THE BASSET-HOUND. 159 



very short time people in this country will learn to value their marvellous 

 powers of scent and peculiar manner of hunting. Deer and roebuck driving is 

 their particular work, and no one can fail to see that a little low hound on 

 crooked legs, with a nose never at fault, and a throat full of deep melodious 

 music, is better than a lame or broken-legged terrier for the purpose. If the 

 full-crooked be found slow, the demi-torse will prove to have plenty of pace. 

 They are capital to shoot any sort of fur to, hares, rabbits, deer, roebuck, &c. 

 Two or three are sent into a covert, and the guns take their positions according 

 to the runs, or where the music directs them. They are very clever at " ringing" 

 out the game, and in small woods they drive the quarry about so slowly that 

 one has plenty of time to get ahead and shoot it in a crossing. Deer and hares 

 will actually play before the little hounds, stopping to listen to them coming. 

 Though ground game is their special occupation, yet they are also employed to 

 put up birds, pheasants, &c. They are chiefly used with the gun abroad, but 

 there are several packs which hunt, like our beagles, rabbits, hares, &c. They 

 usually kill a hare in two or three hours. They run any sort of drag, and 

 many a pleasant go across country has been had with Mr. Millais's little pack 

 on a herring drag. I remember in particular one beautiful morning, taking 

 with me another denizen of Cockayne, I drove out to Pinner, the little village 

 where the dogs are kennelled. An active young fellow, well up to the duty, 

 was sent off with the drag; a goodly company assembled to see the laying on 

 and start. The hunt was a little poem to those who love the unpretentious ; 

 over green meadows, up and down ditches, through the Harrow lanes ; men in 

 the fields stopped at their work and scratched their heads in wonder as the 

 little pack went by giving tongue merrily. The pace was a good trot, quite 

 fast enough for men not in training, and better acquainted with "the shady 

 side of Pall Mall" than the towing path or running ring. Anybody with a 

 couple of basset -hounds can get up a drag hunt on his own account and for 

 the enjoyment of his friends. 



The extent of " crook," and the respective merits of " torse," and " demi-torse," 

 have excited some attention amongst breeders. As the result of my inquiries 

 made of French sportsmen on this subject, it can be taken that both are equally 

 pure, both shapes of forelegs occurring in the same litter, and buyers must 

 choose whichever best suits their sport. In the show ring, with two dogs of 

 equal merit in all other points, I should decide in favour of the full-crooked as 

 being harder to breed, more in keeping with the bizarre appearance of the dog, 

 and because the bloodhound character is usually more conspicuous in the torse, 

 though I have seen full-crooked specimens without bloodhound type, and half- 

 crooked with it. 



The first good specimen exhibited in this country, of the Artesian type, was 

 Mr. Millais's " Model," a very handsome dog. The next step was a class at the 

 Crystal Palace in 1880, when Mr. Millais and Lord Onslow showed the whole class 

 between them. All these hounds were of the "Couteulx" strain. In 1881 I 

 imported Pallas, Pino de Paris, and Jupiter. Pallas had just returned from 



