industries are now carried on the most important being the spinning and weaving of wool, cotton, and silk. Of the numerous guilds that were anciently formed in the city an interesting list is to be found in Cap many. It carries on a large shipping trade. In 1872 between 700 and 800 foreign vessels, with a tonnage of 360,000 tons, discharged their cargoes in the port. Of these 160 were British. The imports from the colonies are sugar, cotton, tobacco, rum, wax, dye-wood, &c.; machinery, coals, coke, cotton, wool, thread, and other stuffs, are brought from England; articles of silk, chemical preparations, pastes and flours of all sorts, objects of fashion, wines and liquors, from France ; petroleum, cotton, and staves from North America ; cotton from the Brazils and Smyrna ; hides from the River Plate ; salt-fish from the North Sea. The export trade is not so extensive, consisting largely of fruits and vegetables, oil, silk, wines, salt, &c. The so-called port of Barcelona was at first only an open beach, slightly sheltered by the neighbouring hills, but at an early period the advantage of some artificial protection was felt. In 1438 we find Don Alphonso V. granting the magistracy a licence to build a mole ; and in 1474 the Moll de Santa Creu was officially commenced. Long after this, however, travellers speak of Barcelona as destitute of a harbour ; and it is only in the 17th century that satisfactory works were undertaken. Down to a very recent period all the included area was shut off from the open sea by a sand bank, which rendered the entrance of large vessels impossible. An extension of the former mole, and the con struction of another from the foot of Montjuich, have embraced a portion of the sea outside of the bank, and a convenient shelter is thus afforded for the heaviest men of war. The depth in this part is about 40 feet, while within the sandbank it is from 18 to 20. Barcelona is well supplied with inland communication by rail, and the traffic of its own streets is largely facilitated by tramway
lines running from the port as far as Garcia.According to traditions preserved by the Roman writers, Barcelona owed its origin, or at least its first importance, to the Carthaginians under Hamilcar Barca, after whom it was called Barcino. It received a Roman colony, and was known by the name of Faventia. After having shared in the various vicissitudes of the barbaric invasions, it became the capital of a dukedom under Louis the Pious, and not long after began to give the title of count to a family that soon made itself independent. In 985 the city was !captured by the Moors, but not long after it was recovered by Count Borell. In 1151 Raymund Berenguer married the daughter of Ramiro II. of Aragon, and thus the countship of Barcelona was united to that kingdom by his son. From the successive princes of the line the city received many privileges. In 1640 Barcelona was the centre of the Catalonian rebellion against Philip IV., and threw itself under French protection. In 1652 it returned to its allegiance, but was captured by the duke of Vendome in 1697. At the peace of Ryswick, in the same year, it was restored to the Spanish monarchy. During the War of the Succession Barcelona adhered to the house of Austria. The seizure of Montjuich in 1705 and the subsequent capture of the city by the earl of Peterborough formed one of his most brilliant achievements. In 1714 it was taken after an obstinate resistance by the duke of Berwick in the interests of Louis XIV., and at the close of the war was reluctantly reconciled to the Bourbon dynasty. At the commencement of Bonaparte s attempt on the liberty of Spain, the French troops obtained possession of the fortress, and kept the city in subjection. Since then it has shared in most of the revolutionary movements that hare swept over Spain, and has frequently been distinguished by the violence of its civic commotions. By the census of 1857 the population of the city amounted to 180,014, and by an enumeration in 1864 the city and suburbs were found to contain 252,000 persons. (See Manifestadon de muichos relevantes servicios de Barcelona, Barcelona, 1697 ; Capmany, Memorias historicas solre Barcelona, 1779-92; Chantreau, Lettres de Barcelonne, 1793; Hare, Wanderings in Spain.
BARCLAY, Alexander, an English poet, was born probably about 1476. His nationality has been matter of much literary dispute, but the evidence on the whole seems to point to the conclusion that, though he spent the greater part of his life in England, he was a native of Scotland. The place of his education is equally doubtful ; he studied at one of the great English universities, but at which has not yet been settled by his biographers. He received a benefice from the provost of Oriel College, Oxford, and it might therefore be inferred that he had been a student at that place. But Oxford is nowhere referred to in his writings, whereas Cambridge is mentioned once. He appears to have travelled on the Continent after complet ing his university course, and on his return received an appointment as chaplain in the collegiate church at Ottery St Mary in Devonshire. He afterwards became a Benedictine monk of the monastery of Ely, and at length assumed the habit of St Francis at Canterbury. Having survived the dissolution of the monasteries, he became successively vicar of Much-Badew in Essex, and, in 1546, of Wokey in Somersetshire; and a few months be fore his death he was presented by the dean and chapter of Canterbury to the rectory of All-Saints in Lombard Street. As he retained some of his preferments in the reign of Edward VI., it is presumed that he must have complied with the changes of the times. He died at an advanced age in the year 1552, and was interred at Croy dor- Barclay wrote at a period when the standard of English poetry was extremely low ; and, as excellence is always comparative, this circumstance may partly enable us to account for the high reputation which he enjoyed among his contemporaries. At the same time his best work, being a comprehensive and easily understood satire on the manners of the times, naturally acquired a wide popularity, and was extensively read. The title given to it was the Ship of Fooles, and it was first printed by Pinson in 1509. The original design, and many of the details, were derived from Sebastian Brandt, a civilian of Strasburg, who in 1494 published a poem entitled Das Narren Schyf, which was so well adapted to the taste of the age that a Latin and a French version appeared in 1497, and another French version in 1498. Barclay professes to have trans lated "oute of Laten, Frenche, and Doche;" but to the original cargo he has added many fools of English growth. Under the representation of a ship freighted with fools of various denominations, the poet exposes the prevalent vices and follies of the age ; and although, as Warton remarks, the poem is destitute of plot and the voyage of adventures, the general design was found to possess many attractions. The work is of considerable importance, as giving a clear though by no means pleasing picture of English society and lower class life in the time of Henry VIII., and also as marking a stage in the progress of the English language. Barclay s vocabulary is essentially that of the people. His other works are The Castell of Laboure, 1506; The Mirrour of Good Manners, translated from the poem of Mancini De guatiior Virtutibus ; The Egloges ; a version of Sallust ; an Introduction to Write and to Pronounce Frenche ; and some small pieces. A catalogue of all these, with full notice of the little that is known concerning Barclay, and ample bibliographical information, is supplied by Mr Jamieson in the introduction to his edition of the Ship of Fools, Ediu., 1874.
