Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1880-01-09

NEWSPAPER tONkESpONpFAT, DESCRIBES THE
EXnIuIrIoN IL THE pLAzA pE ToBos. MAD
RID, ON THE OCCASION or KING ALFoNso's
NfARBIAGE
Correspondence Of the Boston Jourusl.l
MADRID Dec -, 1879.
TIE HISTORY OF SPANS NATIONAL AMUSEMENT.
When the royal wedding was announced,
it was naturally decided that bull fights
should be among the festivities. Had there
been any disposition to refuse them there
might have been something very like riot.
Time has been when the people in the i'm
mcuse plaza have cried ont Death TO the
Mayor because he would not allow them to
witness the killing Of one or two more bulls
than were promised in the programmes.
Bread and shows were the necessities
which not even tyrants dared deny the an
cient Romans bread and bulls are the prime
needs of the modern Spauiards. Bull fight
ing has become so thoroughly engrafted upon
the national manners that not even the
geutlust woman finds it Extraordinary that
her children should witness it. Here in Mad
rid there are twenty-four exhibitions every
year, from April to October, on Mondays, or
sometimes on Sundays, for Sunday is here,
as in France, the peoples fayorite holiday
All over Spain there are bull-rings which rival
the colossal dimensions Cf the amphitheAtrts
of the Romans. The Arabs have the credit
of having introduced the cruel pastimc into
Spain but the Cid gave it its real impetus
After lie had set the example, all the youths
of the nobility copied it, and at all solemn
festivals the corrjdd de toros was one of the
principal features. The honor Of combating
with the bull on great days was accorded on
ly to the nobility; an ordinary mortal was
I to, ~
ence requisite. Throughout the Middle Ages
the bull fight was the fayorite amusement Of
warriors in these Southern lands When Isa-
bella, the Catholic, tried 10 prohibit the
ghastly fun, she found that she did not possess
influence enough to do it, After her time
the sport became so popular that Charles the
Great did not disdain with his own hand to
slay bull upon the market place of Vallado-
lid; Pizarro who conquered Peru, was a
brave bull fighter 50 WAS King Sebastian of
Portugal Philip Third adorned the bull ring
of Madrid with statues and banners. Philip
Fourth fought therein Charles the Second
loved the game Philip Fifth issued an Off
cial order that bull rings should he construct
I'd throughout the kingdom. All these days
no man of the people was allowed to enter the
arena, and it was not until the middle of the
eighteenth century that peasants and COM
mon folk in general were permitted to be
come professional tOrCro, famous fellow
named Francisco Romero de Ronda intro
duced the usage Of fighting the bull on foot,
sword in hand, and from his time date the
fixed rules Of this difficult art, which in our
days have had such illustrious professors as
Frascuclo, Lagartijo and Alonzo. Queen Isa-
bella was always TN enthusiastic patron of
the sport Amadeo pretended to be- but it is
to be presumed that his delicate and refined
H,r ,A
can the present King refuse to attend upon,
aud to support with all his influence, an in
stitution which is ms truly national in Spain
rs the Sabbath school is the United States
THE BULL BISG.
The Plaza de Toros of Madrid is supposed,
10y dint of much crowdng, to accommodate
sixteen thousand persons, although believe
there are seats for only few more than
twelve thousand. For the two courses" in
honor of the Royal wedding festivities there
were more than fifty thousand applicants
above the number which could be accommo-
dated. Hundreds of people from the great
capitals, Madrid Vienna and London, went
away growing and disappointed because they
could not succeed in gaining admission.
There were several thousand guests Of
rank and importance to place, for the Am
hassadors Extraordinary and the Austrian
delegation which had accompanied the Arch
duchess had brought in their train half the
fashionable world, so there remained small
space for the populace-yet the populace was
represented. How it got in l do not know,
but there it was, palpitating with savage de-
light at every pitiful throe of disemboweled
horse or dying bull yelling maledctions up
on an unsuccessful picador or capeador; and
breaking forth into the most extrayagant ex-
pressions of delight and affection when an es-
jdla did his work well.
The bull ring, to call it by the prosaic Eng
lish which best translates the high sounding
plaza de Toros," is about mile and a half
from the centre of the city ON the outskirts
of the barren plains which environ the cap
ital, Ii is reached by passing the superb