The Sun.
London, England, 1858-09-03 00:00:00

BIARRITZ.

A letter from Biarritz, dated August 30? says
the Court is expected there on Wednesday. There
has been a good deal of hesitation and doubt
whether their Majesties would visit Biarritz at all
this summer ; and Biarritz, whose season, owing
to causes already mentioned, has been anything
but what it was in past years, was for some time
in considerable anxiety. Unpleasant rumours cir-
culated of an epidemic prevailing, among children
in this place, and of great mortality among them.
There was much exaggeration in these statements ;
the good people of Biarritz, in fact, denied there
was any foundation whatever for them, and they
were attributed to the malevolence of individuals
hostile to the Imperial family, and to the jealousy
of the rival watering-places in the Pyrenees or on
the coast that this spot should enjoy, as it were, a
monopoly of Court favour. Be this as it may, it
was proper to take every precaution when the
health of the infant Prince was concerned. A
physician was sent down express from Paris to ex-
amine and report on the sanitary condition of Biar-
ritz. He arrived here some days ago, and at once
set to work. He went carefully over the registry
of deaths in the district for some weeks past, and
had several conferences with the local practitioners,
as well as with those of Bayonne. The epidemic
in question was a throat disease, popularly
known as the grouppe, and is the angine of chil-
dren. The Court physician ascertained that no case
of the kind had appeared at Biarritz, but that at
St. Esprit, now a sort of faubourg of Bayonne, and
separated from it by the Adour, a certain number of
children of tender age died of the disease within a
comparatively short period. The physician returned
to Paris on Friday, and made his report in the
sense I have indicated. It may be presumed that
it was considered favourable, as on Saturday even-
ing a telegram was received by the authorities an-
nouncing the intended visit of their Majesties, and
ordering the preparations for their reception to be
continued. The frame of the triumphal arch, close
to the Imperial residence, was erected some weeks
ago, and covered with shrubs and flowers. The
leaves, however decayed ; the flowers faded ; and
it ,presented on the whole so withered an appear-
ance that when it was officially known that their
Majesties would come, it was decided to renew the
foliage and other horticultural ornaments on this
and other similar structures, along the road and at
the entrance of the town—to the great contentment
of the nurserymen in the neighbourhood.
The first of the series of bull fights, which will
be held during the sojourn of the Court in these
parts, took place at St. Esprit yesterday. A new
circus has been erected with especial care for that
purpose in the square of this Hebrew town ; and such
a sacrifice on the part of the Impresario, in provid-
ing for the amusement of her Majesty and the float-
ing Spanish population, gave to all who arc partial
to the national sport of Spain favourable expecta-
tions of what is to come. The Corrida of yesterday
was admitted by competent persons to have been
decidedly the best hitherto exhibited on this side
of the Bidassoa. The bulls were selected with
care from the well-known yanaderios, or breeding
grounds, of Guidulin and Pajules, of Navarre,
which generally furnish the animals for the
rings of the North of Spain. The weather
was a little threatening in the morning, to the
manifest disquietude of the amateur. These were
greatly relieved, however, when, as the day ad-
vanced, the watery-looking clouds melted away,
and the sun shone out brilliantly, though not
intensely or inconveniently hot—an important con-
sideration for those who must take their seats in
the tendidos, exposed as they are to the rays of the
sun. The performance was to begin at 4 o'clock,
and at three o'clock the circus was crowded to the ut-
most. The select boxes were filled with rows of
fashionably dressed ladies and Gentlemen, not all
Spanish nor French ; the valemczllas contained gen-
tlemen dressed in a style of independent dandyism
—the calanes hat, red silk sash, and peculiar shirt
collar, meant probably to make the, stranger be-
lieve in the Andalusian nationality of the wearers,
but the light complexion, bushy sandy whiskers,
and unmistakeable accent, betrayed a decided Anglo-
Saxon origin. The tendidos above-mentioned were
occupied by the clamorous members of that class
which M. Thiers would probably denominate the
multitude, without the epithet. Two military bands
played alternately some soothing pieces of music,
and served to beguile the tedium of waiting for the
spectacle, and to keep in tune the boisterous im-
patience of the public„ It is but fair to say that
punctuality was rigorously observed. Precisely as
the great clock of the Cathedral struck 4, the signal
was given, and the Enadrilla, or troop of bull
fighters, headed by the Alguazil in his picturesque
costume, entered the arena. The first and second
Espadas, or matadors, were Fernandez, better
known to the fancy as the Moreno (the dark coin- 1
plexioned), and Juan Sanchez, who, I believe, her
not yet attained the hoirour of a soubriquet, which is
generally given to Spanish favourites. The dart-
men and flagmen ( Banderillos y Mulas) were
Joaquin Viega, el Chato, or the fiat-nosed ; Ruiz,
Martin, Argel Fernandez, Rodrigues, Peraz, Meli,
Montero. The cachetero was Manuel Bidales. The
picadores, or mounted lancemen, were Pedro Mo-
rales (el Trayabulas ), Manuel Rizio ( Poco Trampa ),
and Jorge Vergara ( Pau y Leche ), with a Cabal-
lero en Plaza, Jose Puntas, surnamed the Salado.
The first bull was of the class of the Abantos,
that is, sly, gentle, but treacherous at the outset ;
and who turns on you at the end with the enve-
nomed rage of a detected hypocrite. He received
about a dozen thrusts from the picador Tragatablas,
whose horse he killed ; and nine from Rizo, the
Pocotrampa, with a similar loss. The animal was
then taken in hand by Vergara, who had his steed
slightly wounded. Six pairs of bandilleros, or darts,
were planted between the horns, in his neck, with
great dexterity, by Eugenio Martin and Ruiz, two
slender and exceedingly nimble young men. The
first espada executed some curious passages, suertes
as they are technically termed, with his cloak, and
then—for the animal must not leave the ground
alive—the signal for his death was given. The
Moreno assumed the red flag, and the long straight
sword ; he went towards the box of the Mayor to
demand, as is the custom, that functionary's per-
mission to slay the bull. The graceful matador took
off his Montera cap, shook it, flung it in the air, cry-
in g out " A las lindas hijas de Bayonne"—" to the
charming girls of Bayonne," meaning that he offered
the bull as a homage to Bayonnese beauty, bowed
his obeisance to the Mayor, and set to work. The
bull had evidently something of the disposition of
the Irish rebels in '9B, who, as a member of the
Dublin lawyers' cavalry corps bitterly complained,
would never stand steady to be cut down. The ani-
mal—the Spanish bull I mean, and not the Hiber-
nian—could not for sometime be forced or wheedled
into the right place or position to receive his quietus.
El Moreno, after several times waving his crimson
nitdita, at last slew his beast with a mete y saw,
which the applause that greeted it showed to be
one of much artistic merit. The mete y sacs con-
sists in waiting motionless until the bull almost
touches your breast, avoiding the tip of the horn by
an imperceptible movement of the body, and, while

