THE HOUSE OF MANNERS AND THE CHASE 



But for all that, after a study of his works, it is impossible 

 to part from Nimrod without a friendly feeling. How can 

 one lay stress on the faults of a man who himself is so 

 sublimely unconscious of them ? And for all his short- 

 comings this Nimrod is one of our best authorities on the 

 manners of his time. He stays in people's houses, and tells 

 us what his hosts ate and what they drank (especially the 

 latter), what stories they told, and what oaths they swore. 

 Nimrod had all the love of gossip of the modern society 

 journals, and but little more reticence. Nevertheless, he 

 was the first and best of the sporting writers of the day, 

 and those who followed him have more or less imitated 

 his style. Mr. Apperley had advantages, for he really under- 

 stood what he was writing about, was a good rider, and had 

 some knowledge of hounds, though his heart was in the 

 stable rather than in the kennel, and he always preferred 

 riding to hound work. He was, too, an excellent practical 

 coachman, and seems to have been a pleasant and popular 

 companion. The severe sketch given of him in Hundley Cross 

 as Mr. Pomponius Ego, and a superficial glance at his 

 writings, might lead us to suppose he was something of an 

 impostor ; but this is not so, for in spite of all faults he is 

 an excellent and most useful guide to the hunting historian. 

 Apperley simply lived in a less reticent age than our own, 

 and to him belongs something of the credit of Boswell, in 

 that he frankly disregarded any ridicule that might come 

 to himself if only he could tell his tale aright. 



The reader begins by laughing at him, and ends by feeling 

 that he is not a bad fellow, while he is undoubtedly a good 

 sportsman. Much of his childlike chatter and unblushing 

 conceit belong to his age rather than to himself, and it would 

 be as absurd to despise him for his boastings as to condemn 

 the vapourings of the Homeric heroes. 



The other writers who gave accounts of the hounds and 

 hunting of their day are simpler and more direct in their 

 style, but not so full in their information. In spite of the 

 interchange of society between London and Melton, very 

 little news of the latter place reached the former. Lord 



17 C 



