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Untitled Article
fully low—almost as oad as in London . " The amateurs of the fen tie pastime of bull-iighting / ' says our author , " are infinitely etter accommodated in their pleasures than the lovers of the drama . " The national passion for bull-fights , he tells us , remains
unimpaired ; they are attended by all ranks , and by women as much as by men . " Toros ! nos morimos por los toros ! The bulls !—we are dying for the bulls ! " This is a most brutalized appetite ; but before we vent our righteous disgust let us look to the needful reform of our own stupid vulgarity .
" The Aviso al Publico ( advertisement ) , announcing that the ' Queen , our migtress , whom God preserve 1 has heen graciously pleased to concede a bull-fight in the morning and evening , to the loyal inhabitants of the very noble and heroic city of Madrid / is a universal and infallible panacea for all the cares and chagrins to be found within the fourteen
barrios of the capital , and more especially for those weighing upon the lower classes of the population . Work may be scarce , employment of every sort scantily remunerated , but the dollar for the bull-fight and accompanying expenses must be found , or borrowed , or earned , or stolen . "—Vol . i . p . 305 .
This is the way in which they draw off the people ' s attention from their own affairs , is it ! The Tories have long * since taken the hint , and sent forth the Duke of Wellington as a matador against John Bull ; but it would not do . The whole description of the sport in Spain is given in the author's animated style : we can only extract his vivid picture of the great amphitheatre of
Madrid crowded with " twenty thousand spectators : "—• " In the gaily-adorned boxes , galleries , and pit , are to be seen every gradation of toilet , from the rich aristocratic mantilla , or Gallic bonnet , of the ladies of rank , —whose enjoyment of the sport is betrayed by gentle undulation of their embroidered cambric handkerchiefs , in honour and
encouragement of the bold picador , or cool matador , —to the black glossy hair of the young manola , a silver-gilt bodkin ornamenting her head , a well-formed bust carelessly concealed by a showy kerchief , the silk mantilla bound with black velvet , thrown backward as a scarf upon her shoulders and neck , encircled with a coral-bead-chain , and large gold ear-rings hanging to the shoulder , —pogture erect , and arm a-kimbo . Iq her behold the admiration of * manolosj the arbitreps . of
the plaudits or hisses to be distributed to the performers below . "Soldiers , citizens , and provincials , from all parts of Spain , fil ) the lower benches , and make up in noise what they want in elevation . Tk& Church , also , send * its representatives . Many a full-fed dean and friar places himself in a corrida de toros- ~ -always , however , with proper pre * cautious , such 48 they are wont to use when enjoying , from the corner of their eye , the lavish display of female attraction * in the seats benattb them- ~ Vol . i , p . 311 .
We necessarily pass over the remainder of tUia description , and many more , all full of fine sketches and information . With a priesthood , and a face of grandees such as previously
Untitled Article
Madrid in l& * & . Stt >
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1836, page 535, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2661/page/11/
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