monkey, with greenish-brown hair, of the size of a large cat, remarkable
for docility, also called the _magot_. It is common in Barbary and other
parts of Africa, and some used to live formerly on Gibraltar Rock, being
the only European monkey, though probably not indigenous. It has been the
'showman's ape' from time immemorial.
BAR'BASTEL, or BARBASTELLE, a bat with hairy lips (_Barbastellus
comm[=u]nis_), a native of England.
BARBAS'TRO, a city, Spain, Arragon, province of Huesca, with an interesting
cathedral, and some trade and manufactures. Pop. 7202.
BAR'BAULD, Anna Letitia, English poet and general writer, was born in
Leicestershire, 1743, daughter of a Presbyterian minister named Aikin. She
published a small volume of miscellaneous poems in 1772, and in 1773, in
conjunction with her brother, Dr. John Aikin, a collection of pieces in
prose. In 1774 she married the Rev. Rochemont Barbauld. Her _Early Lessons
and Hymns for Children_, and various essays and poems, won considerable
popularity. She edited a collection of English novels, with critical and
biographical notices; a selection from the British essayists of the reign
of Anne, and another from Richardson's correspondence. Her last long poem,
_Eighteen Hundred and Eleven_, appeared in 1812. She died at
Stoke-Newington, 1825.
BAR'BECUE, a word of West Indian origin, meaning a hog, or other large
animal, roasted whole. In the United States the word means a large
gathering of people in the open air, for a social or political feast, where
whole animals are roasted and eaten.
BARBED WIRE, wire-rope for fencing or other purposes, having fixed in it
short bent pieces of wire with sharp projecting points, which serve to keep
animals from pressing against it. There is an Act of Parliament (1893) to
prevent the use of barbed-wire fences that form a nuisance on a public road
or path; and a person employing barbed wire for fencing may render himself
liable for damages caused by it to another person who is legitimately using
the adjoining ground. Barbed wire plays an important part in the
construction of obstacles in modern warfare. During the European War, all
systems of trenches were protected by thick belts of wire. This wire was
laid out in various different ways, two of the best being known as the
Concertina Fence and the Double-apron Fence.
BARBEL (Barbus), a genus of freshwater fishes of the carp family,
distinguished by the four fleshy filaments growing from the lips, two at
the nose and one at each corner of the mouth, forming the kind of beard to
which the genus owes its name. Of the several species the European _Barbus
vulg[=a]ris_, common in most rivers, has an average length of from 12 to 18
inches, and in form and habits strongly resembles the pike. Its body is
elongated and rounded, olive-coloured above and bluish on the sides, and
covered with small scales. The upper jaw, which is much longer than the
lower, forms a snout, with which it bores into the mud for worms, insects,
aquatic plants, &c. It is common in the Thames, where it gives good sport
to the angler; but its flesh is very coarse, and at the time of spawning
the roe is dangerous to eat.
BARBER, one whose occupation is to shave or trim the beard, or to cut and
dress hair. The practice of surgery was formerly a part of the craft, and
by an Act of Henry VIII the Company of Barbers was incorporated with the
Company of Surgeons--the company being then known as the
Barber-surgeons--with the limitation, however, that the surgeons were not
to shave or practise 'barbery', and the barbers were to perform no higher
surgical operation than blood-letting and tooth-drawing. This continued
till the time of George II. The signs of the old profession--the pole which
the patient grasped, its spiral decoration in imitation of the bandage, and
the basin to catch the blood--are still sometimes retained. The barbers'
shops, always notorious for gossip, were in some measure the news centres
of classic and mediaeval times. The ancient hall in London, formerly used
by the Barber-surgeons, is still standing in Markwell Street, Cripplegate.
BARBERINI (b[.a]r-be-r[=e]'n[=e]), a celebrated Florentine family, which,
since the pontificate of Maffeo Barberini (Urban VIII, 1623-44), has
occupied a distinguished place among the nobility of Rome. During his reign
Urban was chiefly intent on the aggrandizement of his three nephews, of
whom two were appointed cardinals, and the third Prince of Palestrina.
