THE BASSET-HOUND 215 



deer with them ; but the proper game for them is the hare. They 

 seem to hunt more offhand than the Foxhound and Harrier, 

 and they give more music, and are keener than any English hound ; 

 and although they have short legs, they get over the ground 

 very fast they take the scent so very easily, and don't seem to 

 lose time in putting their heads up and down. I was once out with 

 twelve of these hounds in a strange country to them, and they 

 were hunting a rabbit or something ; but as I had no whipper- 

 in, and as it was late in the afternoon, I wanted to get home, so 

 I ran away from them, thinking that when they could not see me, 

 and found that I had gone, they would leave off hunting rabbits. 

 I ran about a mile across fields, towards home, and after the 

 hounds had their hunt out, and could not find me, being in a 

 part of the country they did not know, they immediately got on 

 my track full cry. When I found what they were doing, I ran 

 as fast as possible to have a good start, but they soon ran me 

 down." 



From the opinions and experiences quoted, it is evident that 

 the Basset may be turned to account in many branches of sport; 

 and, notwithstanding some slight discrepancies in the statements, 

 the whole speaks well for the utility of the breed. Only one more 

 quotation on this head is needed, and it is from the article by 

 Mr. Krehl in " Stonehenge's " book. " Deer and hares," says this 

 eminently practical follower of the chase, " will actually play before 

 the little hounds, stopping to listen to them coming." The games 

 the deer and hares play on these agreeable occasions are, perhaps 

 discreetly, not declared. There is no beast of chase that does 

 not use its ears in endeavouring to escape, no matter what the 

 nature of the pursuer. 



I have already referred to Mr. Everett Millais' essay on " Bassets : 

 their Use and Breeding," which he subsequently followed up with 

 " Rational Breeding." Mr. Millais has collected a mass of facts, 

 and has so marshalled them as to show, almost to a demonstration, 

 the results certain to follow the mating of Bassets, in certain pro- 

 portions of blood, of the strains of these hounds then possessed 

 in England. The book is not an inviting one on first dipping into 

 it, but well repays digestion. On first reading it, it will probably 

 appear an enigma ; but a closer reading will disclose its sound 

 common sense. The fact is, Mr. Millais has written for those who 

 are supposed to know, and perfectly comprehend every allusion to, 

 the types of hounds he speaks of; but there he is in error: he 

 should have defined his types, in order to make his arguments clear 

 to the uninitiated in Basset mysteries. 



In a correspondence Mr. Millais declared that "type cannot 

 be defined more than fashion." " But fashion," replied Mr. Hugh 



