e Baptism
of Infants is warentable_ (1642), the preface of which shows a spirit of
wide religious tolerance; and _A Reply to the Frivolous and Impertinent
answer of R. B. and E. B. to the Discourse of P. B._ (1643).

BARBOUR, JOHN (? 1316-1395), Scottish poet, was born, perhaps in
Aberdeenshire, early in the 14th century, approximately 1316. In a letter
of safe-conduct dated 1357, allowing him to go to Oxford for study, he is
described as archdeacon of Aberdeen. He is named in a similar letter in
1364 and in another in 1368 granting him permission to pass to France,
probably for further study, at the university of Paris. In 1372 he was one
of the auditors of exchequer, and in 1373 a clerk of audit in the king's
household. In 1375 (he gives the date, and his age as 60) he composed his
best known poem _The Brus_, for which he received, in 1377, the gift of ten
pounds, and, in 1378, a life-pension of twenty shillings. Additional
rewards followed, including the renewal of his exchequer auditorship
(though he may have continued to enjoy it since his first appointment) and
ten pounds to his pension. The only biographical evidence of his closing
years is his signature as a witness to sundry deeds in the "Register of
Aberdeen" as late as 1392. According to the obit-book of the cathedral of
Aberdeen, he died on the 13th of March 1395. The state records show that
his life-pension was not paid after that date.

Considerable controversy has arisen regarding Barbour's literary work. If
he be the author of the five or six long poems which have been ascribed to
him by different writers, he adds to his importance as the father of Scots
poetry the reputation of being one of the most voluminous writers in Middle
English, certainly the most voluminous of all Scots poets.

(1) _The Brus_, in twenty books, and running to over 13,500 four-accent
lines, in couplets, is a narrative poem with a purpose partly historical,
partly patriotic. It opens with a description of the state of Scotland at
the death of Alexander III. (1286) and concludes with the death of Douglas
and the burial of the Bruce's heart (1332). The central episode is the
battle of Bannockburn. Patriotic as the sentiment is, it is in more general
terms than is found in later Scots literature. The king is a hero of the
chivalric type common in contemporary romance; freedom is a "noble thing"
to be sought and won at all costs; the opponents of such freedom are shown
in the dark co