tices which we conceive calculated to be injurious to the spiritual life; but in the grand essentials which constitute a true Christian hero he stands out pre-eminent. Like Saul, "from his shoulders and upward he was higher than any of the people." Most assuredly, it is our belief, that when the roll-call of the noble army of martyrs is gone over, the name of John Coleridge Patteson will not be wanting. The testimony which we can give to such a man may be but feeble, but still may have some value, as proceeding from those who look upon him from an impartial point of view, and are not blinded by partisanship to extol defects as merits. His biographer has executed her task with judgment and propriety, but she most naturally contemplates him whose life she records with fondness; that our verdict concerning him would probably differ little from her own, is strong attestation of the intrinsic worth of the subject of her memoir.

In reviewing this book, it may be convenient to consider first, what John Coleridge Patteson was in himself; then, what he was as a missionary of the Church of Christ; lastly, the aspect in which he presents himself to us in relation to the modes of thought, especially religious thought, which have been prevalent since his early manhood up to the present time.

In her prefatory remarks Miss Yonge observes with justice, that "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 in part to be inherited, and by whom it must be often formed." In this respect the future bishop was singularly fortunate. He was not born in the purple, with all the temptations and luxurious appliances which cause so many to founder almost ere they leave the port of life. But he was of honourable parentage, and sprung from families conspicuous for intellectual abilities as well as for unblemished reputation. His father, an Eton and Cambridge man, was the well-known "Mr. Justice Patteson," one of the most eminent lawyers on the Bench at a time when "England might be well proud of her Judges." His mother was a Coleridge, a niece of the celebrated poet, and sister of Sir John Taylor Coleridge. Miss Yonge gives a brief but pleasing allusion to the life of the Bench and the Bar at that period, when they gathered round Bedford Square, and their families went on circuit with them, forming a highly intellectual and refined society almost amongst themselves. As she says, "To be the child of a Judge, meant to belong to the choicest intellectual and professional society in town, and to have the opportunity of seeing much of country life, and making acquaintance in all parts of England, when Judges were more elaborately welcomed and entertained by the

magnates of the county than is always the case now." Such in those days was the "noblesse de la robe" to which Coleridge Patteson by birth belonged. Yet more important to the future bishop was the religious tendency of his parents. His father was "a sound churchman of the old school, thoroughly devout and scrupulous in observance, ruling his family on a principle felt through him, making a conscience of all his and their ways, though promoting to the uttermost all innocent enjoyment of pleasure, mirth, and gaiety." Lady Patteson is described as "a sweet and pious person." Every morning she read the Psalms and Lessons for the day with the four children, and after these a portion of some such book as "Horne on the Psalms, or Daubeny on the Catechism." She made the religious instruction of her children her undivided care, and thus upheld its preeminence. "Sunday was likewise kept distinct in reading, teaching, employment, and whole tone of conversation." Miss Yonge adds, somewhat apologetically, that the effect was not that weariness which such observance is often supposed to produce, but rather lasting benefit and happy associations. Most assuredly it is not, where good common sense as well as piety prevail. Coleridge Patteson was, we are told, by no means a model boy; sundry of his childish faults are enumerated, but they gradually yielded to firm but gentle discipline fostering a habit of devoutness, which seems to have been natural to him. Miss Yonge is disposed to ascribe the improvement to the "old-fashioned habits of strictness," now deemed so repellent. The boy was first sent to school at Ottery St. Mary, with which the Coleridges were so intimately connected; and thence, when eleven years old, to Eton, where his uncle, the Rev. Edward Coleridge, was a most popular and successful master. When he was about fifteen there were stirrings within him of what was to be his future destiny. The newly made Bishop of New Zealand had called to take leave of the Pattesons, and, "half in earnest, half in playfulness, he said, 'Lady Patteson, will you give me Coley?' She started, but did not say, No." When her son afterwards 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. Before he left Eton he lost this excellent mother; but each recurring anniversary of her death was a memorable day with him; a deep and permanent impression of it was left upon his mind. At Eton his course was, in many respects, much like that of other boys; cricket, bathing, boating, were his delight; ever and anon he managed to distinguish himself, especially by his Latin verse; but partly from lack of diligence, partly from the want of pre-eminent abilities, so necessary for chief distinction, he can only be said to have acquitted himself fairly as a scholar

Among his school-fellows he was a universal favourite. Once he managed to attain a place among the "select" nine for the Newcastle, but not in his final examination. In games, however, cricket especially, he was a proficient. He frequently formed one of the eleven against Harrow and Winchester, and did his school good service by his prowess. An amusing story is related in connection with this accomplishment. His reputation in the field was such that, many years later, when he chanced to be at Melbourne at the same time with the champion English eleven, one of the most noted professional cricketers, meeting him in the street, addressed him confidentially, "I know, sir, that the Bishop of Melbourne does not approve of cricket for clergymen in public, but if you would meet me in private at five o'clock to-morrow morning, and let me give you a few balls, it would be a great satisfaction."

