Life of John Coleridge Patteson, Missionary Bishop the Melanesian Islands | Page 2

does not coincide
completely with my own opinions; being quite convinced that not only
should a biographer never attempt either to twist or conceal the
sentiments of the subject, but that either to apologise for, or as it were
to argue with them, is vain in both senses of the word.
The real disadvantage of the work is my own very slight personal
acquaintance with the externals of the man, and my ignorance of the
scenes in which the chief part of his life was passed. There are those
who would have been far more qualified in these respects than myself,
and, above all, in that full and sympathetic masculine grasp of a man's
powerful mind, which is necessarily denied to me. But these fittest of
all being withheld by causes which are too well known to need mention,
I could only endeavour to fulfil the work as best I might; trusting that
these unavoidable deficiencies may be supplied, partly by Coleridge
Patteson's own habit of writing unreservedly, so that he speaks for
himself, and partly by the very full notes and records with which his
friends have kindly supplied me, portraying him from their point of
view; so that I could really trust that little more was needed than
ordinary judgment in connecting and selecting. Nor until the work is
less fresh from my hand will it be possible to judge whether I have in
any way been allowed to succeed in my earnest hope and endeavour to
bring the statue out of the block, and as it were to carve the figure of
the Saint for his niche among those who have given themselves soul
and body to God's Work.
It has been an almost solemn work of anxiety, as well as one of love.
May I only have succeeded in causing these letters and descriptions to
leave a true and definite impression of the man and of his example!
Let me here record my obligations for materials--I need hardly say to
the immediate family and relations--for, in truth, I act chiefly as their

amanuensis; but likewise to the Bishop of Lichfield, Bishop Abraham.
Lady Martin, the Rev. B. T. Dudley, the Rev. E. Codrington, and
Captain Tilly, for their valuable aid--the two first mentioned by
correction and revision, the others by contributions such as could only
be supplied by eye-witnesses and fellow-workers. Many others I must
thank for kindly supplying me with letters.
CHARLOTTE MARY YONGE. ELDERFIELD, September 19, 1873.
CHAPTER I.
CHILDHOOD AT HOME AND AT SCHOOL, 1827-1838.

So much of a man's cast of character depends upon his home and
parentage, that no biography can be complete which does not look back
at least as far as the lives of the father and mother, from whom the
disposition is sure to be in part inherited, and by whom it must often be
formed. Indeed, the happiest natures are generally those which have
enjoyed the full benefit of parental training without dictation, and have
been led, but not forced, into the way in which they should go.
Therefore it will not be irrelevant to dwell on the career of the father
whose name, though still of great weight in his own profession, may
not be equally known to the younger generation who have grown up
since the words 'Mr. Justice Patteson' were of frequent occurrence in
law reports.
John Patteson, father of the subject of the present memoir, was son to a
clergyman of a Norfolk family, and was born at Coney Weston, on
February 11, 1790. He was educated at Eton, and there formed more
than one friendship, which not only lasted throughout his life, but
extended beyond his own generation. Sport and study flourished alike
among such lads as these; and while they were taught by Dr. Groodall
to delight in the peculiarly elegant and accurate scholarship which was
the characteristic of the highest education of their day, their boyhood

and youth were full of the unstained mirth that gives such radiance to
recollections of the past, and often causes the loyalty of affectionate
association to be handed on to succeeding generations. The thorough
Etonian impress, with all that it involved, was of no small account in
his life, as well as in that of his son.
The elder John Patteson was a colleger, and passed on to King's
College, Cambridge, whence, in 1813, he came to London to study law.
In 1816 he opened his chambers as a special pleader, and on February
23, 1818, was married to his cousin, Elizabeth Lee, after a long
engagement. The next year, 1819, he was called to the Bar, and began
to go the Northern circuit. On April 3, 1820, Mrs. Patteson died,
leaving one daughter, Joanna Elizabeth. Four years later, on April 22,
1824, Mr. Patteson