Volume II Part 26 (1/2)
[242] Younger son of Mr Shore Sale in 1893
Multiply such letters largely; add to them letters of a like kind, _ world; bring further into count her solicitude for servants and dependents: and it will be seen how faithfully Miss Nightingale followed the words placed at the head of this chapter--words which she had copied out as ”A New Year's Greeting” for 1889 She had a soft place in her heart even for crilary was committed in her house in South Street It was in the earlyfor a moment with his spoils (so-place behind the house If her maids or the police or both had been more alert, the malefactor would have been arrested Her sense for efficiency was outraged, but she relented when the Inspector came to see her ”Perhaps it was just as well that you didn't catch the man,” she said with a twinkle, ”for I aood when you lock the the Jubilee year ad of the crowds She noted the long hours; made friends with the Inspector at Grosvenor Gate, and sent supplies of hot tea and cakes for his men
III
There was a tiale's friendshi+p with Mr Jowett, though it did not diminish, yet became sensible, on her side at least, of a certain discoht occasion for a renewal of an to steal upon theether Mr Joas deeply interested in ale's later Indian interests--especially in those that related to education, whether in India itself or of Indians and Indian civil servants in this country He introduced to her Miss Cornelia Sorabji, whom he befriended at Oxford He talked and corresponded ale about University courses in relation to India ”I want to prove to you,” he wrote (Oct 14, 1887), ”that your words do soether cast to the winds Therefore I send you the last report of the Indian Students, in which you will perceive that agricultural cheh I fear that, like so ood deeds, this will never be known to riculture, and that therefore Indian Ryotssomewhat better fed than hitherto” When Lord Lansdowne had settled down in India, Mr Jowett thought that he ht without impertinence write to his friend and tell hireat Viceroy” What should be suggested? Perhaps Miss Nightingale would consider? She took the hint most seriously: the education of Viceroys was a favourite occupation with her Without disclosing the particular occasion, she took many advisers into council, and discussed with theht most usefully be introduced She forwarded her views to Oxford, and they filtered through Mr Jowett to Sihout these years to see Miss Nightingale frequently, and generally stayed with her once or twice a year--either in London or at Claydon In 1887 he was staying in South Street when he was taken ill
Miss Nightingale found him ”a very wilful patient”; he would not take the complete rest which she and the doctor considered essential; and she had to enter into a secret plot with Robert Browning to keep hireatly ashamed,” he wrote on his return to Oxford (Oct 13), ”at the trouble and interference to your hich I caused The recollection of your infinite kindness will never fade from my mind” She sent him elaborate instructions for the better care of his ”Brother ass,” the body ”How can I thank you enough for your never ending kindness to me? May God bless you 1000 tiossip to you too much
It is due to your kindness and syossip to” Froale was constantly solicitous about her friend's health, and entered into regular correspondence with his housekeeper, Miss Knight, as grateful for being allowed to share her anxieties with so high an authority on htingale had daily letters or telegra the patient's condition in ular practice in the case of relations or friends for whom she was solicitous Such bulletins were especially nu the fatal illness of her cousin, Miss Hilary Bonhaht, no doubt, that her request for daily particulars would keep the nurses up to the mark; and sometimes it was that she had herself recommended the nurse There were bulletins of the kind sent to her about Lady Rosebery, whose acquaintance she hadsome years an occasional caller at South Street
[243] See above, p 240
The friendshi+p of Miss Nightingale and Mr Joas to have been co way, for Mr Jowett desired to contribute towards a sche 1890 and 1891 It was connected with one of the ruling thoughts of her life She was, as I have said, a Passionate Statistician Statistics were to her aly was to ascertain ”the character of God” Laas ”the thought of God” It was by the aid of statistics that law in the social sphere ht be ascertained and codified, and certain aspects of ”the character of God” thereby revealed The study of statistics was thus a religious service In the sphere of immediate application, she had pointed out thirty years before[244] that there were enorovernovernment action, of which little or no use was e already quoted, were to the legislator as the coator; but the actual course of legislation was too often conducted without any such compass or lead at all ”The Cabinet Ministers,” she norote,[245]
