with which Coley held his wicket. After scoring twenty and odd times
in the first, and forty in the second innings, (not out), Lillywhite
said, 'Mr. Patteson, I should like to bowl to you on Lord's Ground,
and it would be different.' 'Oh, of course,' modestly answered
Coley; 'I know you would have me out directly there.'

The next cricket season this champion was disabled by a severe sprain
of the wrist, needing leeches, splints, and London advice. It was
when fixing a day for coming up to town on this account that he
mentioned the occurrence of the previous year in a letter to his
father:--

'I have a great object in shirking the oppidan dinner. I not only
hate the idea of paying a sovereign for a dinner, but last year, at
the cricket dinner, I had a great row, which I might possibly incur
another time, and I wish very much to avoid.'

Then, after briefly stating what had passed, he adds: 'At this
dinner, where the captain of the boats manages it, I should be his
guest, and therefore any similar act of mine would make matters
worse. You can therefore see why I wish Tuesday to be the day for my
coming up.'

The sprain prevented his playing in the matches at Lord's that
summer, though he was well enough to be reckoned on as a substitute
in case any of the actual players had been disabled. Possibly his
accident was good for his studies, for this was a year of much
progress and success; and though only seventeen, he had two offers of
tutorship for the holidays, from Mr. Dugdale and the Marchioness of
Bath. The question where his university life was to be spent began