John balormy ves his name,
a man of ful gud fame."
But whether this north-east Scots author is Barbour is a question which we cannot answer by means of the data at present available.
(5) If Barbour be the author of the Legends, then (so does one conclusion hang upon another) he is the author of a Gospel story with the later life of the Virgin, described in the prologue to the Legends and in other passages as a book "of the birth of Jhesu criste" and one "quhare-in I recordit the genology of our lady sanct Mary."
(6) In recent years an attempt has been made to name Barbour as the author of the Buik of Alexander (a translation of the Roman d'Alexandre and associated pieces, including the Vœux du Paon), as known in the unique edition, c. 1580, printed at the Edinburgh press of Alexander Arbuthnot. The "argument" as it stands is nothing more than an exaggerated inference from parallel-passages in the Bruce and Alexander; and it makes no allowance for the tags, epithets and general vocabulary common to all writers of the period. Should the assumption be proved to be correct, and should it be found that the "Troy fragments were written first of all, followed by Alexander and Bruce or Bruce and Alexander, and that the Legends end the chapter," it will be by "evidence" other than that which has been produced to this date.
For Barbour's life see Exchequer Rolls of Scotland, ii. and iii.; Registrum Episcopatus Aberdonensis (Spalding Club); Rymer's Foedera.
Works.—(1)The Brus MSS. and early editions u.s. Modern editions: J. Pinkerton, 3 vols. (1790) (called by the editor "the first genuine edition," because printed from the Advocates' Library text, but carelessly); Jamieson (1820); Cosmo Innes (Spalding Club, 1856); W. W. Skeat (Early English Text Society, 1870-1889; reprinted, after revision by the editor, by the Scottish Text Society, 1893-1895). On the question of the recension of Barbour's text, see J. T. T. Brown, The Wallace and The Bruce restudied (Bonn, 1900). (2 and 3) Troy Fragments. C. Horstmann has printed the text in his Legendensammlung (ut infra). See Bradshaw, Transactions of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society (1866); the prolegomena in Horstmann's edition; Skeat, Brus (S. T. S. edit. u.s. pp. xlvi. et seq.); Köppel, "Die Fragmente von Barbours Trojanerkrieg," in Englische Studien, x. 373; Panton and Donaldson, The Gest Historiale of the Destruction of Troye (E. E. T. S. pt. ii. Introd. pp. x. et seq.); G. Neilson (ut infra); and J. T. T. Brown (ut supra) passim. (4) Legends of the Saints. C. Horstmann, who upholds Barbour's authorship, has printed the text in his Barbours des schottischen Nationaldichters Legendensammlung nebst den Fragmenten seines Trojanerkrieges, 2 vols. (Heilbronn, 1881-1882), and that of the legend of St Machor in his Altenglische Legenden. Neue Folge (Heilbronn, 1881) pp. 189-208. A later edition by W. M. Metcalfe, who disputes Barbour's claim, appeared in 1896 (Legends of the Saints in the Scottish Dialect of the Fourteenth Century, 3 vols., Scottish Text Society). See the introductions to these editions; also Skeat and Koppel u.s., and P. Buss, Sind die von Horstmann herausgegebenen schottischen Legenden ein Werk Barberes? (Halle, 1886) (cf. Anglia, ix. 3, 1886). (5) For the Gospel-story evidence see Metcalfe, u.s. I. xxix. (6) On the Alexander Book and its assumed relationships, see G. Neilson, John Barbour, Poet and Translator (1900) (a reprint from the Transactions of the Philological Society); J. T. T. Brown u.s., "Postscript," pp. 156-171; and Athenaeum, 17th of November, 1st and 8th December 1900, and the 9th of February 1901.
(G. G. S.)
BARBUDA, an island in the British West Indies. It lies 25 m. N. of Antigua, of which it is a dependency, in 17° 33′ N. and 61° 43′ W., and it has an area of 62 sq. m. Pop. (1901) 775. It is flat and densely wooded. On the western side there is a large lagoon, separated from the sea by a spit of sand. The part of the island under cultivation is very fertile, and the air is remarkable for its purity. Cattle and horses are bred and wild deer are still found. Salt and phosphates of lime are exported. The island was annexed by Great Britain in 1628 and was bestowed in 1680 upon the Codrington family who, for more than 200 years, held it as a kind of feudal fief.
BARBY, a town of Germany, in the kingdom of Prussia, on the left bank of the Elbe, 82 m. S.W. of Berlin on the direct railway to Cassel. Pop. (1900) 5136. It has two evangelical churches and a seminary for school teachers, which is housed in the former castle of the lords of Barby. The industries are mainly agricultural, but there are sugar factories and breweries. Here from 1749 to 1809 was a settlement of the Herrnhut evangelical brotherhood.