[Illustration: Barberry _(Berb[)e]ris aristata)_]
BAR'BERRY, a genus of shrubs, nat. ord. Berberidaceae. The common barberry
(_Berb[)e]ris vulg[=a]ris_) has serrate, pointed leaves (the primary ones
reduced to tripartite spines), hanging clusters of yellow flowers, and
small, orange-red berries, which are sometimes made into preserves. The
inner bark and roots yield a fine yellow dye (berberine). The shrub is a
native of temperate Asia, but is now generally diffused through Europe and
N. America. In Britain it has been almost universally banished from
hedgerows, owing to its connection with the black rust of wheat. Numerous
other species inhabit Asia and America; those of the section Mahonia have
pinnate leaves. _B. aristata_ is an erect bush, with furrowed red-brown
branches, and pendulous clusters of yellow flowers; it thrives best in the
south. See _Irritability_ and _Rust_.
BAR'BERTON, the chief mining-centre of De Kaap gold-fields, Transvaal,
about 80 miles from Lydenburg, and 150 to 160 from Delagoa Bay. British
prisoners were confined here in the Boer War (1899-1902). Pop. about 2000
(whites).
BAR'BETS (Bucconidae), a family of climbing birds with a thick conical
beak, having tufts of bristles at its base. Their wings are short and their
flight somewhat heavy. They have been divided into three sub-genera: The
_barbicans_ (Pogonias), inhabiting India and Africa, and feeding chiefly on
fruit; the _barbets_ proper (Bucco), found in Africa and America, and
nearly related to the woodpeckers; and the _puff-birds_ (Tamatia),
inhabiting America, and feeding on insects.
BARBETTE (b[.a]r-bet'), an elevation of earth behind the breastwork of a
fortification, from which the artillery may be fired over the parapet
instead of through an embrasure. In ships of war the name is given to a
strong breastwork of armour over which heavy guns are fired. See
_Fortification_.
BARBEYRAC (b[.a]r-b[=a]-r[.a]k), Jean, an able writer on jurisprudence and
natural law, translator of Grotius and Cumberland, and translator and
annotator of Pufendorf. Born 1674; professor of law at Lausanne and
Groningen; died 1744.
BARBICAN. See _Barbacan_.
BARBIE DU BOCAGE (b[.a]rb-y[=a] due b[=o]-kaezh), Jean Denis, a
distinguished geographer, born in Paris in 1760, who laid the foundation of
his fame in 1788 by his _Atlas_ to Barthelemy's _Voyage du Jeune
Anacharsis_. His maps and plans to the works of Thucydides, Xenophon, &c.,
exhibit much erudition, and materially advanced the science of ancient
geography. He also prepared many modern maps, and published various
excellent dissertations. He held many honourable posts, and died in 1825.
BARBIER (b[.a]rb-y[=a]), Antoine Alexandre, bibliographer (1765-1825). He
was appointed keeper of the library of the Conseil d'Etat in 1798; Napoleon
made him his librarian in 1807; and he was afterwards librarian to Louis
XVIII. His _Catalogue de la Bibliotheque du Conseil d'Etat_ (1801-3), and
_Dictionnaire des Ouvrages Anonymes et Pseudonymes_ (1806-9), are both
valuable works.
BARBIERI (b[.a]r-b[=e]-[=a]'r[=e]), Giovanni Francesco (otherwise known as
_Guercino_ (the squinter) _da Cento_), an eminent and prolific historical
painter, born near Bologna 1590, died in 1666. His style showed the
influence of Caravaggio and of the Caracci, his best work being of the
latter school. Chief work, a _St. Petronilla_ in the Capitol at Rome; but
most of the large galleries have pictures by him.
BARBIERI, Paolo Antonio, a celebrated still-life and animal painter, was a
brother of Guercino; born 1596, died 1640.
