230 MEMOIR OF 



Much has been said of the active service 

 which Russell expected from his curates in the 

 hunting-field, when parochial duties did not 

 absolutely require their attendance at home ; 

 but, of course, some of the stories told in that 

 respect were utterly untrue. One, for instance, 

 describes him as testing the voices of two rival 

 applicants aspiring to become his curate, by 

 making them give "view-holloas," and then 

 accepting the one whose voice sounded the 

 most penetrating and most sonorous — a capital 

 story, no doubt, for those who cultivate charity 

 by believing and circulating such tales ; but, as 

 a matter of fact, it is one which rests on as 

 baseless a fabric as the fleecy clouds that float 

 through the sky. 



That he never objected to the company and 

 help of his curate in the hunting-field is quite 

 true, provided always that the parochial duty, 

 for which he was responsible, was first attended 

 to and duly fulfilled ; nay, if his curate had a 

 taste for hunting, Russell would even encourage 

 him to enjoy the pastime, maintaining, with 

 Dr. Watts, that Satan would find him something 

 worse to do, if he remained idle at home. 



The following anecdote, however, is beyond 

 all doubt a true one, and shall be given in the 

 very words of an ear-witness, the late Rev. 

 William Hocker, vicar of Buckerell, who related 

 it to the writer of this memoir soon after the 



