THE REV. JOHN RUSSELL. 41 



qualities required in a foxhound ; none that 

 surpassed them in power, symmetry, and gran- 

 deur of form, 



Russell had never yet seen this noble pack ; 

 but at every wine and supper party he attended, 

 if there w^ere any hunting men present, the chief 

 theme of their conversation invariably turned 

 on the Beaufort badger-pies ; so it may w^ell be 

 imagined how he longed to feast his eyes on 

 so attractive a sight, to w^atch them at work, and 

 enjoy the sport they so rarely failed to show. 



With his head, then, brimful of such antici- 

 pations, dry indeed must he have found the 

 task of getting up the Greek lecture over which 

 he w^as poring, when one morning his friend 

 Peter Jackson, a Yorkshireman devoted to 

 hounds, rushed into his rooms, and exhibiting a 

 card of the hunting appointments, ' put his 

 finger on " Sandford Brake," and said: 



" Now, then, Russell, throw that physic lo 

 the dogs ; here's a chance of seeing the Hey- 

 throp Hounds ; let's be off at once to secure 

 the two best nags we can find in Oxford." 



No invitation could have been more accept- 

 able. 



"With all my heart," responded Russell, 

 chucking his Herodotus to the far end of the 

 room, and starting off, in company with his 

 friend, to Austin's stables, reputed in those days 

 to be the first in Oxford. 