BARBITONE. See _Veronal_.
BARBIZON (b[.a]r-b[=e]-z[=o]n), a French village about 25 miles south by
east of Paris, on the borders of the Forest of Fontainebleau, and 6 miles
north-west of the town of that name. It has given its name to a French
school of painters, including Corot, Millet, Rousseau, Jules Dupre, and
Daubigny.
BAR'BOUR, John, an ancient Scottish poet, contemporary with Chaucer, born
about 1316. By 1357 he was Archdeacon of Aberdeen, and in the following
year was appointed a commissioner to treat for the ransom of David II. He
appears as Auditor of the Exchequer more than once; he travelled through
England on several occasions, and was pensioned by Robert II. His chief
poem, _The Bruce_ (Brus), written about 1375, was first published in 1571,
and the chief manuscripts of the poem are those in the Advocates' Library,
Edinburgh, dated 1489, and in St. John's College, Cambridge. Of another
long poem, setting forth the Trojan origin of the Scottish kings, no MS.
remains, unless a portion of two Troy books in the Cambridge and Bodleian
libraries may be ascribed to Barbour. He has also been credited with having
compiled a _Book of Legends of Saints_, existing in a single MS. at
Cambridge, and published in 1881-2 by Horstman in his _Legenden Sammlung_.
He died in 1395. He was the father of Scottish poetry and history, and his
_Bruce_ is linguistically of high value. Though wanting in the higher
qualities of poetry, it is truthful and natural, and often exhibits a high
moral dignity.--BIBLIOGRAPHY: Andrew Lang, _History of Scotland_; Irving,
_History of Scottish Poetry_.
BARBUDA (b[.a]r-boe'da), one of the West Indies, annexed by Britain in
1628; about 15 miles long and 8 miles wide; lying north of Antigua; pop.
580. It is flat, fertile, and healthy. Corn, cotton, pepper, and tobacco
are the principal produce, but the island is only partially cleared for
cultivation. There is no harbour, but a well-sheltered roadstead on the
west side. It is a dependency of Antigua.
BARBUSSE, Henri, a French author born at Asnieres in 1874. He served in the
French army during the European War, and his descriptions of the realities
of modern warfare have made him famous. His works include _Le Feu_ and
_Clarte_.
BARBY (baer'b[=e]), a German town on the Elbe, in the government of
Magdeburg, with an old castle. Pop. 5202.
BAR'CA, a division of N. Africa, between the Gulf of Sidra and Egypt,
annexed by Italy in 1911-2; capital, Bengazi. It formed a portion of the
ancient Cyrenaica, and from the time of the Ptolemies was known as
Pentapolis from its five Greek cities. It became part of Tripoli, and later
a separate province under Turkish dominion. On 18th Oct., 1912, it was
formally recognized as a dependency of Italy, and forms with Tripoli the
Italian colony of Libya. The country consists of a rocky plateau. A large
portion of it is desert, but some parts, especially near the coast, are
fertile, and yield abundant crops and excellent pasture, the chief being
wheat, barley, dates, figs, and olives. Flowering shrubs, roses,
honeysuckles, &c., occur in great variety. There are hardly any permanent
streams, but the eastern portion is tolerably well watered by rains and
springs. The exports are grain and cattle, with ostrich feathers and ivory
from the interior. Next to Bengazi (pop. 35,000), the seaport of Derna is
the chief town (pop. 8000). The population probably does not exceed
300,000. See _Cyrenaica_ and _Tripoli_.
BARCAROLLE (-rol'), a species of song sung by the _barcaruoli_, or
gondoliers, of Venice, and hence applied to a song or melody composed in
imitation. A very well-known example is to be found in Offenbach's _Tales
of Hoffmann_.
BARCELLONA (b[.a]r-chel-[=o]'n[.a]), seaport, Sicily, province of Messina,
immediately contiguous to Pozzo di Gotto, and practically forming one town
with it. Joint pop. 26,172.
