Father Mathew, the widow of
Dr. Chalmers, and the children of Tom Hood are names which suggest the
direction in which he used his patronage as First Minister of the Crown.
He was in the habit of enlivening his political dinner parties by
invoking the aid of literary men of wit and distinction, and nothing
delighted him more than to bring, in this pleasant fashion, literature
and politics to close quarters. The final pages of his 'Recollections
and Suggestions' were written in Lord Tennyson's study at Aldworth, and
his relations with Moore at an earlier stage of his life were even more
intimate.

Lord John Russell was twice married: first, on April 11, 1835, to
Adelaide, daughter of Mr. Thomas Lister, of Armitage Park,
Staffordshire, the young widow of Thomas, second Lord Ribblesdale; and
second, on July 20, 1841, to Lady Frances Anna Maria Elliot, second
daughter of Gilbert, second Earl of Minto. By his first wife he had two
daughters, the late Lady Victoria Villiers, and Lady Georgiana Peel; and
by his second three sons and one daughter--John, Viscount Amberley, the
Hon. George William Gilbert, formerly of the 9th Lancers, the Hon.
Francis Albert Rollo, and Lady Mary Agatha. Viscount Amberley married,
on November 8, 1864, the fifth daughter of Lord Stanley of Alderley.
Lord Amberley died two years before his father, and the peerage
descended to the elder of his two sons, the present Earl Russell.

Lady Russell states: 'Our way of life during the session, from the time
we first settled in Pembroke Lodge till John ceased to take any active
part in politics, was to be there from Wednesday to Thursday and from
Saturday to Monday. This made him spend much time on the road; but he
always said the good it did him to snatch all he could of the delight of
his own quiet country home, to breathe its pure air, and be cheered by
the sight of his merry children, far outweighed the time and trouble it
cost him. When he was able to leave town tolerably early, he used
sometimes to ride down all the way; but he oftener drove to Hammersmith
Bridge, where his horse, and such of our children as were old enough to
ride met him, and how joyfully I used to catch the first sight of the
happy riders--he on his roan "Surrey" and they on their pretty
ponies--from the little mount in our grounds! He was very fond of
riding, and in far later days, when age and infirmity obliged him to
give it up, used often to say in a sad tone, pointing to some o