wander up and down, audaciously
offering the first prize: '_Quien quiere el premio gardo?_' Beggars
follow you with piteous tales of fasts improbably extended. But most
striking is the _gente flamenca_, the bull-fighter, with his numerous
hangers-on. The _toreros_--toreador is an unknown word, good for comic
opera and persons who write novels of Spanish life and cannot be
bothered to go to Spain--the _toreros_ sit in their especial cafe, the
_Cerveceria National_, or stand in little groups talking to one another.
They are distinguishable by the _coleta_, which is a little plait of
hair used to attach the chignon of full-dress: it is the dearest
ambition of the aspirant to the bull-ring to possess this ornament; he
grows it as soon as he is full-fledged, and it is solemnly cut off when
the weight of years and the responsibility of landed estates induce him
to retire from the profession. The bull-fighter dresses peculiarly and
the _gente flamenca_, imitates him so far as its means allow. A famous
_matador_ is as well paid as in England a Cabinet Minister or a
music-hall artiste. This is his costume: a broad-brimmed hat with a low
crown, which is something like a topper absurdly flattened down, with
brims preposterously broadened out. The front of his shirt is befrilled
and embroidered, and his studs are the largest diamonds; not even
financiers in England wear such important stones. He wears a low collar
without a necktie, but ties a silk handkerchief round his neck like an
English navvy; an Eton jacket, fitting very tightly, brown, black, or
grey, with elaborate frogs and much braiding; the trousers, skin-tight
above, loosen below, and show off the lower extremities when, like the
heroes of feminine romance, the wearer has a fine leg. Indeed, it is a
mode of dress which exhibits the figure to great advantage, and many of
these young men have admirable forms.

In their strong, picturesque way they are often very handsome. They have
a careless grace of gesture, a manner of actors perfectly at ease in an
effective part, a brutal healthiness; there is a flamboyance in their
bearing, a melodramatic swagger, which is most diverting. And their
faces, so contrasted are the colours, so strongly marked the features,
are full of interest. Clean shaven, the beard shows violet through the
olive skin; they have high cheek bones and thin, almost hollow cheeks,
with eyes set far back in the sockets, dark and lustrous under heavy
brows.