BIOGRAPHIES IN A NUTSHELL 137 



A similar character to Mr. Forester, if we omit the 

 amorous proclivities, was Mr. John Mytton, who died 

 at the early age of thirty-eight. His biography was 

 written by "Nimrod" (Mr. C. J. Apperley) within a 

 year of his death, and is doubtless known to many 

 of my readers, but it contains many misleading state- 

 ments, some of which have caused pain to Mr. 

 Mytton's descendants and to the descendants of 

 Mr. Mytton's friends. As I intend to write about 

 " Nimrod " later on, I shall content myself with 

 saying that he was signally oblivious of the Latin 



proverb — 



" De mortuis nil nisi bonum." 



But to return to John Mytton. Born on the 30th 

 of September, 1796, and left fatherless before he 

 was two years of age, John Mytton became a 

 mother's spoilt darling. At the age of nineteen he 

 was gazetted a cornet in the 7th Hussars, and joined 

 the army of occupation in France. But the fighting 

 was over, and young Mytton was advised to resign his 

 commission. On the 21st of May, 18 18, he married 

 Harriet Emma Jones, the eldest daughter of Sir 

 Tyrwhitt Jones, Bart. Previous to his marriage he 

 had undertaken the Mastership of the Shropshire 

 and Shifnal Hounds (now the Albrighton Hounds), 

 on the resignation of Mr. Cresset Pelham in 18 17, 

 and he continued to hunt the country till the spring 

 of 1 82 1, that is to say, he hunted the present 

 Albrighton country for five seasons. His huntsman 

 at this time was John Crags, afterwards killed by a 



