what remarkable circumstance that the earliest specimen of Barbour s language is to be found in extracts inserted by Wyntown in his CronykU, which may be set down as belonging to the year 1440.[1] A valuable manuscript of The Bruce is preserved in the Advocates Library, Edin burgh, which was penned by John Eamsay in 1489. Ramsay is supposed to be the same person that was after wards prior of the Carthusian monastery at Perth. This transcript is stated to have been executed at the request of
Simon Lochmalony, vicar of Moonsie.Another manuscript exists in the library of St John s College, Cambridge, and is dated 1487. The handwriting is very like that of the Advocates Library manuscript, and from the initials of the transcriber being J. R., it is supposed that this is another transcript made somewhat earlier by the same scribe. This last manuscript affords perhaps the best readings, but each serves to correct errors and to supply omissions of the other.
The printed editions are almost a century later. The first known edition of The Bruce is believed to have been printed at Edinburgh in 1570-71, but of this only one imperfect copy is known to exist. The next known edition is that printed at Edinburgh by Aiidro Hart in 1616, only one copy of which is extant. Another edition was printed by Hart in 1620. Editions were issued by Andrew Anderson, Edinburgh, 1670, 12mo; Robert Saunders, Glasgow, 1672; Robert Freebairn, Edinburgh, 1715 or 1716 (issued with a false title page in 1758) ; Carmichael and Miller, Edinburgh, 1737. John Pinkerton issued an edition in 1790, printed at London, in 3 vols. 8vo, which he styles "the first genuine edition." It was taken from the Advocates Library manuscript, but, as his transcript was executed neither by himself nor under his immediate inspection, many gross inaccuracies were suffered to remain uncorrected. Dr John Jamieson printed an edition at Edinburgh in 1820, in 4to. This was a careful print of the Advocates Library manuscript. Mr Cosmo Lines printed an edition for the Spalding Club in 1856. It was made from a collation of the Advocates Library and the Cambridge manuscripts. The Rev. W. W. Skeat is at present (1875) engaged in editing an edition for the Early English Text Society (extra series), 1870-75. This edition is founded on the Cambridge manuscript, carefully collated with the Edinburgh manuscript and with Hart s edition of 1616, and occasionally with Anderson s edition of 1670.
(j. sm.)
BARBUDA, one of the lesser Antilles or Caribbean islands, is 10 miles in length by about 8 in breadth, present ing a very flat surface, covered to a great extent with woods, in which deer abound. Many varieties of shell-fish and other fish are found on the coast, which is also frequented by large flocks of water-fowl. The part of the island under cultivation is fertile ; corn, cotton, sugar, tobacco, and indigo are grown ; and the rearing of cattle is one of the principal occupations. So salubrious is the climate that Barbuda serves as a kind of sanitarium for the adjacent islands. The inhabitants, who number less than 2000, are mainly negroes. The island was annexed to Britain in 1628, and was bestowed in 1680 on the Codrington family, in whose possession it still remains. The north point is in lat. 17 33 N. and long. 61 43 W.
BARCA, a maritime district of Northern Africa, which formerly belonged to Tripoli, but was raised in 1869 to be a separate province immediately dependent on Constanti nople. It extends from the Gulf of Sert (the ancient Syrtes) to the Egyptian frontier, between lat. 30 and 33 N. and between long. 20 and 25 E., and has an area of about 60,700 square miles. This territory is traversed from east to west by a mountain chain varying in height from 400 or 500 to upwards of 1800 feet, A great part of Barca, particularly towards the coast, is very fertile, abounding with excellent pasturage, and producing large supplies of corn. The chief town is Bengazi.
BARCA, an ancient city in Cyrenaica, and within the above district, to which it gave name. Its ruins are now known as El-Medinah. It was situated between Gyrene (now Grennah] and Hesperides (now Bengazi), about 11 miles distant from the sea; on the top of the rising ground that overlooks the Syrtes. It was founded about 554 B.C. by a colony from Gyrene, who fled from the ill-treatment of Arcesilaus II., and obtained the co-operation of a number of Libyans. About forty-four years after its foundation it suffered severely from the revenge of Pheretima, the mother of Arcesilaus III., being captured and pillaged by the Persians, to whom she had appealed for assistance, while large numbers of its inhabitants were led captive to Bactria. In the time of the Ptolemies the founding of a new city, Ptolemais, on the sea-coast drew away from the older site a large part of the population ; but Barca continued to exist for several centuries after the Christian era, and even seems to have risen again into importance under the Arabs. The ruins are few, and are thought to be those of the Arab city.
Catalonia, and now the chief town of the Spanish province to which it gives its name, is a flourishing city and seaport on the shore of the Mediterranean, in lat. 41 22 N. and long. 2 9 E., between the rivers Besos (Bcetulo] on the north and the Llobregat (JKubricatns) on the south. It stands on the sloping edge of a small but fertile plain now covered with villas and gardens. Immediately to the south-east rise the Montjuich hills to the height of 650 feet, crowned by an important fortification ; while on the west, the north, and the north-east, the view is bounded by the heights of San Pedro Martio, Valcanca, and Moncada. Barcelona was formerly surrounded by a strong line of ramparts, and defended, or, more correctly, overawed by a citadel on the north-east, erected in 1715 by Philip V. on Yauban s principle ; but these fortifications being felt as a painful restriction on the natural development of the city, were, in spite of the opposition of the central Govern ment, finally abolished by the local authorities in 1845. The walls of the moat were utilized for the cellars of the houses which soon occupied the site of the ramparts, and the ground, which had been covered by the citadel, was laid out in horticultural gardens. A rapid extension of the city to the north-west took place, and in 1860 an elaborate plan for the laying out of new districts received the royal sanction. Barcelona thus comprises an old and a new town, differing from each other in many important features, the former still consisting for the most part of irregular and narrow streets, while the latter has all the symmetry and precision of a premeditated scheme. The buildings of the old town are chiefly of brick, from four to five stories in height, with flat roofs, and other Eastern peculiarities ; while in the new town hewn stone is very largely employed, and the architecture is often of a modern English style. To the south-east, on the tongue of land that helps to form the port, lies the suburb of Barceloneta. It owes its origin to the marquis de la Mina, who, about 1754, did so much for the city, and is regularly laid out, the houses being built of brick after a uniform pattern. The main street or axis of the old town is the Rambla, a favourite resort of the higher classes, which has a fine promenade planted with plane-trees running down the middle, and contains the principal hotels and theatres of the city. Among the most important of the squares are the Plaza de Palacio, the Plaza Real, and the Plaza del
Teatro. The Paseo de San Juan and the Gardin del- ↑ Cronykil of Scotland, book viii. c. 2 and 18.
