BABBOUR, JOHN. 



BARCLAY, JOHN. 



There ii eompUU tot of the Barbou Classics in the Royal Library 

 at the British Museum. The following ii a chronological list of 

 them : Catullus, Tibullus, and Propertius, 1754; Lucretius, 1724; 

 Phiodru-s 1754; Martialis, 2 torn. 1754; Eutropius, 1754; 'Cmaris 

 Comment.' 3 torn. 1755; Quintal Curtius, 1757; Plautus, 3 torn. 

 175 ; Tacitus. 3 torn. 1700 ; 'Select* Seneca Opera ' (in QalL reim), 

 a French version with a Latin title, 1760; Ovidius, 3 torn. 1762; 

 Virxiliu*,S torn. 1767; ' Lucani Phanalia (cum. SuppL Tho. Maii),' 

 Cornelius Nepos, 1767 ; ' Ciceronis Opera,' 14 torn. 176S ; ' Pliuii 

 See. Kplst' 1769; Juntinu*. 1770; Sallustiu, 1774; Horatius, 1775; 

 Titus Livius, 7 torn. 1776; 'Pereii, Jevenalix, et Sulpicii Sat' 1776; 

 Vrllrius Paterculus, 1777; ' Plinii Hist KnturalU,' 6 torn. 1779. 

 Beside* theae, J. O. Barbou printed a Latin Testament, and various 

 works of leas note, chiefly between 1757 and 1789, when he resigned 

 his business to bis nephew Hugh Barbou, who dying in 1809, his beirs 

 disposed of the business of this the last of tbo Barbous to M. August* 

 Deialain. 



Two works from the press of Joseph Gerard Barbou (in similar 

 type and tise with the classics) affect to have been printed in London : 

 Sarcotis et Caroli V. Panegyris,' 1771; and ' Erasmi Moriffi Enco- 

 mium,' 1777. The latter undoubtedly, and probably the former, was 

 a prohibited book. 



BARBOUR or BARBER, JOHN, a divine, historian, and one of the 

 best poets of Scotland, was born, as is supposed, at Aberdeen, according 

 to Sir David Dalrymple, about the year 1316 (' Annals,' vol. R, p. 3) ; 

 according to other authorities, in or about the year 1330. Having 

 received a learned education, he entered into holy orders, end was 

 promoted by king David II. to the archdeaconry of Aberdeen in 1356. 

 But in order still further to prosecute his studies, he prevailed upon 

 his sovereign to apply to king Edward III. for permission to reside 

 for a time at Oxford ; the letter of safe-conduct for which, with three 

 scholars in his company, all coming to perform scholastic exercises, is 

 preserved in Rymer's ' Federa ' (old edit, torn, vt, p. 31 : see also the 

 Rotuli ScotUB,' vol. L, p. 808). By a deed dated at Fetherin in Aber- 

 deenshin, September 13, we find him appointed in the same year, by 

 the Bishop of Aberdeen, one of his commissioners to deliberate at 

 Edinburgh upon the ransom of the Scottish king. 



Although the archdeacon was famed for his extensive knowledge in 

 the philosophy and divinity of the age in which he lived, he gained a 

 greater reputation even at that time by his poetry, in which he com- 

 posed a history of the life and glorious actions of King Robert Bruce. 

 Dr. Henry says it was written " at the desire of King David Bruce, his 

 son, who granted Barbour a considerable pension for his encourage- 

 ment, which he generously bestowed on an hospital at Aberdeen ;" but 

 Dr. Jamieaon ('Memoir of Barbour/ prefixed to ' The Bruce,' p. ix.) 

 shows that, although Barbour had two small pensions, there is no 

 evidence that these were granted by King David, or that Barbour 

 was ever commanded by that monarch to write the life of his father. 

 Barbour states in the work itself (b. ix., v. 890) that he finished it in 

 1875. While engaged in its composition he obtained permission and 

 safe-conduct from Edward III. in 1365 to travel through England 

 into Wales, with six horsemen, his attendants. Dr. Jamieson fixes 

 the date of Barbour's death, with seeming accuracy, at the close of the 

 year 1395. 



