and brought out various devotional works, including
her _Hymns in Prose for Children_. These were followed by _Evenings at
Home_, _Selections from the English Essayists_, _The Letters of Samuel
Richardson_, with a life prefixed, and a selection from the British
novelists with introductory essay.

BARBOUR, JOHN (1316?-1395).--Poet. Of B.'s youth nothing is certainly
known, but it is believed that he was _b._ near Aberdeen, and studied at
Oxford and Paris. He entered the Church, and rose to ecclesiastical
preferment and Royal favour. He is known to have been Archdeacon of
Aberdeen in 1357, when, and again in 1364, he went with some young
scholars to Oxford, and he also held various civil offices in connection
with the exchequer and the King's household. His principal poem, _The
Bruce_, was in progress in 1376. It consists of 14,000 octosyllabic
lines, and celebrates the praises of Robert the Bruce and James Douglas,
the flowers of Scottish chivalry. This poem is almost the sole authority
on the history it deals with, but is much more than a rhyming chronicle;
it contains many fine descriptive passages, and sings the praises of
freedom. Its style is somewhat bald and severe. Other poems ascribed to
B. are _The Legend of Troy_, and _Legends of the Saints_, probably
translations. B. devoted a perpetual annuity of 20 shillings, bestowed
upon him by the King, to provide for a mass to be sung for himself and
his parents, and this was duly done in the church of St. Machar until the
Reformation.

_The Bruce_, edited by C. Innes for Spalding Club (1856), and for Early
Engl. Text Soc. by W.W. Skeat, 1870-77; and for Scott. Text Soc. (1894);
_The Wallace_ and _The Bruce_ re-studied, J.T.T. Brown, 1900; G. Neilson
in Chambers' Cyc. Eng. Lit. (1903).

BARCLAY, ALEXANDER (1475?-1552).--Poet, probably of Scottish birth, was a
priest in England. He is remembered for his satirical poem, _The Ship of
Fools_ (1509), partly a translation, which is of interest as throwing
light on the manners and customs of the times to which it refers. He also
translated Sallust's _Bellum Jugurthinum_, and the _Mirrour of Good
Manners_, from the Italian of Mancini, and wrote five _Eclogues_. His
style is stiff and his verse uninspired.

BARCLAY, JOHN (1582-1621).--Satirist, _s._ of a Scotsman, who was
Professor of Law at Pont-a-Mousson, Lorraine, came with his _f._ to
England about 1603. He wrote several works in English and Latin, among
which are