Silva in his "Poblacion de España, [Madrid, 1654, p. 243,] repeats the same idea when he says they made at Barcelona, "fine glass which might compete with the Venetian." This industry continued in Cataluña to a great extent in the last century, and was praised by the following writers. The author of the "Atlante Español," [Vol. IV., Madrid, 1778-1795,] tells us that "they continued to make excellent glass at Barcelona, in imitation of the Venetian, with which it might compete," and that this industry was carried out to a great extent at Mataró, Cervelló, and Almatret, all three towns of Cataluña; he says that in this last mentioned town the glass made was "so excellent, and the number of workmen employed was so large, that an oratory had been built in order that the workmen should hear mass there." The constant comparisons which we find between the glass made at Barcelona with that of Murano suggests two things--that Spanish glass must have been of a first-rate order, and that the form of the glass vessels was similar to those made at Venice. It is highly probable that a great part of the specimens of glass of different kinds which are classified as Italian in several collections, are really Spanish, although it is extremely difficult to point out the difference. In this, as in other branches of industry, the mania for classifying has gone too far, and comparative studies of a more concrete order are necessary; until these are made, the principal fact to be borne in mind in classifying glass vessels is to compare them with objects of a similar manufacture which have been made until very lately in Cataluña, and of which an extremely interesting collection exists at the South Kensington Museum, proceeding from Barcelona, Mataró and Cervelló, (Nos. 149 to 193) which will enable the amateur to see how the industry of glass-making has continued traditionally to be preserved in that province. See woodcut opposite representing a glass bottle, also the central vessel in woodcut on p. 238. Among the specimens of old Spanish glass we may consider to have proceeded from Cataluña the following examples, forming part of the collection acquired in 1873. Bottles, Nos. 249 to 262, cups, Nos. 336 to 339, and tumblers, Nos. 303 to 305, 312 to 314, and 328, '29. Among these, there are some which are undoubtedly still made in the locality. The most characteristic are the _arruxiadós_, or _borracha_, a vessel spirally ribbed with several narrow spouts, used by the peasant girls of the villages to sprinkle rose water in the festival of the patron saint of the district; the _porrones_, a bottle with a long spout, used by the peasantry for drinking wine; the _cantaro_, a jug, funnel shaped with wide mouth, handle and curved spout, and the _pilas de agua bendita_, a holy water vessel of different shapes. [Illustration: GLASS BOTTLE.--MODERN SPANISH.]