Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 1).djvu/193

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
BARLOW
BARNARD
167

into the 84th department of France, and was there nominated for deputy, but was defeated. In Chambery, in this province, he wrote his “Hasty Pudding,” his most popular poem. Returning to Paris, Barlow forswore politics and devoted himself to advancing his private fortunes, and by mercantile pursuits and speculations soon became wealthy. He was appointed U. S. consul at Algiers in 1795, and spent a year and a half at the capital battling with the plague and the caprices of the dey, and succeeded in effecting the object of his mission, the liberation of American captives and the signing of a treaty. Returning to Paris, he lived for eight years the life of a man of letters, writing his poem “The Columbiad,” and making extensive preparations for a history of the American revolution and one work on the French revolution. During this period, too, he exerted himself to heal the rupture between the United States and France caused by the mutual jealousy and suspicion of the federal party and the French directory. In the heated political campaign of 1799-1800, in America, he addressed to his countrymen two forcible and dignified epistles on the measures of the party in power, which had their due effect in determining the result. Returning to America in 1805, he established himself at Kalorama, near Washington, and, declining all political honors, devoted himself to literary and pastoral pursuits and the society of eminent men. In 1807 his epic, “The Columbiad” — the “Vision of Columbus” enlarged — was issued at Philadelphia. Of this book an impartial critic has said: “It abounds in beautiful passages, but is overburdened with political and philosophical disquisitions, and disfigured by singularities of expression.” In 1811, his country being apparently on the verge of war with France, Barlow was prevailed on to accept the post of minister to the French court in the hope of preserving peace, and went there in the U. S. frigate “Constitution,” commanded by Capt. Isaac Hull, accompanied by Mrs. Barlow and her sister, Miss Baldwin. After nine months of diplomacy he was invited by Napoleon, then absent on his Russian campaign, to meet him at Wilna, Poland, where the treaty, whose provisions had been agreed on, would be signed. Barlow set out, but on reaching Wilna found the French army in full retreat on the town from Moscow. Becoming involved in the retreat, he was overcome by cold and privation, and died at Yarmisica, in Poland. See “Life and Letters of Joel Barlow,” by Charles Burr Todd (New York, 1886).


BARLOW, Samuel Latham Mitchell, lawyer, b. in Granville, Mass., 5 June, 1826 ; d. in Glen Cove, N. Y., 10 July, 1889. He was educated in New York city, where he practised law for forty years. He gave much time to the collection of rare and curious books. His library of Americana was among the largest in the country, and only surpassed by the Brinley, Carter-Brown, and Lenox collections. In connection with Henry Harrisse he edited " Notes on Columbus," an invaluable work for the biography and bibliography of the discoverer of the new world (New York, privately printed, 1806).


BARLOW, Thomas Harris, inventor, b. in Nicholas co., Ky., 5 Aug., 1789 : d. in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1865. He settled in Lexington, Ky., in 1835, and in 1851 finished his first planetarium which is now in Transylvania university in that town. This ingenious and useful piece of mechanism is now in use at West Point, the Washington observatory, and other institutions.


BARNARD, Charles, author, b. in Boston, Mass., 13 Feb., 1838. He attended the common schools until he was sixteen years of age, devoting his leisure hours to the assistance of his father, the Rev. C. F. Barnard, then in charge of the Warren street mission chapel, Boston. Then turning his attention to business, for a while he was employed as a clerk, but, this occupation being uncongenial, he began to study for the ministry, when ill-health compelled him to relinquish this intention, and he became a florist. At the age of twenty-one he undertook by private studies to educate himself, and has since devoted his attention almost exclusively to writing. As a journalist, he has filled at various times the place of assistant editor of the Boston " Journal of Commerce," editor of " Vox Humana," musical editor of the Boston " Post," editor of " World's Work Department " in the " Century " magazine, and its only contributor for nine years. His short stories and articles, exceeding one hundred and fifty in number, have appeared in various periodicals. His principal books are: "My Ten-Rod Farm," "Farming by Inches," "The Strawberry Garden," and "A Simple Flower Garden" (Boston, 1869-'71); "The Tone Masters" (3 vols., 1871); "The Soprano" (1872); "Legilda Romanief" (1880); "Knights of To-day" (New York, 1881); "Co-operation as a Business" (1881); and "A Dead Town" (London, 1884). Mr. Barnard is superintendent of instruction to the Chautauqua town and country club, a branch of the Chautauqua university, and as such has published "Talks about the Weather" (1885), "Talks about the Soil" (1886). and "Talks about Our Useful Plants " (1886), all issued by the Cliiiutauquan Press, Boston. He has written several operas and dramas for amateurs, among which are "The Triple Wedding," " Too Soon," "Eugenea," "The Dream-Land Tree," and " Katy Neal" (New York, 1884-'5). He was also associated in the authorship of the play " We, Us. and Co."


BARNARD, Daniel Dewey, lawyer, b. in Sheffield, Mass., 16 July, 1797; d. in Albany, N. Y., 24 April, 1861. He was graduated at Williams college in 1818, studied law, and in 1821 was admitted to the bar, and began its practice in Rochester, N. Y. In 1826 he was elected district attorney for Monroe co., N. Y., and in 1827 was elected representative to congress. After travelling for some time abroad, he settled in Albany, N. Y., and served in the state legislature. He was again in congress from 1839 to 1845, when he was chairman of the judiciary committee. From 1850 to 1853 he was U. S. minister to Prussia. He was the author of numerous reviews and speeches.


BARNARD, Edward Emerson, astronomer, b. in Nashville, Tenn., 16 Dec, 1857. He was graduated at Vanderbilt university in 1886. His discoveries in astronomy include the following: Comet (Barnard), VI, 1881; Comet (Barnard), III, 1882 ; the duplicity of the companion to )3 Capricorni (6 Nov., 1883) ; Comet (Barnard), II, 1884; Comet (Barnard), II, 1885; Comet (Barnard),— , 1886, and also independently Comet V, 1885. Up to June, 1886, he had discovered twenty-one nebulae. Since 1883 he has had charge of the astronomical observatory, and he is also assistant in practical astronomy at Vanderbilt university. His publications consist of astronomical contributions to the "Sidereal Messenger," "Observatory," "Science Observer," "Astronomische Nachrichten," and other technical journals.


BARNARD, Frederick Augustus Porter, educator, b. in Sheffield, Mass., 5 May, 1809 ; d. in New York, 27 April, 1889. He was graduated at Yale in 1828, in 1831 teacher in the asylum for the deaf and dumb at Hartford, and in 1832 in that of New York. From 1837 to 1848 he was professor of