The Sun.
London, England, 1826-07-08 00:00:00

BULL FIGHT.

FS•om Shetchet of Portupese Life and Moaners.) •
A bull-fight took place• at the feast of N. S. Barreiro,
in 1792, the denouement of which made it a subject of
conversation for some time. A negro having, for the firSt
time in his life, witnessed one a few days before, undertook.
to tire out the most ferocious bull previous to killing him :
the man, morever, engaged, during the whole combat, that
his sole weapon should be a poignard, to be used only at
the conclusion of the fight. The proposal was universally-
derided ; and the challenger was only allowed to try his
skill, from the pleasure which the spectators promised
themselves at the sight of a negro mauled to death in
single combat with an infuriated 'bull.
On the day appointed, the black man entered the arena,
and bowed to the speetatorS, who returned his salute with
hisses and execrations. The bull was turned in, and the
negro attracted his.attention by clapping his hands and
bellowing in imitation of hint. Nothing further wa.s
cessary to put the animal into t fury, and occasion hint to
make several. charges at the negro, which were dexterously
avoided, and therefore only served to augment his rage.
After thus amusing the spectators • for a short time, the
black prepared for more serious business, and receiving the
bull's charge full on his chest, twisting his arms at the
same time round the horns, he turned head over heels, and
in the twinkling'of an eye was seated on the back of the
animal, who galloped and plunged in the most desperate
manner. The public feeling, which at first had been so
much against the negro, now changed suddenly in his
favour; and cries of " viva o negro' rent the air on all
sides.

The bull .at length becoming tired, as the negro had pro-
mised, many voices were heard to cry " basta,'' at which
he drew his poignard,and at one blow felled his antagonist
to the ground and leaped off his back. Then did the Por-
tuguese nobility', with the generosity and profusion which
distinguished them at that time, Shower money down into
the arena to recompence the valour of the negro, few being
observed to throw in less than a single gold piece, and
many whole handfuls.
The negro remained looking at the bull, and appeared
-unconscious of what was passing around him. lie had
one hand resting on ore of-the horns of his fallen antago-
nist, when the latter, whom every one had thought dead,
made a sudden and last spring; which, us it announced his
own end, caused also that of the gallant negro,. whose'very
heart was pierced through by the horn which he had just
been contemplating as harmless, and deprived of its power
of doing mischief.
A Cornish tailor, who happened to be present, fired
with the glory gained by the negro, and fearless of his
melancholy end, offered to treat the natives the next day
with a spectacle of a nature entirely novel. He proposed
vanquishing the bull in a manner until then unheard of,
and was therefore indulged in his wish to exhibit. He
entered the arena provided with a couple of plaisters, of
some glutinous stuff, about a foot in diameter; and being
informed that. the bull.was about to appear, be laid himself
down on his back immediately opposite . the entrance,
drawing his knees up to his chin ; he placed the plaisters
one on each foot, with the glutinous side outwards.

In this attitude he proposed awaiting the approach of
the enemy, concluding that the latter would of course
make directly at him, and that he then would be enabled
to execute his project of applying the two plasters, with
his feet, to the bull's eyes, who, deprived of their use,
would fall an easy victim to snippish ingenuity. It would
be impossible to describe the roaring, laughing, and the
cracking of jokes, which shook the whole building, while
this son of the scissors was "en garde," awaiting his an-
tagonist, who at last made his appearance.; and, seeing
unusual a sight as that which was presented to him, seem-
ed undecided, for some moments, what line of. conduct
to pursue. At last, walking deliberately up to the tailor,
he absolutely seemed to have guessed Ins trade, and some
assert that he laughed us heartily as any of the specta-
tors; but, at length, annoyed at the audacity of the hem
(who, by the bye, knew not now which way to tun], as
the bull did not stand in front of him) he tumbled hint
over with his snout, and kept turning him over and over,
till, being near the spikes of the arena, he pitched him in
among the spectators. • A failure, such asp this, would

. _
have entailed great inconvenience upon die individual,
had it not been productive of so much amusement; and
snip got off with a few black bumps about his body, and
the loss of his plaisters.
When the Portuguese meet in the street a person of
heir acquaintance whom they have not seen for some
" ' -

time, the-y
invariably throw their arms round him, and
lift him off the ground, declaring how rejoiced they, are to
see him, and protesting that he has grown fat, although
he be as lean as a lizard.

