THE REV. JOHN RUSSELL. 5 



Copleston, and the late Mr. Justice Coleridge 

 were probably compelled to submit to, notwith- 

 standing the grand brains with wiiich Nature 

 had blessed those distinguished men. 



Here it was he first met his fellow-pupil, 

 John Crocker Bulteel, "the heir-apparent of 

 Flete," afterwards so well known in the county, 

 not only as a popular master of hounds, but as 

 one of the most genial and talented of men. 

 The old borough of Plvmpton — the stronghold 

 of the Treby family, till the brush of the Reform 

 Bill swept away its charter — was proud enough 

 of its then flourishing grammar school ; but 

 prouder still was John Bulteel of being "cock 

 of the walk" over the many juveniles who 

 flocked from all quarters to that establishment. 



On more than one occasion he had ex- 

 hibited a disposition to crow over Russell, but 

 he was very soon taught a lesson that few boys 

 would be likely to forget so long as they lived. 

 Bulteel, at length, brought matters to a crisis 

 by saying something to Russell's disparagement, 

 in his absence, which, of course, was speedily 

 conveyed to him in an exaggerated form by 

 one of his schoolfellows. The oftender, how- 

 ever, was not to be found at the moment, so 

 Russell, seeing a book with "J. C. B." in- 

 scribed on it, pounced upon it at once, and 

 in his wrath tore it to shreds ; this he did 

 under the full conviction that Bulteel, on 



