178 iRin^s oi tbe li^untinG^ifielb 



Apperley made his first acquaintance with the Quorn, 

 then under the mastership of Hugo Meynell. Next he set 

 up his estabhshment at Bilton Hall, about a mile out of 

 Rugby, a house famous as having been for some time 

 the residence of Joseph Addison, after his marriage 

 to the Countess of Warwick. It is but a few months 

 since the venerable mistress of Bilton Hall, Miss 

 Bridgeman Simpson, died at the age of ninety-one. 

 She claimed to be a descendant of Addison, and 

 amongst the treasures of the old Hall which she and her 

 sister delighted to show to visitors, was a replica of the 

 famous Vandyck portrait of Charles the First, on the 

 white horse. Bilton is one of the most charming 

 villages in Warwickshire, and even in ' Nimrod's ' day was 

 within comparatively easy range of three of the best packs 

 of hounds in England, the Quorn, the Pytchley, and what 

 was then known as the Warwickshire. In 'Nimrod's' 

 time, he says the rookery was one of the largest in Great 

 Britain, but some twenty years ago the rooks deserted 

 the place. Here Charles James Apperley lived in good 

 style, and made a comfortable income by selling the horses 

 which he had himself trained as hunters. 



' At that time,' writes a frequent visitor at Bilton Hall, 

 ' " Nimrod " was one of the most fascinating persons I 

 ever saw. His figure was the perfection of lightness, 

 grace, and activity, his features handsome, his com- 

 plexion clear, his hair dark and curly, his eyes sparkling 

 with humour and intelligence. He was truly a sunny 

 person, always prompt to oblige, full of harmless good- 

 natured fun, and very ready in conversation, with 

 observation of character, and the sort of descriptive 

 power that has since been recognised in his writings.' 



But ' Nimrod ' was not only a fine, bold horseman in 



