to carry away. In
the tomb of Ferdinand and Isabella, at Granada, it will be remembered
they pried open the royal coffins in search of treasure. At Seville they
broke open the coffin of Murillo, and scattered his ashes to the wind.
Marshal Soult treated the ashes of Cervantes in a similar manner. War
desecrates all things, human and divine; but sometimes becomes a
Nemesis, dispensing poetical justice, as when Waterloo caused the return
to Spain of a portion of her despoiled art-treasures.

The bull-fight is very properly called the national sport of Spain, and,
we are sorry to add, is typical of the natural cruelty of her people. It
was the opening exhibition of the season which was advertised to take
place during the first week of our stay in the city, and it was
announced for Sunday afternoon, the day usually selected for these
occasions; but as it proved to be rainy it was postponed to the
following Thursday. The bull-ring of the capital is said to contain
seating capacity for eighteen thousand persons; and yet such was the
demand for tickets of admission, that it was a work of some hours to
procure them at all, and only consummated finally at a considerable
premium. Our seats were near to those of the royal party, consisting of
the king, queen, and ex-queen Isabella, with a number of ladies and
gentlemen of the household. The easy and graceful manners of the queen
were in strong contrast to the arrogant and vulgar style of Isabella,
whose character is so dark a stain upon Spanish royalty. Every seat of
the large circular theatre was occupied. Open to the sky, it was not
unlike what the Coliseum of Rome must have been in its glory, and held
an audience, we should judge, of over seventeen thousand. Nearly all
classes were represented, for a Spaniard must be poor indeed who cannot
find a dollar to pay his way into the bull-ring. The better seats were
occupied by ladies and gentlemen, the lower priced ones by the
masses,--both sexes being fully represented in each class of seats.
Those located on the east and southerly sides are covered to protect the
grandees, while the masses sitting in the sun hold fans or paper screens
before their eyes.

There was a cold, murderous, business-like aspect to all the
arrangements, and everything, however repulsive to strangers, was taken
by the audience at large quite as a matter of course. The immense crowd
were not very noisy or demonstrative, contenting themselves with smoking
a