dazzling costumes, short jackets, or vests, of the typical Spanish cut, and knee breeches of some brilliant hue, lilac and rose colour predominating, and covered with gold or silver embroidery, flesh-coloured stockings, and shoes, with the well-known turban hat, and scarf around their loins was the dress of those on foot, the banderilleros. The picadores, who are mounted, and consequently not so able to protect their limbs, are well padded as to their legs, which are encased in yellow pantaloons; they also wear a wide grey felt sombrero or hat, and are armed with a long lance.

The procession being over, and the banderilleros and picadores having dispersed themselves about the arena, a second bugle-call announces the actual commencement of the fray; and presently the bull makes his appearance, under all the signs of great excitement, with a little knot of ribbons fastened to his shoulder by some sharp instrument, as the blood which trickled from the wound clearly showed. Head down and tail up, he rushes into the enclosure, until he begins to realise the fact that something unusual is happening. He stops and glares round him, and thus begins the first act of poor Toro's last drama. His proportions and general appearance were much canvassed, and I naturally took stock of him with more than ordinary curiosity, as the first representative of a celebrated breed of fighting bulls that I had seen. He was all black, or nearly so, well shaped, though considerably smaller than I had anticipated, and in good condition. His head was furnished with a fine pair of horns, long, symmetrical and sharp, and with his fierce-looking red eyes he looked like mischief. He was not allowed to stand still very long, for the show began in earnest.

One of the banderilleros, each of whom carried a dark crimson and yellow scarf or cloak (the national colours), ran across in front of him, and at the same time waved his cloak close to the bull's face, a manoeuvre which was frequently repeated by one or other of these. There is a good deal of grace in this action, and doubtless a certain amount of dexterity is required to perform it neatly and efficiently, but to call it an act of great daring would be an exaggeration, for their valour is tempered with a considerable share of discretion. The bull never appeared to see anything but the cloak, at which he generally lunged; but if he seemed inclined to follow with too much persistence, either his attention was distracted by another performer crossing his path, or the cloak was dropped, and its bearer made for the palisade, over which he vaulted-this action being facilitated by a step or shelf which ran all round for that purpose. The bull in all

cases confined his attention to the cloak, which he sniffed, and perhaps treated to a disdainful toss, always affording the original bearer time to get clear away. By judicious repetitions of this manœuvre, the cloak wavers could thus draw the bull in almost any direction they wished, in fact they came more or less into play in all the different stages of the fight.

Of these, properly speaking, there were three; in the first the picadores are engaged, in the second the banderilleros proper, and in the third and last the matador.

The picadores, as I have already stated, are mounted on horseback and armed with a lance. I had always been under the impression that these cavaliers took an active and foremost part in the fray, and that their rôle was decided to act on the offensive. This notion, however, was in my case speedily dispelled by the mounts and armaments. As regards the former, their period of active work of any kind had long since passed away; and it seemed to require all the urging of the heavy spurs of their riders to get them to budge, while a faint ghost of a canter was evidently regarded as a knightly caracole; and to see them at the commencement of the course, standing with drooping heads beside the palisade, it was quite apparent that they would be far more passive than active; so it turned out. I have mentioned that the riders carried a long lance, but it must not be supposed that they were at all of a dangerous character. From a distance it was difficult to discern anything more than the wooden shaft. There was no spear-like head, but in its place a short, sharp, steel point, certainly not more than one and a half inch long. So they stood until the bull, having been drawn into their vicinity, got his eye on one of them. If he seemed disposed to attack, the picador laid his lance in rest, and as he came to the assault he received a prod in the shoulder, close to where the knot of ribbons hung. If the lance held firm, it sometimes served to check him in his career, but more often it only ripped up the skin, serving to further madden him, and then the poor horse caught it, being sometimes killed outright, and nearly always brutally gored. If the bull happened to charge with any force, which was but rarely, down went man and horse like lead, and the assailant had to be diverted by the waving cloak device, till the fallen cavalier was extricated, and the poor nag set on his legs again, or, if dead, stripped of its trappings and its rider assisted over the barricade, for the padding on his legs made walking difficult for him, much more so any greater exercise of agility. This class of performance lasted some twenty minutes, and the bugle-call announced a change of scene.

