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.'

'It has struck me as remarkable that friends and relations have again
and again spoken of different incidents as 'turning-points' in
Coley's life. If he had literally turned at them all, his would have
been a most revolving career; but I believe the fact to have been
that he never turned at all, for his face was always set the right
way, but that each of these was a point of impulse setting him more
vigorously on his way, and stirring up his faithful will. Such
moments were those of admission to religious ordinances, to him no
dead letters but true receptions of grace; and he likewise found
incitements in sorrows, in failures, in reproofs. Everything sank
deeply, and his mind was already assuming the introspective character
that it had throughout the period of growth and formation. One of
his Eton companions, four years younger, has since spoken of the
remarkable impression of inwardness Patteson made on him even at this
time, saying that whenever he was taken by surprise he seemed to be
only ruminating till he spoke or was spoken to, and then there was an
instant return to the outer world and ready attention to whatever was