i86 CENTURY OF ENGLISH FOX-HUNTING 



He moved from Leicestershire to Bilton Hall, two 

 miles and a half from Rugby, a noble, historic man- 

 sion which had once been the home of Addison, and 

 at the present day teems with literary associations. 

 Here, in the intervals of hunting, Mr. Apperley 

 studied Addisonian literature, and obtained that 

 pedantic style which we may admire in Addison, 

 but is hardly suitable for a sporting writer. He 

 was within reach, occasionally a very long reach, 

 of four packs, namely the Quorn, the Pytchley 

 (then hunted by Mr. John Warde), Sir Thomas 

 Mostyn's, afterwards Mr. Drake's country, and Mr. 

 Corbet's hounds in Warwickshire ; while he also 

 kept horses at Chapel House, near Woodstock, and 

 at Middleton Stony, near Bicester. It must be re- 

 membered that this was before the age of railways. 

 Mr. Apperley writes that he often rode fifty miles 

 to covert, using two hacks on the road. Such 

 hunting involves more personal expenses than our 

 present system, to say nothing of the extra wear 

 and tear of horses. But it was the fashion, and it 

 was Mr. Apperley's ambition to be in the fashion, 

 to the detriment of his fortune. But necessity soon 

 obliged him to curtail his expenditure, and he moved 

 to Bitterly Court, in Shropshire, whence, in 1817, 

 he moved to Brewood, in the Albrington country, 

 in Staffordshire. He remained here till either 1820 

 or 1821, when he moved to London. 



At this time his financial circumstances had 

 become straitened, and he determined to turn his 



