d his _Memoirs of the Life
of John Mytton_, which had appeared serially in the _New Sporting
Magazine_, and was illustrated with plates drawn by Alken and etched by
Rawlings. This was followed by _The Life of a Sportsman_, illustrated by
the same artist, which has become one of the classics of hunting
literature. Apperley returned to London in 1842, and died in Pimlico the
following year.

[Illustration: MR. RIDGEWAY'S GOOD HEALTH--NOW!]

[Illustration: "OH GENTLEMEN! GENTLEMEN! HERE'S A LAMENTABLE
OCCURRENCE"]

ROBERT SMITH SURTEES

The death of Apperley was preceded by the rise of another famous
sporting writer, Robert Smith Surtees (1803-64), the second son of
Anthony Surtees, of Hamsterley Hall, Durham. Robert was educated at
Durham Grammar School, and afterwards articled to a solicitor. A
partnership was bought for him in London, but this proved
unsatisfactory, and the young man, turning his back upon the law,
started upon his literary career as contributor to the old _Sporting
Magazine_. In 1831, in connection with Rudolf Ackermann, the son and
successor of Rowlandson's employer, he started the _New Sporting
Magazine_, which he edited down to 1836, and in the pages of this
periodical the celebrated Mr. Jorrocks, humorist, sportsman, and grocer,
made his first bow to the public. These papers were collected under the
title of _Jorrocks' Jaunts and Jollities_ in 1838, with illustrations
by "Phiz"; but a later edition, that of 1843, contains fifteen coloured
plates by Alken. In the same year Surtees succeeded to the family
estate, but in spite of this change in his circumstances he did not lay
aside his pen. Lockhart had once remarked to Apperley _a propos_ the
creator of Jorrocks, "That fellow could write a good novel if he liked
to try"; and the compliment, being promptly repeated to Surtees,
resulted in the composition of _Handley Cross_ (1843), in which Mr.
Jorrocks makes his appearance as a country squire and master of hounds.
A later edition of the book was illustrated by a new sporting artist,
John Leech. _Handley Cross_ was followed by _Hawbuck Grange_, _Ask
Mamma_, and the ever-popular _Mr. Sponge's Sporting Tour_, which
contained numerous coloured plates and woodcuts by Leech. "The
Yorkshireman," as Surtees was nicknamed, presumably because he was born
in Durham, also contributed papers to _Bell's Life_, some of which,
commemorative of the fine open winter of 1845-46, were afterwards
published as _Th