Chapter Bards to Barnaby of B by Brewer's Readers Handbook

Bards to Barnaby

Bards. The ancient Gaels thought that the soul of a dead hero could never be happy till a bard had sung an elegy over the deceased. Hence when Cairbar, the usurper of the throne of Ireland, fell, though he was a rebel, a murderer, and a coward, his brother Cathmor could not endure the thought of his soul being unsung to rest. So he goes to Ossian, and gets him to send a bard “to give the soul of the king to the wind, to open to it the airy hall, and to give joy to the darkened ghost.”—Ossian: Temora, ii.

Bardell (Mrs.), landlady of “apartments for single gentlemen” in Goswell Street. Here Mr. Pickwick lodged for a time. She persuaded herself that he would make her a good second husband, and on one occasion was seen in his arms by his three friends. Mrs. Bardell put herself in the hands of Messrs. Dodson and Fogg (two unprincipled lawyers), who vamped up a case against Mr. Pickwick of “breach of promise,” and obtained a verdict against the defendant. Subsequently Messrs. Dodson and Fogg arrested their own client, and lodged her in the Fleet.—Dickens: The Pickwick Papers (1836).

Bardesanist , a follower of Bardesan, founder of a Gnostic sect in the second century.

Bardolph, corporal of captain sir John Falstaff in 1 and 2 Henry IV. and in The Merry Wives of Windsor. In Henry V. he is promoted to lieutenant, and Nym is corporal. Both are hanged. Bardolph is a bravo, but great humorist; he is a low-bred, drunken swaggerer, wholly without principle, and always poor. His red, pimply nose is an everlasting joke with sir John and others. Sir John in allusion thereto calls Bardolph “The Knight of the Burning Lamp.” He says to him, “Thou art our admiral, and bearest the lantern in the poop.” Elsewhere he tells the corporal he had saved him a “thousand marks in links and torches, walking with him in the night betwixt tavern and tavern.”—Shakespeare.

We are much of the mind of Falstaff’s tailor. We must have better assurance for sir John than Bardolph’s.—Macaulay.

(The reference is to 2 Henry IV. act i. sc. 2. When Falstaff asks Page, “What said Master Dumbleton about the satin for my short cloak and slops?” Page replies, “He said, sir, you should procure him better assurance than Bardolph. He…liked not the security.”)

Bardon (Hugh), the scout-master in the troop of lieutenant Fitzurse.—Sir W. Scott: Ivanhoe (time, Richard I.).

Barère, an advocate of Toulouse, called “The Anacreon of the Guillotine.” He was president of the Convention, a member of the Constitutional Committee, and chief agent in the condemnation to death of Louis XVI. As member of the Committee of Public Safety, he decreed that “Terror must be the order of the day.” In the first empire Barère bore no public part, but at the restoration he was banished from France, and retired to Brussels (1755–1841).

The filthiest and most spiteful Yahoo was a noble creature compared with Barrière [sic] of history.—Macaulay.

Barguest, a goblin armed with teeth and claws. It would sometimes set up in the streets a most fearful scream in the “dead waste and middle of the night.” The faculty of seeing this monster was limited to a few, but those who possessed it could by the touch communicate the “gift” to others.—Fairy Mythology, North of England.

Bargulus, an Illyrian robber or pirate.

Bargulus, Illyrius latro, de quo est apud Theopompum magnas opes habuit.—Cicero: De Officiis, ii. 11.

Baricondo, one of the leaders of the Moorish army. He was slain by the duke of Clarence.—Ariosto: Orlando Furioso (1516).

Barker (Mr.), friend to Sowerberry. Mrs. Barker, his wife.—W. Brough: A Phenomenon in a Smock Frock.