in Holland, where he had received a portion of his early mercantile education, and occupied himself with projecting various bold and original mercantile projects, especially the Darien settlement. Three years later we find him in London, engaged along with a number of the leading merchants and citizens in the organization of the Hampstead Water Works Company; and in 1691 he first submitted to the government the plan of a national bank. His plan was favourably received both by merchants and by statesmen, but it was not until 1694 that, in consequence of the urgent need of money, the scheme of the enterprising Scotchman was taken up by Montague, the chancellor of the exchequer, and in spite of the opposition of interested parties carried into effect. Paterson refers with pardonable pride to the beneficial influence which the new bank exercised on the stability of the Revolution government, and the success of King William's campaign in Flanders. The sagacious projector of the bank was one of its original directors, but, despite his eminent services, his connection with it terminated at the end of a year. In 1695 he visited Scotland, at the request of several of his countrymen, and induced the Scottish parliament to take up the scheme for the establishment of a colony upon the isthmus of Panama, which for two years he had been pressing in vain upon the English ministers, and upon foreign states. He accompanied, though only in a private capacity, the ill-fated expedition which sailed for Darien on the 26th July, 1698, and shared in all its hardships and disasters. He contended, but in vain, against the folly and incapacity of the Council of Seven, to whom the management of the expedition was intrusted, and strove with indomitable perseverance to encourage the dispirited colonists to cling to the settlement till reinforcements should arrive, and was at length carried in haste on board one of the ships, prostrated with sickness and insensible. He had the good fortune to survive, and on his return to Scotland he set himself with unbroken spirit to frame a new plan for reviving the colony. He returned to London in 1701, having lost no less than £10,000 by his connection with this disastrous scheme. He resided for a number of years in the metropolis, occupied with the preparation of several treatises on trade and commerce, and occasionally consulted by the government in financial matters. On the occasion of the union between England and Scotland, he was employed to adjust the commercial and financial relations between the two countries; and one of the last acts of the Scottish parliament was to recommend him to Queen Anne for his good services to the country, as well as in consideration of his losses in connection with the Darien company. An indemnity of £18,241 was subsequently awarded him by a committee of the house of commons, but the money was not paid until after the accession of George I. The remainder of his eventful life was spent at Westminster, and he died in January, 1719. Paterson was certainly a remarkable man, gifted by nature with fertile invention, indomitable perseverance, and great powers of persuasion. Unlike most projectors, he was neither ambitious nor vain, and he seems to have been indifferent to gain almost to a fault. He had formed on the whole a remarkably correct opinion respecting the true principles of commerce; in many respects his doctrines on trade and political economy were anticipations of those propounded by Adam Smith; and his suggestions respecting the institution of the council in trade, and various other important measures, were adopted by the legislature.—(Life and Writings of William Paterson, by S. Bannister.)—J. T.
PATKUL, John Reginald or Reinhold, a noted Livonian patriot, is said to have been born in a prison in Stockholm in 1660. Charles XI. of Sweden, who was the then reigning monarch, had long treated his Livonian subjects with great severity, and Patkul was deputed by the nobility of his province to carry their complaints to the throne. Patkul performed his duty by addressing Charles in a most elegant and convincing oration, upon the conclusion of which Charles laid his hand on Patkul's shoulder saying—"You have spoken for your country as a brave man should. I esteem you for it." But a few days after he had him condemned to death for high treason; from which, however, Patkul contrived to escape. After the death of Charles XI. Patkul persuaded Augustus of Poland to undertake the conquest of Livonia, which, from the young king, Charles XII., it was thought would prove an easy prize. This, however, was a mistake in judgment, for Charles exhibited rare skill as a general, and deprived Augustus of his kingdom. Patkul then had recourse to Russia, and attempted to bring about an understanding between it and Augustus; but before he could realize his wishes, Augustus bought his reconciliation with Charles XII. by delivering Patkul into his hands. Patkul suffered death by being broken alive upon the wheel, and was afterwards beheaded and quartered. His execution took place October 10, 1707.—F.
