T.S. Arthur - "Lessons in Life, For All Who Will Read Them"

Jean de La Fontaine - "The Tales and Novels, v19: King Candaules &c."

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Constance Skinner - "Pioneers of the Old Southwest"

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Books: Life of John Coleridge Patteson

C >> Charlotte M. Yonge >> Life of John Coleridge Patteson




He was placed in the lower remove of the fourth form, which was then
'up to' the Rev. Charles Old Goodford, i.e. that was he who taught
the division so called in school.

The boy was evidently well prepared, for he was often captain of his
division, and his letters frequently tell of successes of this kind,
while they anticipate 'Montem.'

That of 1838 was a brilliant one, for Queen Victoria, then only
nineteen, and her first year of sovereignty not yet accomplished,
came from the Castle to be driven in an open carriage to Salt Hill
and bestow her Royal contribution.

In the throng little Patteson was pressed up so close to the Royal
carriage that he became entangled in the wheel, and was on the point
of being dragged under it, when the Queen, with ready presence of
mind, held out her hand: he grasped it, and was able to regain his
feet in safety, but did not recover his perceptions enough to make
any sign of gratitude before the carriage passed on. He had all a
boy's shyness about the adventure; but perhaps it served to quicken
the personal loyalty which is an unfailing characteristic of 'Eton
fellows.'

The Royal custom of the Sunday afternoon parade on the terrace of
Windsor Castle for the benefit of the gazing public afforded a fine
opportunity for cultivating this sentiment, and Coley sends an
amusingly minute description of her Majesty's dress, evidently
studied for his mother's benefit, even to the pink tips of her four
long ostrich feathers, and calling to mind Chalon's water-colours of
the Queen in her early youth. He finishes the description with a
quaint little bit of moralising. 'It certainly is very beautiful
with two bands playing on a calm, blessed Sunday evening, with the
Queen of England and all her retinue walking about. It gives you an
idea of the Majesty of God, who could in one short second turn it all
into confusion. There is nothing to me more beautiful than the
raising one's eyes to Heaven, and thinking with adoration who made
this scene, and who could unmake it again.'

A few days later the record is of a very different scene, namely,
Windsor Fair, when the Eton boys used to imagine they had a
prescriptive right to make a riot and revel in the charms of misrule.

'On the second day the Eton fellows always make an immense row. So
at the signal, when a thing was acting, the boys rushed in and pulled
down the curtain, and commenced the row. I am happy to say I was not
there. There were a great many soldiers there, and they all took our
part. The alarm was given, and the police came. Then there was such
a rush at the police. Some of them tumbled over, and the rest were
half-knocked down. At last they took in custody three of our boys,
upon which every boy that was there (amounting to about 450) was
summoned. They burst open the door, knocked down the police, and
rescued our boys. Meantime the boys kept on shying rotten eggs and
crackers, and there was nothing but righting and rushing.'

A startling description! But this was nothing to the wild pranks
that lived in the traditions of the elder generation; and in a few
years more the boys were debarred from the mischievous licence of the
fair.

Coley had now been nearly a year at Eton, and had proceeded through
the lower and middle removes of the fourth form, when, on November
23, he achieved the success of which he thus writes:--

'Rejoice! I was sent up for good yesterday at eleven o'clock school.
I do not know what copy of verses for yet, but directly I do, I will
send you a copy.... Goodford, when I took my ticket to be signed (for
I was obliged to get Goodford, Abraham, and my tutor to sign it),
said, "I will sign it most willingly," and then kept on stroking my
hand, and said, "I congratulate you most heartily, and am very glad
of it." I am the only one who is sent up; which is a good thing for
me, as it will give me forty or fifty good marks in trials. I am so
splitting with joy you cannot think, because now I have given you
some proof that I have been lately sapping and doing pretty well. Do
not, think that I am praising myself, for I am pretty nearly beside
myself, you may suppose.'

One of his cousins adds, on the same sheet: 'I must tell you it is
very difficult to be sent up in the upper fourth form, and still more
so in the middle remove.'

