storyteller. Many very powerful dramatic | what has been said to be the first Irish situations, and many vigorous, original, fever hospital. Afterwards in Dublin, as and thoroughly lifelike sketches of charac- a chemical lecturer, he became deservedly ter are to be found in their stories. But popular, and started the first medical jourthey failed to force their way finally across nal in Íreland. In 1821, in conjunction the barrier which shut in provincialism of with Dr. Cheyne, he published a treatise any kind, unless where the impulse of ge- on Epidemic Fevers in Ireland, in two nius carries an author fairly over it. volumes; and in 1826 he edited the DubTales by the O'Hara Family aimed dis- lin Pharmacopeia. Until 1852 he continctly at a national reputation, and they tinued Secretary of the Irish Board of seemed at one time not to miss the mark Health. Judging by the omission of his by a great deal. . . The early repute of name in Thom's Directory for 1860, he the Banim brothers was a good deal owing probably died the previous year. 39 151 323* to a kind of impression engendered by the marvellous success of Sir Walter Scott. Because Scott's novels succeeded in bringing Scottish history, legends, life and manners into public notice and into fashion, it seemed to be supposed that other parts of the Empire had a right to expect the same result if attention were likewise directed to them. The feeling prevailed in England just as much as elsewhere. People reminded each other of what delight they had had when Scott illustrated for them his country's life and history 'Why should not some one do the same for Ireland?' Of course there was not the slightest reason why some one should not do this, provided only that some one had the genius." 233 Barker, Robert, was born at Kells in 1739. He was the inventor and patentee of the now well known exhibitions called panoramas, first brought out by him in Edinburgh in 1788. He died 8th April 1806, and was buried at Lambeth. His son married a daughter of Admiral Bligh, and was, with his wife, living near Bath in 1851. 146 254(1) 277 Barnewall, John, Lord Trimleston. His ancestors came over originally with Henry II. and received large grants of land in the County of Cork. On the first favourable opportunity the old proprietors, the O'Sullivans, rose and murdered the whole family save one young man, who was absent studying law in England. He ultimately returned and settled at Drimnagh, near Dublin. The subject of our sketch rose to high office in Ireland under Henry VIII. and received Lord-Treasurer Brabazon, he made an incursion into Offaly, and drove back the O'Conor, who was then ravaging the AngloIrish settlements. The next year, commissioned by the Privy Council, he treated successfully with the O'Neill. He died 25th July, 1538. He was four times married. 216 Barber, Mary, one of Dean Swift's female coterie, was born in Dublin about 1712. She married a woollen-draper, and appears to have been an estimable charac-grants of land near Dunleer. In 1536, with ter. She published a small volume of poems under the patronage of the Dean and Lord Orrery. Mrs. Barber died in 1757. There are numerous references to her in Swift's Life. When she went to London to have her poems published, an anonymous letter to Queen Caroline in her favour drew or led Swift into a serious scrape, as it was generally imputed to him. It is probable that it was really indited by Mrs. Barber herself, if not by some friend. The Dean eventually forgave the annoyance, and on more than one occasion presented her with the copyright of some of his short pieces. 42 321 Barker, Francis, M.D., a distinguished chemist and physician, was born in Waterford the latter part of the 18th century. He obtained his degree from the University of Dublin in 1793, and completed his medical education in Edinburgh, where he became intimate with Sir Walter Scott. Previous to the discovery of the voltaic battery, he suggested the identity of the nervous fluid with dynamical electricity. Returning to his native city, he practised for five years, and took part in the establishment of Barnewall, Nicholas, Viscount Kingsland, was born 15th April 1668. The family had been ennobled by King Charles I., 12th September 1645, for loyalty to his cause. Before Nicholas was of age he married a daughter of George, Count Hamilton, by his wife Frances Jennings, afterwards married to the Earl of Tyrconnel. In 1688 he entered King James's Irish army as captain in the Earl of Limerick's Dragoons. After the defeat of the Boyne he was moved to Limerick ; and being in that city at the time of its surrender, was included in the articles and secured his estates. In the first Irish Parliament of William III. he took the oath of allegiance, but upon declining to subscribe the declaration according to the English Act, as contrary to his conscience, he was obliged to withdraw with the other Baron, Bonaventure, a Franciscan writer, nephew to Luke Wadding, was born in Clonmel early in the 17th century. He lived for sixty years in Rome, where he died, old and blind, on 18th March 1696. He was buried at St. Isidore's College, in which he had been for some time Prelector of Divinity. Baron was noted for the purity of his Latin style. Ware enumerates fourteen books written by him in that language. 