”the army of their subordinates, the Houses of Parliament have for the most part received a University education, but no education in statistical ressive, but see-saw-y” ”We legislate without knoe are doing The War Office has on some subjects the finest statistics in the world What co Why? Because the Heads don't kno toof them (with the two exceptions of Sidney Herbert and W H Smith) Our Indian statistics are really better on soland Of these no use is made in administration What ant is not so much (or at least not at present) an accuovern the country the use of statistical facts” She gave particular instances of the kind of questions which she desired to see thoroughly explored by the statistical method What had been the result of twenty years of coet all that they learnt at school? What result has the school-teaching on the life and conduct of those who do not forget it? Or, again, what is the effect of town life on offspring, in number and in health? What are the contributions of the several classes (as to social position and residence) to the population of the next generation? Some of the questions which she hoped to see solved by the statistical eneration is faenics Her friend M Quetelet hadin the science of ”Social Physics” Both he and Dr Farr had hoped that she would carry on the work She had often talked with Mr Jowett on the subject, and now a scheive a sum of money, and he a like amount, and between them they would found at Oxford a Professorshi+p or Lectureshi+p in Applied Statistics They agreed first to consult various friends and experts Mr Jowett seems to have discussed the matter with Mr Arthur Balfour and Professor Alfred Marshall Of Mr Balfour, he wrote (Dec 4, 1890) that ”he hasthan any statesale on her side called into council Mr Francis Galton, who took up the idea warmly and elaborated a detailed scheme He raised, however, a prelie of any subject which is not a principal element in an examination ”School” is a Professor without a class, and often sinks into soested that the Professorshi+p would be more useful if attached to the Royal Institution
Mr Jowett, who had perhaps entered into the scheale than in the subject, was not very helpful in matters of detail, but he was ready to acquiesce in any scheale adopted He made only two conditions; first, that he should be allowed to contribute; and next, that the Professorshi+p should be called by her name Mr Galton went on with his plans which, as they were developed, were found to require a very large sureat part tied up by settlements, consulted her trustees They did not deny that she could put down 4000,--the sum which Mr Galton's scheme seemed to require as her contribution,--but they were not passionate statisticians and did not underrate the objections to such a gift Meanwhile tis, and Miss Nightingale herself, beingthis year (1891) with other affairs, laid the scheme aside
[244] See Vol I p 435
[245] In a letter of 1891 to Mr Jowett
Mr Jowett,a serious heart attack, from which he barely recovered and which was pre of October he spent a few days at Claydon with Sir Harry Verney and Miss Nightingale On returning to Oxford he orse ”You will be tired of hearing from me,” he said to her in a dictated letter of farewell (Oct 16), ”and I begin to think that I s have been revealed to me in my illness, of which I should like to talk to you I never had an idea of what death was, or of what the hu now I ao on to the end as I was I hope you will do so too; it is best I hope that you may continue many years, and that you may do endless kindnesses to others Will you cast a look soht and Mrs [T H] Green, andfriends, F and J? It would please me if you could say a word to the to try andaway Ever yours affectionately, B J” He thought that he was on the point of death, and in a will ale for certain purposes” It was the suale Professorshi+p of Statistics” He rallied, however, and begged her to do as she had offered, and cohted to hear,” he wrote (Nov 18), ”that you will do me the honour to coe for you to the station
