utmost pitch against the entrance of the picadors, so denominated from their fighting on horseback, and the matador, whose business it is to complete the work by destroying the bull.

"From the departure of the procession to the entrance of the animal, a silence so profound reigned throughout this immense assembly, that it was the eye only which ascertained the occupation of the building; this silence was interrupted first by the blast of the signal trumpet, and then by the tremendous shout with which the bull was greeted by the spectators as he rushed into the arena. Appalled by the uproar, the animal generally stops his furious course in the centre and gazes with astonishment at the scene which surrounds him. His surprise, however, soon yields to his fury, and perceiving no object on which he can immediately vent his rage, he spurns the ground with his feet, throws the dust into the air with his horns, and gallops furiously round the theatre; soon becoming accustomed to the noise and appearance of the spectators, terror seems banished from his fury. His glaring eye, shooting its fiery glances from beneath the tufts of curling hair which shade his forehead, might prove an apology for fear in the breast of the boldest. His rage becomes increased, at the sound of the trumpet, by the entrance of the stacadors. These men, fancifully dressed and decorated, ran round him waving their handkerchiefs and mantles of different and gaudy colours in his face, attracting his indiscriminate rage, until one bolder than the rest concentrated his fury upon himself alone, and towards him the bull directed the whole energy of his impetuous pursuit. The stacador flew for a moment before him; then turning suddenly round, waited the attack with intrepidity; but at the instant when the inexperienced spectator supposed the next moment must be his last, he attracted the eye of the bull by his bright-coloured mantle, held on one side of his body, and against which the attack is directed. The stacador left it on his horns, and flew himself to the barrier. Tearing the mantle in a thousand pieces, the fury of the animal became tenfold at the escape of his tormentor, and he turned and pursued his companions, who one by one placed their handkerchiefs or mantles on his horns and escaped over the barrier. Sometimes the animal appeared to feel the futility of directing

his rage against the gaudy colour which attracted his attention, and directed his attack against the stacador himself, who in such cases was fain to owe his security to the swiftness of his feet, which scarcely enabled him to pass the barrier ere the horns of the bull resounded against it with a noise that increased both his own and the spectators delight at his escape. This species of fighting is intended only to excite the bull to a greater degree of fury against the entrance of the picadors or horsemen, and lasts but a short time; while the shouts and exclamations of the spectators vary according to the rage of the bull and the boldness with which he is attacked, or the degree of danger to which the assailant is exposed.

"The trumpet sounded for the third time, and the picadors galloped into the circus, mounted on short strong horses, and curiously caparisoned with a flat broad-brimmed hat and feathers, a laced short and loose jacket, lying open to discover an embroidered vest, and leathern pantaloons and stockings in one, so stuffed as to give a gigantic and clumsy appearance to their limbs, but which defended their egs and thighs from the horns of the bull. These marched round the enraged animal, and approaching him in front with their lances, by turns invited and provoked him to the combat. For a moment he receded, seemingly appalled by the sight of his new enemies; but this was only to give additional force to his meditated plunge, which he made with one spring upon the horse and his rider.

"His attack this time was met by no futile enemy; his ferocity was no longer expended on a resistless or flying foe. The picador, fixing himself firmly in his stirrup and couching his lance, waited his arrival with intrepidity; and at the very instant when it seemed impossible but that the horse at all events must fall the victim of his rage, the lance was thrust into his back just above the neck, and the pain inflicted by the wound occasioned him to turn his head in another direction, at the moment that he expected to have accomplished the vengeance which flashed from his eye. In this attack every thing depends upon the firmness and steadiness with which the lance is aimed, for should it miss, it is generally fatal to the horse and highly dangerous to the rider. This occurred frequently from the receding motion of the horses, or by the bull changing his attack the