The subject of the Latin verses which obtained this distinction was a
wreath or garland, and there must have been something remarkable in
them, for Mr. Abraham preserved a copy of them for many years. There
was something in the sweetness and docility of the boy, and in the
expression of his calm, gentle face, that always greatly interested
the masters and made them rejoice in his success; and among his
comrades he was a universal favourite. His brother joined him at
Eton during the ensuing year, when the Queen's wedding afforded the
boys another glimpse of Royal festivity. Their tumultuous loyalty
and audacity appear in Coley's letter:--

'In college, stretching from Hexter's to Mother Spier's was a
magnificent representation of the Parthenon: there were three
pillars, and a great thing like this (a not over-successful sketch of
a pediment), with the Eton and Royal arms in the middle, and
"Gratulatur Etona Victoria et Alberto" It cost £150, and there were
5,000 lamps hung on it. Throughout the whole day we all of us wore
large white bridal favours and white gloves. Towards evening the
clods got on Long Walk Wall; and as gentle means would not do, we
were under the necessity of knocking some over, when the rest soon
jumped off. However, F--- and myself declared we would go right into
the quadrangle of the Castle, so we went into the middle of the road
and formed a line. Soon a rocket (the signal that the Queen was at
Slough) was let off, and then some Life Guards came galloping along,
and one of them ran almost over me, and actually trod on F---'s toe,
which put him into dreadful pain for some time. Then came the
Queen's carriage, and I thought college would have tumbled down with
the row. The cheering was really tremendous. The whole 550 fellows
all at once roared away. The Queen and Consort nodding and bowing,
smiling, &c. Then F--- and I made a rush to get up behind the Queen's
carriage, but a dragoon with his horse almost knocked us over. So we
ran by the side as well as we could, but the crowd was so immensely
thick, we could not get on as quick as the Queen. We rushed along,
knocking clean over all the clods we could, and rushing against the
rest, and finally F--- and myself were the only Eton fellows that got
into the quadrangle. As we got there, the Queen's carriage was going
away. You may fancy that we were rather hot, running the whole way
up to the Castle, besides the exertion of knocking over the clods and
knocking at doors as we passed; but I was so happy.'

Such is bliss at twelve years old!

The first half-year of 1839 had brought Patteson into the Remove,
that large division of the school intermediate between the fourth and
fifth forms. The work was harder, and his diligence somewhat
relaxed. In fact, the Coley of this period and of a good while later
had more heart for play than work. Cricket, bathing, and boating
were his delight; and though his school-work was conscientiously
accomplished, it did not interest him; and when he imagined himself
to have been working hard and well, it was a thunderbolt to him to
find, at the end of the half-year, that a great deal more had been
expected of him by his tutor. It shows how candid and sweet his
nature was, that, just as when he was a little fellow at Ottery, his
penitent letter should contain the rebuke he had received, without
resentment against anyone but himself:--

'Aunt has just called me down into the drawing-room and shown me my
character. I am stupefied at it; it is so shocking just when I most
wanted a good one on account of mamma's health. I am ashamed to say
that I can offer not the slightest excuse; my conduct on this
occasion has been very bad. I expect a severe reproof from you, and
pray do not send me any money, nor grant me the slightest [favour?].
Whilst ....., who has very little ability (uncle says), is, by
plodding on, getting credit, I, who (my tutor says) have abilities,
am wickedly neglecting and offending both my heavenly and earthly
Father by my bad use of them. Aunt called me into the drawing-room,
and very kindly showed me the excessive foolishness of my conduct;
but from this very moment I am determined that I will not lose a
moment, and we will see what the next three weeks will produce.'

Poor little fellow! his language is so strong that it is almost a
surprise to find that he was reproaching himself for no more heinous
fault than not having worked up to the full extent of his powers! He
kept his promise of diligence, and never again incurred reproof, but
was sent up for good again in November. His career through the
school was above the average, though not attaining to what was
expected from his capabilities; but the development of his nature was
slow, and therefore perhaps ultimately the more complete, and as yet
study for its own sake did not interest him; indeed, his mind was
singularly devoid of pleasure in classical subjects, though so alert
in other directions.

He was growing into the regular tastes of the refined, fastidious
Eton boy; wrote of the cut of his first tail-coat that 'this is
really an important thing;' and had grown choice in the adorning of
his room and the binding of his books, though he never let these
tastes bring him into debt or extravagance. His turn for art and
music began to show itself, and the anthems at St. George's Chapel on
the Sunday afternoons gave him great delight; and in Eton Chapel, a
contemporary says, 'I well remember how he used to sing the Psalms
with the little turns at the end of the verses, which I envied his
being able to do.' Nor was this mere love of music, but devotion.
Coley had daily regular readings of the Bible in his room with his
brother, cousins, and a friend or two; but the boys were so shy about
it that they kept an open Shakespeare on the table, with an open
drawer below, in which the Bible was placed, and which was shut at
the sound of a hand on the door.