339 Barrett, John, D.D., son of a clergyman at Ballyroan. When but six years of age his father died, and his mother removed to Dublin. He entered Trinity College as a pensioner in 1767, obtained a scholarship in 1773, a fellowship in 1778, and was elected Vice-Provost in 1807. He was Professor of Oriental Languages. For the last fifty years of his life, he scarcely ever left the College-occupying a garret in the Library Square, allowing himself little light and no fire, but stealing down to the College kitchen to warm himself, where his presence was not acceptable to the servants, on account of his ragged and miserable appearance. He was of low stature, with a huge head and small feet, so that he looked like an equilateral triangle stand Barre, Isaac, the son of a Huguenot refugee, was born in Dublin in the first half of the 18th century. Educated ating on its vertex. His habits were such as Trinity College, he took his degree in 1745; he entered the army, and rose to high rank, being Adjutant-General under Wolfe at Quebec in 1759. Afterwards, in Parliament, he distinguished himself by his opposition to the American Stamp Act. In 1776, he was made Vice-Treasurer of Ireland and Privy Councillor, and subsequently held other offices of trust under Government. He died in 1802. 151 166 Barrett, Eaton Stannard, a writer of considerable merit, was born in Cork towards the end of the 18th century. Although he entered the Middle Temple, he does not appear to have followed the law, but rather to have embraced literature. He was a man of great private worth and attractive manners. Besides Lines on Woman, his best known work is The Heroine, a mock romance of wonderful liveliness and humour. He died in Glamorganshire, of decline, 20th March 1820. Several communications regarding his writings will be found in Notes and Queries, 1st and 2nd Series. His brother, Richard Barrett, editor of The Dublin Pilot, was a fellowprisoner of O'Connell's, and died at Dalkey about 1855. 16 39 254 Barrett, George, an eminent landscape painter, born in Dublin in 1730. He was one of the originators and first members of the Royal Academy, and was in the latter part of his life, appointed master painter to Chelsea Hospital, through the influence of his friend Edmund Burke. He died at Paddington in 1784. "He was a chaste and faithful delineator of English landscape, which he viewed with the eye of an artist, and selected with the feeling of a man of taste. His colouring is excellent, and there is a freshness and dewy brightness in his verdure, which is only to be met with in English scenery, and which he has perfectly represented." 277 would perhaps effectually exclude him from decent society in the present day. "He spent his life in almost solitary seclusion, devoted to the two passions that absorbed him-reading, and the most penurious hoarding of money- the latter habit being probably induced by the extreme poverty of his early life; yet, with all this, he was a man of the strictest integrity, and was never known to commit a dishonourable action. With strong feelings, he indulged in cursing and swearing as a thoughtless habit; he was ever ready to do kind actions, provided he was not called on to give money, and though ignorant of everything that pertained to the most ordinary affairs of life, his mind was a perfect storehouse of strange knowledge, and his memory so tenacious that he could remember almost everything he had seen or read." 39 His most important literary achievement was the discovery of an old palimpsest MS. of fragments of the Gospel of St. Matthew. Many stories are told of his uncouth ways and absence of mind concerning ordinary matters-of his being found absorbed in thought, attentively regarding an egg in his hand while his watch was boiling in the saucepan; of his wonder at finding that mutton was made from sheep; of the two holes in his door, a large one to let in his big cat, and a small one to let in his little cat; of his surprise at seeing a crow in the College Park, and his discovery, after some study among the classics, that it was "a corvus, by Jove." His principal works were concerning the Zodiac, an essay on the life of Swift, and comments on St. Matthew. In the first of these, he propounded the wildest and most fanciful theories. He died on 15th November 1821, leaving most of his property for charitable purposes. 