THE REV. JOHN RUSSELL. 167 



for instance with such men as Mr. Assheton 

 Smith, Mr. Lindo, or Lord Alvanley, would be 

 wholly beside the mark ; for, in the first place, 

 Devonshire, with its picturesque scenery, deep 

 woodlands, hollow combes, and banks averaging 

 ten or twelve feet in height, is a very different 

 country to ride over from the undulating pas- 

 tures and flyable fences of the Midland coui^ies. 

 In the next place, his financial means, to which 

 allusion has already been made, always acting 

 as a drag on his wheel, not only limited his 

 choice, but constrained him to the disadvantage 

 of a short stud, and to the absolute necessity of 

 husbanding its resources, whenever an oppor- 

 tunity enabled him to do so. 



Thus it may with truth be said that in 

 moments of the purest enjoyment, when scent 

 served and hounds were running breast-high, 

 the thought of easing his horse and saving its 

 legs was never absent from his mind ; that was 

 the one care that sat behind his saddle — the 

 spectre that haunted him when the game was 

 at its height — the one unpalatable drop in the 

 bumper of enjoyment he was drinking to the 

 dregs ; for the thought of to-morrow would 

 obtrude itself, would make him constantly dis- 

 mount and lead his horse over high banks, when, 

 if his stud had been less hmited, he certainly 

 would have taken the quicker, and, to himself, 

 the far easier mode of getting at his hounds. 



