THE REV. JOHN RUSSELL. 215 



first and foremost the plain-looking ones ; there 

 is sure to be good stuff in them, or they wouldn't 

 be there. The same may be said with regard 

 to the fair sex ; when vou see a plain woman 

 married, depend upon it, she has been chosen 

 for qualities which amply compensate for the 

 absence of mere beauty. Nature, you know, is 

 just, and ever loves a fair balance." 



To ordinary observers, unaccustomed to 

 hounds, one hound is so like another that, unless 

 the colour were distinct, they would, in ten 

 minutes after their names were given, be unable 

 to say, "This is Dulcimer and that Dardan." 

 Nay, the great majority of men, who go on 

 hunting for season after season with the same- 

 pack, would be hopelessly at fault if called on 

 to point out a single hound by his right name, 

 often as he may have led the pack and they 

 heard his name. The features of a flock of 

 sheep — Southdown, for instance — are all alike 

 to men who are no shepherds ; nevertheless, to 

 those whose care thev are, the visage of each 

 sheep is as well known as that of every hound 

 in his pack to a kennel-huntsman. 



Russell, however, had a marvellous power, 

 amounting almost to an instinct, in this respect ; 

 the gift of nature it was, beyond a doubt, 

 cultivated by long and familiar association with 

 hounds — a gift which enabled him, after he 

 had once seen a pack leisurelv drawn from one 