39 116 (18) 233 16 Barrett, John, R.N., a distinguished naval officer, born at Drogheda, promoted to the rank of Lieutenant in 1793, and afterwards to that of Post-Captain. He saw much service; and in 1810, returning in the Minotaur, 74, in charge of a convoy of one hundred sail from the Baltic, he perished with 490 out of a crew of 600, in consequence of the ignorance of the pilot. After the vessel struck, he said to an officer who evinced some undue eagerness to save himself: "Sir, true courage is better shown by coolness and composure; we all owe nature a debt, let us pay it like men of honour."349 146 Barrington, Sir Jonah, was born 1760 or '67, the fourth of sixteen children of John Barrington of Knapton, near Abbeyleix, Queen's County. His pleasing presence, lively conversation, talents, and pushing activity, contributed largely to his advance in public life. He was called to the Bar, 1788, and two years afterwards, as Member for Tuam, he entered Parliament, where, he says, "I directed my earliest effort against Grattan and Curran, and on the first day of my rising, exhibited a specimen of what I may now call true arrogance." He was rewarded by Government for his arrogance, in 1793, by a sinecure in the Custom-house, worth £1,000 a-year, and a silk gown. He lost his seat in 1798; but sat for Banagher in 1799. He boldly voted against the Union, though | it deprived him of his sinecure and stopped his further advancement. Nevertheless, most inconsistently, he acted as government procurer for bribing at least one member to vote for it. In 1803 he was an unsuccessful candidate for the city of Dublin in the Imperial Parliament, although Grattan, Curran, Ponsonby, and Plunket voted for him. The Government now thought he was worth buying again, and accordingly made him judge in the Admiralty Court, and knighted him. In 1809 he published, in five parts, the first volume of the Historic Memoirs of Ireland. It is thought that he was induced to delay the second volume-the Government shrinking from the exposure of their conduct in carrying the Union, and it was understood that to purchase his silence he was permitted to reside in France from about 1815, and act as judge by deputy. This foreign residence was, indeed, necessitated by embarrassments arising from his extravagant mode of living, and the dishonourable stratagems he often resorted to in business transactions. In 1827, he published two volumes of Personal Sketches of his own Time. In 1830, by an address from both Houses of Parliament, he was removed from the Bench, in consequence of well-proven misappropriation of public moneys. In 1833 appeared the third volume of Personal Sketches, and in the same year the delayed volume of his Historic Memoirs. This book was subsequently reproduced in a cheaper form as The Rise and Fall of the Irish Nation. His works are interesting, racy, and valuable-although his statements of fact cannot always be depended on-containing much of personal incident, related in a fascinating style. He died at Versailles, 8th April 1834. 22 254(1) Barry, Sir David, an eminent physician and physiologist, remarkable for his classical and mathematical acquirements. He was born in Roscommon, 12th March 1780; he completed his medical education at home, and entered the army as an Assistant-Surgeon. Having distinguished himself in the Peninsular War, he settled at Oporto as surgeon to the Portuguese forces. There he married Miss Whately, sister of the future Archbishop. Returning to England in 1820, he perfected himself by further study, and in 1826 published his researches relative to the absorption of poison, and the means of counteracting it by the application of cupping-glasses. He was employed by Government in several medical inquiries, both at home and abroad, and was one of the commissioners in the investigations that led to the Factory Acts. His work on hydrophobia and venomous bites is declared in Allibone "to be very important, and to display great ability." He died in London, of aneurism, 5th November 1835, aged 55. 16 42 146 Barry, James, a distinguished artist, was born in Cork, 11th October 1741. His father was captain of a coaster, and desired that his son should follow his calling; the lad consequently spent part of his youth at sea, displaying greater zeal in chalking sketches on the bulwarks than in learning to be a sailor. The love of art was a passion with him. On shore he worked incessantly-sitting up whole nights drawing and transcribing pictures from books, while his fancy was fed by the legends of saints and martyrs related to him by his Catholic mother-whose religion he embraced in preference to that of his Protestant father. In 1763, at the age of twenty-two, he made his way to Dublin, taking with him a number of historical paintings-amongst the rest, "Æneas escaping from Troy," a "Dead Christ," "Susanna and Elders," "Daniel in the Lion's Den," "Abraham's Sacrifice," and "Saint Patrick baptizing the King of Cashel." This last found a place in the exhibition of the Society of Arts at Shaw's-court, on the south side of Dame-street. It attracted great attention, and the