CHAPTER XXIV 

 BULLS AND BULL-FIGHTS 



THE popular interest which King Alphonso's court- 

 ship and marriage aroused in all things Spanish was 

 from the beginning widespread and sincere, and since 

 the fateful wedding-day, which so nearly ended in 

 cruellest tragedy, the popularity of the young king 

 and his bride is such that the British people would 

 fain look upon his country and all its institutions 

 with a favouring eye. But in spite of this the 

 Spanish bull-fight still meets with unqualified dis- 

 approval, and when it was announced that the young 

 queen was to attend a State performance on the 

 Sunday after the marriage, it was feared that she 

 might find the ordeal of blood in the Plaza de Toros 

 almost as terrible as the ordeal of fire in the Calle 

 Mayor. 



But there is some reason to suppose that, in de- 

 ference to the feelings of the English princess, the 

 more objectionable features of the Spanish bull-fight 

 were somewhat mitigated on that occasion, for it is 

 significant that photographs of the performance show 

 bulls which are not of the true fighting race. A 

 stuffed specimen of that breed may be seen at the 

 Natural History Museum at South Kensington. It 



