420 



BARCLAY HARD. 



Petersburg, linen, copper, and Iron wire from Ger- 

 many. An important article of import is stocklMi, 

 lir.M!-lit l>y the British from Newfoundland. The 

 ainoiiiit of the imports and exports, \vhich employ 

 nearly 1500 ships (among them 1^0 l>eloitmi; to 

 B.), is computed to be more tlmn 7,000,000 dollars. 

 The city contains 82 churches, a university, se\er;il 

 public libniries, a public collection of natural curio- 

 sities, a school for engineers and artillery, an acade- 

 my of belles-lettres, a foundling hospital, a general 

 hospital, large enough to contain oOOO sick persons. 

 u large arsenal, a cannon foimdery, &c. The tribunal 

 of the inquisition is MppMMCd. B. was, until the 

 12th century, governed by its own counts; but, af- 

 terwards, by the marriage of Raymond V. with the 

 daughter of Ramiro II., king of Arragon, it was 

 united with that kingdom. In 1640, it withdrew, 

 with all Catalonia, from the Spanish government, 

 and submitted to the French crown ; in 1652, it sub- 

 mitted again to the Sjmnish government: in 1697, 

 it was taken by the French, but restored to Spain at 

 the peace of Ryswick. In the war of the Spanish 

 succession, B. took the part of the archduke Charles ; 

 but, in 1714, it was besieged by the troops of Philip 

 V., under the command of the duke of Berwick, and 

 taken after an ol>stinate resistance. The strong 

 citadel on the east side of the city was then erected, 

 to overawe the inhabitants. February 16, 1809, B. 

 was taken, by surprise, by the French troops under 

 general Duliesine, and remained in the power of the 

 French until, in 1814, all their troops were recalled 

 from Catalonia to defend their own country. In 

 1821, B. was desolated by the yellow fever. 



BARCLAY, Alexander ; an English poet of the 16th 

 century. Very little is known concerning him, ex- 

 cept wliat we learn from his writings, which inform 

 us, that he was a priest and chaplain of St Mary 

 Ottery, in Devonshire, and afterwards a Benedictine 

 monk of Ely. He survived the reformation, and 

 obtained preferment in the church. His death took 

 place in 1552, a short time after he had been pre- 

 sented to the living of All-Hallows, in London. The 

 principal work of this poet is a satire, entitled The 

 Ship of Fools, a translation or imitation of a German 

 composition. (See Brandt, Sebastian.) B. also wrote 

 Eclogues, which, according to Warton, the historian 

 of English poetry, are the earliest compositions of the 

 kind in our language. They are curious and inter- 

 esting for the descriptions they afford of the character 

 and manners of the age in which they were written. 



BARCLAY, John, was born at Pont-a-Mousson, and 

 educated in the Jesuits' college at that place. He 

 accompanied his father to England, where he was 

 much noticed by James I., to whom he dedicated one 

 of his principal works, a politico-satirical romance, 

 entitled Enphormio, in Latin, chiefly intended to 

 expose the Jesuits, against whom the author adduces 

 some very serious accusations. He wrote, also, se- 

 veral other works, among which is a singular ro- 

 mance, in elegant Latin, entitled Argenis, which first 

 appeared at Paris, in 1621. It is a political allegory, 

 of a character similar to that of Euphormio, and 

 alludes to the political state of Europe, and especially 

 France, during the league. Like the Euphormio, it 

 has been several times reprinted, and has also been 

 translated into several of the modern languages, in- 

 cluding English. (See Reeve, Clara.) A singular 

 story of romantic chivalry has been quoted from the 

 Euphormio by Sir Walter Scott, in the notes to his 

 Marmion. 



BARCLAY, Robert, the celebrated apologist of the 

 Quakers, was born, in the year 1648, at Gordonstown, 

 in the shire of Moray, of an ancient and honourable 

 family. The troubles of the country induced his 

 father, colonel B., to send him to Paris, to be edu- 



cated under the care of his uncle, who was principal 

 of the Scots college in that capital. Under his 

 influence, he was easily induced to become a convert 

 to the Roman Catholic religion, upon which his 

 father sent for him to return home; and, colonel ]{. 

 soon after becoming a Quaker, his son followed his 

 example. Uniting all the advantages of a learned 

 education to great natural abilities, he soon distin- 

 guished himself by his talents and zeal in the support 

 of his new opinions. His first treatise in support of 

 his adopted principles, was published, at Aberdei n, 

 in the year 1070, under the title of Truth cleared of 

 Calumnies, &c., being an answer to an attack on the 

 Quakers by a Scottish minister of the name_of Mitchell. 

 It is written with great vigour, and, with his -subse- 

 quent writings against the same opponent, tended 

 materially to rectify public sentiment in regard to 

 the Quakers, as also to procure them greater indul- 

 gence from government. To propagate the doctrines, 

 as well as to maintain the credit he had gained for 

 his sect, he published, in 1675, a regular treatise, in 

 order to explain and defend the system of the Qua- 

 kers, which production was also very favourably 

 received. These and similar labours involved him 

 in controversies with the leading members of the 

 university of Aberdeen, and others ; but, notwith- 

 standing so much engrossment, his mind was, at the 

 same time, busy with his great work, in Latin, An 

 Apology for the true Christian Divinity, as the Satnc 

 is preached and held forth by the People in scorn 

 called Quakers. It was soon reprinted at Amsterdam, 

 and quickly translated into the German, Dutch, 

 French, and Spanish languages, and, by the author 

 himself, into English. It met, of course, with many 

 answers ; but, although several of them were from 

 able and learned pens, they attracted, comparatively, 

 very little notice. His fame was now widely diffus- 

 ed ; and, in his travels with the famous William Penn 

 through the greater part of England, Holland, and 

 Germany, to spread the opinions of the Quakers, he 

 was received every where with the highest marks of 

 respect. The strength of his understanding rendered 

 this extraordinary man equally adequate to what is 

 considered most important in the business of the 

 world, as appears from an excellent letter addressed 

 by him, on public affairs, to the assembled ministers 

 of the various powers of Europe at Nimeguen. The 

 last of his productions, in defence of the theory of 

 the Quakers, was a long Latin letter, addressed, in 

 1676, to Adrian de Paets, On the Possibility of an 

 Inward and Immediate Revelation. It was not pub- 

 lished in England until 1686 ; from which time B., 

 who had endured his share of persecution, and been 

 more than once imprisoned, spent the remaining pnrt 

 of his life, in the bosom of a large family, in quiet 

 and peace. He died, after a short illness, at his own 

 house, in Ury, 1690, in the 42d year of his age. \Viili 

 few exceptions, both partisans and opponents unite 

 in the profession of great respect for the character 

 and talents of B. Besides the works already men- 

 tioned or alluded to, he wrote a treatise On Univers- 1 

 Love, and various replies to the most able opponents 

 of his Apology. He left seven children, all of whom 

 were living fifty years after the death of their fa- 

 ther. 



BARD. This name, of uncertain etymology, is ap- 

 plied to the poets of the Celtic tribes, who, in battle, 

 raised the war-cry, and, in peace, sang the exploits 

 of their heroes, celebrated the attributes of their gods, 

 and chronicled the history of their nation. Originally 

 spread over the greater part of western Europe, they 

 seem to have been the heralds, the priests, and the 

 lawgivers of the free barbarians, who first occupied 

 its ancient forests, until, by the gradual progress of 

 southern civilization and despotism, they were driven 