artist was eagerly inquired for. "It is my picture," exclaimed young Barry, coming forward in his rough country clothes. "Yours?" "Yes, and I can paint a better." This painting was subsequently purchased for the House of Commons, Dublin, but was destroyed in the fire that occurred some years afterwards. The wonderful genius of these paintings attracted the attention of Edmund Burke, then in Dublin. He took Barry to England after he had been a few months in Dublin, and then sent him to Rome at his own expense. Barry writes to a friend at this period, "My hopes are grounded in a most unwearied, intense application; I every day centre more and more upon my art; I give myself wholly to it, and, except honour and conscience, am determined to renounce everything else." His temper was, however, irritable and imperious-a constant source of annoyance to himself and others. Both at Paris and Rome he became involved in art squabbles. Well would it have been for him if he had taken Burke's advice: "Believe me, my dear Barry, that the arms with which the ill dispositions of the world are to be combated, and the qualities by which it is to be reconciled to us, and we reconciled to it, are moderation, gentleness, and a little indulgence to others, and a great deal of distrust of ourselves, which are not qualities of a mean spirit, as some may probably think them, but virtues of a great and noble kind." While abroad he does not appear to have painted much, but rather to have spent his time in studying the great masterpieces. He drew from the antique by means of a patent delineator, not aiming to make academic drawings, but a sort of diagrams, to which he might at all times refer as a guide and authority. He appears to have been deficient in colouring. On his election as member of the Clementine Academy at Bologna, he presented to that institution his picture of "Philoctetes in the Isle of Lemnos." After five years' residence in Rome, he returned to England, burning to distinguish himself, and set to work at two pictures "Venus rising from the Waves," and "Jupiter and Juno," which, like most of his paintings, were of a colossal size. The first proved worthy of his great reputation. He would in no degree adapt himself to the taste of the public, and his whole life was a struggle, through suffering and poverty, to uphold 'principles of art which he believed to be correct, quite careless of monetary success. His income was never more than £60 or £70 a-year, and he was often assisted by Burke, although at times Barry's petulance, arrogance, and pride suspended all personal intercourse between them. He joined Reynolds and other artists in offering to decorate St. Paul's cathedral with religious paintings gratuitously-an offer which, unfortunately, was not accepted. In 1775 he refuted continental strictures on British genius in his Inquiry into the Real and Imaginary Obstructions to the Acquisition of the Arts in England. For seven years—during which he supported himself by the occasional sale of drawings made chiefly in the evenings he occupied himself in adorning gratuitously the walls of the Institution for the Encouragement of Arts, at the Adelphi, London, with six colossal paintings, and his most indisputable title to fame may rest on one of these "The Victors at Olympia." When Canova was in London, he declared that had he known of the existence of such a work, he would have made the voyage to England solely for the purpose of seeing it. As the powers of his mind declined, his natural irritability increased. He became involved in disputes with the Royal Academy, which ended in his expulsion, in March 1799, from the Professorship of Painting, a post he had held since 1782. Subsequently the sum of £1,000 was subscribed, and an annuity was purchased, which, however, he did not live to enjoy. On the evening of 6th February 1806, he was seized with an attack of pleuritic fever, and died on the 22nd, aged 64. Sir Robert Peel generously advanced £200 for his funeral, and after the body had lain in state for a few days at the Adelphi, amid his great masterpieces, it was interred in St. Paul's, near to his friend Sir Joshua Reynolds. Barry was a staunch imperialist. The Act of Union especially excited his enthusiasm; and he wrote to Pitt suggesting an allegorical painting in honour of what he styled a "glorious achievement, and the hero by whom it was achieved. Surely there never was, nor could be a holy union more pregnant with felicity and blessings of every kind, and made up of more naturally cordial and coalescing materials, than that which you have thus happily effected." "The most prominent feature in Barry's character was his love for art, and for the acquisition of all knowledge connected with it." 24 His language was coarse and unpolished, and his person slovenly. "Strangers would stare when they saw him in company, as if a beggar had been picked up and brought in. Yet his appearance was