Bound thy symbol of light and law,
And ever the stars above look down On thy stars below in Frederick Town.
BARBARA HOLABIRD, the rattle-pate of the Holabird sisters in
A.D.T. Whitney's _We Girls_. She coins words and bakes lace-edged
griddle-cakes and contrives rhymes, and tells on the last page of the
book how it was made. "We rushed in, especially I, Barbara, and did
little bits, and so it came to be a Song o' Sixpence, and at last four
Holabirds were 'singing in the pie.'"--(1868.)
BARBARA'S HISTORY, story of young, untrained but bright and attractive
girl who marries a man of the world. The conflict of two strong,
wayward natures is long and fierce, resulting in temporary separation,
and the discipline of sorrow and absence in reconciliation.--Amelia B.
Edwards.
BARBAROSSA ("_red beard_"), surname of Frederick I. of Germany
(1121-1190). It is said that he never died, but is still sleeping in
Kyffhauserberg in Thuringia. There he sits at a stone table with his
six knights, waiting the "fulness of time," when he will come from his
cave to rescue Germany from bondage, and give her the foremost place
of all the-world. His beard has already grown through the table-slab,
but must wind itself thrice round the table before his second advent.
(See MANSUR, CHARLEMAGNE, ABTHUR, DESMOND, SEBASTIAN I., to whom
similar legends are attached.)
Like Barbarossa, who sits in a cave,
Taciturn, sombre, sedate, and grave.
Longfellow, _The Golden Legend_.
_Barbarossa_, a tragedy by John Brown. This is not Frederick
Barbarossa, the emperor of Germany (1121-1190), but Horne Barbarossa,
the corsair (1475-1519). He was a renegade Greek, of Mitylenê, who
made himself master of Algeria, which was for a time subject to
Turkey. He killed the Moorish king; tried to cut off Selim the son,
but without success; and wanted to marry Zaphi'ra, the king's widow,
who rejected his suit with scorn, and was kept in confinement for
seven years. Selim returned unexpectedly to Algiers, and a general
rising took place; Barbarossa was slain by the insurgents; Zaphira was
restored to the throne; and Selim her son married Irenê the daughter
of Barbarossa (1742).
BAR'BARA (_St._), the patron saint of arsenals. When her father was
about to strike off her head, she was killed by a flash of lightning.
BARBASON, the name of a demon. Amaimon sounds well; Lucifer well;
Barbason well; yet they are ... the names of fiends.--_Merry Wives of
Windsor_, ii. 2.
I am not Barbason, you cannot conjure me.--_Henry
V_. ii. 1.
BAR'BASON, the name of a demon mentioned in _The Merry Wives of
Windsor_, act ii. sc. 2 (1596).
I am not Barbason; you cannot conjure me.--Shakespeare,
_Henry V_. act ii. sc. I (1599).
BARBY ELSTER, sharp-tongued and sweet-hearted "help" in the Rossiter
family in Susan Warner's _Queechy_. She considers herself her
employers' more-than-equal and loses no opportunity of expressing the
conviction.--(1852.)
BARCLAY OF URY, an Aberdeen laird, persecuted as a "Quaker coward"
by a mob of former friends and dependents, offers no resistance and
refuses defence from the sword of an ancient henchman.
"Is the sinful servant more
Than his gracious Lord who bore
Bonds and stripes in Jewry?"
J.G. Whittier, _Barclay of Ury_.
BARCO'CHEBAH, an antichrist.
Shared the fall of the antichrist Barcochebar.--Professor
Selwin, _Ecce Homo_.
BARD OF AVON, Shakespeare, born and buried at Stratford-upon-Avon
(1564-1616).
_Bard of Ayrshire_, Robert Burns, a native of Ayrshire (1759-1796).
_Bard of Hope_, Thomas Campbell, author of _The Pleasures of Hope_
(1777-1844).
_Bard of the Imagination_, Mark Akenside, author of _The Pleasures of
the Imagination_ (1721-1770).
_Bard of Memory_, S. Rogers, author of _The Pleasures of Memory_
(1762-1855).
_Bard of Olney_, W. Cowper _[Coo'-per]_, who lived for many years at
Olney, in Bucks (1731-1800).
