THE REV. JOHN RUSSELL. 15 



The day, however was nigh at hand when 

 the pent-up flame was destined to be no longer 

 suppressed. Oxford was before him, the seat, 

 in those days, not of learning only, but of much 

 liberty and little restraint. 



In 1 8 14, when he had just completed his 

 nineteenth year, he was admitted a commoner 

 at Exeter College, his matriculation being rather 

 a matter of form than dependent on the amount 

 of scholarship he had acquired at Tiverton 

 School. An easy-going head was Dr. Cole, the 

 rector of Exeter at that period ; the tutors, too, 

 taking their cue from him, with here and there 

 a sturdy conscientious exception, rarely interfered 

 with the daily life of the undergraduates, so 

 long as chapel and lectures were attended with 

 tolerable regularity. 



Consequently, men did much as they liked 

 at all other times ; shot, fished, and hunted ; 

 boated, sparred, and drove tandem ; finishing 

 each day with heavy drinking and convivial 

 songs. 



In this land of freedom, emancipated from 

 the Spartan discipline of Dr. Richards, and now 

 his own master, Russell found, to his unspeak- 

 able delight, an open and congenial field for 

 the cultivation of that science so deeply 

 implanted in his nature, and in the acquirement 

 of which he had already proved himself so apt 

 a pupil. 



