parrot who flew down and sat on the railing close to the _garotte_, with his head wisely on one side, flew off better satisfied. Below, on the lowest terrace, at the end of the _établissement_ buildings, is the _salle d’escrime_, which is open daily in the afternoons, when you may see through the big windows the “Maître d’Escrime, Professeur de S.A.R. le Prince des Galles,” sitting ready to instruct pupils, or, so it seemed, to try a friendly bout with all comers. The former were generally too much of mere beginners to make any show worth seeing, but on one day an awkward customer turned up who ran the professor, so far as I could judge, very hard. Indeed, I am by no means sure that he acknowledged several shrewd hits, but my knowledge of fencing is too small to make my judgment worth much. Le boxe is also announced to go on here, but I have never seen the gloves put on yet. Indeed, I much doubt whether young Frenchmen really like having their heads punched for love. It is an eccentricity which does not seem to spread out of the British Isles. There was a tempting _assaut d’armes_ last Sunday, presided over by General Paquette, at which eleven _maîtres d’escrime_ of regiments in this department, and one professor from Paris were to fence. I was sorely tempted to go, but as the thermometer stood at 80° in the shade, and so reinforced my insular prejudices as to the day, abstained. Again, beyond the Casino, on the upper terrace, is a good croquet-ground on the broad gravel space at the lower end of the _parc_. I should think it a difficult ground to play on, but as a rule the French boys are decidedly good players, and seem to enjoy the game thoroughly, and to get round the hoops quicker than any of ours could do on a lawn like a billiard-table. The Casino, besides a restaurant and reading-room, contains a theatre, at which there are performances five nights in the week, and generally a ball on the off-nights. These are often fancy-balls, and always, I hear, very lively; but I cannot speak from experience, never having as yet descended either to them or to the plays and operettas. When one can sit out on a terrace and see the lights coming out in the valley, and the Milky Way and all the stars in the heaven shining as they only do down South, even the artists of the Théâtre Français, and the other theatrical stars who visit the Casino in the season, cannot get me indoors o’ nights, even at Casino prices. These are very reasonable, the _abonnement_ for a seat being only 1 franc a night, or 2 francs for a _fauteuil_. Your readers may perhaps be able to judge of the kind of entertainment given by a specimen. To-night there are two operettas,--_Violonnaux_, music by Offenbach; and _Les Charbonneurs_, music by G. Coste. I own I never heard of either of the pieces.