a reception, it would have been attended by delegates from every representative body in the kingdom; but while such a national appreciation of her labours was very gratifying to our heroine, her chief desire now was to escape publicity, and her enfeebled health made quietude a necessity. She was specially pleased by an address sent by the workmen of Newcastle-on-Tyne, and replied in the following beautiful letter:-- “_August 23rd, 1856._ “MY DEAR FRIENDS,-- “I wish it were in my power to tell you what was in my heart when I received your letter. “Your welcome home, your sympathy with what has been passing while I have been absent, have touched me more than I can tell in words. My dear friends, the things that are the deepest in our hearts are perhaps what it is most difficult for us to express. “‘She hath done what she could.’ These words I inscribed on the tomb of one of my best helpers when I left Scutari. It has been my endeavour, in the sight of God, to do as she has done. “I will not speak of reward when permitted to do our country’s work--it is what we live for; but I may say to receive sympathy from affectionate hearts like yours is the greatest support, the greatest gratification, that it is possible for me to receive from man. “I thank you all, the eighteen hundred, with grateful, tender affection. And I should have written before to do so, were not the business, which my return home has not ended, been almost more than I can manage. Pray believe me, my dear friends, yours faithfully and gratefully. “FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE.” The working men of Sheffield subscribed a testimonial to Miss Nightingale and presented her with a case of cutlery. Each blade, instead of bearing the maker’s name in the customary way, was stamped with the words “Presented to Florence Nightingale, 1857.” The oak case containing the cutlery was bound in silver, and the top inlaid with a device representing the “Good Samaritan,” and inscribed with the words “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me.”