The books illustrated in colour at the end of the eighteenth and beginning of the nineteenth century may be classed under certain well-defined headings--narrative, topography, costume, and sport, the last being by no means the least important. Although neither Gillray nor Rowlandson ignored the sport of kings, it was Bunbury who, drawing upon his own personal experiences, set the fashion for hunting and "horsey" books, which were most commonly conceived in a vein of broad humour. Of such was Bunbury's _Geoffry Gambado, or the Academy for Grown Horsemen_, of which several editions appeared between 1788 and 1808. The most distinguished of Bunbury's immediate successors was Henry Alken, an artist whose origin seems wrapped in mystery. It has been rumoured that he began his career as stud-groom or trainer to the Duke of Beaufort in the opening years of the nineteenth century. His early drawings were produced under the pseudonym of "Ben Tallyho," and the first work to which he signed his own name seems to have been _The Beauties and Defects in the Figure of the Horse, comparatively Delineated_, which appeared in 1816. This was followed by some sets of humorous etchings in frank imitation of Bunbury, such as _Specimens of Riding_, _Symptoms of being Amazed_, _A Touch at the Fine Arts_, and, in 1821, by a folio volume, _The National Sports of Great Britain_. In 1824 we find a most complimentary allusion to Alken's work in an article on the fine arts in _Blackwood's Magazine_, probably written by Christopher North. The writer, after observing that George Cruikshank failed in one subject only--the gentlemen of England--proceeds: "Where Cruikshank fails, there, happily for England and for art, Henry Alken shines, and shines like a star of the first magnitude. He has filled up the great blank that was left by the disappearance of Bunbury. He is a gentleman--he has lived with gentlemen--he understands their nature both in its strength and its weakness.... In this work [_A Touch at the Fine Arts_] there is a freedom of handling that is really delightful. Yet I am not sure but I give the preference to my older favourite, _The Symptoms_. The shooting parties--the driving parties--the overturning parties--the flirting parties--the fighting parties in that series are all and each of them nearly divine. Positively you must buy a set of Alken's works--they are splendid things--no drawing-room is complete without them." Alken, it will be seen, had already made his mark, but it was his connection with Mr. Apperley, _alias_ "Nimrod," that was to bring him his largest meed of fame. [Illustration: RACE HORSE] CHARLES JAMES APPERLEY