He was the son of John Russell, an attorney at Bridport, in Dorsetshire, and his mother was Miss Virtue Brickle, of Shaftesbury.
During his residence at the university, he devoted himself to French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Provençal, and even German literature.
His health, however, broke down, and he retired to Bristol Hotwells to drink the waters, but in vain, for he died there from consumption on the 31st of July 1788.
War, Love, the Wizard, and the Fay he sung in other words, he rejected entirely the narrow circle of subjects laid down for 18th century poets.
His memoir of the poet is very perfunctory, and the fullest account of Russell is that published in 1897 by Thomas Seccombe.