The picadores left the ring with such of the

horses as could walk out; the dead ones, if any, being left lying. Their place was taken by two of the leading banderilleros, who each carried a couple of darts, covered with coloured paper. One of these would post himself in the centre of the ring, and by gestures and action strive to attract the bull's attention. As the latter made a rush at him he skipped nimbly to one side, and, at the same time, plunged the darts into his shoulder, and the points being barbed, if his aim was good, the darts stuck there. All through the proceedings it was evident that the bull, when hurt, always kept straight on in his course, quite long enough for his biped foes to get clear away, and the incessant cloak waving and moving about appeared to bamboozle and wind him thoroughly. The dart sticking process was repeated three or four times, and the poor animal seemed pretty well blown before the third and last act was announced by the usual bugle-call.

This brought the star performer upon the scene-the matador, whose function it was to give poor Toro his coup-de-grace. He carried a small straight sword in his right hand, and in his left a bright scarlet cloak, much smaller than that used by the ordinary toreadors, but proportionately more vivid in colour. After a little play, by which he attracted the bull's attention, and got it thoroughly riveted to his scarlet cloth, he prepared to deal the fatal blow. This required considerable coolness and a certain amount of dexterity. To assist the manipulations of his cloak, it was partly fastened to a short staff, which enabled him to handle it rapidly. Standing in front of the bull, he spread it out on his right side, or backhanded, inducing Toro to butt at it. Just as he did so, he (the matador) waved it right in his eyes briskly, and exposed it on his left side, at the same time stepping back a pace. If the manœuvre was successful, and Toro butted at it again, in doing so, he exposed his left shoulder, and gave the matador the opportunity to plunge his sword in just before the shoulder, and below the spinal column. If the aim was good, the sword was driven up to the hilt, and the wound was vital. This was the case with the first bull, who stood a moment, blood and foam gushing from his mouth and nostrils, when, with a hoarse bellow, he fell dead. The matador was received with acclamation by the spectators. The mule teams were driven in, and the carcass of the bull and horses dragged out by a rope made fast round the head or horns; and so ended the first and best of a series of five of these cruel spectacles which I was unfortunately compelled to witness. The subsequent courses were simply repetitions of the first, with variations of horror. In no instance was the death-stroke so success

fully dealt, and in more than one a second sword had to be called in requisition. In one or two cases the poor beast fell on his haunches and had to be despatched by the puntillero, who simply came behind and drove a sharp pointed instrument into his brain at the back of his skull. Only one exciting incident occurred, fraught with any danger to the human actors, and this was when one of the matadors having delivered an ineffectual coup, the bull fell on his knees, and striking out, caught the matador by his breeches and gave him two tosses. I did not hear that he was much injured, but he was evidently shaken considerably.

It will be seen by the foregoing description, which is given faithfully and without any exaggeration, that, though the amount of torture the bull has to go through is considerable, it is not until the finale that anything like a vital wound is given him. The darts and goad-like lances only give flesh wounds which serve to madden him, and it seemed to me that the locality of the shoulder was peculiarly sensitive to pain. The constantly recurring wounds, added to the chasing hither and thither, which kept him ever in motion, wrought him up to a helpless pitch of bewilderment, and being, besides, thoroughly out of wind, his conquest by the matador was rendered a much easier task than if he had tackled him when fresh. The risk to human life is reduced to a minimum; plenty of acrobats, high-rope walkers, Zazels, &c., expose themselves daily to greater risks; and there is certainly no heroic bravery about it.

