practice. In the previous year he had edited a Book of Psalmody for the Congregational churches of Connecticut, which was used until his religious opinions became heterodox. He also took part in political and literary journalism, and wrote verses with the other "Hartford Wits." In 1787 his rather pompous poem, The Vision of Columbus, greatly admired at the time, made him very well known. It brought him also the European agency of the Scioto Land Company, which had acquired redemption rights in 3,500,000 acres of land in Ohio, and sought to market them abroad. On this fraudulent mission Barlow innocently went in 1788 to France, beginning a long exile, in which his religious and political opinions were much liberalized. He also passed some time in London, associating with the advanced liberals; and here, as well as in France, he published political works, the most noteworthy of which is Advice to the Privileged Orders, proscribed by the British Government. Late in 1792 Barlow returned to France, and was active in politics till his defeat as candidate for the Convention in 1793. At this period he obtained the hint for Hasty Pudding, his most popular poem, a mock-heroic that is still readable. He now embarked in commerce and made a considerable fortune. In 1795, with great self-sacrifice, he became consul at Algiers and rendered valuable services to American prisoners. Returning to Paris, he led a literary life, preparing historical works on the American and French Revolutions, which were never completed, and expanding his Vision of Columbus into an epic. The Columbiad, which, when published in 1807, in a magnificent quarto, fell absolutely flat. In 1805, having never lost his patriotism, which he had shown during the X. Y. Z. Affair, he returned to America, where he was cordially received by the Republicans, but vituperated by the Federalists. Until 1811 he resided at Kalorama, near Washington, cultivating literature and farming. He was then appointed commissioner to Napoleon, and accepted the office only from a sense of duty. Going to meet Napoleon at Vilna, he became involved in the disastrous retreat of the French Array from Russia, and died of exposure at a small Polish village, December 24, 1812. Barlow's merits as a poet were small, but he was a fair prose writer, a cultivated and enterprising man of affairs, and a true patriot. Consult Todd, Life and Letters of Joel Barlow (New York, 1886).
BARLOW, William Henry (1812-1901). An English engineer. He was born and educated at Woolwich. In 1832 he went to Constantinople, where he planned the factory and machinery for the improvement of the Sultan's ordnance, and examined the lighthouses at the entrance to the Bosporus. For this service he received from the Sultan the decoration of the 'Nichan.' He was the engineer of the new bridge over the Tay (1880-87), and cooperated with Sir J. Fowler and J. Harrison in designing the Firth of Forth Bridge. He was president of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1880. Among his publications may be mentioned: Illumination of Lighthouses (1837); Diurnal Electric Tides and Storms (1848): Resistance of Flexure in Beams (Proceedings of the Royal Society, 1855); The Logograph (1874).
BAR’LOWE, Arthur (c.1550-c.1620). An English navigator. In 1584 he and Philip Amadas (q.v.) were sent out by Sir Walter Raleigh to find a favorite location for a colony in America. Leaving England April 27, they reached the Canaries May 10, and one of the West Indian Islands June 10, and "on the 2d of July," says Barlowe, "we found shole water, wher we smelt so sweet and so strong a smel as if we had been in the midst of some delicate garden abounding with all kinds of odoriferous flowers." This indicated the proximity of land, and two days later they sighted a part of the North Carolina coast. They spent some time exploring the coast in the vicinity of the present Pamlico and Albemarle sounds (touching upon Roanoke Island), and arrived in England on their return voyage in the middle of September, bringing glowing accounts of the beauty and attractiveness of the new country Barlowe wrote a detailed narrative of the voyage in a letter to Raleigh, which may be found in Vol. III. of Hakluyt. Principall Voyages, Traffiques, and Discoveries of the English Nation (London, 1599-1600), and has been reprinted, in part, in Vol. I. of A. B. Hart, American History Told by Contemporaries (4 vols., New York, 1897-1901).
BARM. See Yeast.
BAR’MECIDES, or BAR’MEKIDES. A Persian family, celebrated in history as the ministers of the early Abbasside caliphs. Khaled-bin-Barmek was the Chancellor of the Exchequer under Abu'l Abbās as-Saffãh, the first Abbasside Caliph; and his influence endured through the reigns of Al-Mansur and Al-Mahdi. Yahya, the son of Khaled, was intrusted by Al-Mahdi with the education of his son, the celebrated Harun-al-Rashid, and was made vizier by Harun upon his accession to the caliphate (a.d. 786). By his military skill and wise civil administration he contributed largely to the prosperity of the reign, the Caliph himself bestowing on him the appellation of 'Father.' Yahya's sons, Fazl and Ja'far (the Giafar of the Arabian Nights), were greatly beloved by the Caliph, who appointed Ja'far vizier to succeed his father. But the splendor of the family and the unlimited power it enjoyed gained it many enemies, who persuaded Harun that the Barmecides were aiming at the crown. The Caliph caused Ja'far to be executed, and the others to be thrown into prison. He carried his enmity so far as to forbid the mention of their name on pain of death; but their virtues and their glory are celebrated by the Mohammedan poets and historians, whose munificent patrons they were. Consult: Muir, The Caliphate (London, 1891); Weil, Geschichte der islamitischen Völker (Stuttgart, 1866).
BARMECIDE'S FEAST. A phrase which originated in a story related in the Arabian Niqhts (Story of the Barber's Sixth Brother). A poor man who had not had food for two day« visited one of the rich Barmecides and asked for food. He was invited to dinner. One after another, empty dishes were brought in and the host asked the man how he liked the food. All was taken good-naturedly until the wine was brought, when the guest, pretending to be drunk, boxed the host on the ear. This bit of humor thoroughly delighted the Barmecide, and he ordered that a real feast be placed before the man.
BAR’MEN. A city in the Province of Rhenish Prussia, on the Wupper, about 25 miles northeast of Cologne (Map: Prussia, B 3). It
