[Sidenote: COMMENCEMENT OF THE BULL-FIGHT.] CHAPTER XXII. The Bull-fight--Opening of Spectacle--First Act, and Appearance of the Bull--The Picador--Bull Bastinado--The Horses, and their Cruel Treatment--Fire and Dogs--The Second Act--The Chulos and their Darts--The Third Act--The Matador--Death of the Bull--The Conclusion, and Philosophy of the Amusement--Its Effect on Ladies. When the appointed much-wished-for hour is come, the Queen or the _Corregidor_ takes the seat of honour in a central and splendid box, the mob having been previously expelled from the open arena; this operation is called the _despejo_, and is an amusing one, from the reluctance with which the great unwashed submit to be cleaned out. The proceedings open at a given signal with a procession of the combatants, who advance preceded by _alguaciles_, or officers of police, who are dressed in the ancient Spanish costume, and are always at hand to arrest any one who infringes the severe laws against interruptions of the games. Then follow the _picadores_, or mounted horsemen, with their spears. Their original broad-brimmed Spanish hats are decorated with ribbons; their upper man is clad in a gay silken jacket, whose lightness contrasts with the heavy iron and leather protections of the legs, which give the clumsy look of a French jackbooted postilion. These defences are necessary when the horned animal charges home. Next follow the _chulos_, or combatants on foot, who are arrayed like Figaro at the opera, and have, moreover, silken cloaks of gay colours. The _matadores_, or killers, come behind them; and, last of all, a gaily-caparisoned team of mules, which is destined to drag the slaughtered bulls from the arena. As for the men, those who are killed on the spot are denied the burial-rites if they die without confession. Springing from the dregs of the people, they are eminently superstitious, and cover their breasts with relics, amulets, and papal charms. A clergyman, however, is in attendance with the sacramental wafer, in case _su majestad_ may be wanted for a mortally-wounded combatant. [Sidenote: ENTRANCE OF THE BULL.] Having made their obeisances to the chief authority, all retire, and the fatal trumpet sounds; then the president throws the key of the gate by which the bull is to enter, to one of the _alguaciles_, who ought to catch it in his hat. When the door is opened, this worthy gallops away as fast as he can, amid the hoots and hisses of the mob, not because he rides like a constable, but from the instinctive enmity which his majesty the many bear to the finisher of the law, just as little birds love to mob a hawk; now more than a thousand kind wishes are offered up that the bull may catch and toss him. The brilliant army of combatants in the meanwhile separates like a bursting shell, and take up their respective places as regularly as our fielders do at a cricket-match.