Placards of a bull-fight on the morrow caught our eyes; and Hopie and I, taking the bull by the horns, declared our intention of going to it, and suggested that places should be taken. After a very feeble resistance, Henry consented, and our valet-de-place was directed to ascertain the price of a box.]
14th.—[The price asked for a box being too high, we took reserved seats, and at two o'clock started on foot…. The Plaza de Toros at Valencia is a new building, only completed this year; it holds twenty thousand persons, and is the largest in Spain…. 'El Tato' is the second matador of Spain: he is a well-looking and remarkably well-grown young man, and a well-grown figure is set off to great advantage by the dress. The horses used are only fit for the knacker's yard; they are contracted for at about six pounds each; on this occasion thirteen or fourteen were killed. As regards the horses, it is a cruel and disgusting sight; but as between the bull and the matador, the display of courage, eye and presence of mind, as well as of skill and agility, is most interesting and exciting.] We saw 'El Tato' kill six bulls…. [At dinner our conversation turned on the sight of the day. 'Tableau de moeurs espagnoles,' said a Frenchman, raising his shoulders. 'In Peru, where I have seen many bull-fights,' he went on, 'they use high-spirited and valuable horses, and the picador would be for ever disgraced if he allowed the bull to touch his horse.']
15th. [From Valencia to Madrid is 308 miles; the time from 4 P.M. to 6.20 A.M., and our train was pretty punctual.]
16th.—Saw Isabella and her Court enter Madrid. She was shot at [by a foolish, half-witted lad, who did not know how to load his pistol, and had no motive for the crime, or rather attempt]. Delighted with the gallery. [There are a few seats and no visitors; and the wisest thing travellers can do, and by far the pleasantest, is to spend all the hours of all the days they are in Madrid that the gallery is open in contemplating its treasures.]
17th.—[Immediately after breakfast, Hopie and I went to the Museum. Henry joined us presently, and we remained till four o'clock.]
18th, Thursday.—[We had intended to make the Toledo excursion to-day, but an undoubted attack of gout confines Henry to the sofa. Hopie and I walked before breakfast to the Church of the Atocha, where we were shown … in a wardrobe in the vestry, the crimson velvet robe which Isabella had on when the Curé Merino stabbed her. [Footnote: On her way to the church, February 2nd, 1852. The priest, a Franciscan, was garotted in due course.] It has the stain of blood on the lining; the massive embroidery in gold saved her life by turning aside the knife…. After breakfast we took a walk through the unfashionable parts of the town: narrow streets, noisy and crowded, where open stores with bright-coloured scarfs and petticoats collected round them men in the peasant dress—short jackets, breeches, and gaiters partly open. These were picturesque, but the streets and houses were uninteresting enough.
There can be no doubt that Madrid is the least interesting capital in Europe, and that it is only worth the traveller's while to go there for the sake of the pictures…. It is settled that we leave Madrid on Saturday evening, and Henry has therefore consented to our going to Toledo tomorrow without him.]
19th,—[Excursion to Toledo, fifty-six miles by rail.]
20th, Saturday.—[After dinner started for Granada, where, after thirty-six hours (rail and diligence), we arrived on Monday morning.]
27th, Saturday.—[At 6 P.M. we stow ourselves in the interior of the diligence, and pound along the dusty road towards Santa Fé. It is dusk before we get there, and dark after.]