But where the concentrated brutality of the bull fight lies is, to my mind, in the exposure of the poor semi-animate dummies of horses to the bull's horns, encumbered with a heavy man on a heavy demipique saddle. Resistance was almost impossible. One horse only out of the whole lot had any spirit, and I fancy there must have been some mule about him, for, as the bull came on, he turned round and lashed out with his heels, disconcerting his rider, but effectually keeping Toro at a distance, better than his master could have done. It was a cowardly sickening sight to see the bull actually enticed towards the poor nags. I daresay the statement will scarcely be credited, that after one of the poor nags had been ridden out after the first bugle-call, severely gored, and with part of his bowels protruding out, he was actually allowed to stand in the stables and brought out again to withstand the onslaught of a fresh bull. This was not successful to the extent of killing the poor beast, though he was again gored, and, the bugle sounding, he was taken out again, an additional portion of his entrails depending, and actually touching the

unusually respectful to myself, indeed rather more respectful than I wished, as he interlarded his sentences with the word "Sir" so often, that I at last hinted to him that he might use it once, twice, or fifty times in the course of an hour, but upon no account to use it so frequently.

He was 17 years of age when I engaged him. I offered him 10s. per week to begin with, which sum he seemed to consider munificent indeed. As time went on I began to suspect irregular conduct in my assistant, and on several occasions I thought that I detected the smell of something like spirits about him; but I said nothing, as the aroma was strangely

Or Further Reminiscences of a Commercial Traveller.

CHAPTER IV.

(Continued from page 244.)

N a few more days I succeeded in finishing my labours in the city of Edinburgh. I had met with a kindly reception on the whole, and did not find my customers so formidable as I was led to expect. Their only fault was a kind of unconscious consciousness which they displayed, that they were by culture, education, or something or other, superior to similar traders in other towns, and which superiority I was unable to discover. My inability to do this must have been from some mental obliquity, but as time went on I discovered that this feeling was not confined to our trade, but pervades all classes and conditions alike; the only solution which I have heard of it, was suggested by an old bagman, that it must be on account of the east wind, which prevails more largely in Edinburgh than elsewhere, and which its inhabitants will never part with, although most people appreciate it more by its absence than by its presence. I must own that I did a good trade. I should not grumble; my books were in constant demand, and, unless our customers wished to be behind the times, they required to have them in stock.

By my esteemed employers I was permitted, as I stated in a previous chapter, to have the services of a clerk to attend to my orders and keep up stock. I was successful in securing a youth from the Metropolis of the North, a "real Aberdeen," named John Granite. John was very attentive to his duties—at first; and was

onions; and as all men are apt to form hasty judgments, I thought that I might be wrong in my supposition, so I resolved in the meantime to hold my tongue and keep my eye upon John.

CHAPTER V.

ST. MUNGO.

and the second largest city in the British empire, GLASGOW, the metropolis of the west of Scotland, was the next town which I had "to do," and, having bid farewell to Auld Reekie (by which kindly term Edinburgh is mentioned by its sons, and which, when in distant lands and under other skies, lovingly recalls the grand home of beauty and their country's pride), I and ancient city which is their birthplace, the took an early train for the west. Yes, I was now going to Glasgow on my first visit in the capacity of a full-blown traveller representing a first-class house. Not now, I am glad to say, seeking a situation-not now having the prospect of a two hours' patient waiting, and only then to be rewarded by impertinent prying into my antecedents, or the prospect of serving under Mr. Thick. "My advices" (by which is meant the preliminary notes by which every traveller announces his intended arrival) were usually forwarded direct from London, and, at the same time, the batch of accounts for any particular town or district were sent to me. By some oversight at headquarters, these latter only reached me on the morning of my departure for Glasgow, and, being fond of a peep at the morning newspapers, I did not look at them until the train reached Linlithgow, when I took out my accounts in order to examine and see who were my customers, and arrange the plan of the day's proceedings. I found that I had upwards of twenty parties to call upon. Having abundance of time, I examined them seriatim; but judge of my surprise when I

came to the last, and found that it was for Tooth and Claw. The amount was £15 11s. 5d., and had been standing for two years. My heart fairly leaped to my mouth, as I had not anticipated calling upon T. and C., they being in another line almost entirely, and I knew that they were not in the habit of selling our goods; but it turned out afterwards that these gentlemen had received an order from New Zealand, and among the articles required were several of our works. These had been supplied in the usual way; but my predecessor, Mr. McShawnie, had not been able to obtain settlement of the account.