_Bard of Prose_, Boccaccio.
He of the hundred tales of love.
Byron, _Childe Harold_, iv. 56 (1818).
_Bard of Rydal Mount_, William Wordsworth, who lived at Rydal
Mount; also called "Poet of the Excursion," from his principal poem
(1770-1850).
_Bard of Twickenham_, Alexander Pope, who lived at Twickenham
(1688-1744).
BARDELL _(Mrs.)_, landlady of "apartments for single gentlemen" in
Groswell Street. Here Mr. Pickwick lodged for a time. She persuaded
herself that he would make her a good second husband, and on one
occasion was seen in his arms by his three friends. Mrs. Bardell put
herself in the hands of Messrs. Dodson and Fogg (two unprincipled
lawyers), who vamped up a case against Mr. Pickwick of "breach of
promise," and obtained a verdict against the defendant. Subsequently
Messrs. Dodson and Fogg arrested their own client, and lodged her in
the Fleet.--C. Dickens, _The Pickwick Papers_ (1836).
BARDE'SANIST (4 _syl_.), a follower of Barde'san, founder of a Gnostic
sect in the second century.
BARDO BARDI, aged blind scholar, father of Romola. She is his
colaborer in the studies he pursues despite his infirmity.--George
Eliot, _Romola_.
BAR'DOLPH, corporal of captain sir John Falstaff, in 1 and 2 _Henry
IV._ and in _The Merry Wives of Windsor_. In _Henry V._ he is promoted
to lieutenant, and Nym is corporal. Both are hanged. Bardolph is a
bravo, but great humorist; he is a lowbred, drunken swaggerer, wholly
without principle, and always poor. His red, pimply nose is an
everlasting joke with sir John and others. Sir John in allusion
thereto calls Bardolph "The Knight of the Burning Lamp." He says to
him, "Thou art our admiral, and bearest the lantern in the poop."
Elsewhere he tells the corporal he had saved him a "thousand marks in
links and torches, walking with him in the night betwixt tavern and
tavern."--Shakespeare.
We are much of the mind of Falstaff's tailor.
We must have better assurance for sir John than
Bardolph's.--Macaulay.
(The reference is to 2 _Henry IV_. act i. sc. 2. When Falstaff asks
Page, "What said Master Dumbleton about the satin for my short cloak
and slops!" Page replies, "He said, sir, you should procure him better
assurance than Bardolph. He ... liked not the security.")
BARDON _(Hugh)_, the scout-master in the troop of lieutenant
Fitzurse.--Sir W. Scott, _Ivanhoe_ (time, Richard I.).
BAREFOOT BOY, reminiscence of the author's own boyhood in Whittier's
poem, _The Barefoot Boy_.
Prince thou art,--the grown-up man
Only is republican.
BARÈRE (2 _syl_.), an advocate of Toulouse, called "The Anacreon of
the Guillotine." He was president of the Convention, a member of the
Constitutional Committee, and chief agent in the condemnation to death
of Louis XVI. As member of the Committee of Public Safety, he decreed
that "Terror must be the order of the day." In the first empire Barère
bore no public part, but at the restoration he was banished from
France, and retired to Brussels (1755-1841).
The filthiest and most spiteful Yahoo of the
fiction was a noble creature compared with the
Barère of history.--Lord Macaulay.
BARFÜSLE, pretty German child, left an orphan at a tender age, and
cast upon the world. She maintains herself reputably and resists
many temptations until she is happily married.--Bernard Auerbach,
_Barfüsle._
BAR'GUEST, a goblin armed with teeth and claws. It would sometimes set
up in the streets a most fearful scream in the "dead waste and middle
of the night." The faculty of seeing this monster was limited to a
few, but those who possessed it could by the touch communicate the
"gift" to others.--_Fairy Mythology, North of England_.
BAR'GULUS, an Illyrian robber or pirate.
Bargulus, Illyrius latro, de quo est apud Theopompum
magnas opes habuit.--Cicero, _De Officiis_,
ii. 11.
BARICONDO, one of the leaders of the Moorish army. He was slain by the
duke of Clarence.--Ariosto, _Orlando Furioso_ (1516).
