waving them in his eyes, to tempt him to pursue a new object, thus giving the picador time to recover himself.

'These men now stationed themselves near the fence in various parts of the arena; and every eye, in the vast assemblage surrounding it, was eagerly bent upon the spot, whence the enemy was to proceed. Signs of impatience began to be expressed, more and more loudly, for the appointed signal, which was to be given by the King, before the bull could be released from confinement. This signal was at length made, the doors flew open, and the terrible animal bounded into the arena, his eyes glaring with rage, and almost matching in color the crimson ribbon, which fluttered from his neck, a symbol, as it were, of the sanguinary death which awaited him.

'The first object, upon which he fixed his gaze, was the picador, towards whom he rushed with all the fury of madness. The picador received him upon the point of his spear; but the animal, being resolute and courageous, persisted in pushing forward, and the consequence was the instant death of the poor horse, who fell a blind-folded and unresisting victim to the furious attack of his adversary. The picador fell with the horse, and I felt a universal trembling seize me, when I beheld him struggling to free himself, even under the very horns of the enraged bull. But at the instant several of the chulos surrounded him, and, waving their bright flags before his eyes, succeeded in turning his anger upon themselves, whom he pursued with such speed, that one of them barely escaped by springing over the fence, leaving his flag behind him, as an object upon which the bull might vent his rage at pleasure. But such was not his intention; for, turning round, he flew with the rapidity of lightning towards the second picador, whose horse shared the same fate with that of his companion; leaving the arena cleared of horses for the space of several moments. During this time the chulos seemed desirous of making trial of their quickness of foot, by approaching almost within arm's length of the animal, who stood brandishing his horns, and throwing up the dust in clouds with his hoofs, and then sprang forward in pursuit of his tormentors with unrelenting speed. It seemed impossible to me, at first, that they could escape him; but finding, upon observation, that they calculated their distance with unerring certainty, I began to feel a little more at ease than my fears would allow at the outset.

Two more horses being now brought upon the field, the battle between the bull and picadores was again renewed, and, after two or three violent attacks, both horses were disabled, and although not mortally wounded, were of necessity led out, the arena being thus cleared a second time; a circumstance of very VOL. XXXVII.-NO. 80.

15

rare occurrence, and which was loudly applauded by clapping of hands, and loud cries of bueno, bueno, resounding from every part of the amphitheatre.

'When the picadores had fought to the satisfaction of the King, he gave a signal for the banderilleros to appear. These men are dressed precisely like the chulos, being in fact a part of their number. They are each armed with two darts, called banderillas, barbed at the point, and ornamented with a variety of colored paper, cut into streamers. By the time that the banderilleros make their appearance, their antagonist being somewhat spent with rage and loss of blood, their task is rendered much less dangerous than it would be at the commencement of the fight. Holding a dart in each hand, they run boldly up to the bull, and, as he lowers his horns to attack them, they dexterously plunge the darts into his neck, and, springing to one side, easily avoid any danger from his pursuit.

'This lasted for a very few moments only, when command was given to call the matador. He soon entered, dressed much like the others, but more richly, and with a greater profusion of gold and silver lace. He held in one hand a naked sword, and in the other a scarlet flag. Advancing towards the King's box, he raised his chapeau de bras, and, kneeling on one knee, requested permission to kill the bull; which being granted, he walked to the centre of the arena, where he waited until the chulos should draw towards him the wearied animal. This they succeeded in doing; and no sooner did the bright scarlet cloth meet his eye, than all his former fury appeared to revive, and he darted towards it with all the energy he had shown at the beginning of the battle. The task of the matador is much more hazardous, and requires much more skill than any other. The object is to dazzle the eyes of the animal with the red flag, and at the same time to hold the sword in such a manner, as, when the bull presses forward, to sink the sword in his neck by the impetus of the latter, and without any exertion on the part of the matador. On this occasion, the second trial succeeded, and the sword was buried in the neck of the bull to the very hilt. He staggered and fell, amid the shouts and acclamations of the audience, when a man, approaching him with a short bladed knife, ended the poor creature's sufferings and his life, by striking it into the spine.

'The band of music now struck up a lively air, the trumpet sounded, and a door opening at the opposite extremity of the arena, three mules were driven abreast, their heads ornamented with a great quantity of colored worsted tassels, and with strings of bells around their necks. The bull being then attached to the traces, by a cord twisted around his horns, the mules set off at

full gallop, dragging behind them the fallen combatant. The instant that the door closed upon them, another bull was let into the arena, and the same thing was again repeated. But owing to the presence of the Queen, who had never before witnessed a festivity of the kind, several varieties of the mode of fighting were introduced, which are not exhibited upon common occasions.

'After these bulls had been despatched in the usual manner, as above described, the picadores yielded their places to two other persons, called caballeros de plaza, a part formerly sustained by gentlemen of distinction, who then assisted in these exercises; but which custom has now consigned to professional fighters. The caballeros de plaza, who now entered the arena, were most beautifully dressed in the ancient Spanish costume, consisting of a black velvet hat and white plumes; a complete suit of rich yellow silk, slashed at the knees with blue; and a blue silk Spanish cloak, fastened at the throat, and flowing gracefully over the left shoulder, leaving the right arm perfectly free. Each carried in his hand a long spear, made of very light, brittle wood, and barbed at the point. His object is to break off the head of the spear in the neck of the bull; and if it be skilfully done, one single blow, by separating the spine, causes immediate death.

