TAUEOMACHIA, THE FIGHTING BULL OP SPAIN. 69 



dents in the ring and tumults amongst dissatisfied multi- 

 tudes are avoided — without it, the reverse. 



We have now traced in brief outline the life-history of 

 our gallant bull ; we have brought him face to face with 

 Frascuelo and his Toledan blade ; there we must leave 

 him. But, in concluding this chapter, may we beg the 

 generous reader, should he ever enter the historic circle of 

 the plaza, to go there with an open mind — without prejudice, 

 and unbiassed by the floods of invective which have ever 

 been let loose upon the Spanish bull-fight. 



Let critics remember, if only in extenuation, what the 

 spectacle represents to Spain — a national festival, the love 

 of which we have shown to be ineradicable, ingrained in 

 Spanish nature by centuries of custom and tradition. Let 

 them reflect, too, that those brutal domestic scenes which 

 disgrace so many a home among the poor of other lands are, 

 in the land of the bull-fighter, unknown. Lastly, let them 

 remember that upon untrained eyes there must fall flat 

 many of the finer passes, much of the elaborate technique 

 and science of tauromachian art : points which are instantly 

 seized and appreciated by Spanish experts — and in Spain 

 all are experts. This is lost to the casual spectator, who 

 perceives less difficulty in the perilous vol-d-pie than in the 

 simpler, though more attractive, suerte de recibir, and a 

 thousand other technical details. 