BARKER (.Mr.), friend to Sowerberry. _Mrs. Barker_, his wife.--W.
Brough, _A Phenomenon in a Smock Frock_.
BAR'KIS, the carrier who courted [Clara] Peggot'ty, by telling
David Copperfield when he wrote home to say to his nurse "Barkis is
willin'." Clara took the hint and became Mrs. Barkis.
He dies when the tide goes out, confirming the
superstition that people can't die till the tide goes
out, or be born till it is in. The last words he
utters are "Barkis is willin'."--C. Dickens, _David
Copperfield_, xxx. (1849).
(Mrs. Quickly says of sir John Falstaff, "'A parted even just between
twelve and one, e'en at the turning o' the tide."--_Henry V_. act ii.
sc. 3, 1599.)
BAR'LAHAM AND JOSAPHAT, the heroes and title of a minnesong, the
object of which was to show the triumph of Christian doctrines over
paganism. Barlaham is a hermit who converts Josaphat, an Indian
prince. This "lay" was immensely popular in the Middle Ages, and
has been translated into every European language.--Rudolf of Ems (a
minnesinger, thirteenth century).
BARLEY _(Bill)_, Clara's father. Chiefly remarkable for drinking rum,
and thumping on the floor.--C. Dickens, _Great Expectations_ (1860).
BARLEYCORN (_Sir John_), Malt-liquor personified. His neighbors vowed
that sir John should die, so they hired ruffians to "plough him with
ploughs and bury him;" this they did, and afterwards "combed him with
harrows and thrust clods on his head," but did not kill him. Then with
hooks and sickles they "cut his legs off at the knees," bound him like
a thief, and left him "to wither with the wind," but he died not. They
now "rent him to the heart," and having "mowed him in a mow," sent two
bravos to beat him with clubs, and they beat him so sore that "all his
flesh fell from his bones," but yet he died not. To a kiln they next
hauled him, and burnt him like a martyr, but he survived the burning.
They crushed him between two stones, but killed him not. Sir John bore
no malice for this ill-usage, but did his best to cheer the flagging
spirits even of his worst persecutors.
[Illustration] This song, from the _English Dancing-Master_ (1651), is
generally ascribed to Robert Burns, but all that the Scotch poet did
was slightly to alter parts of it. The same may be said of "Auld lang
Syne," "Ca' the Yowes," "My Heart is Sair for Somebody," "Green grow
the Rashes, O!" and several other songs, set down to the credit of
Burns.
BARLOW, the favorite archer of Henry VIII. He was jocosely created
by the merry monarch "Duke of Shoreditch," and his two companions
"Marquis of Islington" and "Earl of Pancras."
_Barlow (Billy)_, a jester, who fancied himself a "mighty potentate."
He was well known in the east of London, and died in Whitechapel
workhouse. Some of his sayings were really witty, and some of his
attitudes truly farcical.
BAR'MECIDE. Schacabac "the hare-lipped," a man in the greatest
distress, one day called on the rich Barmecide, who in merry jest
asked him to dine with him. Barmecide first washed in hypothetical
water, Schacabac followed his example. Barmecide then pretended to eat
of various dainties, Schacabac did the same, and praised them highly,
and so the "feast" went on to the close. The story says Barmecide was
so pleased that Schacabac had the good sense and good temper to enter
into the spirit of the joke without resentment, that he ordered in
a real banquet, at which Schacabac was a welcome guest.--_Arabian
Nights_ ("The Barber's Sixth Brother").
BAR'NABAS _(St.)_, a disciple of Gamaliel, cousin of St. Mark, and
fellow-laborer with St. Paul. He was martyred at Salamis, A.D. 63.
_St. Barnabas' Day_ is June 11.--_Acts_ iv. 36, 37.
BAR'NABY _(Widow)_, the title and chief character of a novel by Mrs.
Trollope (1839). The widow is a vulgar, pretentious husband-hunter,
wholly without principle. _Widow Barnaby_ has a sequel called _The
Barnabys in America, or The Widow Married_, a satire on America and
the Americans (1840).
BARNABY RUDGE, a half-witted whose companion is a raven. He is enticed
into joining the Gordon rioters.--C. Dickens, _Barnaby Budge_ (1841).