,~t~G

doing so, planting the sword and taking it back with
lightning rapidity. This is the favourite suerte of
the matador El Salamanquino. I would not recom4
mend a mere amateur over 18 stone to try it.
The second bull was the neatest and the bravest
animal that has ever figured in a Bayonne circus.,
From the first he seemed determined to avenge the'
fall of his late comrade. He gave very hard work
to the lancemen, who fought, all of them, gallantly ;
but, in spite of all of their efforts, skill, and cau-
tion, six horses lay dead on the sand before even
flag and cloakmen were called to face him. The
noble brute, still terrible, and goaded to frenzy by
lance thrusts in the shoulders, eyed his new assail-
ants fiercely. Sanchez advanced, waving his light
blue mantle for a while ; he threw it aside, and
executed, in the twinkling of an eye, the well-
known salto de la garrocha, which was the specialite
of the famous Montes. In this perilous feat the
bull-fighter runs towards the bull with a pike in his
hand, plants the sharp point of it in the ground,
and raising himself on it, leaps over the furious and
bewildered beast. The bull, who had taken five
pairs of banderillos and two of parches, that is, a
sort of bouquet made of ribands, which is covered
with wax so as to stick to the animal's neck, was
killed by Sanchez, after two thrusts—the first a
fruitless attempt at a descabelle ; the second pro-
nounced a tolerable volapies.
The third bull was the one that gave most
trouble to the mounted lancemen. The swarthy
Andalusian, Morales, fought with untiring ardour
and persistence. Twenty times did the bull dash
him to the ground, and each time he rose from
under his horse, with the utmost coolness mounted
another, and set to work again. His feats of horse-
manship in the deadly encounter, and his strong
and admirable proportions were remarkable ; he is
little over 25 years of age. The Banderilleros ex-
hibited wonderful agility in the hairbreadth escapes
from their enemy ; but the Mutador was generally
pronounced unequal to his task, and the bull, like
his predecessor, showed the greatest repugnance to
be despatched by sword, or, indeed, by any other
weapon. He was, of course, at length mastered,
nolens volens.

The sixth Toro was fought in a different man-
ner from the preceding. The ordinary bull
fighters retired to the corner of the ring, and a
Caballero en Plaza (Jose Puertas), habited in the
picturesque fashion of the time of Charles V., such
as the Emperor might have worn when he
lanced his bull in Valladolid in honour of the bit th
of an heir to his Spanish dominions—or of Philip
11., made his entrance into the circus mounted on
a handsome steed. Before the Tauromaquia be-
came a regular calling, the hidalgos and nobles of
the Spanish Court used to fight bulls as a pastime,
and this remnant of the old customs of Spain is
sometimes (though rarely) witnessed in our day.
The last occasion when the Caballeros en Plaza
figured was in Madrid, on the occasion of Queen
Isabella's marriage, and the fight took place, not
in the ordinary ring outside the Alcala gate, but
in the grand square' (the Plaza Mayor) of the city.
The Caballero of yesterday, his scarf fluttering m
the air, galloped several times round the bull,
throwing darts at him, all of which told, and at
last slew him with two or three thrusts of his lance.
The dexterity with which he evaded the attacks of
the bull, who now followed, now met him full in
front, was greatly applauded, and the cham-
pion rode slowly out of the ring unscathed. In the
troop of bullfighters there were half-a-doien of
Portuguese toreros dressed as Indians, who exe-
cuted some new feats with the last two bulls.

On the whole, it was pronounced by competent
judges (Spaniards, not French) that the seven bulls
of yesterday's Corrida were excellent ; the Pica-
dores and Banderilleros deserving of praise ; the
Portuguese very dexterous for Portuguese ; but
that the Espadas were deficient in knowledge and
experience.

The etiquette of the Plaza de Toros is rigorous,
and cannot be violated with impunity. The first
Espada forgot himself so far as to enter the ring
with a cigar in his mouth. If he had done so in
Spain he would have to pay a heavy fine. It is
against all rules of tauromachy ; shows little re-
spect for the public ; and, as a retired veteran of
the ring angrily observed, sets a very bad example
to the younger members of the Cuadrilla. The
Spanish part of the spectators protested loudly
against such an infraction of good manners, and
after a loud cry of " Fuera el elyarro !" the weed
was laid aside.

As. the Empress is expected this week, two other
bullfights will take place in her Majesty's honour.
The amateurs express the hope that new Espadas
will have the direction of the troop, as the present
are not considered up to the mark.