THE REV. JOHN RUSSELL. 7 



and other educational advantages offered by 

 Blundell's school ; for, when Russell joined, it 

 was swarming with pupils, several of whom 

 represented, more or less directly, a goodly 

 portion of the county families. 



He had been but a short time at this 

 Spartan seminary when, daily provoked by the 

 tyranny of a boy called Hunter, a monitor in 

 the first class, and a notorious bully, Russell 

 avowed himself a champion of the oppressed, 

 and, for his own sake and that of others, deter- 

 mined to fight him on the first opportunity. 

 Now, if a junior boy presumed to challenge a 

 monitor, it was regarded as a serious and 

 punishable offence ; but if he struck him, so 

 dire an act of insubordination was promptly 

 visited by expulsion. 



To bide his time, therefore, was Russell's 

 only safe policy ; but the trial of doing so 

 tested his utmost patience ; for the longer he 

 managed to submit to Hunter's bullying, the 

 more oppressive and galling it became. The 

 long-deferred chance, however, came at last. 

 Dr. Richards having discovered that several of 

 the boys kept rabbits, gave a peremptory order 

 that they were to be got rid of forthwith. 

 Accordingly, on being dismissed from dinner 

 the owners all, with one exception, posted off 

 to dispose of their rabbits ; that exception be- 

 ing Hunter, who, possessing a choice breed, 



