Barberini (ba˙r-be-rē´nē), a celebrated Florentine family, which, since the pontificate of Maffeo Barberini (Urban VIII, 1623-44), has occupied a distinguished place among the nobility of Rome. During his reign Urban was chiefly intent on the aggrandizement of his three nephews, of whom two were appointed cardinals, and the third Prince of Palestrina.
Bar´berry, a genus of shrubs, nat. ord. Berberidaceæ. The common barberry (Berbĕris vulgāris) has serrate, pointed leaves (the primary ones reduced to tripartite spines), hanging clusters of yellow flowers, and small, orange-red berries, which are sometimes made into preserves. The inner bark and roots yield a fine yellow dye (berberine). The shrub is a native of temperate Asia, but is now generally diffused through Europe and N. America. In Britain it has been almost universally banished from hedgerows, owing to its connection with the black rust of wheat. Numerous other species inhabit Asia and America; those of the section Mahonia have pinnate leaves. B. aristata is an erect bush, with furrowed red-brown branches, and pendulous clusters of yellow flowers; it thrives best in the south. See Irritability and Rust.
Bar´berton, the chief mining-centre of De Kaap gold-fields, Transvaal, about 80 miles from Lydenburg, and 150 to 160 from Delagoa Bay. British prisoners were confined here in the Boer War (1899-1902). Pop. about 2000 (whites).
Bar´bets (Bucconidæ), a family of climbing birds with a thick conical beak, having tufts of bristles at its base. Their wings are short and their flight somewhat heavy. They have been divided into three sub-genera: The barbicans (Pogonias), inhabiting India and Africa, and feeding chiefly on fruit; the barbets proper (Bucco), found in Africa and America, and nearly related to the woodpeckers; and the puff-birds (Tamatia), inhabiting America, and feeding on insects.
Barbette (ba˙r-bet´), an elevation of earth behind the breastwork of a fortification, from which the artillery may be fired over the parapet instead of through an embrasure. In ships of war the name is given to a strong breastwork of armour over which heavy guns are fired. See Fortification.
Barbeyrac (ba˙r-bā-ra˙k), Jean, an able writer on jurisprudence and natural law, translator of Grotius and Cumberland, and translator and annotator of Pufendorf. Born 1674; professor of law at Lausanne and Groningen; died 1744.
Barbican. See Barbacan.
Barbié du Bocage (ba˙rb-yā dü bō-käzh), Jean Denis, a distinguished geographer, born in Paris in 1760, who laid the foundation of his fame in 1788 by his Atlas to Barthélemy's Voyage du Jeune Anacharsis. His maps and plans to the works of Thucydides, Xenophon, &c., exhibit much erudition, and materially advanced the science of ancient geography. He also prepared many modern maps, and published various excellent dissertations. He held many honourable posts, and died in 1825.
Barbier (ba˙rb-yā), Antoine Alexandre, bibliographer (1765-1825). He was appointed keeper of the library of the Conseil d'État in 1798; Napoleon made him his librarian in 1807; and he was afterwards librarian to Louis XVIII. His Catalogue de la Bibliothèque du Conseil d'État (1801-3), and Dictionnaire des Ouvrages Anonymes et Pseudonymes (1806-9), are both valuable works.