FRENCH BREEDS. 507 



eye, the heavy folds of the throat, the strange fore-limbs, the quaint and medireval appearance 

 this is the type, I say, that will stand first in the estimation of an intelligent dog-loving public. 

 The type will always be associated with the name of Count le Couteulx de Canteleu, and all the 

 Bassets at present (1881) in this country are descended from, or are direct importations from, 

 his celebrated kennel. To this nobleman, inspired with a hereditary love of the chase and all 

 its accessories, is due the credit of, in a manner, resuscitating this breed, which twenty-five years 

 ago, by careless rearing and the freakish crosses that Continental sportsmen affect, had become 

 well-nigh extinct. The Count has been kind enough to supply me with the particulars of that 

 period. Observing the growing scarcity of good and pure tricolour Artesian Bassets, he set 

 about to do for them what he had already accomplished for other ancient and moribund breeds 

 of Gaul. He started to find a pair of true and pure specimens to revive the breed. After 

 purchasing some thirty dogs, he at last acquired a grand dog, Fino (the first of the name), in 

 Artois, and a lively bitch, Mignarde, in another part of the country. Their produce were true 

 and level to their parentage, showing no signs of throwing back to mesalliances ; the pups only 

 differed in being more or less crooked, as is still the case in modern litters. The Count continues 

 that he bred in and in to perfect the breed, and that his dogs were sturdy and vigorous enough 

 to permit this means. Ten years later he endeavoured to find another stud-dog for new 

 blood. His huntsman travelled the North of France through to find one, and the experi- 

 ment made with a superb Basset that he bought in the Saumur having produced yellow 

 pups, he destroyed them and continued to rely on his own strain. The Count, in his 

 description of the breed, lays great stress upon the occipital protuberance, which he calls ' la 

 bosse de chasse ; ' the head long, narrow and thin in the muzzle ; the ears very long ; the 

 head of the dog being much heavier and stronger than the bitch's. He gives about four 

 inches for the height of the crooked legs. Colour, tricolour, sometimes ticked with black 

 spots. He goes on to say that some of them have more teeth than dogs usually have, and 

 that many have the ' bee de lievre ' i.e., the lower jaw a little shorter than the upper. He 

 states that two of the best bitches in his pack have this formation of the jaw. Of the 

 dogs chosen for the coloured plate Jupiter shows most of the Bloodhound type of head ; 

 the bitch Pallas is but little short of perfection, and it was the eulogistic description of 

 her qualities in The Field, when she won at Brussels, that induced the writer to find her 

 out in France, and buy her and her mate, Jupiter. Fino de Paris, the third dog in the 

 picture, is demi-torse ; he is own brother to Mr. Millais's Model, which is full-torse. He 

 was, until I purchased him from the Jardin d'Acclimatation, Paris, the stud-dug of Europe ; 

 and Count Couteulx considers him a ' particularly good and pure stud-dog, a perfect 

 specimen of the breed, low on the legs, very strong, well-knit loins, and head typical of 

 the breed, long and thin.' They are rare and very difficult to procure ; they are also dif- 

 ficult to breed and rear, though when they do reach maturity they are as hardy as any of 

 our breeds, the imported ones feeling the cold a little more perhaps. They are a peculiarly 

 intelligent and interesting breed, with their bizarre aspect and deep-toned voices. There are 

 now in England five grand specimens of the breed, which I fear (I hope the future will 

 prove me wrong) will never be equalled, certainly never excelled, in this country : they 

 are Mr. Millais's Model, Lieutenant Monro's (late Lord Onslow's) Fino, and my Pallas, 

 Fino de Paris,, and Jupiter. I am sorry to notice in most of the home-bred specimens 

 a tendency to lose size ; this must be remedied ; the size must be kept up. Your illustration 

 depicts Pallas (first Brussels, 1880, and first Alexandra Palace, 1881), Fino de Paris (first 

 Birmingham, 1880, and first Alexandra Palace, 1881), and Jupiter (first Dundee, 1880)." 



