is very well, and wins one's heart in a moment...

'Ever your affectionate Brother,

'F. G. C.'


The management was effectual, and the penitence real, for this fault
never recurred, nor is the boy's conduct ever again censured, though
the half-yearly reports often lament his want of zeal and exertion.
Coley was sufficiently forward to begin Greek on his first arrival at
Ottery, and always held a fair place for his years, but throughout
his school career his character was not that of an idle but of an
uninterested boy, who preferred play to work, needed all his
conscience to make him industrious, and then was easily satisfied
with his performances; naturally comparing them with those of other
boys, instead of doing his own utmost, and giving himself full credit
for the diligence he thought he had used. For it must be remembered
that it was a real, not an ideal nature; not a perfect character, but
one full of the elements of growth.

A childish, childlike boy, he was now, and for many years longer,
intensely fond of all kinds of games and sports, in which his light
active form, great agility, and high spirit made him excel. Cricket,
riding, running-races, all the school amusements were his delight;
fireworks for the 5th of November sparkle with ecstasy through his
letters, and he was a capital dancer in the Christmas parties at his
London home. He had likewise the courage and patience sure to be
needed by an active lad. While at Ottery he silently bore the pain
of a broken collar-bone for three weeks, and when the accident was