Life of John Coleridge Patteson, Missionary Bishop the Melanesian Islands | Page 9

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