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C H A P T E R X X \' I I . 



THE BASSET-HOLXD 



BY MRS. 



" Dost thou in hounds aspire to dcafhL'ss fame ? 

 Learn well their lineage and their ancient stem. 

 Each tribe with joy old rustic heralds trace. 

 And sing the chosen worthies of their race." 



— TiCKELL. 



THE Basset was not familiarly known 

 to British sportsmen before 1863, in 

 which year specimens of the breed 

 were seen at the first exhibition of dogs 

 held in Paris, and caused general curiosity 

 and admiration among English visitors. 

 In France, however, this hound has been 

 used for generations, much as we use 

 our Spaniel, as a finder of game in 

 covert, and it has long been a popular 

 sporting dog in Russia and Germany. In 

 early times it was chiefly to be found 

 in Artois and Flanders, where it is sup- 

 posed to have had its origin ; but the 

 home of the better type of Basset is now 

 chiefly in La Vendee, in which department 

 some remarkably fine strains have been 

 produced. Sir John Everett Millais, an 

 admiring student of the breed, pointed out 

 the interesting fact that the finest type 

 of Basset exists in the western districts of 

 France — that is. in the districts where the 

 larger French hounds are to be found — and 

 that as you go east the breed diminishes to 

 a smaller variety, gradually merging into 

 the Dachshund. It is from the Basset of 

 La Vendee that most of our English speci- 

 mens are derived. 



There are three main strains of the French 

 Basset — the Lane, the Couteulx, and the 

 Griffon. The Griffon Basset is a hound 

 with a hard bristly coat, and short, crooked 

 legs. It has never found great favour here. 

 The Lane hounds are derived from the 

 kennels of M. Lane, of Franqueville, Baos, 

 Seine-Inferieur, and are also very little 

 appreciated in this country. They are a 

 lemon and white variety, with torse or bent 



legs. The CouteuLx hounds were a type 

 bred up into a strain by Comte le Couteulx 

 de Canteleu — one of the most noted cynolo- 

 gists and sportsmen France has ever pro- 

 duced. They were tricolour, with straight, 

 short legs, of sounder constitution than 

 other strains, with the make generally of a 

 more agile hound, and in the pedigree of 

 the best Bassets owned in this country 

 fifteen years ago, when the breed was in 

 considerable demand, Comte de Couteulx's 

 strain was prominent and always sought 

 for. 



The Lane hound is decidedly of a plainer 

 type, weak in colour, lighter in bone, and 

 noticeably longer on the leg, the head broader 

 and somewhat flat, with shorter ears. The 

 Couteulx strain is generally a fine rich tri- 

 colour, sometimes flecked with black or 

 brown, with good legs and splendid feet, 

 soft and supple in coat and skin, the head 

 long and lean, with magnificent pendulous 

 ears finely folded and velvety ; the muzzle 

 square, with heavy flews, and the dark eye 

 not prominent but showing a good deal of 

 haw. 



The true type is carefully preserved in 

 La \'endee, but much variety of colour and 

 character is met with in other departments 

 of France. Some, closely resembling the 

 Dachshund, are black and tan — natives of 

 the Vosges — while many are grey, and some 

 white, with grey and yellow markings. 

 These are rejected by English admirers of 

 the Basset-hound, who are consistent in 

 their preference for the white with black 

 and tan. 



With careful selection and judicious breed- 



