645 



BARRELIEB, JAMES. 



BARRI, GIRALDUS DE. 



to them the only means of fixing themselves more firmly in the 

 government. General Bonaparte, being apprised of these intrigues by 

 his brother Lucien, left the army in Egypt, and arrived in Paris for 

 the purpose of carrying his own personal projects of ambition into 

 execution. Seconded by Sieyes, he effected the revolution of the 18th 

 Brumaire (November 9, 1799), the immediate result of which was his 

 nomination as First Consul. From this period the power of Barras 

 was annihilated. Finding himself abandoned by everybody, he sent a 

 letter to the President of the Council of Elders, saying "that he 

 returned with satisfaction to the rank of a mere citizen, leaving the 

 destinies of the republic in the hands of the illustrious warrior whom 

 he had been so fortunate as to initiate in the career of glory." He 

 lived iu retirement at Grosbois, refusing all the offers made to him 

 by the new government; among others, the embassies of Dresden 

 and of the United States, the command of the army of St. Domingo, 

 and even a medal which Bonaparte had struck. He afterwards 

 removed to Brussels ; but this city not agreeing with him, he obtained 

 leave to retire to Marseille, where he lived, as before, under sur- 

 veillance, attending quietly to agricultural pursuits. In 1813 he was 

 inculpated in a conspiracy, and underwent some interrogations ; after 

 which he was exiled to Rome, but remained still under the watchful 

 eyes of the French police. Here he was again accused of being con- 

 nected with a conspiracy, but the preliminary investigations into its 

 character and ramifications were broken up by the fall of Napoleon. 

 In 1314 he took up his residence at Paris. In 1815, foreseeing new 

 troubles, he withdrew from Paris, but returned on hearing of Napo- 

 tlisembarkation. Afterwards he resided at Chaillot, near Paris. 

 (In i od in January 1829. Barras was more fond of pleasure than of 

 business, but he was not destitute of i^alent ; inclined to indolence, he 

 could show firmness and activity at times ; he was naturally humane 

 and good-natured, generous towards his friends, and prodigal iu his 

 expenditure. Notwithstanding bis affectation of republicanism, his 

 manners and tastes were those of a nobleman of the old monarchy. 

 He could speak well and to the purpose ; and these qualities gave him 

 an ascendancy over his rougher colleagues. He possessed considerable 

 shrewdness and tact, which he employed in securing his own interests ; 

 and it is illustrative of his character, that Barras was the only member 

 who, throughout the various changes which the Directory underwent, 

 kept his seat from its installation, at the end of 1795, to its final over- 

 throw by Bonaparte in November 1799. 



BARRELIER, JAMES, was born at Paris in 1606. He commenced 

 the study of medicine, but when just about to receive the degree of 

 doctor, he abandoned the medical profession, gave himself up to the 

 study of theology, and in 1 635 took the vows of the order of Domini- 

 cans. Having studied the fathers of the church, he taught theology, 

 but devoted his leisure hours to the study of botany. In 1646 he was 

 appointed assistant to Father Thomas Tarco, the general of the order 

 of Dominicans, and accompanied him on hU visits to the different 

 convents. In this way he traversed the south of France, Spain, and 

 Italy. During these excursions he collected plants and other objects 

 of natural history. He made drawings of the plants, which he caused 

 to be engraved, with a view to their publication. Having had his 

 head-quarters at Rome for twenty-five years, he returned to Paris in 

 1672, and took up his abode in the convent in the Rue St. Honor*'. 

 Here he laboured to perfect his work, till he died of asthma, Septem- 

 ber 17th, 1673. 



His manuscripts and collections Bnrrelier bequeathed to the library 

 of the convent, but soon after his death all his collections were dis- 

 persed, and some were burnt. The copper-plates escaped, and were 

 collected and published by Antoine de Jussieu, who supplied descrip- 

 tions in the place of those which had been destroyed. This work, to 

 which was prefixed a life of Barrelier, appeared in one volume folio : 

 ' R. P. Barrelieri Plantie per Galliam, Higpaniam, et Italiam observate, 

 iconibus ic-neis exhibits, opus posthumum ; accurante Antonio Jussieu, 

 botanices professore, in lucem editum, et ad recentiorum normam 

 digestum, cui accessit ejusdem auctoris specimen de Insectis,' Paris, 

 1714. It contains 1324 figures engraved upon 334 plates, of which 

 three are of shells, the rest of plants. Some are copied from earlier 

 writers, but the greater part are new, or very rare, so that the volume 

 is still worth referring to. Barrelier composed a work, intended to 

 include descriptions of all the plants then known. He called it 

 ' Hortus Mundi,' but it was never published. He also left 700 figures 

 of fungi, and 300 of shells. A genus of plants belonging to the order 

 of A canthaccw, was called in honour of him Sarreleria. 



(Haller, Billiothcca Botanica ; Biographic Universctte.) 



I'AKRET, GEORGE, a landscape painter of great celebrity in his 

 time. He was born at Dublin in 1732, and commenced his career by 

 colouring prints for a printseller of the name of Silcock. His first 

 landscapes were painted from the estate of his patron, Viscount 

 Powerscourt near Dublin. In 1764 he obtained a premium of fifty 

 guineas from the Society of Arts in London ; the first premium given 

 by that society for landscape. He was one of the original members 

 of the Royal Academy, founded in 1768, and towards the close of his 

 life he was master painter to Chelsea Hospital, an appointment which 

 he procured through his friend Burke. Barret received large sums 

 for his pictures at a time when Wilson with difficulty earned a bare 

 subsistence. But he was extravagant, and got into various pecuniary 

 difficulties. He died at Paddington in 1784. 



