Travels in China_ (1804); _Travels
into the Interior of South Africa_ (1806); and lives of Lord Macartney
(1807), Lord Anson (1839), Lord Howe (1838). He was also the author of
several valuable contributions to the seventh edition of the _Encyclopaedia
Britannica_.

See _Memoir_ of John Barlow, by G. F. Staunton (1852).

BARROW, a river of south-eastern Ireland. It rises in the Slieve Bloom
mountains, and flows at first easterly and then almost due south, until, on
joining the Suir, it forms the estuary of the south coast known as
Waterford Harbour. Including the 12 m. of the estuary, the length of its
valley is rather more than 100 m., without counting the lesser windings of
the river. The total area of drainage to Waterford Harbour (including the
basin of the Suir) is 3500 sq. m., and covers the whole of the county
Kilkenny, with parts of Waterford, Cork and Limerick, Tipperary, Carlow,
King's and Queen's counties. The chief towns on the banks of the Barrow are
Athy (where it becomes navigable and has a junction with the Grand Canal),
Carlow, Bagenalstown and New Ross. The chief affluent is the Nore, which it
receives from the north-west a little above New Ross. The scenery on its
banks is in parts very beautiful.

BARROW (from A.S. _beorh_, a mount or hillock), a word found occasionally
among place-names in England applied to natural eminences, but generally
restricted in its modern application to denote an ancient grave-mound. The
custom of constructing barrows or mounds of stone or earth over the remains
of the dead was a characteristic feature of the sepulchral systems of
primitive times. Originating in the common sentiment of humanity, which
desires by some visible memorial to honour and perpetuate the memory of the
dead, it was practised alike by peoples of high and of low development, and
continued through all the stages of culture that preceded the introduction
of Christianity. The primary idea of sepulture appears to have been the
provision of a habitation for the dead; and thus, in its perfect form, the
barrow included a chamber or chambers where the tenant was surrounded with
the prized possessions of his previous life. A common feature of the
earlier barrows is the enclosing fence, which marked off the site from the
surrounding ground. When the barrow was of earth, this was effected by an
encircling trench or a low _vallum_. When the barrow was a stone structure,
the enclosure was usually a circle of stan