"The proportion of _hidalgos_ in the kingdom of Granada is not considerable; for out of six hundred and fifty-two thousand nine hundred and ninety inhabitants, only one thousand nine hundred and seventy-nine are noble; whereas, in the province of León, upon little more than one-third that population, the knights are twenty-two thousand. In the province of Burgos, on four hundred and sixty thousand three hundred and ninety-five inhabitants, one hundred and thirty-four thousand and fifty-six are entitled to all the privileges of nobility; and in Asturias, of three hundred and forty-five thousand eight hundred and thirty-three, nearly one-third enjoy the same distinction."--(_Journey through Spain in the years 1786 and 1787_: Vol. III., pp. 79, 80.) "I bestow the name of craftsmen in silver (_artífices plateros_), not upon all who handle silver or gold, but only upon such as draw, and grave, and execute in relief, whether on a large or small scale, figures and histories from life, just as do the sculptors." These words are quoted from a book, the whole of which was written with the aim of proving that certain classes of Spain's older craftsmen were less abject than the rest.[77] It is not so long ago that the expression _viles artesanos_ ("vile artisans") was banished from the legal phraseology of Spain. "That prejudice," wrote Laborde, "which regards the mechanic arts as base, is not extinguished in Spain, but only abated: hence it happens that they are neglected or abandoned to such unskilful hands that they are wonderfully backward in these matters. The influence of this cause is striking: in Catalonia, laws, customs, and opinions are favourable to artisans, and it is in this province that these arts have made the greatest progress." [77] Licentiate Gaspar Gutierrez de los Ríos, _Noticia general para la estimación de las Artes y la manera en que se conocen las liberales de las que son mecánicas y serviles_. Madrid, 1600. I again have occasion to mention this curious work in my chapter on Spanish tapestries.