BARCELONA (b[.a]r-thel-[=o]'n[.a]), next to Madrid the chief city of Spain,
capital of the province of Barcelona, and formerly capital of the kingdom
of Catalonia; finely situated on the northern portion of the Spanish
Mediterranean coast. It is divided into the upper and lower town; the
former modern, regular, stone-built, and often of an English architectural
type, the latter old, irregular, brick-built, and with traces of Eastern
influence in the architecture. The harbour is suited to accommodate large
vessels. The principal manufactures are cottons, silks, woollens,
machinery, paper, glass, chemicals, stoneware, soap; exports manufactured
goods, wine and brandy, fruit, oil, &c.; imports coals, textile fabrics,
machinery, cotton, fish, hides, silks, timber, &c. The city contains a
university, several public libraries, a museum, a large arsenal,
cannon-foundry, &c. Barcelona was, until the twelfth century, governed by
its own counts, but was afterwards united with Arragon. In 1640, with the
rest of Catalonia, it placed itself under the French Crown; in 1652 it
submitted again to the Spanish Government; in 1697 it was taken by the
French, but was restored to Spain at the Peace of Ryswick. It has had
several severe visitations of cholera and yellow fever, and has been the
scene of many serious and sanguinary revolts, as in 1836, 1840, and 1909.
Pop. 618,766.--The province has an area of 2968 sq. miles; pop. 1,191,386
(1918). It is generally mountainous, but well cultivated, and among the
most thickly peopled in Spain.
BARCELONA, a town of Venezuela, near the mouth of the Neveri, which is
navigable for vessels of small size, but larger vessels anchor off the
mouth of the river. Pop. 13,000.
BARCELONA NUTS, hazel-nuts exported from the Barcelona district of Spain.
BAR'CLAY, Alexander, a poet of the sixteenth century, most probably a
native of Scotland, born about 1475; for some years a priest and chaplain
of St. Mary Ottery, in Devonshire; afterwards a Benedictine monk of Ely;
subsequently a Franciscan, and also the holder of one or two livings; died
1552. His principal work was a satire, entitled _The Shyp of Folys of this
Worlde_, part translation and part imitation of Brandt's _Narrenschiff_
(Ship of Fools), and printed by Pynson in 1509. He also wrote _The Myrrour
of Good Maners_, and some _Egloges_ (Eclogues), both printed by Pynson, as
well as translations, &c.
BARCLAY, John, poet and satirist, son of a Scottish father, born at
Pont-a-Mousson (Lorraine) in 1582, and probably educated in the Jesuits'
College there. Having settled in England, he published a Latin
politico-satirical romance, entitled _Euphormionis Satyricon_, having as
its object the exposure of the Jesuits. In 1616 he left England for Rome,
received a pension from Pope Paul V, and died in 1621. His chief work is a
singular romance in Latin, entitled _Argenis_ (Paris, 1621), thought by
some to be an allegory bearing on the political state of Europe at the
period. Several seventeenth-century romances were indebted to this work,
among others Fenelon's _Telemaque_ and Calderon's _Argenis y Poliarco_. It
has been translated into several modern languages. His shorter poems
appeared in the _Delitiae Poetarum Scotorum_,
BARCLAY, Robert, the celebrated apologist of the Quakers, born in 1648 at
Gordonstown, Moray, and educated at Paris, where he became a Roman
Catholic. He was recalled home by his father, whose example he followed in
becoming a Quaker. His first treatise in support of his adopted principles,
published at Aberdeen in the year 1670, under the title of _Truth Cleared
of Calumnies_, together with his subsequent writings, did much to rectify
public sentiment in regard to the Quakers. His chief work, in Latin, _An
Apology for the True Christian Divinity_, was soon reprinted at Amsterdam,
and quickly translated into German, Dutch, French, and Spanish, and, by the
author himself, into English. His fame was now widely diffused; and, in his
travels with William Penn and George Fox through England, Holland, and
Germany, to spread the opinions of the Quakers, he was received everywhere
with the highest respect. The last of his productions, _On the Possibility
and Necessity of an Inward and Immediate Revelation_, was not published in
England until 1686; from which time Barclay lived quietly with his family.
