view raw text
AN ENGLISH HUNTING CLERGYMAN The hunting parson grows rare; the sight of one in the field brought back to memory the old days when Devon parsons commonly hunted their own hounds, the greatest of them all being the Rev. John Russell, one of the best classics and the best preachers and certainly the boldest rider in the country he was hunting in his eighty-sixth year, and was still in fine health and robust form. In 1874, when in his seventy-ninth year, lie set up a record for a weeks hunting without parallel, hunting every day from Monday till Saturday, then riding seventy miles to his home, leaving the hunting field in the afternoon and never quitting the saddle except to change horses midway. He reached his stable at eleven oclock; then dined heartily, slept well, and crowned the weeks work by taking three full services. When Dr. Phillpotts was bishop of Exeter, he once traveled far to hear Russell preach. A master of eloquence himself, he expressed unqualified praise for the hunting parsons sermon. "Yes, my lord," said a lady who was always prominent" in the feld, "Mr. Russell is good in the wood; but I should like your lordship to see him in the pigskiu." London Morning Post.
