ent lengths and of varying form,
and has avoided any necessity for sharp turns. The whole race-course is
well sodded, and the ground is as good as artificially-made ground can
be. It is kept up and improved by yearly outlays, and these very
considerable expenses are confided to Mr. J. Mackenzie-Grieves, so well
known for his horsemanship to all the promenaders of the Bois.

The race-course at Longchamps enjoys advantages of situation and
surroundings superior, beyond all question, to those of any other in
the world. The approaches to it from Paris are by an uninterrupted
succession of the most charming drives--the Champs Elysees, the grand
avenue of the Bois de Boulogne, and finally through the lovely shaded
alleys of the Bois. Arrived at the Cascade, made famous by the attempt
of Berezowski upon the life of the czar in 1867, the eye takes in at a
glance the whole of the vast space devoted to the race-course,
overlooked to the right by a picturesque windmill and an ancient
ivy-mantled tower, and at the farther extremity by the stands for
spectators. To the left the view stretches over the rich undulating
hills of S[\e]vres and of Meudon, strewn with pretty villas and towers
and steeples, and rests in the dim distance upon the blue horizon of
Les Verrieres.

The elegant central stand or tribune, of brick and stone, is reserved
for the chief of the state. In the time of the last presidency it was
almost always occupied by the marshal, a great lover of horses, and by
his little court; but his successor, M. Grevy, whose sporting
propensities are satisfied by a game of billiards or a day's shooting
with his pointers, generally waives his privilege in favor of the
members of the diplomatic corps.

The stand to the left of the track is the official tribune, very gay
and attractive in the days of the Empire, when it was filled by the
members of the municipal council of Paris and their families, but
to-day rather a blot upon the picture, the wives of the Republican
aediles belonging to a lower--though, in this case, a newer--stratum of
society than did their imperial predecessors. The Jockey Club reserves
for itself the first stand to the right, from which all women are
rigorously excluded. The female element, however, is represented upon
the lower ranges of benches, though the ladies belonging to the more
exclusive circles of fashion prefer a simple chair upon the gravel of
the paddock. It is there, at the foot of the club-s