Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 02.djvu/572

BARBATELLI. BARBATELLI, biir'ba-tel'le. See Poccetti, Bernardino.

BAR'BAULD, Anna Letitia (1743-1825). An English author. She was born June 20, 1743, at Ivibworth, Leicestersliire, where her father, the Rev. John Aikin, a Dissenting cler- gj'inan, kept an academy. Her private edu- cation, the religious influence of her home, and secluded life in the country, were well fitted to develop early her natural taste for poetrj-. In 1773 she published her first volume of poems, of which four editions were called for during the year. The same year appeared Miscellaneous Pieces i)i Prose, written conjointly with her brother, John Aikin. This volume was also several times reprinted. The ne.xt year she mar- ried the Rev. Roehement Barbauld, a Dissenting minister at Palgrave, in Suffolk, where they soon opened a boarding-school for boys. The literary fame and exertions of Mrs. Barbauld soon made it known. During the ten years in which ilrs. Barbauld was engaged in giving instruction here, she published Earli/ Lessons for Children, and the charming Hymns in Prose, works which have been often reprinted in England, and translated into several languages. Her Devotional Pieces was also published during this period. In 1792 she commenced with her brother the well-known series. Evenings at Home, which was completed in three years. In 1804 she edited the letters of Samuel Richardson, prefixing to them the best memoir of the novelist that has yet been written ; and in 1810 she published a collection of the British novelists in 50 volumes, the task of edit- ing which she had undertaken to divert her mind from tile loss she had sustained two years before in the death of her husband. In 1811 she pre- pared, under the title. The Female Speaker, a selection from the best English poets and prose- writers. Her last published work was an ode, entitled Eighteen Hundred and Eleven. All her compositions are characterized by simplicity of feeling, an easy, flowing style, and pure and ele- vated sentiment. Her Ode to Life is an admi- rable lyric. She lived in quiet retirement till her death, March 9, 1825. Consult: Aikin, Works of A. L. Barbauld, with memoir (Lon- don, 1825) ; Ellis, Life (Boston, 1874) ; Mrs. Thackeray-Ritchie, Book of Sibyls (London and New York. 1883).

BARBE-BLEU, barb'ble' (Fr., Bluebeard). (1) A light opera presented in ISGO, libretto by Meilhac and Halevy, score by Ofl'enbach. (2) Comic opera by Sedaine, with score by Gretry, performed in Paris, 1789. See Bluebeard.

BAR'BECUE. A term originally applied, in the Southern States especially, to the practice of roasting a hog, ox, or other large animal entire, by splitting it to the backbone, and placing it on a rude gridiron of stakes. The use of the word is now extended to mean a large public entertainment, held in the open air, where animals are roasted whole, and food and drink of all kinds are provided in liberal quantities. The word was in use in Virginia before 1700. The origin of the name 'barbecue' is disputed. Some think it comes from the Indians of Guiana, who used the word bcrbckot to denote the wooden prills on which they smoked or dried their meats and iish. Others would derive it from the Hai- tian bnrbae6n, identical in meaning with berbe- kot, while still others have traced the term to the French barbe-Aqueue, i.e. 'from snout to tail.' The barbecue is a frequent accompaniment of open-air political meetings in the West and South.

BARBED AND CREST'ED. Heraldic terms indicating that the gills and combs of a cock are of a different tincture from the body. The common English designation is 'wattled and combed,' -Hitli the name of the tincture.

BARBED WIRE. See Wire.

BAR'BEL (L.Lat. barbellus, dimin. of barbus, same meaning, from Lat. barba, beard). An Old World carp-like fresh-water fish of the cyp- rinoid genus Barbiis, with four fleshy appen- dages (barbules) hanging from the snout and upper jaw, which project beyond the inferior mouth and are of use in plowing through the mud in search of food. The common one (Barbus vulgaris) is abundant in the streams both of England and Continental Europe, and may reach a weight of 15 to 18 pounds. It affords some sport to the angler, but its coarse flesh is seldom eaten. The genus is very niunerous in edible species in the waters of Asia, the East Indian Archipelago, and tropical Africa, and some reach a length of 6 feet. See Plate of Carps anu Allies.

BARBE-MARBOIS, biir'ba' miir'bw-i', Fran- ('0is, Marquis de (1745-1S37). A French states- man. From 1779 to 1785 he was connected with the French Embassy in the United States. He married (1783) a davighter of William Moore, of Pennsylvania. In 1785 he was Governor of Haiti, where he introduced many reforms. In 1797 he was exiled to Guiana for political reasons, but was recalled in 1799 and made Minister of Finance in 1801. He negotiated the sale of Louisiana to the United States, and obtained 30,000.000 francs more than Xapolcon really asked, for which he was liberally rewarded. He was a member of the Senate in 1813, and favored the restoration of the Bourbons, for v.hich Louis XVIII. made him a peer of France and Minister of Justice. After the Revolution of July, he swore fealty to Louis Philippe. Among his works are writings on Santo Domingo and Guiana; a history of the treason of Arnold; and one on the cession of Louisiana.

BAR'BER (ME. burbour, OF. barbeor, from Lat. barba, beard). One who shaves the beard, and ordinarily includes hair-cutting in his pro- fession. The office is of great antiquity, and is referred to by the Prophet Ezekiel : "And thou, son of man, take thee a barber's razor, and cause it to pass upon thine head and upon thy beard." From ancient monuments and papyri we know that the Egyptians shaved both the beard and the head. In all Eastern countries, including China, the shaving of the whole or part of the head continues to be performed by barbers. The barber-shops of Athens and Rome were great meeting-places for idlers and gossips.

The most important and dignified portion of the history of barbers relates to the period when in all European countries they had the right to practice elementary medicine and surgery, and were known as harher-surgeons. Relics of this combination of functions are the brass basin still hung out as a sign at the door of European barber-shops, and the red band about the pole, which represents the bandage with which they stopped the bleeding incident to their operations. The existence of barbers as professors of tha healing art can be traced in England as far back