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 VIL. 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 toréro, matriculating thereat, inaugurated a new epoch. 
Francisco Montes carried popular enthusiasm to its highest apex. 
Joy bordering on madness possessed the Madrilenean ring 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, José Redondo. The rivalry of these 
notable contemporaries lifted the toréo 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 Carména (El Gordito), 
commenced his career in 1857, alternating in the ring with El 
Tato and later with Lagartijo, the latter a brilliant toréro (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 réle, 
had marvellous security in the final stroke. 
Lagartijo and Frascuelo accentuate an era well remembered 
by enthusiasts in the Classic School of the Toréo. In their day 
all Spaniards were devoted, aye, passionate adherents of one or 
the other : all Spain was divided into two camps, that of Lagartijo 
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. 
