THE REV. JOHN RUSSELL. 3 



A Cornish gentleman, whose father had 

 been educated by the elder Russell, writes thus 

 to the author of these memoirs: "My father 

 has long been dead : he sleeps in the Consul's 

 garden at Tangier ; but I can well remember 

 the delight with which he was wont to talk of 

 his school days at Dartmouth, and the admira- 

 tion he felt for his dear old master. Of him he 

 would sav : 'He was one of the best classics, 

 one of the best preachers and readers, and by 

 far the boldest hunter in the county of Devon. 

 Not unfrequently, too,' my father would add, 

 'have I seen the fine old fellow's top-boots 

 peeping out from under his cassock.' " 



His son became a fair classical scholar, no- 

 thing more ; but, otherwise, to no one in the 

 West of England would this description apply 

 with more fidelity than to John Russell ; whose 

 fine sonorous voice, distinct enunciation, and 

 earnest exhortations have long established his 

 repute, both in desk and pulpit, as an ex- 

 pounder of truth second to none. A story is 

 told that, on the occasion of his preaching a 

 sermon, either at the re-opening of a church 

 newly restored, or on behalf of the North 

 Devon Hospital (to which, in this way, he has 

 ever been a readv and bountiful contributor,) 

 the late Bishop of Exeter, Henry Phillpotts, 

 travelled a long distance on purpose to hear 

 him. The stout-hearted prelate, himself a 



