rcle of her
friends, and the far wider circle of the public to whom she was
known only by her life, her character, her nobility of soul, and
her benefactions.

I do not presume to speak of that beauty of nature which Frances
Countess Russell showed in the sanctity of the family, in the close
intimacy of her private friends. Others have done this far more
truly, and will continue to bear witness to her life whilst this
generation and the next shall survive. My only title to join my
voice to-day with that of her children and of this congregation
resides in the fact that my memory of her goes back over so long a
period; that I have known her under circumstances, first, of the
highest public activity, and then again, in a time of severe
retirement and private simplicity; that I have seen her in days of
happiness and in days of mourning; at the height of her influence
and dignity in the eyes of our nation and of the nations about us,
as well as in her days of grief and disappointment at the failure
of her hopes, and the break up of the causes she had at heart. And
I have known her always, in light or in gloom, in joy or in misery,
the same brave, fearless, natural, and true heart--come fair or
foul, come triumph or defeat.

Yes! it was my privilege to have known Lady Russell in the lifetime
of the eminent statesman whose name she bore, and whose life of
toil in the public service she inspired; I knew them
five-and-thirty years ago, when he was at the head of the State
Government and immersed in public cares. And I am one of those who
can bear witness to the simple dignity with which she adorned that
high station and office, and the beautiful affection and quiet
peace of the home-life she maintained, like a Roman matron, when
her husband was called to serve the State. And it so happened that
I passed part of the last summer that she lived to see, here in
Richmond, within a short walk of her house. There I saw her
constantly and held many conversations with her upon public
affairs; and perhaps those were amongst the last occasions on which
her powerful sense and heroic spirit had full play before the fatal
illness which supervened in that very autumn.

I do not hesitate to speak of her powerful sense and her heroic
spirit, for she united the statesman-like insight into political