328 MEMOIR OF 



boys will be as fond of horses as ever Castor 

 and Pollux were." 



The agreeable party at Sandringham, on 

 that occasion, was brought to a close by the 

 departure of the Prince, who, taking Russell 

 with him as far as London, started off for St. 

 Petersburg, to attend the wedding of his brother, 

 H.R.H. the Duke of Edinburgh, an event that 

 took place on the 23rd January, 1874. 



Miss L. T , a lady who had read a letter 



of Russell's describing the pleasure of his visit 

 to Sandringham, wrote thus in allusion to it : 



" What a list of things he got through in 

 those ten days, and what a delightful picture 

 he gives of the family circle at S. ! I don't 

 wonder the P. and P. made much of their 

 guest, for all England may be proud of such a 

 man as Mr. Russell. I only wish there were 

 hundreds like him. ' Fox-hunting for ever ! ' 

 say I, if it helps to make such men." 



In the autumn of that year, 1874, a heavy 

 sorrow awaited him — the heaviest he had known 

 through life — by the serious illness and subse- 

 quent death of Mrs. Russell ; with whom, had 

 she lived but one year longer, he might have 

 celebrated his golden wedding-day. On the 

 22nd of October, he thus wrote: — "The dear 

 old missis is, I grieve to say, very ill ; and I 

 can't leave her for many hours together. Still, 

 she is cheerful when anyone comes in, and ivill, 