(See RUDGE.)
BARNACLE, brother of old Nicholas Cockney, and guardian of Priscilla
Tomboy of the West Indies. Barnacle is a tradesman of the old school,
who thinks the foppery and extravagance of the "Cockney" school
inconsistent with prosperous shop-keeping. Though brusque and
even ill-mannered, he has good sense and good discernment of
character.--_The Romp_ (altered from Bickerstaff's _Love in the
City_).
BARNADINE, malefactor, condemned to death, "who will not die that day,
upon any man's persuasion."--Shakespeare, _Measure for Measure_.
BARNES (1 _syl_.), servant to colonel Mannering, at Woodburne.--Sir W.
Scott, _Guy Mannering_ (time, George II.).
BARNEY, a repulsive Jew, who waited on the customers at the low
public-house frequented by Fagin and his associates. Barney always
spoke through his nose.--C. Dickens, _Oliver Twist_ (1837).
BARN'STABLE (_Lieutenant_), in the British navy, in love with Kate
Plowden, niece of colonel Howard of New York. The alliance not being
approved of, Kate is removed from England to America, but Barnstable
goes to America to discover her retreat. In this he succeeds, but
being seized as a spy, is commanded by colonel Howard to be hung to
the yardarm of an American frigate called the _Alacrity_. Scarcely is
the young man led off, when the colonel is informed that Barnstable is
his own son, and he arrives at the scene of execution just in time
to save him. Of course after this he marries the lady of his
affection.--E. Fitzball, _The Pilot_ (a burletta).
BARNWELL (_George_), the chief character and title of a tragedy by
George Lillo. George Barnwell is a London apprentice, who falls in
love with Sarah Millwood of Shoreditch, who leads him astray. He first
robs his master of £200. He next robs his uncle, a rich grazier at
Ludlow, and murders him. Having spent all the money of his iniquity,
Sarah Millwood turns him off and informs against him. Both are
executed (1732).
[Illustration] For many years this play was acted on boxing-night, as
a useful lesson to London apprentices. BARON (_The old English_), a
romance by Clara Reeve (1777).
BAR'RABAS, the rich "Jew of Malta." He is simply a human monster,
who kills in sport, poisons whole nunneries, and invents infernal
machines. Shakespeare's "Shylock" has a humanity in the very whirlwind
of his resentment, but Marlowe's "Barrabas" is a mere ideal of
that "thing" which Christian prejudice once deemed a Jew. (See
BARABAS.)--Marlowe, _The Jew of Malta_ (1586).
_Bar'rabas_, the famous robber and murderer set free instead of Christ
by desire of the Jews. Called in the New Testament _Barab'has_.
Marlowe calls the word "Barrabas" in his _Jew of Malta_, and
Shakespeare says:
"Would any of the stock of Bar'rabas
Had been her husband, rather than a Christian."
_Merchant of Venice_, act iv. sc. 1 (1598).
BARRY CORNWALL, the _nom de plume_ of Bryan Waller Procter. It is an
imperfect anagram of his name (1788-1874).
BARSAD (_John), alias_ Solomon Pross, a spy.
He had an aquiline nose, but not straight,
having a peculiar inclination towards the left
cheek; expression, therefore, sinister.--C. Dickens,
_A Tale of Two Cities_, ii. 16 (1859).
BARSIS'A (_Santon_), in _The Guardian_, the basis of the story called
_The Monk_, by M. G. Lewis (1796).
BARSTON, _alias_ captain Fenwicke, a jesuit and secret correspondent
of the conntess of Derby.--Sir W. Scott, _Peveril of the Peak_ (time,
Charles II.).
BARTHOL'OMEW (_Brother_), guide of the two Philipsons on their way to
Strasburg.
--Sir W. Scott, _Anne of Geierstein_ (time, Edward IV.).
_Bartholomew (St.)._ His day is August 24, and his symbol a knife, in
allusion to the knife with which he is said to have been flayed alive.
BARTLEY HUBBARD, the "smart" newspaper-man in _A Modern Instance_, by
William Dean Howells (1883). He also plies his trade and exhibits his
assurance in _The Rise of Silas Lapham_ (1885).
