# A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Nightingale, Florence

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NIGHTINGALE, FLORENCE.
Woman has been well called "the Angel of Life," but for her soothing ministrations and softening and refining influence, what a scene of rudeness, barbarity, and wretchedness, would this world be, even in its most favoured and civilized spots; and amid all the illustrious women who have done honour to their sex by walking in the light of a divine charity, and exhibiting its most beautiful and loveable characteristics, there is not one perhaps who has greater claims to our respect and admiration than Florence Nightingale. Born to affluence and high station, delicately and tenderly nurtured; with a mind highly cultivated, a taste exceedingly refined, and surrounded by all appliances for the gratification of her wishes and desires, she was not content to live a life of elegant ease and luxurious enjoyment, while so many of her fellow creatures were undergoing sickness, to whose wants she might minister, and suffering which she might alleviate. Philanthropy appeared to be her great guiding principle; it was no sudden enthusiasm called forth by the events of the late war, no transient feeling of pity and admiration for those brave men who were feinting, and alas! in so many cases losing their lives, amid scenes of unutterable misery on that Crimean battle-ground, which induced her to go forth from her splendid home and circle of loving friends, on her errand of mercy and charity, to tend upon the sick and wounded, and endure the hardships and privations, and confront the dangers of a badly-organized military hospital, where disease and death, in their most fearful and loathsome forms, were present on every hand.
But our readers will be looking for some particulars of the life of this true heroine of modern times; and we will endeavour to satisfy their laudable curiosity, premising that our limited space will only permit of the barest outline of her past career of usefulness. William Shore Nightingale, Esq., of Embly Park, Hampshire, and Leigh Hurst, Derbyshire, married early in life, the daughter of the late William Smith, Esq., M.P. for Norwich, a strong advocate for slave emancipation, and promoter of every good work; and in the city of Florence, in the year 1823, was born unto them a daughter, to whom they gave the name of her birth-place. The child of intellectual and affluent parents, the education or both heart and mind was thoroughly attended to; the best feelings of the former were sedulously cultivated, and the noblest powers and ​qualities of the latter were fully exercised. Besides the ordinary range of feminine accomplishments, she attained, we are told, "under the guidance of her father, proficiency in classics and mathematics, and a general acquaintance with science, literature, and art. She is a good musician, and can boast of some knowledge of nearly all the modern languages; speaking those of France, Italy, and Germany, with scarcely less facility than her native tongue." She has travelled much, having visited mast of the continental cities, and gone far into the sacred land of the Nile; and wherever she has g(me, by her affability and evident kindliness of disposition, no less than by the sound sense and earnestness of purpose, exciting the love and admiration of those with whom she has come in contact. "From a very early age," we are told, "she evinced a strong sympathy and affection for her kind. As a child she was accustomed to minister to the necessities of the poor and needy around her father's estates, purchasing the privilege by frequent acts of self-denial; and in her youth she became still further their teacher, consoler, and friend."
These manifestations of a desire to do good to her fellow-creatures grew stronger as she increased in years, until it became evidently a settled purpose of her life to devote herself to acts of usefulness and philanthropy. In the year 1851, when our Great Exhibition was attracting the eyes of all Europe, and inviting the people to a general holiday, she was away at an establishment at Kaiserworth, on the Rhine, where Protestant Sisters of Mercy were trained for the duties of nursing the sick and performing other offices of charity. There she remained three months, performing daily and nightly duties of the most arduous and distressing nature, and gathering large stores of practical experience, which was afterwards to be turned to good account. She next took upon herself the great work of the re-organization of a valuable institution which had gone greatly to decay, the Sanatorium for Governesses, in Harley-street, London, taking up her abode within its walls, and devoting her time, her energies, and much of her means to render it a fit and comfortable home in sickness for the ill-paid class of females for whom it was intended. All these labours were fitting and preparing her for the still greater work which was to come, and to which, after a short sojourn in. the country for refreshment and recruiting her health, she was called by that sad and harrowing cry from the East, where thousands were perishing by pestilence and war, with none, or very few, to aid and succour them in their grievous state of suffering.
