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"In texture the coat should be that of a hound, and, on seizing it, the skin below should come away from the body, leaving the impression that the animal has much more skin than he requires. On no account should the skin fit closely to the body, and even on the fore-legs it should wrinkle, giving to the hound a comfortable' appearance.

"As to colour, I am afraid that I am one of those who believe that a good hound, like a good horse, cannot be of a bad colour. I grant the fact that the heavily marked tricolor is very taking to the eye, and that the lemon and white, in comparison to the former, loses greatly in appearance. Still, colour is, after all, but a superficial point, except in breeds where it means much, consequently personally I should never in the judging ring allow colour to weigh greatly in my mind when it was a question of points and type between two animals. The colours then of the Basset are heavy tricolour, light tricolour, hair pie, lemon and white, and tricolour with blue mottles. The latter is particularly pretty and

attractive.

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Having now dealt with the question of points, I will give a few particulars as to the introduction of the Basset into this country. The first note I have regarding them is one from Lord Galway, who informed me some years ago that he had been

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presented with one or two, by Comte Tournon, of Montmelas. These in due time Lord Galway passed to Lord Onslow, but as this strain is now extinct I need not further dilate on them except to say that they were Le Couteulx hounds, far from inferior specimens, and all beautifully marked.

"Although they might have been known amongst those who had the personal friendship of the two peers I have named, to the general public they were entirely unknown, and it was not until the winter show at Wolverhampton, in 1875, where I showed Model, which I had procured from the Jardin d'Acclimatation the previous year, that the British public had the opportunity of making the Basset hound's acquaintance on the show bench. Model was bred by Comte le Couteulx, and with Fino de Paris stood at stud in the Jardin d'Acclimatation when I first saw him, consequently I had the pick of the two best hounds France could then boast of.

"At that time I was unaware that Lord Onslow had Bassets. Had I known this I would have asked his permission to breed the dog to one of his bitches. But as I did not know this, and I could not then procure a bitch, I, on the advice of the late Mr. Lort, began breeding through a beagle, and in the second generation produced a winner.

"I must here observe that the difference between

the old-fashioned beagle and the Basset does not amount to much except in the legs, and two generations I found quite sufficient to reduce the beagles' legs to those of the Bassets', plus the racial peculiarity.

"In 1877, as Lord Onslow had, through me, obtained from Comte le Couteulx a dog and a bitch, I gave up the beagle line and, in 1878, began to breed pure-bred through Garenne, a bitch by Model out of Lord Onslow's Finette, which, with her brother Fino, he had imported the previous year. In 1880 I was able, through the use of that Fino, to show in the first class given for Bassets in England, namely, at Wolverhampton.

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Up to this date, then, the only owners and breeders of Bassets were Lord Onslow and myself; but in the spring of that year Mr. G. R. Krehl and Mr. Louis Clement imported Fino de Paris, Jupiter, Pallas, Guinevere, Theo, Vivien, and others which it is needless here to mention. By 1886 we were able to place 120 on the bench at the Dachshund and Basset show in the Aquarium. How many there are now in the country it would be difficult to say, but the number is very large, though the entries at shows are not as great as they might be.

"To return, however, to 1880, when Mr. Krehl imported Fino de Paris, it was observable that the

bitches Guinevere, Theo, and Vivien differed somewhat in type from Fino de Paris. I have already said that I had the opportunity of selecting this latter hound in 1874, at the Jardin d'Acclimatation, where he had been sent by Comte le Couteulx to stand at stud, and I may now mention that before being sent to Paris he had been bred from; the bitches Guinevere, Theo, and Vivien being descended from him.

"I here give their pedigrees: Trouvette out of Fino de Paris by Fanfaro from Ravaude; Trouvette by Mignarde out of Fino de Paris; Finette out of Termino; Mignarde by Finette out of Termino ; Finette by Guinevere out of Theo; and Vivien by Fanfare out of Theo. That is to say, Fino de Paris being put to Trouvette and Ravaude, produced from them respectively Mignarde and Fanfaro. He was then put to his daughter Mignarde, producing Finette, who in turn was put to Termino, this alliance producing Guinevere and Theo; the latter, being put to Fanfaro, producing Vivien.

"Under these circumstances, and the inbreeding that had gone on, it is only just to suppose that in the three bitches I have named, we should have seen a strong personal resemblance or a strong family type in them to that of Fino de Paris. As a matter of fact they did not resemble Fino de Paris,

but had a common type amongst themselves, which was doubtless inherited from their sire, and in the case of Vivien, grandsire, namely, Termino. Consequently, I can only come to the conclusion that the breeder, from whom these hounds were imported, being desirous of an outcross after the inbreeding to Fino de Paris, put Finette to Termino, and returned the produce again to a son of the old dog.

"What Termino was, or how he was bred, remains an unfathomable mystery, notwithstanding the fact that I have made every inquiry; but it appears to me reasonable to suppose that he was either a large Basset à Jambes Droites, or one of the smaller chiens courants, and for this reason, viz., the offspring Guinevere and Theo could hardly be called Bassets à Jambes Torses, while Vivien, got by one of Fino de Paris' sons, was correctly described as such.

"Now the reason I have largely entered into this question of breeding in France is for the following cause: When Fino de Paris and the three bitches were imported here he was put to Guinevere, and of this litter we had two well-known hounds, viz., Fino V. and Bourbon. Fino V. was almost a counterpart of his sire, while Bourbon took after his mother's side of the house, and resembled the three bitches I have named.

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