He died, after a short illness, at his own house of Ury, Kincardineshire,
in 1690. He was a friend of and had influence with James II.
BARCLAY, Sir Thomas, British barrister, born in 1853. Educated at the
Universities of London, Paris, Bonn, and Jena, he was sent to Paris in 1876
as correspondent of _The Times_. He has been greatly instrumental in
bringing about a better understanding between England and France. He was
knighted in 1904, and entered Parliament in 1910. His works include:
_Problems of International Practice and Diplomacy_; _The Turco-Italian War
and its Problems_; _Law and Usage of War_.
BARCLAY DE TOLLY, Michael, Prince, a distinguished general and
field-marshal of Russia, born in 1755. His family, of Scottish origin, had
been established in Livonia since 1689. He entered the army at an early
age, served in various campaigns against the Turks, Swedes, and Poles, and
in 1811 was named Minister of War. On the invasion of Napoleon he was
transferred to the chief command of the army, and adopted a plan of
retreat; his forces did not greatly exceed 100,000 men, but the Court
became impatient, and after the capture of Smolensk by the French he was
superseded by Kutusov. Sinking all personal feeling, he asked leave to
serve under his successor, commanded the right wing at the battle of the
Moskwa, maintained his position, and covered the retreat of the rest of the
army. After the battle of Bautzen, in 1813, he was reappointed to the chief
command, which he had soon after to resign to Prince Schwarzenberg. He
forced the surrender of General Vandamme after the battle of Dresden, took
part in the decisive battle of Leipzig, and was made a field-marshal in
Paris. In 1815 he received from the emperor the title of prince, and from
Louis XVIII the badge of the Order of Military Merit. He died in 1818.
BAR-COCHBA (b[.a]r-ko_h_'b[.a]), or BAR-COCHEBAS, Simon, a Jewish impostor,
who pretended to be the Messiah, raised a revolt, and made himself master
of Jerusalem about A.D. 132, and of about fifty fortified places. Hadrian
sent to Britain for Julius Severus, one of his ablest generals, who
gradually regained the different forts and then took and destroyed
Jerusalem. Bar-cochba retired to a mountain fortress, and perished in the
assault of it by the Romans three years after, about 135.
BAR'COO. See _Cooper's Creek_.
BARD, one of an order among the ancient Celtic tribes, whose occupation was
to compose and sing verses in honour of the heroic achievements of princes
and brave men, generally to the accompaniment of the harp. Their verses
also frequently embodied religious or ethical precepts, genealogies, laws,
&c. Their existence and function was known to the Romans two centuries
B.C.; but of the Gallic bards only the tradition of their popularity
survives. The first Welsh bards of whom anything is extant are Taliesin,
Aneurin, and Llywarch, of the sixth century. A considerable lacuna then
occurs in their history until the order was reconstituted in the tenth
century by King Howel Dha, and again in the eleventh by Gryffith ap Conan.
Edward I is said to have hanged all the Welsh bards as promoters of
sedition. Some modern attempts have been made in Wales to revive bardism,
and the Cambrian Society was formed in 1818, for this purpose and for the
preservation of the remains of the ancient literature. The revived
Eisteddfodau, or bardic festivals, have been so far exceedingly popular. In
Ireland there were three classes of bards: those who sang of war, religion,
&c., those who chanted the laws, and those who gave genealogies and family
histories in verse. They were famous harpists. In the Highlands of Scotland
there are considerable remains of compositions supposed to be those of
their old bards still preserved.--BIBLIOGRAPHY: E. Jones, _Relics of the
Welsh Bards_; Walker, _Memoirs of the Irish Bards_; Dottin, _Manuel de
l'Antiquite Celtique_; John Rhys and D. Brynmor-Jones, _The Welsh People_;
