tate between the horse, which was yet alive, and the piccador who seemed dead. He fell upon the horse, and having trodden him under foot, and wounded him desperately in several places, left the streamer which had decorated his horn, in one of the wounds, and darted upon the wounded man, whom Lucas Blanco was endeavouring to support upon one knee. The circus rang with applause; the cries of "Bravo, toro!" seemed as if they would never cease. The bull sprang upon Lucas Blanco and the piccador; Lucas stepped aside, and spread his mantle between the wounded man and the bull; the bull was deceived, and darted upon the waving cloak. Meanwhile the chulos and banderilleros had leaped into the arena, and the valets of the circus had come to the assistance of the wounded piccador, who, supported by them, managed to reach the barrier. The whole party now surrounded the bull with their floating mantles, but the bull gazed only upon Lucas Blanco; it was plainly a struggle between this man and the furious animal, and no other attack would draw off its attention.

"Back, Lucas! back!".shouted all the chulos and banderilleros at the same moment; "back! back, Lucas!" cried Cuchares. Lucas gazed scornfully at the bull, which was tearing onwards towards him with its head lowered; he placed his foot with the most perfect ease between the two horns, and jumped over its head. The circus actually shook with applause; the spectators did not shout, they roared forth their approbation. "Bravo, Lucas!" cried twenty thousand voices; "Viva, Lucas! viva! viva!" the men threw their hats and petacas into the arena, while the women showered bouquets and fans upon him. Lucas bowed and smiled, as if he were playing with a kid. But these tumultuous shouts did not turn the bull from the object of his vengeance; he kept his eye stedfastly fixed upon Lucas, and none of the streaming mantles could make him forget the pale blue cloak, against which he had before vainly struck. He darted again upon Lucas, but this time he calculated his spring that he might not fail to reach him; Lucas avoided him by a dexterous bound, but the animal was only four paces from him, and he turned upon Lucas without giving him a moment's pause. Lucas threw his cloak over its head, and began stepping backwards towards the barrier. The bull's vision was obscured for an instant, and his adversary gained a few steps in advance; but the cloak was soon torn to ribbons, and the bull darted once more upon his enemy. It was now a question of agility; would Lucas reach the barrier before the bull, or would the bull gain upon Lucas before he could climb the barrier? As ill-luck would have it, Lucas stepped upon a bouquet of flowers and fell: a piercing scream was uttered by all the spectators, and then profound silence succeeded. A cloud seemed to pass before my eyes, but amidst it, I saw a man thrown fifteen feet high; and, the most curious circumstance was, that in spite of the extreme agitation which I felt, I remember perfectly the minutest details of poor Lucas's dress; his little blue jacket, embroidered with silver, his rose-coloured waistcoat with chaced buttons, and his white slashed small clothes. He fell flat upon the ground; the bull awaited him, but another adversary also awaited the bull. The first piccador mounted upon a fresh horse reentered the arena, and attacked the animal at the very moment he was about to gore Lucas with his horns. The bull felt himself wounded, and lifted up his head as if he was sure of finding Lucas were he left him, and thus sprang upon the piccador. Scarcely had he released Lucas, before

VOL. XXIII.

E

Lucas raised himself upon his feet and smiled, as he gracefully bowed to the public. By a perfect miracle the horns had not touched his body, it was only the fore part of the animal's head which had tossed him into the air, and by a second miracle, too, he fell to the ground without meeting with the slightest injury. Shouts of joy now burst from the spectators, and everybody seemed able to breathe again.

