Early in the eighteenth century the glass of Barcelona was praised by Alvarez de Colmenar ("Il s'y fait de belles verreries"), and we know that all through this period her _forns de vidre_ continued to produce good work, including holy-water vessels of uncoloured glass relieved with blue or with the fine white _latticinio_, the local _arruixadors_ or _borrachas_, and the typical _porrón_. The former of these vessels is of small size, and has several spouts. Commonly it is filled with scented water for gallants to sprinkle on girls at dances in the public square. The _porrón_ invariably excites the curiosity of foreigners,[122] and is often thought to be of purely Spanish origin. This is not so. Upon a Roman lampstand in Naples museum is a figure of Bacchus riding on a tiger and "holding in his hand the horn from which the ancients drank, using it as, among some other peoples, do the modern Catalans--that is, not placing the vessel in their mouth, but holding it aloft and thus imbibing it; a method which requires no small amount of practice." In fact, there is reason to believe that the _porrón_ is derived from a similar vessel in use among the ancient Persians, who poured their liquor from it into the hollow of the hand, and thence imbibed it in the fashion called, in Cataluña and Valencia, _al gallet_. For just as a certain class of American displays his marksmanship in spitting, so does the Catalan who is accomplished in the art, amuse himself and others by causing the ruby wine to spout from his _porrón_ on to the very apex of his nose, continuing from this point, in the form of a fine and undulating rivulet, over his upper lip and down his throat. [122] "The mode of drinking in this country is singular; they hold a broad-bottom'd glass bottle at arm's length, and let the liquor spout out of a long neck upon their tongue; from what I see, their expertness at this exercise arises from frequent practise; for the Catalans drink often and in large quantities, but as yet I have not seen any of them intoxicated."--Swinburne.