’We have many more partridges than our neighbours, and Jem shoots uncommonly well.  Three double shots yesterday.  I shoot worse than usual; and cannot walk without much fatigue and frequent pain, so that I shall not be able to work enough to get much sport.  I got through the Mary Church affair very well—­that is, not making a fool of myself—­and if I did not do much good, I think I did no harm.  The Bishop of Exeter [Phillpotts] is mightily pleased, and wrote me a letter to that effect.  Of course I cannot tell you what I said, it would be too long, nor are you likely to see it.  It was fully inserted in “Woolmer,” and from him copied into the “Guardian.”

’I live in hopes to see you well and hearty at Oxford on the 14th of October, till when, adieu, God bless you.

’Your affectionate Father,

‘J.  Patteson.’

The interview with the Bishop of Sydney never took place, for the excellent Bishop Broughton arrived with health shattered by his attendance on the sufferers from fever in the ship which brought him from St. Thomas, and he did not long survive his landing.

The ‘Mary Church affair’ here referred to was the laying the foundation-stone of the Church, built or restored, it is hard to say which, on the lines of the former one, and preserving the old tower, at St. Mary Church, near Torquay.  Though the death of the Rev. Gr.  M. Coleridge had broken one tie with the place, it continued to be much beloved by the Patteson family, and Sir John had taken so much share in the church-building work as to be asked to be the layer of the corner-stone.  The speech he made at the ensuing luncheon excited much attention and the sisters took care that their brother should not miss reading it.  The stay at Dresden was drawing to an end; and he was preparing to return through Berlin, intending to go direct to Oxford and reside there till the summer, when he meant to seek ordination and enter on the Curacy at Alfington.  He says to his sister Joanna:—­

’It is a long time to pass without seeing you, but I hope, if it please God that we all live on together, that it will be long before such another interval occurs.  I have not grown out of an occasional fit of home sickness yet; and on these occasions Arthur and I talk incessantly about domestic matters, and indulge our fancies in conjecturing what you are all doing, and so forth.  I followed Joan and Clara’s trip, step by step, from the Den at Teignmouth to St. Mary Church, Oddiscombe, Rabbicombe, Anstey’s Cave, Meadfoot, &c.  How I remember every inch of the dear old places!  Better than the mud banks at Felixstowe, are they not, Clara?  I shall keep always the scrap from the “Guardian” with Father’s speech.  I don’t think I remember any speech on a similar occasion so thoroughly good, and so likely to do good.  Plain, sensible, and manly, no question of words and unimportant differences of opinion; no cant, high or low, just like himself.