The Spanish Bull-Fight 197 



Bonaparte in 1808 re-established the spectacle, in vain hope — a 

 sop to Cerberus — of attaching sympathy to his dynasty. 



On the return of Fernando VII. in 1814, he also prohibited 

 the shows, only to re-authorise them the following year, while 

 in 1830 he founded a school of Toromaquia in Seville. One 

 famous torero, matriculating thereat, inaugurated a new epoch. 

 Francisco Montes carried popular enthusiasm to its highest apex. 

 Joy bordering on madness possessed the Madrilenean rinor when 

 Montes handled the muleta. Yet as a matador he had serious 

 defects. 



In 1840 Cuchares appeared on the scene, and two years later 

 the great disciple of Montes, Jose Redondo. The rivalry of these 

 notable contemporaries lifted the toreo once more to a level 

 of absorbing national interest. It will have been seen that 

 whenever two brilliant constellations flash forth simultaneously, 

 their very rivalry commands the sympathy and supreme interest 

 of the Spanish people. 



From 1852 El Tato stood out as a type of elegance and valour, 

 the idol of the masses, till on June 7, 1859, a treacherous bull 

 left him mutilated in the arena. Antonio Carmona (El Gordito), 

 commenced his career in 1857, alternating in the ring with El 

 Tato and later with Lagartijo, the latter a brilliant torero (or 

 player of bulls) as distinguished from a matador. Consummate 

 in every feint and artifice, Lagartijo could befool the animals to 

 the top of his bent, yet as a matador, the final and supreme 

 executor, he failed. 



For twenty years (1867-87) the Spanish public were 

 divided in their keen appreciation of contemporaneous masters, 

 Lagartijo and Frascuelo. The latter, whose iron will and courage 

 made amends for certain personal defects in the lighter role, 

 had marvellous security in the final stroke. 



Lagartijo and Frascuelo accentuate an era well remembered 

 by enthusiasts in the Classic School of the Toreo. In their day 

 all Spaniards were devoted, aye, passionate adherents of one or 

 the other : all Spain w'as divided into two camps, that of Lngartijo 

 and that of Frascuelo. The actual supporters of the ring were pro- 

 bably no more numerous then than to-day ; but toreadors breathed 

 that old-fashioned atmosphere in which a love of the profession 

 was supreme — an heroic unselfishness, personal skill, and valour 

 were the ruling motives. Pecuniary interest was a thing apart. 



