opularity with the
people by killing a bull with his own lance on the birthday of his son,
Philip II. Philip IV. is also known to have taken a personal part in
bull-fights. During this period the lance was discarded in favour of the
short spear (_rejoncillo_), and the leg armour still worn by the
_picadores_ was introduced. The accession of the house of Bourbon witnessed
a radical transformation in the character of the bullfight, which the
aristocracy began gradually to neglect, admitting to the combats
professional subordinates who, by the end of the 17th century, had become
the only active participants in the bull-ring. The first great professional
_espada_ (_i.e._ swordsman, the chief bull-fighter, who actually kills the
bull) was Francisco Romero, of Ronda in Andalusia (about 1700), who
introduced the _estoque_, the sword still used to kill the bull, and the
_muleta_, the red flag carried by the _espada_ (see below), the spear
falling into complete disuse.

For the past two centuries the art of bull-fighting has developed gradually
into the spectacle of to-day. Imitations of the Spanish bull-fights have
been repeatedly introduced into France and Italy, but the cruelty of the
sport has prevented its taking firm root. In Portugal a kind of
bull-baiting is practised, in which neither man nor beast is much hurt, the
bulls having their horns truncated and padded and never being killed. In
Spain many vain attempts have been made to abolish the sport, by Ferdinand
II. himself, instigated by his wife Isabella, by Charles III., by Ferdinand
VI., and by Charles IV.; and several popes placed its devotees under the
ban of excommunication with no perceptible effect upon its popularity.
Before the introduction of railways there were comparatively few bull-rings
(_plazas de toros_) in Spain, but these have largely multiplied in recent
years, in both Spain and Spanish America. At the present day nearly every
larger town and city in Spain has its _plaza de toros_ (about 225
altogether), built in the form of the Roman circuses with an oval open
arena covered with sand, surrounded by a stout fence about 6 ft. high.
Between this and the seats of the spectators is a narrow passage-way, where
those bull-fighters who are not at the moment engaged take their stations.
The _plazas de toros_ are of all sizes, from that of Madrid, which holds
more than 12,000 spectators, down to those seating only two or three
thousand. Every bull-ring has its