These and his other sermons and addresses given during his visit to England aroused much interest and produced a deep impression. One young man after hearing his appeal, being possessed of £12,000 offered it all to the Bishop for his work. The Bishop, however, refused to profit by what might only be a passing impulse and would not accept it. He needed money for his work, but still more he needed men, men of the right sort, and to his great joy, one young man, of just the kind he needed, was amongst the fruits of this visit to England. John Coleridge Patteson, fellow of Merton College, and now working as a curate in Devon, had long cherished the desire for mission work overseas. It had been aroused in him by Selwyn’s farewell sermon at Windsor, when he was still an Eton school boy. But he had felt it right to stay in England as long as his father, who was old and in poor health, lived. Now it came about that he met Bishop Selwyn whilst he was visiting his father, Judge Patteson, an old friend. Walking with him in the garden, the Bishop asked him if his life satisfied him, and Patteson told him of his desire at some future time to go out as a missionary. The Bishop replied that if he really meant this, he ought not to put it off, he should go when in full strength and vigour. They talked long and earnestly and finally Patteson agreed to leave the decision in the hands of his father and the Bishop. When Sir John Patteson heard of his son’s wish, his first exclamation was: “I can’t let him go”; but it was followed in a moment with the words: “God forbid I should stop him.” When finally he spoke to the Bishop on the subject he said: “Mind, I give him wholly, not with any thought of seeing him again. I will not have him thinking he must come home again to see me.” Selwyn thankfully accepted the gift. With his whole heart he invited Patteson to come and work with him, saying, that it would be a great comfort to have him for a friend and companion. It would seem as if from the first Selwyn saw in young Patteson the man he needed as Bishop of Melanesia. The same week that he received Patteson’s offer, he wrote an appeal to his friend, Rev. E. Coleridge, to help in raising the money needed for this bishopric. He said that if only the organization of the Church in New Zealand had been a little more advanced, he would gladly have undertaken the charge of Melanesia as his own diocese. The sum of £10,000 for which he asked was speedily collected. One of the most enthusiastic supporters of the Melanesian Mission was Miss Yonge, the novelist, a close friend of the Pattesons. Later on she gave the whole proceeds of one of her most popular books, _The Daisy Chain_, to the support of the Mission. Now the readers of _The Heir of Redcliffe_, which first won her popularity, made a special contribution to help to raise funds to provide a new vessel, the _Southern Cross_, for Selwyn’s use.