The Portuguese noble families have the same ridiculous
pride in deducing their pedigree from the MORt remote
antiquities, which, in our own country, laughably dis
tinguishes the soi-disant descendants from Llewellyn.—
The house of ha Casio is, however, indisputably the
most ancient, being descended in a direct line from Donna
Eva Da Costa, our universal grandmother Eve, stecorti-
jug to Portuguese heralds, havingtakeu the above name
from the circumstance of her creation from Adam's Wig,
or side!

On:Wednesday the Right Rev. Dr. Cray, announced.
in the Roman Catholic chapel, Done
in his gail-street* that
atitited cjotiilteteewfootrilsdixeommorfintelitisc.e
plaincd that mass would be celebrsted three times each
day—the first celebration at 5 o`elock in the morning;
and that those who intended to aysil themselves of the
benefits of the Jubilee would require to attend such
celebrations 15 times consecutively, afterwards codes-
sign, and then be admitted to the sacrament.
ihst Chronitle-

LITERATURE.

A TREATISE on DIET with a view to establish, on Practi-
cal Grounds, a Systern.of Rules for the Prevention and Cure
of tie Diseases incident to a Disordered ,Sta-: of the Digestive
Functions.
_By J. A. PARtS, Mow of the
Royal College of Physkiaris, &c., &c.---London. ljnderwoods.
A work of much popular-interest has been lately
published by 'Ds. Paris, on ihe'Stibject of Diet. We
have certainly long possessed many works on this sub-
ject, but this-possesses the merit of having corrected
the errors into which previous writers had fallen, and
the author argues each point with so much clearness,
and With such, logical precision, that the reader can-
not but assent to his propositions. He appears 4). tla
to be what may be termed a- Liberal, and considers
many of die privations WhiCh the Saatch-a-ways, in-
culcate, as necessary for the restoration of health, ,as ,1
little 'other than ascetic austerities. He, however,
condemns the use of highly concentrated aliment, and'
supports his opinions by various illustrations and ana-
logies. Horses fed on concentrated aliment are inva-
riably liable to disease, from a deranged state of their
digestion, whence arise broken wind, staggers, blind-
ness, &c. The intolerable odour perceptible, when
post-horses are fed with oats and beans only, he con-
ceises to afford sufficient proof of the mischief that
arises from a too concentrated diet. The seine re-
mark applies to men,' and he maintains that the use
of chocolate, butter, cream, sugar, and rich s nice,
without a due admixture of bread, potatoes, and other
less nutritive aliment, is invariably attended with
dis-
ordered digestion. " Time Kamschadales are fre-
quently compelled to live on fish-oil, but they judi-
ciously form it into a paste with saw-dust, or the
rasped fibres of indigenous plants." . The author also
maintains that a certain texture and coherence of the
aliment, is a necessary condition tcn impart digestibility.
Geletinous substances ere difficult of digestion, in con-
sequence of their evading, as it were, the mechanical
action of the stomach, and preventing from their te-
nacity, the absorption of their More fluid parts. "It
is; perhaps, not possible to appreciate or . express the
exact degree of consistence or firmness 'which will con-
fer the highest order of digestibility upon food ; indeed
this zero may vary in different individuals, but we are
taught by experience, tint( no meat is so digestible as
tender mutton ; when well Conditioned, it appears to
possess that degree of consistence which is most con-
genial to the stomach. Weilder mutton is in_perfec-
mon at five, ewe mutton at two years old. Beef ,is
not so easy of digestion, but it' is equally nutritive,
however, will depend upon the period which
has elaped since the death of the animal, and still
More upon the method of cookery." The author then
proceeds to giSe an account of the different modes of
cookery, as boiling, roasting, frying, broiling, baks
ing,!&c. : He consolers frying as the most objection-
able, since the heat is supplied through the means of
boiling- oil,or fat, .which is rendered empyreumatie,
and therefore extremely liable to disagree with the
