BULL-FIGHTS. 



89 



Ttv.berl.iin, to be preserved until a successor be ap- 

 red. 



This appellation, however, was not confined to the 

 >l the pope, but seems to have been also ex- 

 (1 to the statutes of some of the emperors. The 

 famous golden bull, which ia an edict made by the 

 Emperor Charles IV. in 13.36, is well kr.own as the 

 mn/ia charta f or fundamental law of the German 

 empire. It 'contains thirty article?, which fix the 

 number of electors, and regulate their particular 

 rights and privileges. The seal is of gold, and ex- 

 hibits on the one side a figure of Charles IV. seated 

 on a throne, with a kind of gate on the reverse, in- 

 scribed " Aurea Romana ;" and on the exergue 

 ** Carolus IV. Rom. Imp. semper Augustus, Rex 

 Bohemise." Another edict, published by the same 

 emperor in 1S59, is called the Caroline Bull, and 

 cancels all the regulations which had been made by 

 himself or his predecessors to the prejudice of the 

 clergy. (L) 



BULL-FIGHTS, a species of entertainment to 

 which the Spaniards are passionately addicted, and 

 which may be termed the national spectacle in Spain, 

 as the combats of gladiators were in Rome, and as 

 horse-racing is in England. 



The Spaniards seem to have borrowed this amuse- 

 ment from the Moors, by whom it was probably 

 adopted as a substitute for the entertainments of the 

 Roman amphitheatre. We have no reason, indeed, 

 to believe, that the Romans ever introduced bulls on 

 the arena, previous to the bull-fight which Mura- 

 tori has described as exhibited in the Colisjeum, in 

 1332, after the fashion of the Moors and Spaniards. 

 But the source of that pleasure, which the Roman 

 and Spanish amphitheatres afforded, was exactly the 

 same ; in both, the strength and fury of formidable 

 animals was opposed by the address and courage of 

 human combatants ; and the Moors, who had not 

 the same facilities as the Romans for procuring tygers 

 and lions, found a natural and nearly adequate com- 

 pensation in the ferocity and spirit of the bull. 



Whether or not the Romans ever amused themselves 

 with bull- fighting, we are certain that it was not un- 

 known to the Greeks. Festivals, called rxv^oicttfec^- 

 lui tj^i*, or days of bull combating, were held by 

 the Thessalians in particular, at least three hundred 

 years before the Christian sera. The city of Larissa 

 was much celebrated for these fights, in which its in- 

 habitants were the most skilful combatants. Among 

 the Greeks, however, these entertainments differed 

 considerably from the bull-feasts of the Spaniards. 

 Several bulls being turned out at once, an equal num- 

 ber of horsemen encountered them with a particular 

 kind of spear. Each horseman oppot.ed himself to 

 one bull, and riding by his side, pressed and avoided 

 him by turns. This parrying was continued till the 

 strength of the animal was exhausted, when his anta- 

 gonist seized him by the horns, and, without dis- 

 mounting, threw him to the ground. Sometimes an 

 expert combatant threw himself upon the bull, while 

 yet foaming with rage, and in spite of all the efforts 

 of tin- anini.il to dis:r,runt him, struck him to the 

 ground amidst the tumultuous plaudits of avast con- 

 course of spectators. 



The bull-fights are conducted in Spain with great 

 v. PART ft. 



pomp and magnificence. In the principal towns, 

 there are large amphitheatres appropriated to the*? 

 barbarous exhibitions. The amphitheatre of Madrid 

 is three hundred and thirty feet in diameter ; the 

 arena two hundred and twenty-five, and it is (aid to 

 contain fifteen thousand spectators. In some towns 

 where there is no regular amphitheatre, the principal 

 square was converted into a temporary one for the 

 purpose ; and the balconies of the different stories 

 were continued across the ends of the streets which 

 terminated in the square. 



The exhibition commenced with a procession round 

 the arena or square, in which the champions, who 

 were to attack the bull either on foot or horseback, 

 first made their appearance ; and after these came two 

 algua/ils on horseback, dressed in wig* and black 

 robes. They advance with solemn step towards the 

 president of the feast, to receive his order to begin. 

 The signal being given, two folding doors fly open, 

 and the bull rushes furiously into the arena; but 

 startled at the sight of the multitude, and stunned by 

 their shouts of joy, he pauses, and looks round as 

 if to single out some proper object for his rage. 

 A picadore, dressed in the old Spanish garb, ad- 

 vances towards him, mounted on horseback, and 

 armed with a long and heavy lance. The two anta- 

 gonists, as they approach, survey each other with 

 fixed attention, alternately stop and advance, hesita- 

 ting apparently which of them should begin the at- 

 tack ; till the bull, roused to the highest pitch of 

 fury, stoops with his head, shuts his eyes, and rushes 

 with impetuosity on his adversary. His courage is 

 applauded with renewed clamours of joy; which, 

 while they inflame him with fiercer rage, excite a 

 kind of emulation in the breast of his antagonist. 

 The picadore, fixing himself firmly in his seat, and 

 holding his lance under his right arm, plunges it in- 

 to the neck of the furious animal, and thus endea- 

 vours to push him aside. Maddened with the pain, 

 the bull now wreaks his vengeance on the innocent 

 and defenceless horse which bears his enemy, and ge- 

 nerally overturns both him and his rider. This is 

 the most animated, but to a stranger the most dis- 

 gusting part of the combat. The patience and spi- 

 rit of the horses, though truly astonishing, are of 

 little avail against the armed fury of the bull. Some- 

 times the two animals rear themselves together on 

 their hind legs, pushing against each other, the lance 

 of the picadore being fixed all the time in the bull's 

 neck : but as the superior weight of this animal al- 

 ways prevails, the horse has no safety but in flight, 

 nor can he often escape the swiftness of his pursuer. 

 The same bull not unfrequently gores seven or eight 

 horses, which present, before they die, a spectacle, 

 no less wonderful, than it is shocking. With their 

 entrails hanging to the ground from their lacerated 

 sides, they still obey the hand of their rider, direct- 

 ing them towards the bull, from which they have re- 

 ceived their mortal wound. 



When the picadore, dismounted by his furious an- 

 tagonist, is in danger of being torn to pieces, the 

 chulos, or foot combatants, instantly spring to his 

 rescue, and provoking the animal by shaking before 

 him little banners, or cloaks, of different colours,, al- 

 low the horseman time to retire. But in saving their 



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