Hitherto No. 33 Bedford Square had been the only home of the Patteson
family. The long vacations were spent sometimes with the Judge's
relations in the Eastern counties, sometimes with Lady Patteson's in
the West. Landwith Rectory, in Cornwall, was the home of her eldest
brother, Dr. James Coleridge, whose daughter Sophia was always like
an elder sister to her children, and the Vicarage of St. Mary Church,
then a wild, beautiful seaside village, though now almost a suburb of
Torquay, was held by her cousin, George May Coleridge; and here the
brothers and sisters climbed the rocks, boated, fished, and ran
exquisitely wild in the summer holidays. Christmas was spent with
the Judge's mother at Ipswich, amongst numerous cousins, with great
merriment and enjoyment such as were never forgotten.

Colonel Coleridge had died in 1836, his widow in her daughter's house
in 1838, and Heath's Court had become the property of Mr. Justice
Coleridge, who always came thither with his family as soon as the
circuit was over. In 1841, Feniton Court, about two miles and a half
from thence, was purchased by Judge Patteson, much to the delight of
his children. It was a roomy, cheerful, pleasantly-situated house,
with a piece of water in the grounds, the right of shooting over a
couple of farms, and all that could render boy life happy.

Feniton was a thorough home, and already Coley's vision was, 'When I
am vicar of Feniton, which I look forward to, but with a very distant
hope, I should of all things like Fanny to keep house for me till I
am married;' and again, when relating some joke with his cousins
about the law-papers, of the Squire of Feniton, he adds: 'But the
Squire of Feniton will be a clergyman.'

Whether this were jest or earnest, this year, 1841, brought the dawn
of his future life. It was in that year that the Rev. George
Augustus Selwyn was appointed to the diocese of New Zealand. Mrs.
Selwyn's parents had always been intimate with the Patteson family,
and the curacy which Mr. Selwyn had held up to this time was at
Windsor, so that the old Etonian tie of brotherhood was drawn closer
by daily intercourse. Indeed, it was from the first understood that
Eton, with the wealth that her children enjoyed in such large
measure, should furnish 'nerves and sinews' to the war which her son
was about to wage with the darkness of heathenism, thus turning the
minds of the boys to something beyond either their studies or their
sports.

On October 31, the Rev. Samuel Wilberforce, then Archdeacon of
Surrey, and since Bishop of Oxford and of Winchester, preached in the
morning at New Windsor parish church, and the newly-made Bishop of
New Zealand in the afternoon. Coley was far more affected than he
then had power to express. He says: 'I heard Archdeacon Wilberforce
in the morning, and the Bishop in the evening, though I was forced to
stand all the time. It was beautiful when he talked of his going out
to found a church, and then to die neglected and forgotten. All the
people burst out crying, he was so very much beloved by his
parishioners. He spoke of his perils, and putting his trust in God;
and then, when, he had finished, I think I never heard anything like
the sensation, a kind of feeling that if it had not been on so sacred
a spot, all would have exclaimed "God bless him!"'

The text of this memorable sermon was, 'Thine heart shall be
enlarged, because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto
thee, the forces also of the Gentiles shall come unto thee.' (Is. lx.
5.) Many years later we shall find a reference to this, the
watchword of the young hearer's life.

The Archdeacon's sermon was from John xvii. 20, 21: 'Neither pray I
for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on Me through
their word; that they all may be One, as Thou, Father, art in Me, and
I in Thee, that they also may be One in Us: that the world may
believe that Thou hast sent Me.' And here again we find one of the
watchwords of Coley's life, for nothing so dwelt with him and so
sustained him as the sense of unity, whether with these at home in
England, or with those in the inner home of the Saints. When the
sermon concluded with the words, 'As we are giving of our best, as
our Church is giving of her best, in sending forth from her own bosom
these cherished and chosen sons, so let there go forth from every one
of us a consenting offering; let us give this day largely, in a
spirit of self-sacrifice, as Christian men, to Christ our Lord, and
He will graciously accept and bless the offerings that we make'--the
preacher could little guess that among the lads who stood in the
aisle was one in whom was forming the purpose of offering his very
self also.

