THE REV. JOHN RUSSELL. 313 



proving indifferent, Goodall and he turned 

 homeward, but did not get back to Tordown 

 before the late hour of eleven at night. 



On the following Friday, August 17th, 

 Russell again met the staghounds in Hawk- 

 combe Head ; and if, on the last occasion, he 

 had enjoyed but scant opportunity of satisfying 

 the "field," he must now have convinced them, 

 beyond all doubt, that his power of endurance 

 in the saddle was vet vigorous as ever ; and 

 that, notwithstanding the w^eight of years he 

 carried so bravely, to challenge him in a long 

 day's work on horseback would still be " more 

 than the stoutest dare." 



He had ridden nearly thirty miles to cover 

 over highways and byways such as MacAdam 

 would have blushed to own, remained with the 

 hounds all day, and then, from a yet farther 

 distance, had returned to his own homestead ; 

 where, at half-past ten, he sat down to dinner 

 without a symptom of exhaustion, and then fed 

 heartily, as a man might be expected to feed 

 through the enclosure of whose lips no food had 

 passed since seven o'clock that morning. 



Having followed him thus far in his fox-and- 

 stag-hunting career as closely as the scent would 

 serve and materials permit, it will be necessary 

 now to revert to a period somewhat previous to 

 that with which the writer has latterly been 

 dealing ; and although Russell himself might 



