450 fkirxQS ot tbe 1bnnttng*3ftelt) 



a naval cadet on board H.M.S. Southampton, and for 

 twelve years saw plenty of active service, first in putting 

 down the West African slave trade and then in the more 

 stirring incidents of the war with Russia. He was twice 

 honourably mentioned in despatches for his gallantry and 

 seamanship, and would, without doubt, have risen to dis- 

 tinction in his profession had he chosen to remain in the 

 Navy. But in i860 he married Harriett May Basset 

 daughter of Arthur Davie Basset of Watermouth Castle, 

 Ilfracombe, and thenceforward gave up the sea and settled 

 down to the congenial life of a country gentleman. 

 Twenty years later, on the death of the Rev. Arthur Craw- 

 ford Davie Basset without issue, his brother-in-law suc- 

 ceeded to the estates and took the name of Basset. 



A keen sportsman and a bold horseman, he soon made 

 his mark in the hunting-field as a thorough workman with 

 hounds. In 1872 he met with a terrible misfortune, for, 

 while manipulating an engine on his model farm, his left 

 hand was caught in the machinery, and so mutilated as to 

 necessitate amputation. Nevertheless, he hunted as 

 vigorously as ever and, with only one hand and a snaffle 

 bridle, held his own splendidly with the foremost 

 riders of Devon. That he is a first-rate judge of hounds 

 any one who saw the Devon and Somerset under his 

 Mastership will readily admit. For, in a pack made up of 

 dog-hounds drafted as too big from all the leading 

 kennels in England there was a level excellence and 

 symmetry which rejoiced the eye of every critic of hound- 

 breeding. Twenty-six inches was Mr Basset's standard, 

 and not one of these big hounds seemed to deviate by a 

 hair's breadth from that height. I remember hearing 

 one of the best judges of hounds in England say that 

 Mr Basset's pack was ' a triumph of scientific selection.' 



