CHAPTEE XVIII 

 THE SPANISH BULL-FIGHT 



ITS ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT 



Perhaps no other contemporary spectacle lias been oftener and 

 more minutely described by writers who — censors and enthusiasts 

 alike — possess neither personal nor technical qualification, for the 

 work. Impressions, once the Pyrenees are passed, grow spon- 

 taneously deeper and stronger in inverse ratio with experiences. 

 And the majority of descriptions confessedly prejudge the scene 

 in adverse sense — the writer (sometimes a lady) going into wild 

 hysterics after half-seeing a single bull killed. 



We have not the slightest intention of enterino^ that arena of 

 ravelled preconceptions and misconceptions, nor are we concerned 

 either to uphold or to condemn. A greater mind has satirised 

 the human tendency to " condone the sins we are inclined to, by 

 damning those we have no mind to," and we are content to leave 

 it at that. 



In this chapter we purpose to glance at the subject from three 

 points of view. 



(1) The origin of bull-fighting, 500 years ago, and its sub- 

 sequent development. 



(2) The modern system of breeding and training the fighting 

 bull. 



(3) The " Miura question" — an incident of to-day. 



As a Spanish institution, bull -fighting dates back to the 

 Reconquest or shortly thereafter. When that abounding vigour 

 and virility that had animated and sustained Spanish explorers 

 and warriors — the sailors and adventurers who, following in the 

 wake of the caravels of Columbus, opened up a new world to 

 Spain and carried the purple banner of Castile to the ends of the 

 earth — when that vigour had spent its fiery force and grown 



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