SPORT WITH BASSET HOUNDS 291 



hunting, although to the chosen few who love hound 

 work before anything else most interesting to watch, 

 is, to the average modem sportsman, inclined to be 

 tedious, and most men would, therefore, prefer to 

 take their pleasure with a faster type of hound. Still, 

 bassets have come to stay ; they are now growing 

 far more numerous than they were a dozen years 

 ago ; many fanciers have become greatly attached 

 to them ; there are a Basset Club and a Stud Book, 

 and each season, among the list of packs of hounds 

 hunting in these islands, there are to be found two or 

 three packs of these bizarre-looking, but wonderfully 

 handsome, hounds. 



Before the year 1875, the basset hound was practi- 

 cally unknown in England. He had flourished for 

 ages upon the Continent, chiefly in France and Belgium, 

 as well as, to a lesser extent, in Austria and Germany, 

 where he had been employed for various purposes 

 connected with sport. But in England, prior to that 

 year, the Earl of Onslow was, I believe, the only person 

 who had ever kept bassets in this country. Lord 

 Onslow had, in fact, a kennel of these hounds before 

 the late Sir Everett Millais, who was, next to him, 

 the earliest introducer of them, appeared on the scene. 

 These had been presented to Lord Onslow by the 

 Comte Tournon de Montmelas. In 1875 Sir Everett 

 (then Mr.) Millais first exhibited one of these hounds, 

 the celebrated " Model," which is still often referred 

 to as a typical hound of this curious breed. The 

 basset became quickly a fashion. Sir Everett Millais 

 did much to encourage fanciers, and even wrote a 

 monograph on the new importation,* and before very 

 long — by the year 1883 — this hound had acquired so 

 much of fame and repute as to demand a Club of its 

 * " Bassets, their Use and Breeding." 



