.1827.] Notes fo) the Month. 281 



as our own sensatidns tell us cannot be approached without the hazard 

 of destruction, without feeling that intense interest in the result, which 

 no matter how objectionable the indulgence is does amount to a pleasur- 

 able sensation. The anxiety is even still more acute when the Matador, 

 or destroyer, presents himself in the circle! whose life, as well as his suc- 

 cess, depends upon his striking almost to the eighth part of a second, and to 

 the eighth* section of an inch: for it is only at the moment when the ani- 

 mal is in the act of making the rush which must end in his destruction, 

 that he can secure succeeding in the blow, which, piercing the spinal mar- 

 row, lays it dead and motionless at his feet. 



The combatants on foot, however, who take no part in the death of the 

 bull, and who perform the Pierrot and Scaramouch rather, as it were, to 

 the serious pantomime of the horsemen, are, perhaps, the most amusing 

 actors in the spectacle ; and their parts may be perfectly well exhibited 

 without the infliction of any torture upon the animal. The more dexte- 

 rous of these men enter the arena on foot, and approach the bull, single 

 handed, and unprovided with any weapon with the most perfect con- 

 fidence. They seldom retire to the niches provided for them to slip into ; 

 evading the animals attack, when he darts at them, only by stepping 

 rapidly aside. In the end chusing the moment always when he makes 

 his rush they close with him, grasp him by the horns, and throw them- 

 selves upon his back ; from whence they slide off at their leisure (to renew 

 the attack) behind ; or, once seated, keep their position in spite of all his 

 most furious endeavours to dislodge them. 



So passionate is the appetite of the people of Spain and Portugal for 

 bull fighting, upon any terms, that combats of this last description are got 

 up every day in the villages, where the killing an animal would be if 

 not too great a violation of humanity too expensive a diversion; and in 

 these places, the court yard of an inn, or the enclosure called the corral, 

 in which the cattle are secured at night, does duty for the more costly and 

 elaborate arrangement of the arena. A recent traveller describes, as the 

 most amusing bull-fight he ever saw in the peninsula, one which was con- 

 trived in a small court yard, which had a low colonnade round it, the 

 pillars of which served as points of shelter, or retreat, to the combatants. 

 An extremely powerful and furious bull was so completely tired out in 

 about an hour by six assailants on foot, that he concluded by becoming 

 sulky, and laid his head to the ground, refusing to meet his antagonists. 

 The most entertaining point in this exhibition was the acting of a man 

 who fought inclosed in a long bottle of wicker, or basket work, just of 

 sufficient dimensions to hold him stretched out at length, and in which he 

 was rolled by the bull in every direction about the yard, to the infinite 

 delight of the spectators. Whenever the bull became quiet, the man 

 cautiously stretched his neck out of his bottle, and shook a small red flag 

 that attracted the attention of the animal. The attack then generally 

 recommenced ; upon which he drew back in a moment within his shell, 

 and was rolled about as before, and sometimes thrown up into the air, 

 without sustaining any inconvenience. The combatants had a valuable 

 ally too in a figure,, shaped and dressed like a man, and made upon the 

 principle of the Dutch toy, which sat upright in the arena ; and as fast 

 as it was knocked down by the enraged bull, started, of course, again to 

 its erect position. The rage of the beast at the obstinate vitality of this 

 enemy is indescribable. He repeatedly knocks it down with great force 

 and fury, five or six times successively ; and then as if aware that there 

 M.M. New &ri,--VoL. IV. No! 21. 2 O 