At this moment a general disturbance arose, the trumpets sounded; announcing some new and unforeseen event. This was the arrival of the queen-mother, that beautiful and elegant woman whom you have seen in Paris. She really looks like the eldest sister of her daughter; and appears to take as much pleasure in the bull-fights as a simple marquise. On this occasion she had contrived to steal away from the fêtes of the day, that she might pass an hour in this agitating scene, which we found so infatuating. Scarcely had the trumpets announced her arrival-scarcely had she made her appearance in the penumbra of her box, when, as if by magic, the whole drama in the circus was suspended. The quadrille left the piccador, the horse, and the bull, to get out of the affair as best they could, and drew themselves up in procession opposite to the toril. Cuchares, Salamanchino, and Lucas Blanco, walked first, and behind them came the three piccadors. The wounded piccador whom we had thought dead, had mounted a fresh horse, and, but for his extreme pallor, we should not have imagined anything had happened to him. The piccador who was attacked by the bull, succeeded in throwing him off, and resumed his proper position in the arena. Behind the piccadors came the four chulos; behind the chulos, the banderilleros, and last of all came the valets of the circus; the cachetero alone did not form part of the cortége. The bull had retired to a corner of the arena near the ayuntamiento, and was gazing on the procession with a bewildered stare; the persons forming the procession seemed to occupy themselves as little about the bull as if he had never existed. They walked slowly forwards in time to the music, till they came in front of the queen's box, and then they gracefully bent their knee. The queen allowed them to remain sometime in this position, by way of shewing that she accepted their homage, and then made a signal for them to rise; they did so immediately, bowing profoundly as they moved away. At a second signal the procession was broken up, and each returned to take his proper part in the combat. The piccadors bent their lances, the chulos waved their mantles, and the banderilleros ran to prepare their banderillas. Meanwhile the bull, in order to lose no time, I suppose, employed himself in wounding a poor horse, which we had believed dead, but had discovered to be alive; he had lifted the poor animal from the ground with his horns, and was walking about with him on his neck. By a last struggle the horse erected his head, and sent forth a deep groan. But when the bull saw his enemies return to the attack, he shook off the horse as he would have done a plume of feathers; the horse fell; but, in a spring of agony, raised himself on his four feet, and staggered forwards towards the toril to fall once again; the bull fixed his eye stedfastly on him as he moved away.

The bull had already killed three horses, and wounded two, so the alguazil made a sign to the piccadors to withdraw themselves; they moved to the extremity of the circus, opposite the toril, all three of them leaned against the olivo with their faces turned towards the

centre of the arena. The chulos played with their cloaks, the bull began to move about again, and the combat went on with as much spirit as before. Three or four times the bull pursued his adversaries as far as the barrier, thus affording us the graceful spectacle of the light movements of these men, who appeared actually to float along with their waving mantles. A banderillero soon entered the arena with a banderilla in each hand; his three companions followed him armed exactly as he was. To drive the banderillas into the bull's shoulders is by no means an agreeable office; they must be planted precisely at the same moment, and the more straightly they can be placed, the more easily is the business accomplished. The chulos directed the bull towards the banderillero, who drove the two darts into his shoulders; from the rebound of each of the darts a flight of five or six little birds, goldfinches, linnets, and canaries, started above the arena; these unfortunate little creatures were so completely bewildered by the shock, as not to be immediately able to fly, and they fell quite flat upon the sand in the circus; five or six persons leaped in consequence from the passage to pick them up, at the imminent risk of being gored to death by the bull. But he was evidently beginning to lose his head; he seemed to have abandoned that desperate plan of attack which renders this animal so formidable: he darted from one chulo to another, giving blows with his horns to all, but allowing himself to be drawn from one enemy to another. A second banderillero made his appearance; the bull became suddenly calm on perceiving him, but this calm was only a proof of his more certain vengeance; he recognised in this man's hands the instruments of torture which he bore in his shoulders, for he sprang upon him without allowing any obstacle to oppose him. The banderillero awaited his attack with the banderillas, but he could only plant one of these in the bull's shoulder; and the next moment a slight scream was heard; the rose-coloured sleeve of the banderillero was instantly stained with purple, and his hand was covered with blood, which streamed through his fingers; the horn had completely pierced the upper part of his arm. He reached the barrier by himself, for he would not accept any support; but when he attempted to spring over it he fainted away; and we saw him lifted into the passage with his head drooping, and in a state of unconsciousness. One bull had done enough mischief, so the trumpet sounded for the death. Each of the combatants withdrew, for the lists now belonged to the torero. Cuchares, who was the torero in this combat, came forward; he appeared to be between thirty-six and forty years of age; he was of ordinary height, thin, with a shrivelled skin and tawny complexion. If he is not one of the most skilful toreros, for I believe the Spaniards prefer Montès and Chiclanero to him, he is certainly one of the most daring and courageous; he performs all sorts of audacious tricks directly in front of the bull, which proves that he has a thorough knowledge of this animal's nature. One day, when he was contesting with Montès, who had carried off the largest share of the public applause, he did not know exactly how to gain a portion of the bravos which were so bountifully bestowed upon his rival; so he knelt down before the infuriated bull. The bull gazed at him a few seconds in astonishment, and then, as if intimidated by such an act of boldness, abandoned him and pursued a chulo.

