The Sun.
London, England, 1856-09-25 00:00:00

THE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF PRANCE.

BAYONNE, SEPT. 21.
The Emperor and Empress seem determined to
make the most of their time during their sojourn
in the Pyrenees. Excursions by laud and sea, pic-
nics, visits to remote nooks on the banks of the
Adour and the Nive,„ quiet family parties, much
more agreeable than the more crowded and more
formal-asaemblies of the Tuileries and St. Cloud,
moonlight rambles on the beach or over the rocks
and headlands of the coast, vary the monotony of
a rural life. If one may judge from appearance
the Emperor was never more happy than he has
been during his holiday at Biarritz. The complete
bull-fight so anxiously expected by everyone, and
which has attracted so many strangers to Bayonne,
took place to-day. To-morrow, if the weather
permit, a second representation of the same kind
will be given, and no doubt with the same success.
This ordinarily quiet town has for the last few days
completely changed its aspect. From six o'clock
this morning until 2 in the afternoon the pleasure
trains of Bordeaux and the diligences of Pau and
Toulouse, with hardly any intermission, brought in
strangers ; and vehicles of every description, from
flax, Mont St. Mars, and other adjacent towns and
villages disgorged their occupants in the streets of
St. Esprit and Bayonne. The Adour and Nive,
smooth and unruffled as glass, and so limpid as to
reflect with wonderful accuracy the beautiful slopes
which rise on their banks, were covered with sail-
boats and chalands, bringing the population from
the surrounding country. From the hills and
valleys descended the old and young of the Basque
country, arrayed hi their scarlet sash and blue
berret, chanting their favourite melodies or uttering
their well-known cries. The women bore baskets,
in which the previsions for the day were carefully
packed. Not the least remarkable feature was the
grisette of Bayonne, with her dark glossy hair
turned back from her forehead, or, still more
gracefully, parted madonna-like, with the tiny
kerchief of silk or gauze coquettishly wound
round the back of the head, and its ends
flowing loose in the breeze ; the little gold
watch and chain—the gift probably •f some
admirer—glittering at the waist, the neat slipper
hardly covering the foot, and the form whose sym-
metry required no artificial development. The
Spanish Basque towns near the frontier sent forth
their contingent af spare and active men and pretty
women; and Irun, Fontarabia, San Sebastian,
Tolosa, and even Pampeluna came to witness and
criticise
.their national sport as exhibited on a
foreign soil and presided over by an Emperor.
Bayonne and St. Esprit are actually invaded by a
multitude. As for hotels and lodging houses, they
have been filled to excess for more than a week

past. How food and lodging are provided it is dif-
ficult to say, for days ago the hotel-keepers were
driven to their wits' enu to provide accommoda-
tion for the crowds that throng to them. Many
visitors are said to have passed the night in the car-
riages that brought them hither, and many must
have bivouacked on the banks of the river, or
sought shelter in the vessels along the quay. The
churches of St. Esprit and Bayonne were this day
full of strangers, and among them might be recog-
nised several who a few days ago were strolling on
the Boulevards of Paris, or rusticating at Boulogne-
sur-Seine, but to whom the attraction of a corridu
de torus, and the facility afforded by the pleasure
trains of enjoying what it is to them a novel spec-
tacle, proved irresistible. Even Biarritz itself was
this day quite deserted, and when a Sunday visit
to that favourite resort is given up one may easily
judge of the interest excited by the bull-fight.
As the rain poured down abundantly the whole
of yesterday and part of the day before, it was
feared that the general expectation would meet with
disappointment. Fortunately for the lovers of the
tourmaquia no such casualty occurred, and the
most enthusiastic poet could hardly have imagined
finer weather. The sky was without a cloud, the
air was warm but not oppressive, and a fresh but
gentle breeze kept the pennons that floated over the
bull-ring in perpetual motion and tempered the ar-
dour of the sun-beams; and the atmosphere w
transparent that the mountains looked as iftahses;
were within a stone's throw. Froman early hour the
throughfares, and every avenue leading to the bull-
rir,g were thronged. The Place d'Arme which is to
Bayonne what the Paco de la Concordesi stoParis,
the Pont Mayon, which crosses the NiVe and leads
from the larger to the less Bayonne; and the hand-
some new stone bridge by which you cross the
Adour, were decorated with streamers. On the
square of St. Esprit a triumphal arch was erected,
covered with laurel, intermingled with white and
red roses, and surmounted with the Imperial eagle;
a garland of iloweis hung from the roof, and the
houses in front of which the Emperor was to pass
were decorated with flags and Imperial emblems.
At half-past 12 o'clock the various entrances to
the bull-ring were literally besieged by an anxious
and impatient crowd. It was remarked by the
Spaniards that the arrangements were inferior to
those they are accustomed to iu their own country.
They complained that the greater part of their
seats were not numbered, so that the first comera
got the best places. On suclioecasions people are
apt to be selfish, and make use of any means how-
ever unfair to get admittance. They who have the
broadest pair of shoulders have the advantage, and
pefsons less audacious or less endowed with physi-