THE REV. JOHN RUSSELL. 107 



breath of life. Russell must have stood an 

 inch higher in stature when he found himself 

 first favourite for so fair a prize — the only real 

 prize in life he may, with truth, be said to 

 have ever won. 



But the event should not be anticipated. 

 When Mr. George Tempter, of Stover, parted 

 with his big pack to the Rev. H. F. Yeatman, 

 in the early part of 1826, Russell and Templer 

 paid him a visit at Stock House, near Sher- 

 borne ; when, under his inauguration, the Black- 

 moor Vale country was first established. To 

 entertain his friends, whether indoors or out of 

 doors — a felicitous gift he possessed beyond 

 ordinary mortals — Mr. Yeatman ordered out his 

 own famous pack of harriers (which, by-the-bye, 

 were dwarf fox-hounds, as perfect in shape as 

 they were in work), and showed them a capital 

 day's sport ; when the hare was sinking, Russell, 

 to save her, put his horse at a chained gate, 

 rode over it, and picked up the hare in front 

 of the hounds. 



Nearly fifty years after that event, Mr. 

 Digby of Sherborne Castle, finding himself in 

 company with Russell at, I believe. Lord Polti- 

 more's house in Dorsetshire, asked him if he 

 remembered the first time they met in the 

 hunting-field ? 



" Perfectly well," replied Russell ; "it was 

 w4th dear old Yeatman's hounds in 1826 ; the 