BARTOLDO, a rich old miser, who died of fear and want of sustenance.
Fazio rifled his treasures, and on the accusation of his own wife was
tried and executed.--Dean Milman, _Fazio_ (1815).
_Bartoldo_, same as _Bertoldo_ (_q.v._).
BARTOLI (in French _Barthole_, better known, however, by the Latin
form of the name, _Bartolus_) was the most famous master of the
dialectical school of jurists (1313-1356). He was born at Sasso
Ferrata in Italy, and was professor of Civil Law at the University of
Perugia. His reputation was at one time immense, and his works were
quoted as authority in nearly every European court. Hence the French
proverb, applied to a well-read lawyer, _He knows his "Barthole" as
well as a Cordelier his "Dormi_" (an anonymous compilation of sermons
for the use of the Cordelier monks). Another common French expression,
_Résolu comme Barthole_ ("as decided as Barthole"), is a sort of
punning allusion to his _Resolutiones Bartoli_, a work in which the
knottiest questions are solved with _ex cathedra_ peremptoriness.
BAR'TOLUS, a covetous lawyer, husband of Amaran'ta.--Beaumont and
Fletcher, _The Spanish Curate_ (1622).
BARTON (_Sir Andrew_), a Scotch sea-officer, who had obtained in 1511
letters of marque for himself and his two sons, to make reprisals upon
the subjects of Portugal. The council-board of England, at which the
earl of Surrey presided, was daily pestered by complaints from British
merchants and sailors against Barton, and at last it was decided to
put him down. Two ships were, therefore, placed under the commands of
sir Thomas and sir Edward Howard, an engagement took place, and sir
Andrew Barton was slain, bravely fighting. A ballad in two parts,
called "Sir Andrew Barton," is inserted in Percy's _Reliques_, II. ii.
12.
BARTRAM, the lime-burner, an obtuse, middle-aged clown in _Ethan
Brand_ by Nathaniel Hawthorne. When he finds the suicide's skeleton in
the kiln, the heart whole within the ribs, he congratulates himself
that "his kiln is half a bushel richer for him" (1846).
BARUCH. _Dites, donc, avez-vous lu Baruch?_ Said when a person puts
an unexpected question, or makes a startling proposal. It arose thus:
Lafontaine went one day with Racine to _tenebrae_, and was given a
Bible. He turned at random to the "Prayer of the Jews," in Baruch, and
was so struck with it that he said aloud to Racine, "Dites, donc, who
was this Baruch? Why, do you know, man, he was a fine genius;" and
for some days afterwards the first question he asked his friends was,
_Diles, done, Mons., avez-vous lu Baruch?_
BARZIL'LAI (3 _syl_.), the duke of Ormond, a friend and firm adherent
of Charles II. As Barzillai assisted David when he was expelled by
Absalom from his kingdom, so Ormond assisted Charles II. when he was
in exile.
Barzillai, crowned with honors and with years,...
In exile with his god-like prince he mourned,
For him he suffered, and with him returned.
Dryden, _Absalom and Achitophel_, i.
BASA-ANDRE, the wild woman, a sorceress, married to Basa-Jaun, a
sort of vampire. Basa-Andre sometimes is a sort of land mermaid (a
beautiful lady who sits in a cave combing her locks with a golden
comb). She hates church bells. (See BASA-JAUN.)
BASA-JAUN, a wood-sprite, married to Basa-Andre, a sorceress. Both
hated the sound of church bells. Three brothers and their sister
agreed to serve him, but the wood-sprite used to suck blood from the
finger of the girl, and the brothers resolved to kill him. This they
accomplished. The Basa-Andre induced the girl to put a tooth into each
of the footbaths of her brothers, and lo! they became oxen. The girl
crossing a bridge saw Basa-Andre, and said if she did not restore her
brothers she would put her into a red-hot oven, so Basa-Andre told the
girl to give each brother three blows on the back with a hazel wand,
and on so doing they were restored to their proper forms.--Rev. W.
Webster, _Basque Legends_, 49 (1877).
BAS BLEU, nickname applied to literary women in the days succeeding
the French Revolution, made familiar in America by J. K. Paulding's
_Azure Hose_.