It will be a great event for me to have a visit from you” Mr Joas spared for nearly two years, and he still came from time to time to see her ”I want to hold fast to you, dear friend,” he wrote (May 26, 1892), ”as I go down the hill You and I are agreed that the last years of life are in a sense the best, and that the th ain very ill He dictated a letter to Miss Nightingale, co some of his friends to her once more He rallied a little and came up to London to stay with Mr and Mrs Lewis Campbell On Septeale: ”We called upon you yesterday in South Street, but finding no one at horeatly ae a part has your life been of my life There is only time I think for a feords” On October 1 he died at the house of Mr Justice Wright in Haone a few days before ”Do you knorote Miss Nightingale to Mrs Clough (Nov 7), ”that he so his last illness? He was in London at the house of those dear Lewis Ca fro in the way he liked--silent, with Mr Lewis Ca beside him--when suddenly he opened his eyes and said, 'Oh, is it you? I thought it was Clough'” Pinned to Miss Nightingale's letter, there is one which Mr Jowett had written, thirty-two years before, to Mrs Clough on the death of his friend, her husband In it he had said: ”I loved him and think of him daily I should like to have the ale, present with me in death, as of the two persons whose exa 'walked by faith'”
Miss Nightingale had other bereavements at this time ”I have lost,” she wrote, ”the three nearest to me in twelve months” (1893-94) In February 1894, Sir Harry Verney died, and she felt the loss of ”his courage, his courtesy, his kindness” In August, her cousin, Mr Shore Shout his life she had regarded with sootten the fond and dutiful affection which he had shoards her own ale felt the three losses deeply, but a note of serenity e ”This is a sad birthday, dearest,” she wrote a little later; ”but let me send a few roses to say ords cannot say There is so much to live for I have lost rief; but, do you know, life is e” The place left vacant by Mr Jowett's death was in soe Gardiner, who froale in her room, and in whose work in South London she came to take a lively interest
The Professorshi+p which Mr Jowett and Miss Nightingale were to have founded was never realized Miss Nightingale had laid the scheme aside at the end of 1891--”with a sore heart,” she said, for it had been ”an object of a lifeti that she had abandoned the sche his last illness But when three years later she in turn came to make her will she still had the scheme in mind It was a trust, she used to say, committed to her by M Quetelet and Dr Farr, and it was connected with ly ”to Francis Galton 2000 for certain purposes,” and declared that ”the saiven by her Will for charitable and other purposes” Her hope was that the 2000 would suffice for some _educational_ work in the use of Statistics, but Mr Galton differed, and in the following year she revoked the bequest by Codicil A pencilled note found aacy of 2000 to Mr Francis Galton because he does not think it sufficient for the purpose I wished and proposes a small Endow some bacillus or htingale's life, said Mr Jowett, had been a large part of his
That his life had also been a large part of hers, this Memoir will have shown Few men or women had known him so well, and into the inscription which she sent with her flowers she distilled herremembrance of Professor Jowett, the Genius of Friendshi+p, above all the Friend of God” A the many letters which she received about his death none touched or interested her so much as those of Lord Lansdowne:--
SIMLA, _October_ 11 Our dear old friend is, as far as his bodily presence in our midst is concerned, lost to us It is a real sorrow to ratitude hich I look back to his unfailing interest in all that befell uidance at tiet better ”because he had yet soand characteristic He was one ould never have sate down and said that his task was done, or that he was entitled to rest from toil for the remainder of his days It would, however, be very far from the truth to think that his as at an end because he is no longer here to carry it on with his own hands
SIMLA, _October_ 25 Of all the true and appreciative words which you have written of him, none seem to me truer than those in which you speak alht that he had ”no religion” His religion always seeht his followers than that of any other man or woman whom I have met, and I doubt whether any one of our tiion and Christianity in the best sense of the word
All this was precisely and profoundly what Miss Nightingale felt about her friend Of all men whom she had known, none seemed to her to have led a Christian life hts about hiret It was that their friendshi+p had never resulted in any forious doctrine She had not been able to put into any such form as satisfied hi thirty years, and he had devoted too ht, to criticisious practice, how rich was his legacy--both in precept and in exaht had been 's _Rabbi Ben Ezra_--a poeale And there was another poe Celestial_, translated from the Mahabharata by Sir Edwin Arnold ”I think,” he wrote (Nov 6, 1886), ”it expresses sohts of the huale read, marked, and learnt, were to set the note of her last years
CHAPTER IX
OLD AGE--DEATH
(1894-1910)
The truer, the safer, the better years of life are the later ones
Wenot sobecause econorows less: that is the will of God and cannot be escaped or denied--BENJAMIN JOWETT (_Letter to Miss Nightingale_, Dec 30, 1887)