Barcelona is one of the towns distinguished for the antiquity and excellence of its glass. In a municipal edict of 1324, we find a special prohibition that the glass ovens should not be inside the city, owing to the danger they might cause to the rest of the population. In 1455, permission was granted to the _vidrieros_, glassmakers, to form a guild under the patronage of St. Bernardino, and from this period some of its members figure as holding municipal charges. Capmany, "Memorias," Vol. I. p. 134. According to this author, the special Ordinances of this corporation are not known, but only those which were given by the municipality in 1659. He adds that the master _vidrieros_ required six years of apprenticeship and practice to be admitted to work. From the 15th century several authors praise the glass made at Barcelona. In a MS. by Jeronimo Paulo, who writes in 1491, a description in Latin of the most remarkable things at Barcelona, he says, "they also send to Rome and other places many glass vessels of different sorts and kinds which may well compete with those of Venice." In the account of Philip le Bel's journey to Spain on his marriage with Queen Joanna we find the following mention of the town of Barcelona: "Et sont là faicts les plus beauls ouvrages de voires (verres) et de cire qui soient faicts au monde. Le Jordi (19 Janvier, 1503) Monsigneur alla au dehors de la ville vioir ung jour où on faict voires (verres) de cristallin très beaus." ["Collection des Voyages," Bruxelles, 1876, Vol. I., p. 257.] Marineus Siculus, who writes early in the 16th century says, "the best glass made in Spain is that of Barcelona," and Gaspar Barreiros in his "Chorographia," [Coimbra, 1569,] tells us, "they made excellent glass at Barcelona, almost equal to the Venetian." At the beginning of the 17th century the authors, Jaime Rebullosa, in his "Descripcion del mundo," [Barcelona, 1603, 8vo,] and Luis Nuñez in "Hispania," [Antverpiæ, 1607, 8vo, p. 279,] continue to praise the glass made at Barcelona, and from that period we find its merit and the vast quantity which was exported constantly alluded to. The fame of Spanish glass must have been justified, for in the "Viage del Cardinal Infante," by Aedo, printed in 1639, we find it stated that when the Infant Cardinal was at Barcelona, in 1632, he went with his galleys to Mataró, four leagues from Barcelona, to see the "glass made there which was so abundantly sold all over the country." The Spanish translator of "La Piazza universale di tutte le professioni," [Madrid, 1615,] adds the name of Barcelona to the Italian author's mention of glass objects made in Venice, saying, "This industry has reached such a degree of excellence at Murano and Barcelona that nothing can be compared to it; there is nothing now which cannot be made of glass and crystal, even cabinets have been made, and castles with their towers, battlements, artillery, and fortifications." Mendez