* PATMORE, Coventry (Kearsey Dighton), poet and critic, is the son of Mr. Peter George Patmore, a man of letters of the last generation, who was the author of a gossiping volume of literary reminiscences. My Friends and Acquaintances. Mr. Patmore was born at Woodford in Essex in 1823. His first volume of poems (1844) was followed by "Tamerton Church Tower, and other poems," 1853; by '"The Angel in the House," 1854, the most popular of his works; and by "Faithful for ever," 1860. Mr. Patmore is the poet of the domestic affections, and aims at representing with the utmost simplicity and familiarity of expression the elements of every-day life. In 1846 he was appointed one of the assistants in the library of the British museum. He has contributed on art, architecture, and literature to the Edinburgh and North British Reviews.—F. E.
* PATON, Sir Joseph Noel, R.S.A., was born at Dunfermline, Fifeshire, in 1823. He received his earliest instruction in art from his father, Mr. J. F. Paton, and was a student in the Royal Scottish Academy, and in the Royal Academy, London. His cartoon of "The Spirit of Religion" gained a prize of £200 at the Westminster hall competition, 1845; and in that of 1847 his oil paintings of "Christ bearing the Cross," and "The Reconciliation of Oberon and Titania" were awarded a premium of £300. The companion to the latter picture, "The Quarrel of Oberon and Titania," painted in 1849, was purchased by the Scottish Academy Since then his career has been one of steady success. His pictures are varied, but always imaginative in character, and very carefully finished. Among the most important and characteristic are—"Dante," 1852; "The Pursuit of Pleasure," 1855, his largest and most ambitious work; "Home from the Crimea," 1856; "In Memoriam," 1858; "Luther at Erfurt," 1861; and "The Lullaby," 1862. Mr. Paton received the honour of knighthood in 1867.—J. T—e.
PATRICK (Saint), the patron saint of Ireland, is said to have been born about 372, and according to the autobiographical "Confession" which bears his name (and which we follow), at Bannevan, a village of Tabernia, supposed to be Kirkpatrick, near Dumbarton. According to the same work he belonged to an ecclesiastical family; his father Calpurnius, like his great-grandfather, being a deacon, while his grandfather had been a priest. In one of the forays with which the Irish harassed western Scotland, he was taken prisoner and carried to the north of Ireland, where he was employed as a shepherd. Escaping after a few years of this servitude, he rejoined his parents, and while with them received a monition to proceed to Ireland, and labour for the conversion of its people. Before entering on his mission he prepared himself by study, visiting Germanus, bishop of Auxerre, and St. Martin of Tours; and after receiving ordination, residing for some time among the monks of Lerins, in the Tuscan sea. Consecrated a bishop, Roman catholic writers say by Pope Celestine, he set sail with fifteen companions from Gaul in 432, it is supposed, being the year after the unsuccessful mission of Palladius to Ireland. Disembarking on the coast of Wicklow, he was ill-received, and returning on board, sailed northward to county Down, where he effected the conversion of the prince. Prosecuting his labours with success, he is said to have founded in 455 the church and see of Armagh. After this he spent the rest of his days in Ulster, and died at Saul in the county of Down in the year 482. The genuineness of his "Confession" has been much disputed, and the very existence of the saint himself has been denied; but in both cases with a scepticism more bold than rational. The 17th of March, St. Patrick's day, is the national festival of Ireland. Among more recent works which the reader may consult on the biography of St. Patrick, and the controversy respecting the genuineness of his autobiography, is The Confession of St. Patrick, translated from the original Latin, with an introduction, and notes by the Rev. Thomas Olden, A.B., curate of Knocktemple, in the diocese of Aboyne; 1853.—F. E.
PATRICK, Simon, a learned prelate, was born at Gainsborough in 1626. He entered Queen's college, Cambridge, as a sizar in 1644, and became a fellow in 1647. He graduated
