(_To Madame Mohl._) SOUTH ST., _Feb._ 27 [1875].... Do read Pascal's _Provinciales_. There is nothing like it in the world; it is as witty as Molière; it is as closely reasoned as Aristotle; it has a style transparent like Plato. You said you had not read it. I have a great mind to send it you. I read it every year (as Lord Morpeth said he did Miss Austen's novels) for the pure pleasure it gives my imagination. Voltaire said, did he not? that tho' Pascal was "fou," he fixed the language. Nothing that she read in these years pleased her more than Mr. John Morley's fine address on "Popular Culture," now included in his _Miscellanies_, which first appeared in the _Fortnightly Review_ for November 1876. She wrote to him to express her grateful admiration and to ask if she might be allowed to distribute copies of the paper. Mr. Morley, who had already arranged for a cheap reprint, sent her several copies. In January 1876 came the death of M. Mohl--to Madame Mohl an irreparable loss; she was never the same woman after it; to Miss Nightingale also a heavy loss. "I am grieved to see," wrote Mr. Jowett to her (Jan. 7), "that you have lost a friend, one of the best and truest you ever had. His death must bring back many old recollections. Your father told me of his fetching you away from the Convent when you were ill, and, as he thought, saving your life." But it was not only that his death revived affectionate recollections. M. Mohl had a great admiration for Miss Nightingale's intellectual powers. He loved to talk and correspond with her on politics, literature, and philosophy, and she regarded his studies in Eastern religion as a real contribution to "theodikë," one of her principal preoccupations. Miss Nightingale lost another friend a few weeks later, whose death greatly moved her:-- (_Dr. E. A. Parkes to Miss Nightingale._) SOUTHAMPTON, _March 9_ (dictated). Your letter reached me on what must be, I believe, my deathbed. Perhaps before you receive this I shall be summoned to my account. For what you say I thank and bless you. About two months hence the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge will publish a little book on "the personal care of health." A copy will be sent to you. I had small space, only 26 pages, but I put in as much sanitary information as I could, of a very simple kind. I hope it may be a little useful to you. It is addressed entirely to the poor. And now thank you and bless you for all the support you have always given me. Believe me, very gratefully, (signed) E. A. PARKES.