There was a memorandum for me, pinned to the bill, as follows:-"Get this settled, it has stood too long. Try and get cash; but, if not, do the best you can. Be sure and tell Tooth and Claw that all future transactions must be for CASH ONLY."

Well, I thought, this is a fix. I never swear, but, I think, the devil nearly tempted me to forget myself on this occasion. I was mercifully preserved from that sin. It is a sin, and, besides, it is vulgar, and no gentleman swears. Commercial men are singularly free from that detestable habit. Their profession compels them to keep their tempers, and exercise great self-control; and when business is over they feel no temptation to indulge in profane vulgarity; besides, swearing is against the etiquette of the commercial

room.

I would much rather have walked twenty miles than have had this interview, but as disagreeables must be faced, I resolved to tackle them at once; so, on arriving, I went to my hotel, gave my boxes to Mr. Boots, and, with the obnoxious account, but no samples, I sallied forth to face the inevitable, and visit my late masters. I approached the establishment without any compunction, firm in my purpose, if possible, to give no offence, but to do my duty. When I got within the door, I could see Mr. Claw seated in an inner office, reading the morning letters, with his faithful henchman, Mr. Thick, who was carefully annotating the correspondence with the remarks which fell from Mr. Claw. Mr. Tooth, his partner, was standing in the principal office, with his back to me, and was speaking hotly to the cashier about some trifling irregularity committed by my successor-something about one shilling and threepence which he had allowed for some goods which were found to be damaged. "Write him," said Mr. Tooth, "and tell him he is not to come any of these games, and that, if he does, he will hear more about it." Both gentlemen were so busy, the one giving and the other receiving instructions, that my presence was unnoticed for some

moments, but suddenly turning round, Mr. Tooth espied me, and Mr. Honest observed me at the same moment. For a few seconds the senior partner was speechless, but his eyes started to his forehead, his teeth chattered, and his whole frame was convulsed with passion. When he recovered his speech, he came towards me, and, at the very instant of his approach, I caught sight of Mr. Honest, whose face broke out in a beaming smile, and he gave me such a comprehensive wink, then looked earnestly into a ledger which was before him. I was so amused that I could not help smiling in return, and Mr. Tooth, thinking I was happy at his expense, seemed inwardly to rage the more. When he had arrived within a few feet of me, he broke out with :-"I wonder, sir, that, after the way you have used us, you have dared to cross our threshold again." Continuing, he said, "You have impudence enough to fill a ship❞—and, bringing his dirty hand down on the counter with a thump, which must have hurt him much more than it frightened me, the irate stationer ordered me "to get out at once, or he would call the police." At each sentence of Mr. Tooth's speech, Mr. Honest looked up from his ledger, and gave a wink, which appeared to grow larger each time it was repeated. I did not move; but while revolving in my mind the best course to pursue with the angry man, I happened to turn my head and observed Mr. Claw, who had become alarmed at Mr. Tooth's violence, standing behind the glass door of his room, glaring at me; and Mr. Thick stood in the rear, with his tongue out. Thinking to give them a fright, I took two steps suddenly in their direction, which caused Mr. Thick to disappear in a manner more rapid than dignified up a spiral staircase, which I knew led to his own apartment; and, simultaneously, Mr. Claw turned the key in his door to prevent my ingress. This done, he struck a boxing attitude, as much as to say, "Come on." By this time, Mr. Tooth had somewhat cooled down, and I remarked, "that I was sorry indeed that my presence was so obnoxious to him; but, however great might be his dislike to me, it could not possibly be greater than my repugnance to him, and to his firm. But," I continued, "in the path of duty there is very often no choice; we have to do things which are personally disagreeable to us, and one of the most unpleasant transactions which I have ever been asked to perform is to call upon you, sir, and your partner for settlement of the account, which I now present; and I am instructed, sir, not to leave your premises without the money; further, I am to tell you that future transactions must be accompanied with a remittance."