1 JANUARY 1881, Page 11

There is no better sign of the times than the

private gener- osity which is now sowing Cottage Hospitals freely all over the country. On Wednesday, the Princess Christian and the Bishop of Winchester opened a new cottage hospital at Engle- field Green, half the total cost of which—about £2,400—had been subscribed by two of the residents,—Mr. Warwick and Mr. Govett,--to whom, indeed, the existence of this pretty, cheerful, and well-situated hospital is really duo. Nor is this, we believe, by any means an exceptional case. All over the country, the generosity of public-spirited men is taking similar directions ; and we may, before very long, hope to see the rural districts almost as well provided as London itself with the means of alleviating the sulfering of the sick, and much better provided with the means of restoring them to health,—for in London, both the city air and the accumulation of complex diseases under one roof, are great impediments to cure. It takes one or two very generous men to screw a neighbourhood up to the proper temper of alacrity, but one or two very generous men make a whole neighbourhood public-spirited, and transmit a tradition of public spirit to those who come after thorn. And.

cottage hospitals are just the sort of institutions, at once modest and full of life, in which no mere egotism even tries to commemorate itself. Egotism looks to something more ambitious.