For at that time Coleridge Patteson was receiving impressions that
became the seed of his future purpose, and the eyes of his spirit
were seeing greater things than the Vicarage of Feniton. Indeed, the
subject was not entirely new to him, for Edward Coleridge was always
deeply interested in missions, and had done his best to spread the
like feeling, often employing the willing services of his pupils in
copying letters from Australia, Newfoundland, &c.

When the Bishop of New Zealand came to take leave, he said, half in
earnest, half in playfulness, 'Lady Patteson, will you give me
Coley?' She started, but did not say no; and when, independently of
this, her son told her that it was his greatest wish to go with the
Bishop, she replied that if he kept that wish when he grew up he
should have her blessing and consent.

But there was no further mention of the subject. The sisters knew
what had passed, but it was not spoken of to his father till long
after, when the wish had become purpose. Meantime the boy's natural
development put these visions into the background. He was going on
with ordinary work and play, enjoying the pageantry of the
christening of the Prince of Wales, and cheering himself hoarse and
half-frantic when the King of Prussia came to see the school; then on
his father's birthday writing with a 'hand quite trembling with
delight' to announce what he knew would be the most welcome of
birthday presents, namely, the news that he had been 'sent up' for a
very good copy of seventy-nine verses, 'all longs, on Napoleon e
Seylhia profugus, passage of Beresina, and so forth.' His Latin
verses were his strong point, and from this time forward he was
frequently sent up, in all twenty-five times, an almost unprecedented
number.

In fact he was entering on a fresh stage of life, from the little boy
to the lad, and the period was marked by his Confirmation on May 26,
1842. Here is his account both of it and of his first Communion.
The soberness and old-fashioned simplicity of expression are worth
remarking as tokens of the quietly dutiful tone of mind, full of
reverence and sincere desire to do right, and resting in the
consciousness of that desire, while steadily advancing towards higher
things than he then understood. It was a life and character where
advancement with each fresh imparting of spiritual grace can be
traced more easily than usual.

It is observable too that the boy's own earnestness and seriousness
of mind seem to have to him supplied the apparent lack of external
aids to devotional feeling, though the Confirmation was conducted in
the brief, formal, wholesale manner which some in after-life have
confessed to have been a disappointment and a drawback after their
preparation and anticipation:--

'You will know that I have been confirmed to-day, and I dare say you
all thought of me. The ceremony was performed by the Bishop of
Lincoln, and I hope that I have truly considered the great duty and
responsibility I have taken upon myself, and have prayed for strength
to support me in the execution of all those duties. I shall of
course receive the Sacrament the first time I have an opportunity,
and I trust worthily. I think there must have been 200 confirmed.
The Bishop gave us a very good charge afterwards, recommending us all
to take pattern by the self-denial and true devotion of the Bishop of
New Zealand, on whom he spoke for a long-while. The whole ceremony
was performed with the greatest decorum, and in the retiring and
coming up of the different sets there was very little noise, and not
the slightest confusion. I went up with the first set, and the
Bishop came round and put his hands on the heads of the whole set
(about forty), and then going into the middle pronounced the prayer.
The responses were all made very audibly, and everyone seemed to be
impressed with a proper feeling of the holiness and seriousness of
the ceremony. After all the boys had been confirmed about seven
other people were confirmed, of whom two were quite as much as
thirty, I should think.'


'June 5.

'I have just returned from receiving the Holy Sacrament in Chapel.
I received it from Hawtrey and Okes, but there were three other
ministers besides. There was a large attendance, seventy or eighty
or more Eton boys alone. I used the little book that mamma sent me,
and found the little directions and observations very useful. I do
truly hope and believe that I received it worthily... It struck me
more than ever (although I had often read it before) as being such a
particularly impressive and beautiful service. I never saw anything
conducted with greater decorum. Not a single fellow spoke except at
the responses, which were well and audibly made, and really every
fellow seemed to be really impressed with the awfulness of the
ceremony, and the great wickedness of not piously receiving it, I do
not know whether there will be another Sacrament here before the
holidays, or whether I shall receive it with you at Feniton next
time.'


No doubt the whole family (except the yet unconfirmed younger
brother) did so receive it in the summer holidays, the last that were
to be spent in the full joy of an unbroken household circle, and, as
has been already said, one of unusual warmth and kindliness, binding
closely into it all who were connected therewith. Each governess
became a dear friend; the servants were deeply attached, and for the
most part fixtures; and one, the nurse already mentioned, says she
never recollects a time when Master Coley had to leave Feniton for
London without his offering the servants to take charge of their
messages or parcels. All dependents and poor people, in fact
whatever came under Judge Patteson's genial, broad-hearted influence,
were treated with the like kindness, and everything alive about the
place seemed full of happiness and affection.

