66 MEMOIR OF 



and beg the continuance of her prayers for me. 

 And if you bring my horse back to me, I will 

 give you ten groats more, to carry you on foot 

 to the college ; and so, God bless you, good 

 Richard.' " 



That Russell entered on the work of the 

 ministry with a due sense of the sacred office 

 and his own responsibility, will no doubt be 

 charitably questioned by many, who have only 

 heard of his fame in the hunting-field. But, if 

 an ever-earnest readiness to visit the sick and 

 world-weary ; to administer consolation to all 

 who needed it ; to relieve the wants of his 

 poorer brethren, however poor himself ; to 

 preach God's Word with the fervour, if not the 

 eloquence, of a Bourdaloue ; to plead in many 

 a neighbouring pulpit, whenever invited to do 

 so, the cause of charitable institutions, the funds 

 of which never failed to derive substantial aid 

 from his advocacy during a period of fifty 

 years — if such things be of good report, and 

 carry any weight, no human being can say of 

 him — though he would be the first to say it 

 of himself — that his mission as a Christian 

 minister had been altogether that of an un- 

 profitable servant. 



It was on the 14th July, 1877, that Mr. 

 Russell, verging on his 82nd year, received a 

 letter from the Rev. A. E. Sevmour, the vicar 

 of Barnstaple, inviting him to come over and 



