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CHAPTER XLI. 

 THE BASSET HOUND. 



CLOSELY allied as it is to the Dachshund, the Basset Hound is, thanks both to ths popularity 

 of the former breed and the energy of its own admirers, beginning to take a firm root on 

 English soil. Mr. Everett Millais, of Palace Gate, South Kensington, London, is an enthu- 

 siastic admirer of the variety, and has spared neither time nor money in his endeavours to 

 do it justice. As he has kindly provided us with some valuable and practical information 

 on the breed, we think it desirable that his remarks should appear in the earlier portions 

 of the article, as he not only alludes to the introduction of the Basset Hound to the show 

 bench of this country, but also supplements his remarks with dates : 



" That the Basset Francais and the German Dachshund or Basset Allemand were originally 

 from common ancestors I am not going to deny, but that the Basset Francais has preserved more 

 especially his individuality is undoubted ; inasmuch as while the Basset Frangais, a hound in 

 every sense of the word, reproduces specimens of his own type, the Basset Allemand, or German 

 Dachshund, gives birth to puppies of a hound and also a terrier type in the same litter. Of 

 course this shows the infusion of foreign blood at some period or other, which I hope soon to 

 see eradicated. 



" That these two different breeds of Bassets are now quite distinct I am sure of. One has 

 only to visit the Jardin d'Acclimatation to see them exhibited as such. In corroboration of my 

 statement I quote a letter by that eminent French author, Mons. A. Pierre Pichot, editor of 

 La Revue Britanniqiie, member of the committees on French dog shows, and one of the 

 directors of the Jardin d'Acclimatation : 



" ' To the Editor of the " Live Stock Journal:' 



'"The Basset Hounds, which differ in almost every point from the Dachshund, are, on the 

 contrary, of every colour and both rough and smooth, and of these there are still more numerous 

 varieties than of the Dachshund, the Bassets having in my own opinion sprung from the different 

 local breeds of large hounds, and therefore connected with the Vendee, Saintonge, Artois, and 

 Normandy types. 



" ' December -$rd, 1875.' 



'' I may here mention that the only Bassets yet exhibited in England have been of the 

 Normandy type, a poll, and one of the Vendee type, a Basset Griffon. I have only lately received 

 a letter from a gentleman in Wales who informs me that he has imported a leash of the latter 

 hounds for rabbiting, and so I now hope to see an increase of them, as the only one I mention 

 above is a dog belonging to Mr. de Landre Macdona a very fine specimen, but deficient in 

 leather. 



" Concerning the first introduction of the breed into this country, my mind goes back to the 

 Wolverhampton Dog Show, 1875, where my first Basset Francais was to make his dtbut. On 



