Page:Imperial Dictionary of Universal Biography Volume 1.pdf/417

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
BAR
383
BAR

ing there. Of the seventeen who constituted the party when first located in their winter quarters, two had already died from scurvy, and all were greatly enfeebled. The number of deaths was subsequently increased to five. They departed from Ice Haven in their two boats, retraced their course along the whole western shore of Nova Zembla, and thence proceeded along the northern coasts of the European mainland, until they reached the mouth of the little river Kola, in Russian Lapland, where the survivors found a welcome reception on board of three Dutch ships which lay there, and which ultimately conveyed them to their native land. They reached the river Maas in October, 1597. But Barents, to whom all had been accustomed to turn with confidence under the most trying circumstances, had died (worn out by fatigue and anxiety) on the 26th of June, a few days after their leaving Ice Haven—greatly to the grief of his companions! Some difference of opinion prevails with regard to the precise locality which may be supposed to coincide with the Ice Haven of this memorable expedition, as well as with respect to the identification on the modern chart of the headland of Nassau and other points mentioned in the narrative of Gerrit de Veer. For a discussion of these questions, we may refer to the Hakluyt Society's interesting volume. But the general truthfulness of the Dutch record is strikingly attested by the course of modern discovery, and the morse and seal hunters of the north still preserve the tradition of the memorable wintering of Barents and his companions in the Ice Haven of Nova Zembla.—W. H.

BARÈRE, de Vieuzac Bertrand, christened by Burke the "Anacreon of the Guillotine," was born at Tarbes, in the Upper Pyrenees, in 1755. He was an advocate by profession, and soon displayed his own peculiar talent—the gift of mellifluous speech and clever selection of the winning side. Possessed of a local notoriety, he was sent by Bigorre as one of its representatives to the States General of 1789. He immediately flung himself into the ranks of the extreme left, and published reports of the national assembly in a paper called the Break of Day. In 1792 the department of the Upper Pyrenees elected him to the National Convention. In December of that year he was made its president, in which capacity he conducted the trial of the king. He was courteous and kind to Louis, but voted for his death, without appeal and without delay, when he saw that his death was popular. Afraid of Robespierre, he complimented and supported him, in his heart yearning for a cessation of the Terror; but when Robespierre fell, he exceeded his bitterest enemies in denunciation of the fallen dictator; but in vain. He was tried in 1795 as a terrorist, and sentenced to deportation. A strong attempt was made to have him guillotined, but finally he got out of France. Buonaparte, on his accession, permitted his return; and from that period to the flight of Napoleon he remained in Paris, earning his living by fugitive literary efforts. The Bourbons, on their restoration in 1814, did not disturb Barère; but during Napoleon's brief return he was elected a member of the representative chamber, and immediately set to work to make a new constitution. Thus occupied on the final return of Louis XVIII. in 1815, he could no longer be overlooked: he was arraigned as a regicide; escaped to Belgium; lived there tranquilly till 1830; returned to France, and settled at his native Tarbes, where he died in 1841 at the age of 85 years. He published great numbers of small works, translations, pamphlets, &c.; and a portion of his memoirs was published in 1842, edited by H. Carnot & David of Angers.—J. S. S.

BARET, J., a mathematician, professor at Nantz; died 1814; author of a tract on the calculation of the longitude by sea.

BARET, Jean, a French historian of the 17th century.

BAREUTH, Frederic-Sophie-Wilhelmine, born at Potsdam; died in 1758. She was the daughter of Frederick William I. of Prussia. She has left very interesting Memoirs.

* BAREZZI or BAREGGI, Stefano, a Milanese painter of our day, more distinguished for being the inventor of the process by which frescos are transferred upon canvas or boards, than for any artistical production of his own.—R. M.

BAREZZI or BAREZZO, a learned Italian printer, born at Cremona, and followed his profession at Venice in the beginning of the seventeenth century. He was remarkable for his erudidition, and wrote several biographical and historical works.

BARFKOVIUS, Jean, a German author and preacher in the beginning of the eighteenth century. He translated a collection of German songs into Polish.

