Page:Pictures of life in Mexico Vol 1.djvu/185

Rh points of view, whether for sitting or standing, have been eagerly contended for, and are fully occupied. Noble and beautiful ladies fill the seats of honour, their faces glowing with animation and anticipated pleasure, arrayed in the richest lace and embroidery; their heads, busts and arms, almost covered with gems and ornaments. Gentlemen, strutting in all the pride of sumptuous full dress, high station, and fancied superiority, attend the ladies; their sonorous voices and dignified gallantries breaking upon the ear from time to time; and the gorgeous variety of their fashionable attire and equipment, adding a bewildering splendour to the view. Priests also are there—holy ecclesiastics, clothed in their ample draperies and sacerdotal pomp, and as eager for the coming sport as the rest of the crowd. Showily dressed and subservient attendants on the ladies and cavalleros, townsfolk and tradespeople of every grade, with attendants and officers of the arena, make up the many coloured throng; which is fringed by dusky and dirty Indians lounging on the outskirts, and prodigious numbers of léperos and pickpockets.

Impatient exclamations, oaths and vehement