Name, ancestry, and parentage. II. Her father's circumstances --Her early homes--Lea Hurst (Derbyshire)--Mrs. Gaskell's description--Embley Park (Hampshire). III. Early years--Country life--Domestic interests--A morbid strain. IV. Mr. Nightingale's education of his daughters--History, the classics, philosophy --Anecdotes of Florence's supposed early vocation to nursing--The date of her "call to God" (1837). V. The Grand Tour (1837-9) --Interest in social and political conditions--Italian refugees at Geneva--Talks with Sismondi--Visit to Florence--Gaieties and music. VI. A winter in Paris (1838-9)--Friendship with Mary Clarke (Madame Mohl)--Madame Récamier's _salon_. Social "temptations" 3 CHAPTER II HOME LIFE (1839-1845) A struggle for freedom. Life in London--Music--The Bedchamber Plot. II. Country-house life--The charm of Embley--Contrast between Florence and her sister. III. The family circle--Florence's "boy" --Florence as "Emergency Man"--Her old nurse--Letter to Miss Clarke on the death of M. Fauriel--Theatricals at Waverley Abbey--Florence as stage-manager. IV. Friends and neighbours--Lord Palmerston --Louisa Lady Ashburton--Mrs. Bracebridge. V. Florence's conversation--Social attractiveness--Personal appearance: descriptions by Lady Lovelace and Mrs. Gaskell. VI. Dissatisfaction in social life--Desultoriness of a girl's life at home--The misery of being read aloud to--Housekeeping. VII. Increasing sense of a vocation--Private studies--Thoughts of nursing--A first dash for liberty (1845): failure 23 CHAPTER III THE SPIRITUAL LIFE Dejection. Friendship with Miss Nicholson: religious experiences and speculations--Letters to Miss Nicholson and Miss Clarke. II. The reality of the unseen world--The conviction of sin--The pains of hell--Hunger after righteousness--"All for the Love of God." III. Independent development of Miss Nightingale's religious thought--The service of God as the service of man--Her testing of religious doctrine by practical results--Her attitude to Roman Catholicism--Desire for a church of works, not doctrines 46 CHAPTER IV DISAPPOINTMENT (1846-1847) "Disappointment's dry and bitter root." Pursuit of her ideal --Obstacles to her adoption of nursing--Social prejudices--Low esteem of nurses at the time--The Kaiserswerth "Institution for Deaconesses." II. Increasing distaste for the routine of home life. III. Social distractions (1847)--Jenny Lind--The British Association at Oxford--Marriage of Miss Clarke--Country visits 59