The value of Barbour's work, as an historical record, was early 

 acknowledged (see the coutiuuator of Fordun's ' Scoticlironicon,' lib. 

 xii., c. 9, and Wyntown) ; and it is remarkable that, though Barbour 

 was a Scotchman, his versification and language are quite as intelligible 

 to a modern English reader as that of any other poet of the 14th 

 century, his great contemporary Chaucer scarcely excopted. The first 

 known edition of 'The Bruce' was published at Edinburgh in 1616 in 

 liino, but an earlier one is believed to have existed. (See Jamieson's 

 ' Memoir,' p. x.) There have born several subsequent editions. The 

 best edition is that of Dr. Jamiesou, 4to, Edinburgh, 1 820. From some 

 ' 



in Wyntown 's ' Chronicle,' it has been surmised that Barbour 

 also composed a genealogical history of the kings of Scotland ; but no 

 part of this is known to be extant 



BARCLAY, or BAUKLAY, ALEXANDER, was an elegant writer 

 of the 16th century, but whether English or Scotch by birth is dis- 

 pjiUd. He was educated at Oriel College, Oxford, about 1495, when 

 Thomas Cornish, suffragan bishop of Tyne in the diocese of Bath and 

 Walls, was provost of that bouse. After finishing his studies there, 

 he went into Holland, and thanoe into Germany, Italy, and France, 

 where he applied himself assiduously to the language! spoken in 

 those; countries, and to the study of their best authors. Upon bis 

 return home, be became chaplain to Bishop Cornish, who appointed 

 him on* of the priests or prebendaries of the college of St. Mary 

 Ottery, in Devonshire. After the death of his patron he became a 

 monk of the Benedictine monastery of Ely, where he continued till 

 the suppression of the monastery in 1639. Bishop Tanner (' BibL 

 Hrit Hib.' p. 71), from one of Bale's manuscripts, says he afterwards 

 became a Franciscan at Canterbury. There seems no doubt that he 

 subsequently temporised with the changes in religion. On February 

 7th, 1544, we find him instituted to the vicarage of Great Badow in 

 Barn, and on March SOth following to the vicarage of Wokey in 

 SomaiMUhira. On the SOth April 1552, he was presented by the 

 Ivan and Chapter of Canterbury to the rectory of Allhallows, Lom- 

 bard-street, in London, but did not enjoy that preferment above the 



space of six weeks. Ho died in the Juno following at Cray don, in 

 Surrey, where be was buried in the church. 



Bale ('Script Illustr.' edit 1557, cent. ix. p. 66) lias treated the 

 memory of Barclay with great indignity. He says, he remained a 

 scandalous adulterer under colour of leading a siugle life. 1'its, on 

 the contrary, assures us that Barclay employed all his study in favour 

 of religion, and in reading and writing the lives of the saints. 1'otli 

 accounts are probably tinctured witli partiality. That Barclay was 

 one of the refiners of the Euglish language, and left many testimonies 

 behind him of his wit and tearing, cannot be denied. Among Barclay's 

 works may be noticed 'The Castle of Labour,' an allegorical poem, 

 translated from the French, the famous 'Ship uf Fouls of Uio 

 World,' partly a translation and partly an imitation of the German 

 work of the same title by Sebastian Brandt, ' Tho Mirror of Good 

 Manners,' the ' Life of St. George the Martyr,' Ac. 



(Tanner, liibl. Brit. llib. ; Wood, Athaut Onm.; Herbert, edit of 

 Ames's Typogr. Aitiiq. ; Warton, If ill. JEngl. Poelry ; Lrsons, Env. of 

 London.) 



BARCLAY, JOHN, was born at Pont-K-Mousson, in Lorrain, in 

 1582. He studied at the college of the Jesuits in his native place, 

 and the brethren of the order, observing the dawning of his genius, 

 attempted, according to their usual policy, to secure so promising a 

 disciple. This was opposed by liis father, William Barclay, an eminent 

 civilian, noticed in a subsequent article [BARCLAY, WILLIAM], who in 

 consequence, in 1603, returned to Kngland, accompanied by his son. 