'At the first onset, both horse and rider were overthrown, and had the bull taken advantage of his position, the life of the caballero must have been instantly sacrificed. But the chulos drew him away to his second antagonist, who met him rather more successfully, and broke off the spear in his neck, but without wounding him mortally. This was reserved for the first combatant, who, having recovered himself from his fall, and being armed with a second spear, rode manfully forward into the centre of the arena, and attacking the bull without hesitation, buried the iron in his spine. He fell instantly dead, without a single struggle, and was borne off in triumph by the mules, amid flourishing of trumpets, and long echoed huzzas. The space of time occupied in destroying him, after this manner, was scarcely greater than I have employed in relating it; and a second bull having been brought in and killed quite as speedily as the other, the caballeros de plaza left the field once more to the picadores.

'The succeeding fights differed from the first three only in the introduction of fire-works. That is, small crackers and other combustible materials, being affixed to the banderillas, were made to explode at the moment the darts entered the neck of the bull, throwing up clouds of smoke and innumerable sparks, which, for an instant, almost concealed him from view.

'After this, the cry of perros, perros, rang through the amphitheatre, and at the same time that the bull was ushered in at one door, another opened to admit three large bull-dogs, which, springing from the leashes that confined them, rushed with the utmost speed towards the object of their instinctive hostility, and were received by him, one after another, upon the points of his horns, and tossed high in air, only to come down again upon their feet with increased rage, and to renew the attack with unabated courage. In a few minutes the two largest dogs had seized each an ear of the bull, to which they held with determined pertinacity, until the foaming and furious animal became entirely subdued and quiet, suffering himself to be led along by his tormenting conquerors, when the friendly knife put a speedy end to his existence. The tenth bull was likewise destroyed in the same manner; and the King then rose to depart, the vast multitude dispersing in various ways to their several occupations.

'You may perhaps be surprised, after perusing the foregoing account, that a lady could experience any thing but disgust in witnessing a species of amusement so barbarous and unnatural. Such was my own opinion respecting it after reading similar accounts; but strange as it may appear, there was a fascination about the whole scene, which did away, in a considerable degree, the painful and revolting feelings, which arise at the view of suffering, even if it be the suffering of a brute. And moreover there seemed something so ferocious and revengeful in the nature of these animals, that much of the sympathy, which might otherwise be felt for them, was lost; and the unpleasant impressions made upon the mind, gave way to the indescribable excitement and animation of spirits, produced by the sight of so vast a collection of people, all wrought up to the highest pitch of eager interest in the scene before them, by the never-tiring charm of martial music in its full perfection, and by the associations, which the combat itself cannot fail to awaken in every lover of Spanish chivalry and Spanish romance. I would be far from intimating, however, that I really enjoyed the spectacle, or that I did not turn away from it at times with a sickening sense of its barbarity. But such feelings were much less frequent and much less strong than I had imagined they would be, or than you could believe possible, without having yourself witnessed a scene of the kind.

'A few days afterwards, (December 17th), a second royal bull fight was given, which I again had the courage to attend. But it was only to bring away with me very different and less pleasing impressions of the thing than I had received from witnessing the first, which was, in fact, the first of the kind that had occurred in Madrid for many years, and which exhibited comparatively

little of the disgusting or disagreeable part of the combat. But in the second I was not so fortunate. Several of the poor horses were shockingly mangled and gored by the horns of the bull, without causing their death, and sometimes without preventing their riders from still urging them on to renewed attacks. This circumstance would alone have been sufficient to mar all my enjoyment; but there were others, in addition to it, which rendered the fight excessively irksome and unpleasant to me. There was scarcely any variety in the mode of warfare, which was carried on in its least attractive form, at least to my eye; and the arena being divided in the middle, in order that two courses might be going on at the same time, the animals were brought in much closer contact with the picadores and chulos, for whose fate I was in continual dread and anxiety. Eighteen bulls were killed before the funcion ended, and I then returned from the amphitheatre little disposed to witness another bull fight, and fully persuaded that, in this respect, I could never learn to be a Spaniard.'

ART. V.-De Beaumont and De Tocqueville on the Penitentiary System.

Du Système Pénitentiaire aux Etats-Unis, et de son Application en France; suivi d'un Appendice sur les Colonies Pénales, et de Notes Statistiques; Par MM. G. DE BEAUMONT et A. DE TOCQUEVILLE, Avocats à la Cour royale de Paris, Membres de la Societé Historique de Pennsylvanie. Paris. 1833.

On the Penitentiary System of the United States and its Application in France, with an Appendix on Penal Colonies and Statistical Notes; by Messrs. de Beaumont and de Tocqueville.

THIS work is the report of the gentlemen named in the title page, who, it will be generally recollected, were sent by the French Government, two or three years ago, as commissioners to examine the penitentiaries of the United States. In calling it, however, their report, we do not use that term in its strictly technical sense. We do not understand the work before us to be the official report, formally made by these gentlemen to the authorities, from whom they received their commission; -but a general statement, relative to their researches, ad