The survival of names and reputations depends not only on objective achievement but also on a variety of contingencies. Among these are bequests. Pattison was a wealthy man, who by means of lifelong frugality accumulated a fortune of over £46,000. This is roughly the equivalent of two million pounds today, and, excepting those who inherited a substantial fortune, it is not easy to find a wealthier Victorian intellectual. It was certainly in his power to use this wealth to perpetuate his name and to associate it with a cause he cherished. In April 1881 Meta Bradley urged Pattison not to alter his will in her favour, as he proposed, but instead to leave a substantial legacy for the advancement of research. This would have the advantage of attaching his name to some lasting memorial. ‘I s[houl]d like my grand-nieces’ generation to be familiar with y[ou]r name in connection with something at Oxford', she wrote. Since the work of the university commissioners he was disinclined to leave money to the college, as he had previously intended, not least because the Bishop of Lincoln, as the college's visitor, had successfully defended his right to nominate to one fellowship, which thus continued to be confined to clerics. Pattison was also now unsympathetic to the direction taken by the campaign for the endowment of research, which had been launched in the first place at his inspiration.