r.
Cornish will be able to trust me again.... He told me that if I ever
told another falsehood he should that instant march me into the school
and ask Mr. Cornish to strip and birch me ... but I will not catch the
birching."

And he did not. He was so frank, so ready to see his own faults, that
he was always a favourite. Uncle Frank remarked of him at this same
time: "He wins one's heart in a moment".

Perhaps one ought to call him a Queen's missionary, for her Majesty
saved him from a serious accident in a rather remarkable manner.

In 1838 when the Queen was driving in her carriage the crowd was so
dense that Patteson, then at school at Eton, became entangled in the
wheel of the carriage and would have been thrown underneath and run
over had it not been for the young Queen's quick perception. Seeing
the danger she gave her hand to the boy, who readily seized it, and
was thus able to get on his feet again and avoid the threatened peril.

He was a boy who, when he had done wrong, always blamed himself--not
any one else. Thus, when he was twelve, having spent a good deal of
his time one term at Eton enjoying cricket and boating, he found his
tutor was not at all satisfied with his progress. "I am ashamed to
say," he remarked in writing home, "that I can offer not the slightest
excuse: my conduct on this occasion has been very bad. I expect a
severe reproof from you, and pray do not send me any money. But from
this time I am determined I will not lose a moment."

In 1841 came the first indication of what his future career might be.

Bishop Selwyn of New Zealand was preaching, and the boy says of the
sermon: "It was beautiful when he talked of his going out to found a
church, and then to die neglected and forgotten".

How deep had been the influence on his mind of his mother's example
may be gathered from the letter he wrote at the time of her death in
1842, when he was fifteen years old: "It is a very dreadful loss for
us all, but we have been taught by that dear mother who has now been
taken from us that it is not fit to grieve for those who die in the
Lord, 'for they rest from their labours'.... She said once, 'I wonder
I wish to leave you, my dearest John, and the children and this sweet
place, but yet I do wish it'; so lovely was her faith."

In 1854 Bishop Selwyn returned to England. During the time that had
elapsed since his previous visit, Patteson had been ordained. The
bishop stayed with his father a few