A proposition, it is said originating with Lady Maria Forester, was made for the institution of a body of female nurses to proceed to the seat of war, and Florence Nightingale, on being requested to do so, at once consented to become the director of this band of true Sisters of Charity. The arrangements were soon made, and on the 5th. November, 1854, the party, consisting of thirty-seven experienced nurses, many of them volunteers from the upper ranks of life, reached Constantinople, and were quickly engaged in their benevolent ministrations at the barrack hospital at Scutari. On the great changes which were wrought by the tact and management, energy and perseverance of Miss Nightingale, in this, as well as the Balaclava and other hospitals in the East, we cannot here dwell; suffice it that wherever she went, she seemed to the poor wounded ​disease-smitten soldiers and sailors like an angel of light and mercy. Surly officials, under her firm yet gentle influence, grew kind and obliging, and that great giant called "Routine," in his panoply of red-tape, fled before her. How she wrought and laboured during that awful struggle, at which Europe looked on affrighted, we have the testimony of many a thankful heart; and volumes might be filled with the expressions of admiration and gratitude which have been poured forth by those who owed the alleviation of their sufferings, and in many cases perhaps life itself, to her unceasing exertions. Not only did she act as directress of her band of devoted women, but constantly was she seen at the bedside of the sick and wounded, administering their medicines and diet, and assisting at operations of the most fearful and disgusting character. Nor were the spiritual wants of the sufferers forgotten. She read to them, and prayed with and for them, and talked to them of friends, and home, and a Saviour's love, as a true loving woman, with a soul lifted above worldly things, only could do. Such was Florence Nightingale; firm to her duty, faithful to her trust, an example and an honour to her sex. We see her, amid the din, and smoke, and horrible confusion of that bloody Crimean struggle, like a bright star looking peacefully out from between the lurid thunder-clouds of a stormy sky; like a green oasis in a desolate wilderness; a sweet flower beautifying and perfuming, or a fount sending forth refreshing waters, where all else is bleak, and gloomy, and sterile. A delicate frail-looking woman, as she was and is, with a constitution, we are told, by no means strong, with a soul of refined sensibility, we can hardly believe it possible that she witnessed such scenes, and underwent such privations, and performed such works as we read of her seeing and doing. We must look for an explanation of this apparent anomaly in her strong love for her fellow-creatures, her deep abiding sense of Christian duty, and her faith in the presence and protection of God, who in His infinite goodness and mercy had raised up and prepared her for this holy mission, for such it truly was.
Florence Nightingale returned to England at the close of the war. She had been smitten by Crimean fever, and obliged to suspend her operations for a time, but would not, until the deadly struggle was over, and her services were no longer required, leave her chosen battle-field with disease and suffering. No wonder that she was greeted, on landing on her native shores, with a universal burst of applause. Englishmen have reason to be more proud of her than of ail their deeds of valour and endurance; and English-women should rejoice that they can exhibit to the world such an example of their best and noblest characteristics. The Queen of England has testified her sense of the service render<ed by Miss Nightingale to the country and humanity at large, by presenting her with a magnificent jewelled decoration, accompanied by an autograph letter, and addresses have been presented to her by various corporate and other bodies. With the modesty of true merit, she shrinks from all public demonstrations of respect and admiration, and disclaims much praise that is justly her due, attributing much beneficial result to that noble band of women who so well seconded her exertions. She is now resting from her labours in the bosom of her family, and awaiting the next great ​call for the exercise of her peculiar talents and acquirements. May it be long before such another occasion for their exercise as the recent one arises. Under the name of the "Nightingale Fund," a national subscription has been raised, which it is intended to appropriate to the establishment of an institution for training nurses for the sick. The subscriptions at the last announcement had reached sixty thousand pounds.