D. D. Evans, _Ancient Bards of Britain_.
BARDESA'NES, a Syrian Gnostic, poet, astrologer, and philosopher, born 154
or 164 at Edessa, died 222. His system started with the statement that from
the union of God with matter sprang Christ and a female Holy Ghost, from
whom in turn sprang various existences. He propagated his doctrines in
Syrian hymns (_Hymn on the Soul_), the first in the language. His son,
Harmonius, was also an able hymn-writer. The Bardesanists maintained
themselves till the twelfth century, the later adherents having practically
adopted Manichaeism.
BARDWAN', or BURDWAN', a division of Bengal, upon the Hugli, comprising the
six districts of Bardwan, Hugli, Howrah, Midnapur, Bankura, and Birbhum.
Area, 13,850 sq. miles; pop. 8,245,000.--The district _Bardwan_ has an area
of 2697 sq. miles, and a pop. of 1,532,500. Apart from its products, rice,
grain, hemp, cotton, indigo, &c., it has a noted coal-field of about 500
sq. miles in area, with an annual output of about half a million tons.--The
town of _Bardwan_ has a fine palace of the Maharajah and a pop. of 35,022.
BAREBONE, or BARBONE, Praise-God, the name of a leather-seller in Fleet
Street, London, who obtained a kind of lead in the convention which
Cromwell substituted for the Long Parliament, and which was thence
nicknamed the Barebone Parliament. After its dissolution he disappeared
till 1660, when he presented a petition to Parliament against the
restoration of the monarchy. In 1661 he was committed to the Tower for some
time, but his subsequent history is unknown.
BAREFOOTED FRIARS. See _Monasticism_.
BAREGE (ba-r[=a]zh'), a light, open tissue of silk and worsted, or cotton
and worsted, for women's dresses, originally manufactured near Bareges. It
is now made chiefly at Bagneres-de-Bigorre.
BAREGES (b[.a]-r[=a]zh), a watering-place, south of France, department
Hautes-Pyrenees, about 4000 feet above the sea, celebrated for its thermal
springs, which are frequented for rheumatism, scrofula, &c. The place is
hardly inhabited except in the bathing season, June till September.
BAREGINE (ba-r[=a]zh'in; from _Bareges_), a gelatinous product of certain
algae growing in sulphuric mineral springs, and imparting to them the
colour and odour of flesh-broth.
BAREILLY (ba-r[=a]'li), a town of Hindustan, in the United Provinces,
capital of a district of same name, on a pleasant and elevated site. It has
a fort and cantonments, a Government college, and manufactures
sword-cutlery, gold and silver lace, perfumery, furniture and upholstery.
On the outbreak of the Indian Mutiny the native garrison took possession of
the place, but it was retaken by Lord Clyde in May, 1858. Pop.
129,462.--The district has an area of 1595 sq. miles; pop. 1,089,550.
BAR'ENTS, William, a Dutch navigator of the end of the sixteenth century,
who, on an expedition intended to reach China by the North-East Passage,
discovered Novaya Zemlya. He wintered there in 1596-7, and died before
reaching home.
BARET'TI, Joseph, an Italian writer, born at Turin, 1719. In 1748 he came
to England, and in 1753 published in English a _Defence of the Poetry of
Italy against the Censures of M. Voltaire_. In 1760 he brought out a useful
_Italian and English Dictionary_. After an absence of six years, during
part of which he edited the _Frusta Letteraria_ (Literary Scourge) at
Venice, he returned to England, and in 1768 published an _Account of the
Manners and Customs of Italy_. Not long after, in defending himself in a
street brawl, he stabbed his assailant and was tried for murder at the Old
Bailey but acquitted, Johnson, Burke, Goldsmith, Garrick, Reynolds, and
Beauclerk giving testimony to his good character. An _English and Spanish
Dictionary_, and various other works, followed before his death in 1789.