Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 1).djvu/210

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184
BARTLETT
BARTLETT

house of Little, Brown & Co. in 1865, and he became senior partner in 1878. He received the degree of A. M. from Harvard in 1871. His best known and most valuable literary work is " Familiar Quota- tions" (Boston, 1854; 8th ed., 1883). This has been enlarged in pach successive edition, and is one of the most valuable of reference-books. His " New Method of Chess Notation " was published in Cambridge in 1857, appearing in connection with the annals of the chess tournament in New York city. His other works are " The Shakespeare Phrase-Book " (Boston, 1882) ; and a " Catalogue of Books on Angling, including Ichthyology, Pis- ciculture," etc. (1882) ; with a supplement to the latter (1886).


BARTLETT, John Russell, author, b. in Provi- dence, R. I., 23 Oct., 1805 ; d. there, 28 May, 1886. He was educated for a mercantile career, entered the banking business at an early age, and was for six years cashier of the Globe bank in Providence. His natural bent appears to have been in the direc- tion of science and belles-lettres, for he was promi- nent in founding the Providence athenjeum, and an active mem- ber of the Frank- lin society. In 1837 he engaged in business with a New York house, but was not suc- cessful, and en- tered the book- importing trade under the style of Bartlett & Wel- ford. He became a member, and was for several years correspond- ing secretary, of the New York his- torical society, and was a mem- ber of the Amer- ican ethnographi-

cal society. In

1850 President Taylor appointed him one of the commissioners to fix the boundary between the United States and Mexico, under the treaty of Guadaloupe Hidalgo. This service occupied him until 1853, when he was obliged to leave the work incomplete, owing to the failure of the appro- priation. He became secretary of state for Rhode Island in May, 1855, and held the office until 1872. The titles of his published works are : " The Progress of Ethnology " (New York, 1847) ; " A Dictionary of Americanisms " (Boston, 1850 ; revised ed., 1859 and 1877) ; " Records of the Colony of Rhode Island and the Providence Plan- tations " (10 vols.. Providence, 1856-65) ; " Bibliog- raphy of Rhode Island" (1864); "Index to the Acts, etc., of the General Assembly of Rhode Isl- and." 1758-1862 (1863); "Literature of the Rebel- lion " (Boston, 1866) ; " Memoirs of Rhode Island Officers in the War of the Rebellion " (1867) ; " Pri- meval Man " (1868) ; " History of the Wanton Fam- ily of Newport, R. I." (1878) ; and " Genealogy of the Russell Family " (1879). He had charge of the John Carter Brown Library in Providence for sev- eral years, and prepared a tour-volume catalogue of it, of which one hundred copies were printed in the highest style of the art. — His son, John Russell, b. 26 Sept., 1843, was appointed to the naval academy from Rhode Island in 1859, and in 1861 was attached to the steam sloop " Mississippi," in which he served at the passage of Forts JaeksoE and St. Philip, the capture of New Orleans, and the attack on Vicksburg in June, 1862. He became ensign 8 Sept., 1863, and lieutenant 22 Feb., 1864. While attached to the steam sloop " Susquehanna " he took part in both attacks on Fort Fisher, was one of the assaulting party of 15 Jan., 1865, and was specially mentioned in the reports of Com. Godon and Lieut.-Commander Blake. He was commis- sioned as lieut.-commander 25 July, 1866, and spent two more years at the naval academy, from 1867 to 1869. He became commander on 25 April, 1877. and was aftervvaixl attached as hydrographer to the bureau of navigation in Washington, D. C.


BARTLETT, John Sherren, journalist, b. in Dorsetshire, England, in 1790; d. in New Jersey, 24 Aug., 1863. He received a medical education in London, and was appointed surgeon in the British navy in 1812. During his passage to the West In- dies in the " Swallow " he was captured by the U, S. frigates " President " and " Congress " under Com. Rodgers, and was taken as prisoner to Bos- ton, where he was under surveillance until his dis- charge in 1813. At the close of the war he mar- ried a lady of Boston, and began the practice of his profession in that city. He subsequently re- moved to New York, and, on 22 June, 1822, estab- lished " The Albion," widely known as an organ of English conservative politics. After conducting this journal with great ability, he relinquished tlie editorship in 1848, and in 1855 established a pa- per of similar character in Boston, " The Anglo- Saxon," which continued about two years. Pie subsequently published at Liverpool " The Euro- pean," designed to furnish a weekly summary of foreign news for American circulation. In 1857 he became British consul in Baltimore.


BARTLETT, Joseph, adventurer, b. in Plymouth, Mass., 10 June, 1762 ; d. in Boston, 20 Oct., 1827. He was graduated at Harvard in 1782, and took the master's degree four years later. After studying law in Salem, Mass., he went to England. It is related that, while attending one of Gen. Burgoyne's plays, in which the former occupations of some American officers are ridiculed, Bartlett, rising from his seat, cried out, " Hurrah ! Great Britain beaten by barbers, tailors, and tinkers!" This was taken in good part, and obtained him the acquaintance of many of the young bloods of the day. Bartlett now gambled and spent his money until he brought up in a debtors prison. He made money enough for his release by writing a play, and afterward, taking the name of Maitland, went upon the stage at Edinburgh. After this he embarked for the United States with a quantity of goods which he had bought on credit, and was shipwrecked on Cape Cod. In Boston he became a merchant, but failed, and then figured for a while as captain of volunteers in Shays's rebellion without seeing any active service. He then opened a law office in Woburn, Mass., where, as an advertisement, he painted his house black and called it " The Coffin." After this he removed to Cambridge, where in 1799 he delivered before the Harvard Phi Beta Kappa society a satirical poem entitled " Physiognomy," in which he is said to have portrayed wdl-known men of the day, though no names are mentioned. This poem, accompanied by a number of aphorisms, was published in Boston in 1823 and dedicated to John Quincy Adams. In 1823 Bartlett delivered a fourth-of-July oration at Boston, and recited a poem entitled " The New Vicar of Bray," which became celebrated. He next went to Maine, where he was sent to the legislature, and became a candidate for congress.