The boldest of bull-fighters, Espartero, stood so pluckily in the path of a charging bull that he was more than once thrown several yards by a violent butt from the beast’s horns. This fighter used to employ his fists upon the bull’s head, and his method was always to fight at the closest quarters. It was said that Espartero suffered more fear of hunger than of death by the horns of a bull; and in his desire for fame and wealth, he continually courted tragedy in the ring and behaved with reckless daring. Espartero was killed in 1894 during a fight with the first bull of the day.
Guerra retired in 1899, and his leave-taking was a source of much regret among the aficionados of bull-fighting, who declared that he was the last of the great toreros. Pascual Millan, the chronicler of modern bull-fighting, asserts that the successors of Guerra cannot be compared with him for refinement and grace in their displays. He gives prominence to Antonio Fuentes, “the only one who came into the ring with some foundation, bringing a certain personal note which raised him a few inches above the common level.” Among the living exponents of the art of the espada may be mentioned Torerito, Torres, Reverte, Ronal, Algabeño, and above all, “Bombita.”
The corrida may seem to assume an undue importance in the life of Spain. It is, however, to be regarded as a reflection of the Spanish character, and bull-fighting in Madrid cannot be dismissed as a mere recreation of the mob. Bull-fighting is taken seriously among a serious-minded people, who regard it as one of the great institutions of the country. It is a survival of the warlike temper, a manifestation of the love of courage and the admiration for endurance, and it remains as the last vestige of the traditions of the age of chivalry in Spain.
This intense enthusiasm, this profound interest in the killing of bulls is bewildering to the foreigner, who cannot accept the sport in such a serious spirit. It is almost as grave a matter as a canon of the Church whether an espada wields the sword in accordance with the tradition of the ring. The writers upon bull-fighting are divided into schools of critics and eulogists, who dissect every pase minutely, or extol the “æsthetics” of a finished artist with the darts or the sword. There are volumes of serious literature upon the lidia, which amaze the stranger who peruses them. We have nothing like it in the sporting literature of England. Our books upon hunting or racing are not written with all the earnestness and fervour of treatises on matters of faith; but the taurine monographs of Spain are composed in the temper of piety, and the rules of the ring are set down as though they were the articles of a creed. When a famous jockey appears in the street, he is not mobbed by a crowd of admirers; but the espada in Spain is acclaimed everywhere as a great hero and the darling of the people.
Bull-fighting is a deep-rooted passion of the people of Spain, and it has to be reckoned with in any examination of the Spanish character. Its ethics and its sociological significance cannot be discussed here. We must accept the corrida, whether we approve of it or not, as one of the chief institutions of the capital of Spain. Madrid is the Mecca of the bull-fighter.
X
CAFÉ LIFE OF THE MADRILEÑOS
In every part of Spain the café is a popular resort and the rendezvous of friends. Here all classes foregather to discuss the news, to criticise the new bull-fighter, to extol a favourite dancer, to transact business, to play at dominoes or draughts, to read the journals, to sip coffee, and to smoke cigarettes. Many hours of each day are dedicated by the Madrileño to the café. He goes there as a matter of routine for his morning refresco, and again in the evening for his coffee with a dash of spirit.
The cafés are comfortable, and they provide for different classes of customers. They are never decorated in a resplendent manner; but, as Gautier observed, “this want of splendour is amply compensated by the excellence and variety of the refreshments.” Gautier mentions the Café de Levante among others, and this is still a favourite resort of men-about-town. In the Calle de Alcalá are three representative coffee-houses, the Café de Madrid, the Café Suizo, and the Café de Fornos. The Café Inglés is in the Calle de Sevilla. The houses of refreshment in the Puerta del Sol are the resort of all types of Madrid character, from the diplomat to the professional swindler. From nine o’clock in the evening until two in the morning these cafés are thronged. The customary beverage is café con leche (coffee with milk) or black coffee, with a drop of cognac. Light wines and spirits are also provided, but these are used sparingly by the majority of the Madrileños, for, whatever may be the faults of the Spaniard, immoderation in the use of alcohol is certainly not one of them.
To attract the attention of the waiters at the cafés, you clap your hands, or make a hissing sound between your closed teeth. The coffee is usually excellent, and the spirit is brought to you in a bottle marked with measures. The crowds in the Madrid cafés lack the picturesqueness of those in some of the smaller towns of Castile, Murcia, and Andalusia, where the dress of the provinces is still worn. You will see no majas in the capital; the grisettes of Madrid cannot be distinguished from the rest of the female population. The capa is, however, still worn by men of almost all ranks, and these, and the broad-brimmed hats, give a touch of the romantic to the throngs in the coffee-houses of the Puerta del Sol.
There are wine-shops and taverns in Madrid, but the seats are not luxurious, and there is no display of carved mahogany and engraved glass, and no separation of the classes. The “accommodation” may be somewhat rude; still the wine is good and cheap, and the tone and atmosphere of the posada are more wholesome than those of the London public-house. A glass of the wine of the country can be bought for a penny in these taverns, and the finest wines cost only a few pence the glass. Immense wine-barrels flank the walls, and there is an array of spirit and fruit syrup bottles behind the counter.