BIOO. DIV. VOL. I. 



Barret's landscapes are bold and natural in design, but his colouring 

 is somewhat peculiar and heavy. Some of his lake scenes have great 

 excellence ; in them he succeeded very well iu conveying the impres- 

 sion of vastness, and his sombre colouring has sometimes in these 

 scenes a peculiarly characteristic effect. He also represented the disper- 

 sion of the mists in such places very happily. Barret painted 

 occasionally in water-colours, and executed a few etchings. 



BARRI, GIRALDUS DE, or SYLVESTER GIRALDUS, more 

 generally known by the name of QIRALDUS CAMBRENSIS, was the 

 fourth son of William de Barri, by Angharath, daughter of Nesta, 

 daughter of Rhys ap Theodor, prince of South Wales, and was born 

 in or about 1146, at the castle of Manorbeer, in Pembrokeshire. 

 Being a younger brother, and intended for the church, he was sent to 

 St. David's, where his uncle, David Fitzgerald, at that time bishop of 

 the see, undertook the care of his education. Giralclus, in the history 

 of his own life, acknowledges that in early youth he was negligent and 

 playful, but his undo and his masters remonstrated so sharply with 

 him that he became diligent, and soon surpassed his fellow-students. 

 When twenty years of age he was sent to the University of Paris, 

 where he remained for three years, and acquired great fame for his 

 skill in rhetoric and the belles-lettres. On his return to England, 

 about 1172, he entered into holy orders, and obtained soon after the 

 archdeaconry of St. David's and other preferments both in England 

 and Wales. He now devoted his whole mind to promote the interests 

 of the church. Finding the Welsh reluctant to pay tithes he obtained 

 from Richard, archbishop of Canterbury, the appointment of legato 

 in Wales to rectify these and other abuses. He executed this com- 

 mission with great spirit and success. He likewise attempted to 

 reform the morals of the clergy, and was peculiarly severe against all 

 priests who had wives ; these ho called concubines, and insisted upon 

 their dismission. The old archdeacon of Brecknock, who opposed his 

 remonstrances on this account, was at first suspended, and afterwards 

 deprived, a sufficient maintenance only being assigned to him from hia 

 former preferment, which was bestowed upon the officious legate. 



On the death of David Fitzgerald his uncle, the canons of St. David's 

 met in council, and, after a long debate, elected Giraldus to be his 

 successor ; but the archdeacon thinking the election made too hastily, 

 and not according to the usual forms, went on the following morning 

 to the chapter, and, contrary to the advice of his friends, renounced 

 it His reason was that the necessary application had not been pre- 

 viously made to the king or his justiciary for the royal assent. The 

 chapter however persisted in their choice, which so displeased King 

 Henry II. that he threatened to dispossess them of their lands and 

 revenues. The king summoned a council, and submitted the case to 

 the consideration of Richard, archbishop of Canterbury, and his 

 suffragan bishops, desiring them to recommend a fit person to fill the 

 vacant see. They unanimously recommended Uiraldus as a man of 

 learning and spirit, but the king objected ; and Peter de Leia, a 

 Cluniac monk of Wenlock in Shropshire, was, in consequence, chosen 

 bishop of St. David's. Giraldus retired to the University of Paris, 

 and prosecuted his studies chiefly in civil and canon law, the professor- 

 ship of which last, in that university, was offered to him in 1179. He 

 returned home in 1180, and, proceeding to his archdeaconry, found 

 the diocese of St. David's in confusion. Peter de Leia had quarrelled 

 with the canons and inhabitants, and was driven from his see, the 

 administration of which was now committed by the Archbishop of 

 Canterbury to Giraldus. He held it three or four years, when the 

 bishop was restored. 



About 1184 Giraldus was made one of the royal chaplains by King 

 Henry II. ; and soon after was sent as a pacificator to Wales. In 1185 

 he was appointed preceptor to Prince John, whom he accompanied to 

 Ireland as secretary and privy-councillor; but when the prince returned 

 after a residence of some months, Giraldus remained to complete and 

 digest the collections he was making for his two works on the topo- 

 graphy and conquest of Ireland. Previous to leaving that country 

 the p.ince offered Giraldus the Irish bishoprics of Femes and Leighlin, 

 either separately or consolidated, but he refused both, having already 

 resolved to accept no other bishopric than that of St. David's. In 1187 

 he returned to England, when, having finished his work on the topo- 

 graphy of Ireland, he read its three divisions (distinctiones), on three 

 separate days, before public audiences in the University of Oxford. 

 On the first day he entertained all the poor of the town ; on the next 

 day the doctors and scholars of fame and reputation ; on the third 

 day the scholars of the lower rank, the soldiers and burgesses. 



In 1188 Giraldus accompanied Baldwin, archbishop of Canterbury, 

 in a journey [BALDWIN] through the rough aud mountainous parts 

 of Wales, in order to preach to the people the necessity of a crusade. 

 The more lasting fruit of this journey was his work entitled ' Itine- 

 rarium Cambria;.' In 1189 he attended King Henry II. in his expe- 

 dition into Fronci*, and remained there till after the king's death, when 

 Richard I. sent frim back to preserve the peace of Wales, and even 

 appointed him coadjutor to William Longchamp, bishop of Ely, in the 

 regency of the kingdom. After refusing the bishoprics of Bangor aud 

 Llandaff, in hopes to succeed to St. David's, his favourite object, that 

 see became vacant in 1199, when he was unanimously elected to it 

 by the chapter, but he was again disappointed by the opposition of 

 Hubert, archbishop of Canterbury. This involved him in a contest 

 which lasted five years, during which he took three journeys to Rome, 



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