The centre of this bright home had always been the mother, fervently
loved by all who came in contact with her, fragile in health, and
only going through her duties and exertions so cheerily by the quiet
fortitude of a brave woman. In the course of this year, 1842, some
severe spasmodic attacks made her family anxious; and as the railway
communication was still incomplete, so that the journey to London was
a great fatigue to an invalid, her desire to spend Christmas in
Devonshire led to her remaining there with her daughters, when her
husband returned to London on the commencement of term.

He had been gone little more than a fortnight when, on November 17, a
more severe attack came on; and though she was soon relieved from it,
she never entirely rallied, and was firmly convinced that this was
'the beginning of the end.' Her husband was summoned home, Judge
Coleridge taking a double portion of his work to set him at liberty,
and the truth began to dawn on the poor boys at Eton. 'Do you really
mean that there is anything so very, very dreadful to fear?' is
Coley's cry in his note one day, and the next, 'Oh, Papa, you cannot
mean that we may never, unless we come down to Feniton, see mamma
again. I cannot bear the thought of it. I trust most earnestly that
it is not the case. Do not hide anything from me, it would make me
more wretched afterwards. If it shall (which I trust in His infinite
mercy it will not) please Almighty God to take our dearest mamma unto
Himself, may He give us grace to bear with fortitude and resolution
the dreadful loss, and may we learn to live with such holiness here
that we may hereafter be united for ever in Heaven.' This letter is
marked twice over 'Only for Papa,' but the precaution was needless,
for Lady Patteson was accustoming all those about her to speak freely
and naturally of what she felt to be approaching. Her eldest
brother, Dr. Coleridge, was greatly comforting her by his
ministrations, and her sons were sent for; but as she did not ask for
them, it was thought best that they should remain at their Uncle
Frank's, at Ottery, until, on the evening of Sunday, the 27th, a
great change took place, making it evident that the end was drawing
near.

The sufferer was told that the boys were come, and was asked if she
would see them. She was delighted, and they came in, restraining
their grief while she kissed and blessed them, and then, throwing her
arms round their father, thanked him for having brought her darling
boys for her to see once more. It was not long before she became
unconscious; and though all the family were watching and praying
round her, she showed no further sign of recognition, as she
gradually and tranquilly fell asleep in the course of the night.

To his cousin, Mrs. Martyn, Coley wrote the following letter just
after the funeral:--

'We only came down from our rooms to go to church, and directly the
beautiful service was over we went upstairs again. I need not tell
you what we then felt, and now do feel. It is a very dreadful loss
to us all; but we have been taught by that dear mother, who has been
now taken from us, that it is not fit to grieve for those who die in
the Lord, "for they rest from their labours." She is now, we may
safely trust, a blessed saint in Heaven, far removed from all cares
and anxieties; and, instead of spending our time in useless tears and
wicked repinings, we should rather learn to imitate her example and
virtues, that, when we die, we may sleep in Him as our hope is this
our sister doth, and may be finally united with her in Heaven.
Yesterday was a day of great trial to us all: I felt when I was
standing by the grave as if I must have burst.

'Dear Papa bears up beautifully, and is a pattern of submission to us
all. We are much more happy than you could suppose, for, thank God,
we are certain she is happy, far happier than she could be on earth.
She said once, "I wonder I wish to leave my dearest John and the
children, and this sweet place, but yet I do wish it" so lively was
her faith and trust in the merits of her Saviour.'

A deep and permanent impression was left upon the boy's mind, as will
be seen by his frequent references to what he had then witnessed; but
for the present he was thought to be less depressed than the others,
and recovered his natural tone of spirits sooner than his brother and
sisters. The whole family spent their mournful Christmas at
Thorverton Rectory, with Dr. and Mrs. Coleridge and their daughter
Fanny, their chief comforters and fellow-sufferers; and then returned
to London. The Judge's eldest daughter, Joanna, who had always been
entirely one with the rest, had to take her place at the head of the
household. In her own words, 'It was trying for a lad of fifteen and
a half, but he was very good, and allowed me to take the command in a
way that few boys would nave done.'