moment he felt the point of the lance; and several times, in spite of the pain, he pushed on and accomplished a portion of that vengeance, the whole of which would have annihilated its victims for ever. At these times his horns were plunged into the breast or bowels of the horse, and it became a personal contest between the two animals; for after contact it was impossible for the man to shorten his lance sufficiently to give any force to his blow, while the vigorous thrust of the bull in one minute overturned both horse and rider, and would have pursued his revenge to its utmost accomplishment, had not his rage been diverted by the other horsemen and by the stacador, who still hovered round for that purpose. The picador, if his horse was ren dered unable to renew the combat, mounted another, and made a second attack on the bull to regain his character for dexterity. The valour of the horses now formed a second object of admiration. The courage with which they generally met the advancing bull, the struggle against his horns and head when contact was inevitable, the increased ardour with which, covered with blood and wounds, they still continued the fight, until, utterly exhausted, they fell expiring upon the spot, drew forth the plaudit shouts of the spectators, while they ought rather to extract groans of commise ration from every breast possessing a particle of humanity. On this day one horse particularly attracted the attention of the spectators by an exhibition of strength, constancy, and valour, which continued to the last. After one or two successful attacks on the part of his rider, the bull suc ceeded in reaching his flank, and, by one vigorous thrust, lifted up his hind quarters and threw him absolutely upon his head. The picador was with difficulty extricated from under him, and the bull had time to make repeated thrusts before he suffered his attention to be attracted by the stacadors. This same white horse I observed in the attack of three successive bulls, till the colour of his coat could scarcely be distinguished for the blood with which it was covered. During the last half-hour his bowels hung through his wounds and trailed upon the ground, which creating some marks of disgust in a part of the spectators, the inhu man rider merely pierced it with his lance to relieve it from the weight with which it was loaded, and continued the fight still mounted upon the unfortunate but noble animal,

till sinking from absolute exhaustion, and not being lifeless enough to be drawn in triumph by mules, amid the sound of trumpets, he was admitted into the passage behind the barrier; where, falling on his knees, he lay panting, faint, and exhausted, among the feet of the spectators, till death or insensibility relieved him from his pain, and he was dragged behind the scenes of this inhuman slaughter-house. The trumpet sounded a fourth time, and the picadors, retiring, were immediately succeeded by the banderillas, so called from a species of arrow with which they are armed. They carried one of these darts, pointed at the end, and ornamented with fireworks, in each hand, and tempted the bull to the attack by flourishing them in his face.

"The animal, a little exhausted by his encounter with the horsemen, now contented himself with keeping his assailants at bay, and eyed them silently and sullenly, until, roused by the boldness of their approach, he singled out the nearest, and erecting his tail rushed onward to the fight. The banderilla remained steady until the horns of the bull were within a few inches of his breast, when, inclining his body a little to the right, he suddenly and dexterously placed a dart on each side of the upper part of his neck, which inducing a sudden and momentary contraction of the bull, he made his own escape, and either procured a new supply of darts, or, having thus performed his duty as banderilla, retreated until the next combat. In a few moments the combustible material contained in the fulminated ornament of the arrow ignited, and by its explosion added terror and agony to the fury of the animal; who, as he attacked each of the banderillas in turn, received in his neck the darts with which they were armed.

"This species of attack, next to the final one of the matador, is the most dangerous; for, as the greatest dexterity and vigour are required in placing, so the slightest failure on the part of the banderilla must be fatal, the points of the horns always passing close to his side. The bull, thus provoked to madness by the anguish occasioned by the dart, rendered still more poignant by the gunpowder, now rushed indiscriminately on all, flew at the spectators, and fre quently in the energy of the pain leaped the barrier, to the great terror of those who filled the space beyond it, and who with incredible alacrity jumped into the arena, while the bull

rushed round the space they had just occupied, by turns roaring at the spectators on the one side, and attempting to attack those on the other; till he again entered the arena through the folding gates, which were successively thrown open at his approach. On one of these occasions, the tumult was so great to get over the barrier, that the impetuosity of the bull enabled him to overtake a young man before he could accomplish his escape. He threw him some distance from the ground, and violently gored him afterward with his horns. He was borne senseless and dying from that assembly which he had joined to witness and exult in the destruction of the very animal from whom he was destined to receive his own death-blow. The herald now sounded his trumpet for the fifth time. The banderillas retired, and the arena was left to the bull, who rushed round it foaming with rage and pain; tossing up the dust, lashing his tail, and directing his fury indiscriminately against the barrier and the spectators.

"While the bull thus exhausted his impetuous rage, and bellowed with agony, the matador entered calmly into the circus; his head uncovered, his right hand bearing a naked small sword, and a green mantle hanging loosely on his left arm.

"The clamours of the multitude were now succeeded by the silence of listening and intense observation and curi osity. The eye, before distracted and divided among the variety of assailants, who were occupied merely in torment ing and exciting the animal to the utmost fury of his nature, now dwells on two objects alone, the bull still wildly foam ing, but suddenly become stationary, and eying his antago nist with the dark glance of madness; and the matador who met the fiery look of the animal with the steady and determined gaze of undaunted intrepidity.

The

"The spectator, with breathless anxiety, seemed to pres pare for the contemplation of the mortal contest. glances of every eye were centred in the same focus, and rested on the same objects. Every movement of the com batants became painfully interesting, as the fate of one or both of them hung upon its influence.

"Several minutes were now spent by the combatants in the contemplation of each other. The matador first ap proached and waved his mantle in the eyes of the bulk ૧