BIOGRAPHIES IN A NUTSHELL 185 



three seasons. The Quorn was then at the height of 

 its fame, Mr. Hugo Meynell had just handed over 

 the reins of office to Lord Sefton, though he still 

 hunted with the Quorn, together with Lord Alvan- 

 ley, Lord Gardner, and a host of others, whose names 

 are still bywords in Leicestershire. It was not, 

 perhaps, a wise choice on the part of Mr. Apperley. 

 Lord Sefton, in addition to having introduced the 

 fashion of second horses, conducted every detail of 

 his establishment on the most princely scale. Expense 

 with him was no object, and naturally the Quornites 

 followed his example. It has been suggested that 

 even at this time Mr. Apperley was often mounted 

 by his friends, and the suggestion may be true, for 

 he was a fine horseman, and very popular in the 

 society of fox-hunters. In those days invitations 

 were to dine, sleep, and hunt in the morning, and 

 Mr. Apperley availed himself of them. He was 

 also at this time a remarkably handsome man, and 

 was clever enough to hide in society the vanity 

 which throughout his life was the weak point in his 

 character. His ambition was to live with and to 

 live as men with much larger incomes lived, and 

 he failed to realise his ambition. Besides, his birth 

 was not such as to gain him admittance on equal 

 terms into the best county society. Yet, in addition 

 to giving him his finishing lessons in the science of 

 hunting, Leicestershire, without doubt, gave him a 

 social polish which he never lost, even in his worst 

 days at Calais. 



