[83] Hierro means iron; yerro, a fault, faux pas. Thus glossed, the somewhat feeble pleasantry or pun is able to explain itself.
[84] These laws affecting balconies were not, or not as time went on, restricted to Granada. “Nobody,” prescribes the general Spanish code in force in 1628, “shall make a balcony or oversailing part to fall upon the street, nor yet rebuild or repair any that shall fall.”—Pradilla, Suma de Todas las Leyes Penales, Canonicas, Civiles, y destos Reynos.
[BRONZES]
The earliest objects of bronze discovered in this country are comparatively few. As in other parts of Europe, they consist mostly of weapons, such as spear-heads and hatchets (which will be noticed under Arms), or bracelets, necklaces, and clasps or brooches. Earrings (inaures), brooches (fibulæ), and other objects of a similar purpose dating from the Roman period have been discovered in Galicia, while plates of the same alloy[85] which imitate a shell were used as personal ornaments by the men and women of the ancient Spanish tribes.
The province of Palencia is a fertile field for archæological discovery. Here have been found some curious clasps, intended, it would seem, to represent the old Iberian mounted warrior, sometimes brandishing the typical Iberian lance. The following is a sketch in outline of an object of this kind, fashioned as clumsily and crudely as the cheapest wooden plaything of our time:—
Two parts—the figure of the horseman, and a four-wheeled stand on which the warrior's steed is resolutely set—compose this comical antiquity. The rider's only article of clothing is a helmet; while the horse, without a saddle or a bridle, is completely nude. This toy, or table ornament, or whatever it may be, was found not far from Badajoz, where other prehistoric bronzes are preserved in the museum of the province;[86] and Mr E. S. Dodgson says that in possession of an Englishman at Comillas he has seen another bronze rider of primitive workmanship, with the head of a wild boar under his left arm. Those who are interested in the meaning of these early bronzes should consult an article, El jinete ibérico, by Señor Mélida, published in Nos. 90–92 of the Boletín de la Sociedad Española de Excursiones.
