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Old Virginia Bench-Legged Beagle

'Bench' legs?

   These hounds, given to George Washington by his French friend General Lafayette were unlikely to be Basset Hounds as we know them today, which are a larger and heavier that the many French basset types..  Washington died in 1799, several decades before the Basset Hound evolved from a meld of various amounts of Basset Artesian Normand, Termino Hound, the Comte le Couteulx de Canteleu's hounds and even bloodhound; and none of these aforementioned breeds have crooked forelegs.  Having said that Millais 'Model' did have crooked or semi-crooked forelegs.

  The Sydney Morning Herald, from Tuesday 12th 1866 prints Recollections of a day in France, with the hounds, an article from English member of parliament Grantley F. Berkeley who says: "on one occasion, when we had joint packs out of all sizes and sorts, from the turnspit-beagle up to the very fine rough-coated splendid-looking bloodhound from Vendee...", he could be referring here to his hunting trip on the estate of his friend the louptier (wolf-killer) Monsiuer Le Vicomte De Arnauld in 1856.  This turnspit-beagle was obviously one of the many breeds of basset (dwarf hound) found in France but as the Turnspit was known for its distinctive, crooked legs (always the first thing to be mentioned by an observer) we effectively have a referrence here to a bench-legged beagle.

  Two smooth-haired French Bassets, completely unrelated to the more modern Basset Hound, that did have crooked forelegs were the Lane Basset and the Basset Bleu de Gascogne.  The latter breed here is considerably smaller than the Basset Hound, perhaps the Old Virginia Bench-Legged Hound, obviously a basset a jambs torses, was of this breeding.
 

The Basset Hound, Major Godfrey Heseltine

Hounds and Dogs, compiled by A. Croxton Smith

The Lonsdale Library Vol XIII

Seeley, Service & Co. Ltd.

196, Shaftsbury Avenue, London

Dogs in Britain by Clifford L. B. Hubbard.

Macmillan and Co., Limited

St. Martin's Street, London

Dogs, The Ultimate Dictionary Of Over 1,000 Dog Breeds, Desmond Morris

Trafalgar Square Publishing

Recollections of a day in France with the hounds (Trove).

My Life and Recollections v2

http://chestofbooks.com/animals/dogs/British-Dogs/Chapter-XIV-The-Basset.html

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