Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 3.djvu/417

Rh especially in gold and silver. The most remarkable mines are those of Skleno and Vihnye. The chief towns are Kremnitz or Kormocz Banya, and Neusohl or Besztercze- Banya. Population in 1869, 137,191, mostly Roman Catholics.  BARTAN, a town in Asiatic Turkey, situated near the mouth of the Bartan-su, which was known to the Greeks as the Parthenius, and formed part of the boundary between Bithynia and Paphlagonia. The town is built on two low limestone hills, and has its streets paved with blocks of that material. It carries on a considerable trade with Constantinople, which might be increased were it not for the obstruction of the harbour by a bar. Population between six and seven thousand.  BARTAS,, a French poet, was born in 1544, and died in 1590 of wounds received in the battle of Ivry. He was employed by Henry IV. of France in England, Denmark, and Scotland ; and he com manded a troop of horse in Gascony, under the Marshal de Martingan. His principal work, La Sepmaine, a poem on the creation of the world, which has long since fallen into oblivion, once enjoyed a high reputation, thirty editions of it having been printed within six years after its appearance. Its religious tone and rather fanciful style made it a great favourite v/ith English writers of the time, by whom the author was always designated as the divine Du Bartas, and placed on an equality with Ariosto. Spenser, Hall, and Ben Jonson, all speak in the highest terms of what seems to us a most uninteresting poem. King James VI. tried his &quot; prentice hand &quot; at the translation of Du Bartas s poem L Uranie, and the compliment was returned by the French writer translating, as La LepantJie, the monarch s poem on the battle of Lepanto. Joshua Sylvester, one of the Spenserian poets, translated the Sepmaine in 1598, and the work in its English form was extremely popular and exercised no slight influence on English literature. Du Bartas published a second Week in 1584; portions of it and of the first were translated by Th. Hudson, William Lisle, and Thomas Winter.  BARTFELD, or, a town of Hungary, county of Saros, on the River Tepla. It has some trade in wine, corn, linen and woollen goods, paper, &c., and is noted for the mineral springs in the vicinity, the water of which is largely exported. Its Gothic church is adorned with numerous artistic treasures, and its archives are rich in ancient documents. Population, 5303.  BARTH,, a distinguished African explorer, was born at Hamburg, February 16, 1821. At the age of eighteen he went to Berlin, and completed his education at the university of that city. After a year of study he set out to travel in Italy and Sicily, returning to Berlin in 1841, and continuing his studies for three years. He took his degree in 1844, and yielding to a desire, which had long possessed him, to explore the countries lying on the Mediterranean, he made his first visit to North Africa in 1845. Before setting out he had visited London and Paris, and made himself acquainted with the Arabic language. He reached Tunis, Tripolis, Benghasi, explored Cyrenaica, and travelled down the valley of the Nile. On his return journey he was attacked and wounded by robbers. In 1847 he travelled in Egypt and Palestine, and in Asia Minor and the islands off its coasts, and from Constanti nople returned through Greece to Berlin. For a time he was engaged there as Privat-docent, and in preparing for publication the narrative of his Wanderungen durcli die, Kilstenldnder des Mittelmeeres, which appeared in 1849. At the suggestion of Bunsen and Ritter he entered with enthusiasm into the project of the English expedition for the exploration of Central Africa, and set out with Overweg in November 1849. Five years were devoted to their explorations, and Barth did not arrive in Europe till September 1855. His account, entitled Reise und Entdeck- ungen in Nord- und Centralafrika, appeared in 5 vols., between 1855 and 1858, and was followed by a collection of Central African vocabularies (1862-64). Dr Barth had not yet exhausted his energies as a traveller. In 1858 he undertook another journey in Asia Minor, and in 1862 visited Turkey in Europe. In the following year, having returned to Berlin, he was appointed professor of geography at the university, and president of the Geographical Society. He died at Berlin, November 25, 1865.  BARTH, or, son of a fisherman of Dunkirk, was born in 1651 and died in 1702. He served, when young, in the Dutch navy, but when war broke out between Louis XIV. and Holland, he entered the French service. He gained great distinction in the Mediterranean, where he held an irregular sort of commission, not being then able from his low birth to receive a command in the navy. His success was so great, however, that he was made a lieu tenant. He rose rapidly to the rank of captain, and then to that of admiral. The peace of Ryswick put a close to his active service. Many anecdotes are narrated of the courage and bluntness of the uncultivated sailor, who became the popular hero of the French naval service. (Richer, Vie de Jean Bart, 1780, and many editions since; Vanderest, Histoire de Jean Bart.  BARTHÉLEMY,, a French satiri cal poet, was born at Marseilles in 1796, and died in 1867. After having established some local reputation as a poet he went to Paris, where by one of his first efforts, Le JSacre de Charles X., 1825, he gained the favour of the court. His energies, however, were soon enlisted in the service of the opposition party. In 1826 appeared the clever poli tical satire, Le Villeliade, a mock heroic poem, the joint production of Barthelemy and his constant friend Mery, also a native of Marseilles. The success was immediate and pronounced ; fifteen editions were called for during the year, and the authors cleared nearly 1000. A rapid succession of political squibs and satires was now poured forth by the Authors, one of the most remarkable being Napoleon en Egypte, 1828, which passed through nearly a dozen editions in a year. In 1829 Barthelemy had become so offensive to the Government that he was imprisoned and find 1000 francs. The Revolution of 1830 liberated him ; and in company with Mery, he celebrated the triumph of the people in one of their most brilliant efforts, L Insurrection. During the next two years Barthe&quot;- lemy, though enjoying for a time a pension from Louis Philippe, did not cease his attacks on the Government and its ministers. In 1832, however, he made a curious change, the motive for which is not clear, but the effect of which was seriously to impair, almost to destroy his influence. In that year he published an anonymous poem, supporting some acts of the Government which were peculiarly obnoxious to the Liberal party, and, on the work being attacked, defended it openly. For the next few years he enjoyed a handsome pension from the Government, and refrained from all satirical writing. He again resumed his old style in 1844, but without the former success. From that date he contented himself with merely occasional poems.  BARTHÉLEMY,, a celebrated French writer, was born on the 20th January 1716, at Cassis, a little seaport on the shores of the Mediterranean. He was educated, first at the college of the Oratory in Marseilles, and afterwards at that of the Jesuits in the same city. While completing the course of study requisite for the church, which he intended to join, he devoted much attention to Oriental languages, in which he became very proficient. After assuming the ecclesiastical habit, he <section end="BARTHELEMY"/>