THE REV. JOHN RUSSELL. 271 



beat hounds, they hve in no danger of worse 

 enemies. 



Fox-hunting, therefore, being now estab- 

 hslied on a sound and satisfactory footing 

 throughout the north of Devon, Russell, in 

 1 87 1, parted with his last pack, as the reader 

 is already aware, to that distinguished sportsman, 

 Mr. H. Villebois, of Marham Hall, Norfolk ; and 

 thenceforth he ceased to be a Master of 

 Hounds. It was a wrench, however, which 

 told upon him painfully at the time, and it 

 could hardly have been otherwise ; he had 

 kept hounds, lived with them, and hunted them 

 himself for half a century, nor did the old love 

 cease, for many a dav afterwards, to assert its 

 long and strong hold on Russell's heart. 



Still, there were not a few among his old 

 friends who refused to believe that life, apart 

 from the company of his hounds, could be 

 longer enjoyed by him ; and who consequently 

 urged him, though in the seventy-sixth year 

 of his age, to take to them again. But this 

 time, much as he missed them under the old 

 tree at Tordown, he remained hrm. 



As a scientific master of woodcraft, his 

 great points may be thus summarized : — A 

 thorough knowledge of the wild animal and 

 his habits ; his mode of drawing covers and 

 finding his fox, working him in big woodlands 

 incessantly, so that he was a beaten fox before 