aitainach iidr does he appear to think better of baking,
for he oliServemi, " the peculiarity of this process de-
!petals upon the substance being heated in a confined
syiee,, which does not
!permit the escaped the fumes
arising iisnit it : the Meat is therefOre, frown the reten-
,sion.of itss Juicier, rendered more sepia and tender.—
But baked memo are not. .so, easily digested, Ott aceoui
is
of the greater'retention of their oils,, which are inure
'over in an empyreumatie.- Wye:, Such dishes, there
fire, require the stimulus of' vasrixnts condiments to in.
Crease the digestive powers of the stomach." With re.
%pia. to drinking at oar meals,. the author has offered
,some sensible remarks,;---if the stomach be distendei
with fluid, its solid Contents cannot be digested, where.
. ,
as, if the latter be too bird ur dry, its necessary change,
by the churning 'of the stomach cannot, he accomplish.
ad.,- and the progress of digestion will be impeded.—
Nature, no tloubt, intended that the appetite for foot
slitadd lie first satisfied, before a supply of drink be-
conies necessary ; and should our food possess that,
degree 'Of succidence which chatitterizes digestible
aliments, there will be'no occasion for it during the
Meal. if we eat too fast, thirst will be oceaaicmed,
because the food being swallowed without n due olds
mixture of saliva will form a dry mass in the sto-
mach. "It is during the intervals of our solid
meals that the Iliptids necessary for the repair of out
fluids should be taken ; and both theory nod experience
appear in this. respect to eonfOrtn, and to demonstrate
the advantage winch attends a liquid repast about four
or fise hours after the solid ;meal. At about this
-period the chyle has entered its proper vessels, and is
HoWing into the blood, in order to undergo ire final
,changes s then it is that the stomach, having disposed
Af ;se 'charge, ! receives the wholesome draught with
the ,gteatest advantage ; their, it is, that the blood, im-
pregnated with new materials, requires the assistance
of a diluent to complete their nuiguification, and to
carry-, off, ;their superfluous matter ; and i is then
' alitit the !kidneyeand skin will require the aid of addis
tinnal water to lifigint 'the performance of their func-
tions,. The conamon beverage of tea, or some atia
logous repast, originally suggested, no doubt, by att
instinctive desire for liquid at this period, is thus
sanctioned by the•ory,
,while its advantages anti este-
foltslmed by experience, Although the author regards
.tiaat, wan happy " who cosonlers water the best rmk,
- and salt the best sauce ;" yet lan. is very tolerant as to
the Used soya, " volumes have been writ-
ten to proVe that spirit; in every form, is Wit only uns
neceseary to those who are iti health, but that it has been
the prolific source the inoat.painful and fatal dis-
eases to which man i 4 subject ; iii short, that Epitne-
theus himself 014 riot, by opening the box of Pan-
dora, comma a greater act of hostility against our
nature, than the discoverer of fermented liquors.—,
Every apartment, it is said, devoted to the circulation
of she .glass, may be regarded as a temple set apart for
thesperformance of human ! sat: notes ; anti that they
Ciug,4lt to he' fitted up, like the ancient amides of
Egypt, in a manner to show the real atrotity of
the superstition that' is carried on within their
'rhis Dr. Paris considers as mere rent and
nonsense—a striking spccimea of the fallacy ref reason,
ins against theatse of itcustorivfrom its abuse. HO
doeB 110 t think that there exists any good evidence to.
show that the temperate use of good WOW, when taken
at seusouabts hours,; I.)as*. ever proved injurions to
healtliy adults. e adtbts, ",in cakes of indigestion,
' He>akls,
where the accostomed stim
whollyulus of wine, instead of
. .
aosog.reossad, has been,
saasavation‘ withdrawn, ha 7
of the dyspeptic
ssetierally.witnessed 4.-11
,compasued with!Feveretoenession of sp.
) tinateli
nits.:;m the Am sa w , ,
borne aiveight on his shouldersn whiss e ! ra.si
.int van
attempted .to anew off, until the ferneßnteclnice,
the grape enabled him to trinity's over his enemy.
479 Nt O.OAVOLXI).)