BASHABA, sachem in J. G.L. Whittier's poem, _The Bridal of Pennacock_.
His beautiful daughter, scorned by the chief to whom Bashaba gave her
in marriage, and detained against her will by her angry father, steals
away by night in a canoe and IS drowned in a vain attempt
To seek the wigwam of her chief once more.
BASHFUL MAN (_The_), a comic drama by
W. T. Moncrieff. Edward Blushington, a young man just come into a
large fortune, is so bashful and shy that life is a misery to him. He
dines at Friendly Hall, and makes all sorts of ridiculous blunders.
His college chum, Frank Friendly, sends word to say that he and his
sister Dinah, with sir Thomas and lady Friendly, will dine with him
at Blushington House. After a few glasses of wine, Edward loses his
shyness, makes a long speech, and becomes the accepted suitor of Dinah
Friendly.
BASIL, the blacksmith of Grand Pré, in Acadia (now _Nova Scotia_), and
father of Gabriel the betrothed of Evangeline. When, the colony was
driven into exile in 1713 by George II., Basil settled in Louisiana,
and greatly prospered; but his son led a wandering life, looking for
Evangeline, and died in Pennsylvania of the plague.--Longfellow,
_Evangeline_ (1849).
BASIL MARCH, a clever, cynical, and altogether charming man of letters
who takes one of the leading parts in William Dean Howells's _Their
Wedding Journey. A Chance Acquaintance_, and _A Hazard of New
Fortunes_.
BA'SILE (2 _syl_.), a calumniating, niggardly bigot in _Le Mariage de
Figaro_, and again in _Le Barbier de Séville_, both by Beaumarchais.
Basile and Tartuffe are the two French incarnations of religious
hypocrisy. The former is the clerical humbug, and the latter the
lay religious hypocrite. Both deal largely in calumny, and trade in
slander.
BASILIS'CO, a bully and a braggart, in _Solyman and Perseda_ (1592).
Shakespeare has made Pistol the counterpart of Basilisco.
Knight, knight, good mother, Basilisco-like.
Shakespeare, _King John_, act i. sc. 1 (1596).
(That is, "my boasting like Basilisco has made me a knight, good
mother.")
BASILISK, supposed to kill with its gaze the person who looked on it.
Thus Henry VI. says to Suffolk, "Come, basilisk, and kill the innocent
gazer with thy sight."
Natus in ardente Lydiæ basiliscus arena,
Vulnerat aspectu, luminibusque nocet.
Mantuanus.
BASILIUS, a neighbor of Quiteria, whom he loved from childhood, but
when grown up the father of the lady forbade him the house, and
promised Quiteria in marriage to Camacho, the richest man of the
vicinity. On their way to church they passed Basilius, who had fallen
on his sword, and all thought he was at the point of death. He prayed
Quiteria to marry him, "for his soul's peace," and as it was deemed
a mere ceremony, they were married in due form. Up then started the
wounded man, and showed that the stabbing was only a ruse, and the
blood that of a sheep from the slaughter-house. Camacho gracefully
accepted the defeat, and allowed the preparations for the general
feast to proceed.
Basilius is strong and active, pitches the bar
admirably, wrestles with amazing dexterity, and
is an excellent cricketer. He runs like a buck,
leaps like a wild goat, and plays at skittles like
a wizard. Then he has a fine voice for singing,
he touches the guitar so as to make it speak, and
handles a foil as well as any fencer in Spain.--Cervantes,
_Don Quixote_, II. ii. 4 (1615).
BASRIG or BAGSECG, a Scandinavian king, who with Halden or Halfdene
(2 _syl_.) king of Denmark, in 871, made a descent on Wessex. In this
year Ethelred fought nine pitched battles with the Danes. The first
was the battle of Englefield, in Berkshire, lost by the Danes; the
next was the battle of Beading, won by the Danes; the third was the
famous battle of Æscesdun or Ashdune (now _Ashton_), lost by the
Danes, and in which king Bagsecg was slain.
And Ethelred with them [_the Danes_] nine sundry fields that fought ...
Then Reading ye regained, led by that valiant lord,
Where Basrig ye outbraved, and Halden sword to sword.
Drayton, _Polyolbion_, xii. (1613).