III
SPORT
The Bull-fight, or rather Bull Feast (Fiesta de Toros), is a modern sport. Bulls were killed in ancient amphitheaters, but the present modus operandi is modern, and, however based on Roman institutions, is indubitably a thing devised by the Moors of Spain, for those in Africa have neither the sport, the ring, nor the recollection. The principle was the exhibition of horsemanship, courage and dexterity with the lance; for in the early bull-fight the animal was attacked by gentlemen armed only with the Rejon, a short projectile spear about four feet long. This was taken from the original Iberian spear, the Sparus of Sil. Ital. (viii. 523), the Lancea of Livy (xxxiv. 15), and is seen in the hands of the horsemen of the old Romano-Iberian coinage. To be a good rider and lancer was essential to the Spanish Caballero. This original form of bull-fight (now only given on grand occasions) is called a Fiesta Real. Such a one Philip IV. exhibited on the Plaza Mayor of Madrid before Charles I. of England; Ferdinand VII. in 1833, at the ratification of the Juramento, the swearing allegiance to Isabella II.; and Alfonso XII., on his marriages, January 23, 1878, and November 29, 1879.
These Fiestas Reales form the coronation ceremonial of Spain, and the Caballeros en Plaza represent our champions. Bulls were killed, but no beef eaten; as a banquet was never a thing of Iberia.
The final conquest of the Moors, and the subsequent cessation of the border chivalrous habits of Spaniards, and especially the accession of Philip V., proved fatal to this ancient usage of Spain. The spectacle, which had withstood the influence of Isabella the Catholic, and had beaten the Pope’s Bulls, bowed before the despotism of fashion, and by becoming the game of professionals instead of that of gentlemen it was stripped of its chivalrous character, and degenerated into the vulgar butchery of low mercenary bull-fighters, just as did the rings and tournaments of chivalry into those of ruffian pugilists.
The Spanish bulls have been immemorially famous. Hercules, that renowned cattle-fancier, was lured into Spain by the lowing of the herds of Geryon, the ancestor (se dice) of the Duque de Osuna. The best bulls in Andalusia are bred by Cabrera at Utrera, in the identical pastures where Geryon’s herds were pastured and “lifted” by the demigod, whence, according to Strabo (iii. 169), they were obliged, after fifty days’ feeding, to be driven off from fear of bursting from fat. Some of the finest Castilian bulls, such as appear at Madrid, are bred on the Jarama, near Aranjuez.
Bull-fights are extremely expensive, costing from one thousand five hundred dollars to two thousand dollars apiece; accordingly, except in the chief capitals and Andalusia, they are only got up now and then, on great church festivals and upon royal and public rejoicings. As Andalusia is the headquarters of the ring, and Seville the capital, the alma mater of the tauromachists of the Peninsula, the necessity of sending to a distance for artists and animals increases the expense. The prices of admittance, compared to the wages of labor in Spain, are high.
The profits of the bull-fight are usually destined for the support of hospitals, and, certainly, the fever and the frays subsequent to the show provide patients as well as funds. The Plaza is usually under the superintendence of a society of noblemen and gentlemen, called Maestranzas, instituted in 1562, by Philip II., in the hope of improving the breed of Spanish horses and men-at-arms.
The first thing is to secure a good place beforehand, by sending for a Boletin de Sombra, a “ticket in the shade.” The prices of the seats vary according to position; the best places are on the northern side, in the shade. The transit of the sun over the Plaza, the zodiacal progress into Taurus, is certainly not the worst calculated astronomical observation in Spain: the line of shadow defined on the arena is marked by a gradation of prices. The sun of torrid, tawny Spain, on which it once never set, is not to be trifled with, and the summer season is selected, because pastures are plentiful, which keep the bulls in good condition, and the days are longer. The fights take place in the afternoon, when the sun is less vertical. The different seats and prices are detailed in the bills of the play, with the names of the combatants, and the colors and breeds of the bulls.
The day before the fight the bulls destined for the spectacle are brought to a site outside the town. No amateur should fail to ride out to the pastures from whence the cattle (ganado) are selected. The encierro, the driving them from this place to the arena, is a service of danger, but is extremely picturesque and national. No artist or aficionado should omit attending it The bulls are enticed by tame oxen, cabestros, into a road which is barricaded on each side, and then are driven full speed by the mounted conocedores into the Plaza. It is so exciting a spectacle that the poor who cannot afford to go to the bull-fight risk their lives and cloaks in order to get the front places, and the best chance of a stray poke en passant.
The next afternoon (Sunday is usually the day) all the world crowds to the Plaza de toros; nothing, when the tide is full, can exceed the gayety and sparkle of a Spanish public going, eager and dressed in their best, to the fight. All the streets or open spaces near the outside of the arena are a spectacle. The bull-fight is to Madrid what a review is to Paris, and the Derby to London. Sporting men now put on all their majo-finery; the distinguished ladies wear on these occasions white lace mantillas; a fan, abanico, is quite necessary, as it was among the Romans. The aficionados and “the gods” prefer the pit, tendido, the lower range, in order, by being nearer, that they may not lose the nice traits of tauromaquia. The Plaza has a language to itself, a dialect peculiar to the ring. The coup d’œil on entrance is unique; the classical scene bursts on the foreigner in all the glory of the south, and he is carried back to the Coliseum under Commodus. The president sits in the center box. The proceedings open with the procession of the performers, the mounted spearmen, picadores; then follow the chulos, the attendants on foot, who wear their silk cloaks, capas de durancillo, in a peculiar manner, with the arms projecting in front; and, lastly, the slayers, the espadas, and the splendid mule-team, el tiro, which is destined to carry off the slain. The profession of bull-fighter is very low-caste in Spain, although the champions are much courted by some young nobles, like the British blackguard boxers, and are the pride and darlings of all the lower classes. Those killed on the spot were formerly denied the burial rites, as dying without confession, but a priest is now in attendance with Su Magestad (the consecrated Host), ready to give always spiritual assistance to a dying combatant.