BAR 



274 



BAR 



State of Morocco. Lempriere's Tour to Morocco. 

 Bruce's Travels, vol. i. Jackson's Account of Mo- 

 rocco. Mod. Univ. Hist. vols, xviii. and xliii. (o) 

 BARBER, one who trims or shaves the beards of 

 other people, or is employed in dressing hair or ma- 

 king wigs. This profession, like all the other polite 

 arts, is only known in those nations, which have made a 

 certain progress in civilization. No mention is made 

 of barbers by any Roman author till the 454th year 

 of the city ; but there, as elsewhere, when they were 

 once introduced, they soon became men of great no- 

 toriety, and their shops were the resort of all the 

 loungers and newsmongers in town. Hence they are 

 alluded to by Horace as most accurately informed in 

 all the minute history both of families and the state : 



" Omnibus et Hppis notum et tonsaribus esse." 



These convenient gentlemen seem to have been al- 

 most exclusively entrusted with the important care of 

 adorning the persons of the public ; for not only the 

 hair and beard, but likewise the nails, received new 

 grace from their skilful hands. Nor did their use- 

 fulness terminate here. They likewise handled the 

 lancet with great delicacy ; and had sometimes the 

 honour of breathing a vein, or of dressing an wound, 

 to persons of high rank and fashion. Amidst these 

 numerous avocations, it frequently happened that 

 their customers were obliged to wait long before 

 they could be attended to : and to prevent them 

 from becoming impatient, the shops were provided 

 with musical instruments with which they might en- 

 tertain themselves ; the more interesting amuse- 

 ment of newspapers being yet unknown. Much 

 learning has been spent in endeavouring to account 

 for the origin of the barber's pole. Some writers, 

 from an excessive fondness for simplifying, have re- 

 ferred it to the word poll or head. But, in truth, 

 this party coloured staff was intended as an indication 

 of the dignity and variety of the profession practised 

 within, intimating emblematically, that the master of 

 the shop was not a barber merely, but likewise a 

 surgeon. Barbers were incorporated with the sur- 

 geons of London, but with no license to practise 

 any branch of surgery, except drawing teeth and let- 

 ting blood; 32 Hen. VIII. c. 42. They were de- 

 graded, however, from this honourable association by 

 the 18 Geo. II. c. 15. (ft) 



BARBORA, or Barbara, an island on the 

 eastern coast of Africa, situated opposite to a town 

 of the same name in the kingdom of Adel. The 

 inhabitants, who are negroes, employ themselves in 

 trade and in the breeding of cattle. The island is 

 very fertile, and produces corn and fruits in abun- 

 dance. ( j ) 



BARBOUR, John, Archdeacon of Aberdeen, is 

 supposed to have been born about the year 1316'. 

 " When he describes the person of Randolph," says 

 Lord Hailcs, " he seems to speak from personal obser- 

 vation : and as Randolph died in 1331, and Barbour in 

 1396, the poet, if we suppose him to have lived to the 

 age of eighty, would be in his fifteenth year at the death 

 of that illustrious warrior." ( Annals of Scotland, vol. 

 ii. p. S.) Barbour was educated for the clerical pro- 

 fession ; and in 1357 we find him styled archdeacon of 



Aberdeen. During that year the bishop of his diocese 

 nominated him one of the commissioners who were to 

 meet at Edinburgh, in order to deliberate concerning 

 the ransom of their captive monarch, David 1 1. (Jii/mcr, 

 torn. vi. p. 39. ) Of the same date there is extant a 

 passport from Edward III., which authorises him to 

 visit the university of Oxford in company with three 

 students. (Ibid. torn. vi. p. 31.) It has been suppo- 

 sed by Mr Warton, that he himself studied in this se- 

 minary during the years 1357 and 1365; (Hut. of 

 English Poetry, vol. i. p. 318.) but for this supposi- 

 tion there is no just foundation. As he was then a 

 dignitary of the church, he had certainly completed 

 his academical studies. It would appear that, in 1365, 

 he visited St Denis, near Paris, in company with six 

 knights. The object of their expedition seems to 

 have been of a religious kind ; for the king of Eng- 

 land grants them permission to pass through his do- 

 minions, on their way towards St Denis and other 

 sacred places. (Rymer, torn. vi. p. 478.) About ten 

 years afterwards lie was engaged in composing the 

 celebrated work which has perpetuated his fame, an 

 Historical Poem on the Actions of the great King Ro- 

 bert. As a reward of his poetical merit, he is said to 

 have received from the exchequer a pension which he, 

 enjoyed during his own lifetime, and which at his de- 

 cease was transferred to the hospital of Aberdeen. 

 (Hume's Hist, of the House of Douglas, p. 30.) From 

 some passages in Winton's chronicle, it would appear, 

 that he also composed a genealogical history of the 

 kings of Scotland ; but of this work no manuscript is 

 known to be extant. Barbour, as has already been 

 hinted, died in the year 1396. [Chart. Abcrdon.f. 115. 

 MS.) Of his Bruce there are many editions ; but the 

 most valuable is that of Mr Pinkerton, published at 

 London in 1790, in three volumes octavo. This cu- 

 rious production is one of the oldest reliques of Scotiah 

 poetry ; and in a historical point of view, it is like- 

 wise of very considerable importance. It clearly 

 evinces, that the author was a man of no ordinary 

 learning or genius. The humanity of his sentiments, 

 and the liberality of his views, seem of a far more 

 modern date than the fourteenth century ; and he hat 

 diffused over his narrative that lively interest which 

 an ordinary writer is incapable of exciting. See Ir- 

 ving's Lives of the Scolish Poets, vol. i. p. 253. (c) 

 BARBUDA, or Bebbudo, or Babbuthos, one 

 of the Caribbee islands in the West Indies, belonging 

 to the Codrington family. It is about 21 miles long, 

 and 12 broad, and is encircled with a rocky coast. 

 The industry of the inhabitants supplies the neigh-, 

 bouring islands with cattle, sheep, fowls, and corn ; 

 and the soil is capable of yielding the various fruits 

 and trees which are produced in the other West India 

 islands. The island abounds in serpents, some of 

 which are very large, and others poisonous. The 

 island is said to yield an annual revenue of 5000. 

 Population 1500. West Long. 61 50', North Lat. 

 17 49' 45". (*-) 



BARCA, a district of northern Africa, bounded 

 on the north by the Mediterranean, on the south by 

 the Sahara or Desert, on the east by Egypt, and on the 

 west by the kingdom of Tripoli. It extends in length 

 about 6,00 geographical miles, from 18\ to 31 East 



Barbuda, 

 Bare*. 



