THE REV. JOHN RUSSELL. 175 



present in the form of armchairs, conveys a far 

 pleasanter notion than that of the old warrior, 

 whose last words were, " I shall be near him 

 very soon." Notwithstanding his will, however, 

 his faithful pets did not " bear him company," 

 for his bodv received the burial of a Christian, 

 and lies under the pulpit in Potsdam Church. 



Many a pleasantry would Russell pass when 

 inviting a guest to take a seat on one of his old 

 friend's backs. '"There," he would say, "give 

 old Cottager a turn ; he'll carry you as easily as 

 a feather-bed ; and he never bites now." Or, 

 " Try Billy ; if he can't go through dirt as he 

 once could, he's up to any weight and won't 

 give you a fall." 



These, however, are later reminiscences of 

 Tordown, the Alpine home to which he removed 

 on quitting Iddesleigh in 1832, and to which he 

 once more recently returned ; hoping, as he then 

 expressed it, to remain there till " the golden 

 bowl be broken, and the spirit shall return unto 

 God who gave it." But the sketch given of 

 the horses has carried both writer and reader 

 over the scent, and a backward cast — never a 

 favourite one of Russell's — is now necessary to 

 recover the line. 



Russell had now entered on the third season 

 of his mastership, and so far had literally basked 

 in the sunshine of success ; but in the autumn 

 of 1829, without being an augur, he was not 



