The Life of Florence Nightingale, vol. 1 of 2

Part I: Aspiration (1820-1854)

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

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