To return to the combat which I am describing; Cuchares came forward, holding a sword in his left hand, which was concealed

by the muleta, a piece of red cloth set on a little stick, which serves as a shield to the torero; he walked across the circus till he came in front of the queen's box, when he bent one knee to the ground, and taking off his hat, asked permission of its august occupant to kill the bull. Permission was immediately granted him, by a sign and a gracious smile. On retiring he threw his hat away from him, with a certain gesture of pride, which belongs only to a man who knows he is about to struggle with death, and then prepared to meet the bull. The quadrille was now entirely at his disposal; it surrounded him, awaiting his orders; from this time forth nothing is done without the torero's leave. He has chosen the part of the arena upon which he desires the conflict to take place, the exact spot upon which he intends to give the death blow; the business of the whole party, therefore, is to attract the bull towards this point of the circus. The spot chosen on this occasion was just underneath the queen's box, but the chulos were determined to display a little coquetry in directing the bull thither, for they naturally wished to have their triumph. They caused the animal to make a complete circuit, obliging him to pass in front of the ayuntamiento, by the toril, and from thence to the spot where Cuchares awaited him, with sword in one hand, and muleta in the other. In passing the horse which he had lifted on his head, the bull gave him two or three more blows with his horns. When Cuchares saw the bull nearly opposite to him, he made a sign, and everybody moved away; the man and the animal were now face to face. Cuchares had only a long thin sword, and the animal possessed terrific horns, enormous power, and his movements were more rapid than those of the swiftest horse; the man appeared nothing by the side of this tremendous monster; but the light of intelligence shone forth in the man's eyes, while the sole expression in the bull's look was the wild glare of ferocity. It was clear, however, that all the advantage was on the man's side, and that in this seemingly unequal conflict, the strong would be compelled to yield, and the weak would be the conqueror. Cuchares waved his muleta before the bull's eyes; the bull darted upon him, but he turned on his heel and received only a slight graze from one of the horns; but the stroke was magnificently given, and the whole circus rang with applause. The shouts seemed only to increase the bull's fury, for he sprang again upon Cuchares, who this time met him with his sword. The shock was frightful, the sword bent like a hoop, and flew into the air, the point had touched the shoulder bone, but, in rebounding, caused the hilt to quit the torero's hand. The spectators would have hooted Cuchares, but by a dexterous volt he escaped the attack of his enemy. The chulos now advanced and endeavoured to distract the bull's attention; but Cuchares, disarmed as he was, made a signal to them to remain in their place, for he still had his muleta.

Now followed the most astonishing proofs of this man's profound knowledge of the animal, so essential to him in a conflict which lasted full five minutes, during which time his sole weapon was his muleta. He drove the bull wherever he desired, bewildering him so completely as almost to make him lose his instinct. Twenty times the bull sprang upon him, darting from the right side to the left; he grazed him repeatedly with his horn, but never really wounded him. At length Cuchares picked up his sword, wiped it composedly, and presented it, amidst the deafening applause of the spectators: this

time the full length of the blade was buried between the bull's shoulders; he quivered with agony, and was completely rooted to the spot; it was very clear that the cold of the steel had struck into his heart, if not the steel itself,-the hilt of the sword alone could be seen above the nape of the neck; Cuchares did not occupy himself any longer with the bull, but proceeded to offer his homage to the queen. The bull was mortally wounded; he gazed around him, when his eye lighted suddenly upon the dead horse, and with a trot rendered heavy by the agony he endured, he moved towards it. When the bull reached the dead body of the horse, he fell upon his two knees by the side of it, uttered a faint bellow, lowered his hinder quarters as he had previously bent his head, and laid himself down. The cachetero leaped from the passage, crept softly up to the bull, drew forth his stiletto, and, when he had well taken his aim, gave the final stroke. Lightning could not have taken a more instantaneous effect; the head dropped without a struggle, and the animal expired without a single groan.

A strain of music announced the death; a door opened, and four mules drawing a sort of truck entered the arena. The mules were almost hidden by their trappings; these were covered with brilliant knots of ribbon and tinkling bells; the dead horses were fastened to the truck, one after the other, and borne away with the rapidity of lightning. Next came the bull's turn, and he soon disappeared like the rest through the door destined for the dead bodies to pass out. The door closed behind him; four large streaks of blood crimsoned the sand, this was the blood of the dead horses and the bull; here and there, too, might be discovered a few other red spots, but in less than ten minutes all traces of the last combat had vanished. The valets of the circus brought their rakes and two large baskets full of sand, with which they fresh strewed the arena. The piccadors resumed their position on the left of the toril, and the chulos and banderilleros on the right. Lucas Blanco, who succeeded Cuchares, placed himself a little in the rear. The band announced that the second conflict was about to commence; the door of the toril burst open, and another bull made his appearance.

But it is really time that I should bid you adieu; a bull-fight is a thing one never tires of seeing, and when I tell you that I have been eight days successively to all the bull-fights which have taken place in Madrid, you will readily understand what an infatuating scene it is.