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ingn then resound throughout the theatre; and the 

 . . -^ unhappy animal, regarded as a common enemy, is 

 vd with l>li \vn and t-x l>v .'ill within 



\\ I ' eh he passes. If all their tea/ing cannot 

 >kr Ii in to 'age, there is a general cry of ioi 

 irnx, " the dogs, the doj's." Large 

 bull dogs, even fiercer than those of England, are 

 then let loose upon him ; :uid sci/uijr h m l.y the 

 neck, the ears, or thr nostril*, pin him to the ground, 

 till the matador kills him by striking a small dagger 

 into his spine. 



The rxpence of these bull fights is enormous, but 

 is well compensated by the profits which they re- 

 turn From documents of the first authority, Mr 

 Townshend has calculated the daily expence of these 

 savage exhibitions at ' 336 sterling ; and the daily 

 receipts which they bring at j70(). After deduct- 

 ing the salaries of the different combatants, the ba- 

 lance was bestowed to charitable or pious institutions : 

 at Madrid, it formed the principal fund for the sup- 

 port of the geneial hospital. 



The passion of the Spaniards for this horrid amuse- 

 ment was altogether astonishing. Every where, even 

 in the smallest villages, there were places appropria- 

 ted to the purpose ; and when a bull. fight was an- 

 nounced, it excited a more lively joy than would 

 probably have been occasioned by the greatest na- 

 tional benefit. The shop, the work-room, the plough, 

 every domestic and public occupation was deserted for 

 the amphitheatre: people of all ranks and conditions 

 were equally eager for the show, and every counte- 

 nance was animated with joyful expectation. Even 

 the ladies were not exempted from the general en- 

 thusiasm : they discussed the different merits of the 

 picadors, toreadors, and matadors, with as much 

 Keenness as our ladies would the gracefulness of a 

 dancer, or the talents of a 'comedian ; and feasted 

 with scenes of blood those eyes, which were in- 

 tended to be exercised only in softer cruelties. The 

 combatants themselves naturally entertained a high 

 idea of the excellency of their art, and were as vain 

 of their triumphs over their brute antagonist, as a 

 general could be of the most splendid victories over 

 a foreign enemy. Attempts were even made to re- 

 duce their important art to a science ; aud one of 

 their latest and most celebrated champions obliged 

 his countrymen with a book upon the subject. 



In vindication of this barbarous amusement, it has 

 been alleged, that it had a powerful tendency to pre- 

 serve the energy of the national character ; and could 

 energy be identified with ferocity, perhaps this de- 

 fence might be so far admitted. Like the combats of 

 gladiators, this amusement probably owed its origin 

 to the warlike spirit of its inventors ; and, ii the bulls, 

 instead of being encountered by hirelings, were com- 

 bated by any champion who chose to display his 

 prowess, valour and n.trepidity might thus be ren- 

 dered, through the influence of emulation, the cha- 

 racteristic qualities of the community. But the cool 

 survey of deeds of cruelty, without any sens* of 

 personal danger, or any excitement of the active pow- 

 ers, may indeed harden the heart, and repress all the 

 generous feelings of our nature, but can never in- 

 duce habits of fortitude and resolution : they may 

 render us ferocious, but will never render us brave. 

 The Roman amphitheatres were never frequented 



i ft U L 



reatcr enthusiasm, nor were their arenas ever 

 drenched more profusely with blood, than when that 

 degenerate people trembled at thr (lightest alarm of 

 gn enemy, while their savage depositions were 

 displayed in plots, assassinations, and civil turmoil* : 

 and, whatever compliment* polite travellers hare been 

 disposed to pay to the softness and elegance of Spa- 

 nish manners, it is impossible to forget how much 

 the Spaniards are addicted to the use of the tii 

 it is impossible not to trace, in their enthusiasm for 

 bull- fighting, the same cruel but dastardly temper, 

 which de-lighted in the tortures of the mild and de- 

 fenceless natives of America. 



Formnly, bull-fights formed part of the enter- 

 tainments which the court gave at certain time* for 

 the amusement of the populace. On these occa- 

 sions, the king and his family honoured the spectacle 

 with their presence His military household presid- 

 ed to keep order ; his halberdiers formed the inner 

 circle of the theatre, and their long weapons were 

 the only barrier they opposed to the assaults of the 

 bull. A more enlightened policy induced the Spa- 

 nish government to suppress, a few years ago, this 

 kind of amusement, which was productive only of 

 evil ; which suspended the exertions of regular in- 

 dustry, and tended to " destroy the two species of 

 animals most useful to man, the horse and the ox, ja 

 a country where the latter is not plentiful, and where 

 the better kinds of the former begin to grow very 

 scarce." See Burgoanne's Present State of Spain, 

 vol. ii. p. 148164 ; Twiss's Travels in Spain, p. 

 287 299 Townshend's Jo'trney through Spain, 

 vol. i. p. 342, &c. ; and Laborde's View of A/join, 

 vol. v. p. 328. (*) 



BULLIALDUS, BOUILLAUD, or rather BOL-L- 

 LIAUD, ISMAEL, a celebrated French astronomer, was 

 born at Loudun, in the department of Vienne, on the 

 28th Septemb -r 1605. After having gone through 

 a course of philosophy at Paris, and a course of ciril 

 law at Poitiers, he travelled into Holland, Italy, Ger- 

 many, Poland, and the Levant, and established a cor- 

 respondence with the most distinguished philosophers 

 of the times. The attention which he had paid to 

 mathematics, civil law, theology, and sacred and 

 profane history, obtained for him the reputation of 

 an universal genius a title by no means ill applied, 

 when we consider the great variety of subjects upon 

 which he wrote. Although Bullialdus was born and 

 educated in the Protestant faith, he became a Catho- 

 lic priest in the year 1639, at the age of 27. After 

 an active life, during which he made numerous as- 

 tronomical observations, he retired to the abbey of 

 St Victor at Paris, in 1689 ; and he died there om 

 the 25tk November 169*, in the 89th year of his 

 age. 



In the year 1638, Bullialdus published at Amiter- 

 dam an astronomical dissertation, entitled, PhtL-latu^ 

 give de vrro systemate mttndi. Thi , work was repub- 

 lished in 1645, under the title of Atirot.omia Phi- 

 lolaica a work founded on the hypothesis of the 

 earth's motion round the sun. In this valuable work* 

 which obtained a high reputation fur its author, Bul- 

 lialdus shews, that the inequalities of the planet* 

 may be represented, by supposing them to move 

 uniform! . in an ellipse round > ne ot its foci, and that 

 the calculation of these is very simple, by imagining 



