ABSTRACT
The son of Mr. John Vernon, a Baptist minister, Caleb Vernon was born in Ireland in 1653. His family returned to England, where he was home educated and showed great scholarly promise. From 1660, he was greatly afflicted with ague and in 1665 the twelve-year-old Caleb died. His father, who had kept a vigil at the sick boy’s bedside, wrote a biography of Caleb that was printed the following year. This poignant work presents the boy as an exemplary model of composure in the face of illness and death but it also captures the emotions surrounding the child’s death within his family.
