BARR Y. 



507 



Barry, been spared. 9th, Barrows are seldom found in low 

 ' situations ; but where a barrow is erected in a hollow 

 or valley, it is a'-nost always a very large one. 10th, 

 The visual lines trom the barrows on the summit of a 

 ridge, often 'terminate at a distance from the foot, so 

 as to leave room for a body of men to move along un- 

 seen : this is remedied by placing one or more bar- 

 rows so as completely to command the whole range 

 of the declivity at its base. 11th, The whole of these 

 particular principles are concentrated into this gene- 

 ral one, that there is not a single spot, within the bar- 

 row district, which is not exposed to at least one of 

 these all-pervading points ; and such is the perfection 

 with which this great design is executed, that even a 

 single individual could not proceed twenty yards in any 

 direction without being seen, supposing the watch on 

 these barrows to be set. The illustration of these 

 principles is taken by Mr Stackhouse from the Dor- 

 chester Downs ; and after walking considerably above 

 a hundred miles among the barrows in the vicinity of 

 Dorchester and Weymouth, he found it impossible 

 to get wholly out of sight of them all, except in two 

 or three instances, where the plough has completely 

 levelled, or greatly depressed, the barrow assigned to 

 that particular station. For further information on 

 this subject, we refer our readers to Stackhouse's Il- 

 lustration of Tumuli or Ancient Barrows ; Gough's 

 Sepulchral Monuments of Britain ; Douglas's Nen- 

 nia Britannica ; King's Munimenta Britannica ; Phi- 

 losophical Transactions, No. 458. ; Arcliaologia, vol. 

 ii. and xii. ; Britton's Beauties of Wiltshire, vol. ii. ; 

 ;:nd Clarke's Travels in Europe, Asia, and Africa, 

 part i. p. 316, 428, &c. (u) 



BARRY, James, a celebrated historical painter, 

 KM born in the city of Cork, on the 11th' October, 

 1741. His father was a coasting trader between 

 England and Ireland, and wishing to engage James, his 

 eldest son, in the same employment, compelled him, 

 when a boy, to make several voyages. But the ac- 

 tive and expanding genius of young Barry could not 

 be reconciled to the drudgery and uniformity of a 

 sailor's life. On one occasion he fairly ran away from 

 his ship ; and in his future voyages, instead of learn- 

 ing to handle with dexterity the ropes and sails, was 

 generally occupied, in sketching, with black chalk, 

 the scenery of the coasts, or in drawing such figures 

 as his fancy suggested. Convinced, therefore, that 

 he would never become a good sailor, his father re- 

 solved at length to indulge his propensity for study, 

 and to give him all the education which his native 

 city could afford. Never, perhaps, was more un- 

 wearied industry displayed at such a tender age. 

 Disdaining the childish amusements of his school-fel- 

 lows, he employed all hjs moments of leisure in his 

 closet, either studying with avidity some favourite 

 author, or attempting to delineate with his pencihthe 

 various expressions and attitudes of the human coun- 

 tenance and figure. His slendt-r allowance of money 

 was saved for the purpose of purchasing candl s, to 

 enable him to prosecute his studies during the night ; 

 and when his mother, alarmed for the safety of the 

 house, deprived him of his candles in order to force 



him to bed, he used to lock himself up in his room, 

 and allow no person to enter on any occasion or pre- * 

 text. The same turn of mind led him to court the 

 society of men of education, whom he in general de- 

 lighted by the unaffected eagerness of his curiosity, 

 and the manly sedateness of his manner. He perused, 

 with the most careful attention, the books which they 

 recommended ; and as his finances did not enable him 

 to accumulate a large library, he generally made ccR 

 pious extracts from such authors as he admired, and 

 sometimes even transcribed a whole work, however 

 voluminous. The variety and extent of his attain- 

 ments were such as might be expected from his fine 

 genius, cultivated with such intense, though perhaps 

 desultory application. His companions looked up 

 to him as a prodigy of knowledge, and received hi3 

 opinions with the reverence due to an oracle. 



As his mother was a zealous catholic, her house 

 was much frequented by priests of that persuasion, 

 who naturally directed the attention of our young 

 student to ecclesiastical history, and to the peculiar 

 claims and doctrines of the church of Rome. To 

 this circumstance we are to ascribe the strong bias, 

 which he retained through life, for books of polemi- 

 cal -divinity and church history, with which he ac- 

 quired such an extensive acquaintance as would have 

 done honour to the most learned divines. 



None of his other studies, however, were allowed, 

 to interfere with his drawing, which had always been 

 his favourite employment. No day was allowed to 

 pass without some effort of his pencil. At a very 

 early age, he furnished designs, and is supposed like- 

 wise to have assisted in etching the engravings for 

 a book of fables, or tales, which was reprinted by an 

 Irish bookseller. These designs would of course be 

 rude and imperfect ; yet, as they were the first of his 

 public attempts, the book which contains them, were 

 it possible to procure it, could not fail to be interest- 

 ing to those, who take pleasure in tracing the pro- 

 gress of genius. He does not appear to have attempt- 

 ed oil painting before the age of seventeen ; but from 

 that period till his departure for Dublin in his 22d 

 year, he had finished several large paintings, the sub- 

 jects of which sufficiently mark his taste tor the great 

 style, which he afterwards cultivated with such ar- 

 dour and success. * It was during the same period 

 that he produced that picture; which first attracted 

 public notice, and brought him on a theatre more 

 worthy of his talents than the mercantile city of Cork. 

 It is founded on an old tradition relating to the arri- 

 val of St Patrick on the coast of Cashel in Ireland. 

 The monarch of that district, induced by the fame of 

 the saint to investigate the truth of the religion which 

 he preached, professes his belief, and is admitted to 

 baptism. The king steps before the priest, who holds 

 in hif hand a crozier, armed at the lower extremity 

 with a spear. In planting this crozier into the ground, 

 he accidentally pierces the foot of his royal convert. 

 Absorbed in the duties of his office, he remains alto- 

 gether ignorant of the accident, and pours the water 

 on the head of the monarch, who preserves, during 

 the whole ceremony, the most unruffled serenity of 



These subjects were, AZr.tas escaping tcftk his Family from the Flames of Troy; A dead Christ; Susanna and the Elders { 

 Vuniel in the Lion's Veil ; Abraham's Sucrifta. 



Barry. 



