THE REV. JOHN RUSSELL. 251 



Russell would remain a willing and delighted 

 listener to the very last note. 



There was one song especially, written by 

 Radcliffe himself, w^hich, from the clear and 

 stirring style in which he sang it, never failed 

 to elicit rounds of applause, not only from 

 Russell, but from every member of that jovial 

 board. It was called the " Ivybridge Hunt- 

 Song," and described a run with the Lyneham 

 — then Mr. Bulteel's — so graphically that, if 

 published, it would be found little, if at all, 

 inferior to the best hunting songs, either of Mr. 

 Egerton-Warburton or Mr. Whyte-Melville. To 

 not a few of our readers, too, it w^ould bring 

 back to memory the bright scenes of a bygone 

 day — ay, and the form of many a kind familiar 

 face ; of many an old friend long passed away, 

 but still, to the mind's eye, blessed with the 

 same unclouded brow, the same happy features 

 W'hich then, in the morning of life, 



"Joy used to wear." 



At one meeting of the club, w^hich can 

 never be forgotten by those who w^ere present, 

 a lively passage of arms took place betw^een 

 Russell and Radcliffe, not exactly in singing 

 songs, but in telling Devonshire stories, which 

 they told alternately. 



Radcliffe's stories chiefly turned on a Cornish 

 Squireen, whose eccentricities of character and 

 speech were imitated to the life. This gentleman 