forgot the moment he began to discourse on any sub ject." 24 An ardent Catholic, he formed | Westminster Abbey. He was remarkable one of the brilliant circle that gathered for habits of magnificence and profuse hosaround Johnson and Burke. The former pitality, and for mean cleverness in putremarked of one of his paintings, "What- ting off creditors. He is described as of ever the hand may have done, the mind a noble, commanding person; his actions has done its part. There is a grasp of were graceful; his features were regular, mind there which you will find nowhere expressive, and rather handsome; his else." Instances are given in H. Crabbe countenance was open, placid, and beneRobinson's Diary of his being subject at volent, but mobile, and easily wrought times to strong mental delusions. He to expressions of haughtiness and conpublished several works, all now collected tempt. Dibdin describes him as "an in one series, and appended to his Life. actor of most extraordinary merit, which Some notes on his portraits will be found was confined, however, to tragedy and in Notes and Queries, 4th Series. There serious parts in comedy. In some respects is an interesting likeness in Walker's Maga- it is questionable whether he did not excel zine for 1806. 24 196 254 296 338 every actor on the stage. These were in scenes and situations full of tender woe and domestic softness, in which his voice, which was mellifluous to wonder, lent astonishing assistance . but certainly, beyond these requisites, Barry's acting did not extend in any eminent degree." 3 Leigh Hunt says: "Barry was one of the old artificial school, who made his way more by person than by genius." 3 338(1775) sea. Barry, John, Commodore, was born near Tacumshin, County of Wexford, in 1745. He went to sea at fourteen; the colony of Pennsylvania became his adopted country, and when twenty-five he had risen to be the commander of the Black Prince, one of the finest traders between Philadelphia and London. Early in the War of Independence, he was given a naval command by Congress, and was one of the first to fly the United States flag at In 1777, he was publicly thanked by Washington for his naval services. It is stated that Lord Howe vainly endeavoured to tempt him from his allegiance by the offer of the command of a British ship-ofthe-line. In 1778 and '79, he commanded the Relief, and was accorded the rank of Commodore. In 1781, he carried the United States' agent to France in his new vessel, the Alliance, and on his way back captured two British cruisers-the Atalanta and Trespasa, in an engagement in which he was badly wounded. Later on the same year, he had the honour of conveying Lafayette and Count Noailles to France. From the conclusion of the war until his death, he was constantly occupied in superintending the progress of the United States navy; indeed he has been called by some naval writers the father of the American navy. He died in September 1803, and was buried in Philadelphia. 192* Barry, Spranger, a distinguished actor, born in Skinner-row, Dublin, 20th November 1719. His father was a silversmith, and young Barry followed that business until he went on the stage at Smock-alley, about 1744. His success was decided; and in London he for a time divided the public favour with Garrick. In 1757 he built Crow-street theatre, and ruined himself; but afterwards, returning to London, he repaired his fortunes, and stood high with the public until his death in 1777, when he found a tomb in 42 127 Barter, Richard, M.D., a distinguished hydropathic physician, was born at Cooldaniel, County of Cork, in 1802. He entered on the duties of his profession as a dispensary physician at Inniscarra, where he was elected Honorary Secretary of the County of Cork Agricultural Society, and contributed materially to improve the husbandry of the south of Ireland. About the year 1842, Cork was visited by Captain Claridge, an advocate of hydropathy. Dr. Barter had been for some time inclining towards the new system, he now advocated it, and despite the opposition of his professional brethren, devoted his talents and energy to its practice. He opened the now celebrated water-cure establishment at Blarney. It was mainly through his exertions that Turkish baths were introduced into the United Kingdom. He died at Blarney, 3rd October 1870. 25 Bathe, William, born in Dublin about 1564. He became a Catholic, and in 1596 went to Flanders, where he entered the Society of Jesus. Travelling in Italy and Spain, he was ultimately appointed Director of the Irish College in Salamanca. He wrote some treatises on music, and others on the study of Latin, the Mysteries of the Faith, etc. He died in Madrid, 17th June 1614. 250 Beaufort, Daniel Augustus, Rev., LL.D., son of a French Protestant refugee, was born at Barnet, 1st October 1739. As curate to his father, and afterwards as rector of Collon, County of Louth (to which living he was presented by his |