* BARFOD, Paul Frederik. a Danish writer, born 1811, near Grenaan in Jutland. Among his historical works may be mentioned, "The History of Denmark and Norway under Fred. VI.;" "Biography of the Ranzau Family;" and "The Jews in Denmark." Barfod is remarkable as being one of the most powerful supporters of the idea of a United Northern, or Scandinavian kingdom. He established in 1839 a quarterly periodical, Brage og Idun, for which the three nations, Swedes, Danes, and Norwegians furnished contributions. The mere announcement of this work was so enthusiastically received in Sweden, that the king interfered by a despatch addressed to all his ambassadors upon the subject; and though this work did not obtain the position which was expected, it became widely circulated, and contains much admirable writing.—M. H.

BARFUSS, John Albert, Count of, a Prussian general distinguished in the Rhenish campaign of the Elector Frederic III., and also in that of the Emperor Leopold I., against the Turks, was born in 1631, and died in 1704. He remained in active service till 1699, when he was deprived of his commands at the instigation of Baron von Kolbe.—J. S., G.

BARGEMON or BERGEMON, a Provençal poet; died about 1285.

* BARGES, Jean Joseph Leandre, a French abbé, celebrated as an Orientalist, was born at Auriol in 1810. He studied Hebrew and Arabic at Marseilles; the former with the assistance of a learned rabbi, and the latter under Dom Gabriel Jaouil. In 1837, after officiating for some time as vicar of one of the parishes of his native district, he was appointed professor of Arabic at Marseilles. In 1842 he was translated to the chair of Hebrew in the university of Paris, and in 1850 was named honorary canon of the metropolis. He has twice made a journey into Algeria, the capital of the western part of which province, Tlemcen, he particularly visited, with a view to preparing for publication a MS. history of its kings, written in Arabic by Mohammed-et-Tennessy. Besides that work, and a great number of papers in various journals, he has published "Aperçu historique sur l'Eglise d'Afrique en general et en particulier sur l'eglise episcopale de Tlemcen," 1848.—J. S., G.

BARGETON, Daniel, a French lawyer and publisher; died at Paris in 1757. He was for some time confined in the Bastile for conspiracy, but afterwards got his liberty. He wrote a number of letters to prove the utility of taxing the clergy.

BARGINET, Alexander Peter, born at Grenoble, 1798; died in 1843. He was one of that numerous body of writers produced by the Restoration. Besides his labours as a journalist, he has left a long list of works, embracing history, topography, &c.

BARGONE, Giacomo, a Genoese painter of the second half of the 16th century, a pupil of Semini and Lazzaro Calvi. His progress was so rapid and so great, that his second master, out of jealousy, administered some poison to him, which first affected his mind, and afterwards caused his death, whilst still in the prime of youth.—R. M.

BARGUANI, François, an Italian poet, born in 1664; died 1742; author of several Latin poems and orations.

BARHAM, Richard Harris, better known by his literary pseudonym, Thomas Ingoldsby, was born at Canterbury, December, 1788, educated at St. Paul's school, from whence he went to Brazenose college, Oxford, where he graduated B.A. in 1811. He was appointed a minor canon of St. Paul's in 1821. He contributed for many years to various periodicals, among which were the Edinburgh Review and Blackwood's Magazine; but his most popular series of papers were given to Bentley's Miscellany, under the title of "The Ingoldsby Legends," since published in 2 vols., 8vo. His novel, "My Cousin Nicholas," was published in 3 vols. About one-third of the articles in Gorton's Biographical Dictionary were written by him. He died in Amen Corner, London, June 17, 1845, aged 56.—T. F.

BARICELLI, Jules Casar, an Italian physician, lived in the beginning of the eighteenth century. Author of several valuable medical and philosophical works.

BARILE, Giovanni, a Florentine artist of the first half of the 16th century. He was equally a painter and a sculptor in wood. In the latter capacity he worked at Rome in the Vatican, and acquired a very good fame. Amongst other pupils he gave the first lessons in art to Andrea del Sarto.—R. M.

BARILE, Giovanni Dominico, an Italian theologian of the first half of the eighteenth century, author of "Scuola di teologiche verita aperta al mondo Christiano d' oggidi, osia l'amor Platonico smascherato," Modena, 1716.