 John Barclay is said by Bayle to have written and printed, when ID 

 yean old, notes on the 'Tbebais' of Statius. In 10UI, when hit 

 father was paying court to King James, he presented that king with 

 encomiastic verses, which are priuted in the ' Delitioi Poetaruui 

 Scotorum.' In the same year he dedicated to James L part of tip- 

 famous Satyrioon generally known by the name of Eupboruiiu, which 

 he bestowed on himself as author. He professed a strong inclination 

 to enter the service of the English king, but their adherence to tho 

 Roman Catholic faith was equally against his own and his father' .s 

 promotion, lie went with his father to Angers in 1605, returned for 

 a short time to Britain, visited Paris in 1606, where be married Louise 

 Debonnaire, and afterwards settled in London. He dedicated tbo 

 second part of his satire to the Earl of Salisbury, with an encomium 

 in which few have concurred. What will now however, perhaps, be 

 considered the most interesting part of this curious work, is tli 

 fourth book, which in 1014 he published under the title ' Icon 

 Auimarum,' and dedicated to Louis XIII. It commences with 

 remarks on the pursuits and character of man at the different ages of 

 his life, and contains a series of sketches of the inhabitants of the 

 various known countries of the world. Ho writes in a clear lively 

 style, and is full of matter. In the ' Icon,' he dwells on the fertility 

 of the soil of England, and on the maritime character of Britain, and 

 the power the country is capable of exercising at sea. In the mean- 

 time, in 1606, Barclay published an account of the Gunpowder Plot 

 'Series Patefucti divinitus Paricidii,' ic. In 1610 he edited his 

 father's work 'De Potestate Papas,' and in 1612 he defended tho 

 opinions of the work and tho memory of bis father against the attacks 

 of Cardinal Bellarmin and his followers. Of this work, called ' Pietas, 

 sive publics) pro Regibus ac Principibus, et Private pro Gulielmo 

 Barclaio Parente Vindicisj,' he subsequently spoke with regret, as 

 exposing him to the displeasure of his own church. In 1015 he 

 passed through France and settled at Rome, where Bayle says he 

 enjoyed tho patronage of Pnul V. Ha there, in 1617, published 

 ' Paraeneais ad Sectaries,' a book more likely to be acceptable to the 

 Holy See than his others. In 1021 was published the first edition of 

 the work by which his name has been best known, ' Argcnis.' This is 

 a romance full of incident and description, both the matter and style 

 of which have received the commendations of many of the greatest 

 scholars and poets. It is generally published with a key to the real 

 names supposed to be represented in fictitious characters ; but 

 ' Argonis ' appears to be entirely a romance, with only occasional allu- 

 sion to historical events. Its popularity was of long duration. An 

 edition published at Nuruberg in 1776 is the eighteenth. The admira- 

 tion of Cowper, Coleridge, and D'Israeli have made the name familiar 

 to modern English readers. In 1628 an English translation appeared, 

 with the title 'John Barclay, his Argonis translated out of Latino 

 into Euglish : the prose vpou his Majesties command by Sir Robert 

 Le Orys, Knight, and tho verses by Thomas May, Esq.' Another 

 translation appeared in 1636, and a third in 1772, with the title 

 ' The Phconix, or the History of Polyarchus and Argonis,' said 

 to be by Clara Reeve, the authorefs of tho 'Old English Baron.' 

 It. has been repeatedly translated into French, and Italian and 

 Spanish copies occur in catalogues. The author's latter days appear 

 to have been strangely occupied. He cultivated, with the hope of 

 great gain, bulbous-rooted plants, which from their being said to 

 have no perfume and to be valuable only for the beauty of their 

 colours may bo presumed to have been tulips ; but his treasures 

 were stolen, and his gnlden dream was dissipated. Barclay died at 

 Rome, on the 12th of August 1621, before ho bad completed his 

 40th year. 



BARCLAY, JOHN, a Presbyterian clergyman, and founder of tho 

 small sect called It-ream, whose peculiar standard of faith is contained 

 in the llth verse of the 17th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, 



