himself of going to such a thing in Lent. "It was not," he said,
"certainly like going to the play, or any of those sort of places,"
but he did not like the idea of going at all. Do you think that
there was any harm in the wish?

'I do not ask because I wish you to write and say I may go, but
because I wish to learn whether my asking at all was wrong. Even if
you have no objection, I certainly shall not go, because for such a
trifling thing to act in opposition to my tutor, even with your
consent, would be very foolish.

'...Good-bye, my dearest Father. God bless you, says your
affectionate and dutiful Son,

'J. C. P.'


This year, 1844, the name of Patteson appeared among the 'select.'
'I shall expect a jolly holiday for my reward,' he merrily says, when
announcing it to his sisters. He had begun to join the Debating
Society at Eton, and for a while was the president. One of the other
members says, 'His speeches were singularly free from the bombast and
incongruous matter with which Eton orators from fifteen to eighteen
are apt to interlard their declamations. He spoke concisely, always
to the point, and with great fluency and readiness. A reputation for
good sense and judgment made his authority of great weight in the
school, and his independent spirit led him to choose, amongst his
most intimate friends and associates, two collegers, who ultimately
became Newcastle scholars and medallists.