It is, however, neither for his scholarship nor his qualities as an athlete that his residence at Eton was remarkable. Physical courage is a common enough quality amongst Englishmen, but moral courage is a rarer attribute. In this, Coley Patteson, through the grace of God, was not deficient. His face, we are told, was always set the right way. He had his daily readings in the Bible with his brother, cousins, and a friend or two, but with "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." His confirmation and subsequent communion were to him seasons of strengthening and refreshment. With especial satisfaction we dwell on the noble stand he made when at the annual cricket dinner a boy began to sing an objectionable song. He called out, "If that does not stop, I shall leave the room;" and when no notice was taken, he actually went away with a few other brave lads; nor would he rejoin the eleven till an apology was made. Those who can at all enter into the feelings of boys, will appreciate the noble heroism of the youth on this memorable occasion. When he left his school, to which through life he was passionately attached, his father was enabled, with truth, to write to him: "You have gone through Eton with great credit and reputation, and, what is of more consequence, with perfect character as to truth and conduct in every way. This can only be accounted for by the assistance of the good Spirit of God, first stirred up in you by the instructions of your dear mother." His own modest estimate of himself was thus expressed to his friend Mr. C. S. Roundell, the Captain of the Harrow eleven: "I was really very miserable at leaving Eton: I did not, I assure you, without thanking God for the many advantages I have there enjoyed, and praying for His forgiveness for my sin in neglecting so many."

At Oxford he entered at Balliol, where he had been an unsuccessful candidate for a scholarship. There he formed many profitable and valuable friendships, and worked in a more diligent and determined manner than he had done at Eton, securing at the close of his career a second-class in Literis Humanioribus. Still he never loved Oxford as well as he loved Eton. "A month at Eton " was the crown of enjoyment which he proposed to himself when emancipated from the schools. The impression he left upon Principal Shairp, his senior in the university, was one "of quiet, gentle strength and entire purity-a heart that loved all things true and honest and pure, and that would always be found on the side of these." Without altogether quitting the university after his degree, he travelled a good deal on the Continent, where his "real education began, partly from the opening of his mind by the wonders of nature and art, and partly from the development of his genius for philology.' In the summer of 1852 he was elected a fellow of Merton, upon the peculiar charms of which college Miss Yonge waxes, not unduly, enthusiastic. He did not, however, reside permanently: he was contemplating taking Holy Orders, and his long vacation was spent at Dresden in the study of Hebrew. He spoke German fluently, and wrote it correctly. While there he had some interesting correspondence with his father on the subject of private judgment, episcopacy, &c., which we only notice for a curious mistake into which so painstaking and conscientious a person, whose life had been spent in accurately testing every fact placed before him, fell with reference to Paul and Barnabas. Sir J. Patteson says: "They (the eleven) separated Paul and Barnabas for the work of Apostleship, and laid their hands on them." There is no mention of this in the Bible. It is said (Acts xiii. 1-5) that certain prophets, such as Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the Tetrarch, and sundry others, whose names are not even mentioned, did so separate Paul and Barnabas, but they were not of the eleven. Sir John Patteson would have hardly won his fame in the Court of Queen's Bench had he often quoted so inaccurately in support of his judgments; nor would his statement, that Episcopacy and the Apostolical Succession were nearly the same thing, have passed unchallenged. There is much good sense otherwise in his letter; but it shows the danger, even for a Judge, of writing "only what comes uppermost. We must not, however, be tempted into the controversy. On Coley Patteson's return from Germany to Merton, it was felt that a great change had come over him. Study was no longer a toil. He had become a linguist and philologist of no common power and attainment. "The moral and spiritual forces of the man were now vivified, re

fined, and strengthened by the awakening of his intellectual and æsthetic nature." He had added Arabic to Hebrew. In 1853 he was ordained to the curacy of Alfington, a hamlet of Ottery St. Mary, a post which had recently been vacated by a son of Judge Coleridge, who had become a Jesuit. The curacy was temporarily in the hands of a friend, but as he was in ill-health, Coley Patteson joined him as a lay-helper, and plunged boldly into the drudgery of a country parish, so beginning to understand what a clergyman's life is. In due course he was ordained. The text of his first sermon was a significant one"We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake" (2 Cor. iv. 5). It was before he was ordained priest that the resolve was taken to devote himself to missionary work, and that his face was set away from his home to the Southern Hemisphere. For this office he had some physical qualifications, which may be briefly adverted to. He was tall, and of a large, powerful frame, broad in the chest and shoulders, with more of sheer muscular strength and power of endurance than of healthiness; so that, though seldom breaking down, and capable of undergoing a great deal of fatigue and exertion, he was often slightly ailing, and was very sensitive of cold. This extreme susceptibility to cold made him always enjoy tropical warmth, and may have tended largely to reconcile him, in his Southern home, to many other discomforts and annoyances peculiarly distressing to his refined and fastidious habits of decency and cleanliness.

Such was, in brief outline, the noble man who in the prime of his life, with highly cultivated tastes and acquirements of no ordinary character, and who, although perhaps not of the highest order of intellect or learning, yet had no mean share of both, consecrated himself and all he possessed to the service of his Lord and Master Jesus Christ. We need not pursue the delineation of his character further, except as it may present itself to us incidentally. What he was as a child in his loved home, as a boy at Eton, as a student in Oxford and Germany, as a clergyman in his country parish, he was to the latest hour of his life. Nothing paltry or mean entered his conceptions; deceit and equivocation were alien to his nature: when they were forced upon his notice, he wondered at them. His charity, his self-devotion, welled forth from a pure and humble heart which was conscious of its true relations with God. In many important points it would be easy to trace an analogy between him and the great Apostle of the Gentiles, in whose footsteps he trod, and whom he followed as St. Paul followed his Master Christ. Seldom has the Church of England presented a more costly offering to her Lord than when John Coleridge Patteson, after picking a few primroses from his mother's grave, walked