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328 the various principalities which form our Indian Empire. To pass from Asia to Spain is to travel a long way. In Spain, at the present moment, the illustrated placard is receiving no small attention at the hands of artists who, however discouraged and ill-paid, are determined to do all that in them lies to raise the country which produced Murillo to the position she once held among art-producing nations. A recent writer in the "Sketch" grows enthusiastic over the Spanish affiche. "Spanish posters," he tells us, "are a delight. Well drawn, vividly but truly coloured, and perfectly printed, they shine down from walls and hoardings, attracting all passers-by. They depict the glories of coming fairs and bull-fights, and are couched in terms calculated to draw money from a stone. The announcement that a famous matador will kill, or assist to kill, Seis Escogidos Toros, throws the Spanish reader into a state of frenzy. Not infrequently some incident is depicted with frank realism. A bull standing over a dead horse gives an opportunity to the artist to draw the unfortunate horse disembowelled and lying on blood-stained sand, while the bull's hide shows the marks of the lance-thrusts, and his horns are likewise stained with blood. Colour-printing is so good in these regions of perpetual sunlight that nearly every detail of a matador's costume can be given. The poster artists are splendid when they depict