Barber of Seville
a comedy by Beaumarchais, produced in 1775. Upon it was based the comic opera of the same name, by Rossini, produced in Rome in 1816, and a few years later in Paris. This opera was hissed the first night, but has since become one of the most popular light operas. 2026 Editor's Note: Rossini's overture became one of the most recognized tunes in the world — inseparable from Bugs Bunny cartoons and the barber's cry of ' Figaro ! Figaro!' The disastrous premiere the entry notes was pure farce (a stray cat wandered on stage), yet the opera is now a staple, and its scheming barber reappears in Mozart's earlier-set Marriage of Figaro . (Ed: BR 2026-06-03)
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Barberini
a celebrated Florentine family, which, since the pontificate of 1623 to Maffeo Barberini (Urban VIII., 1644), has occupied a distinguished place among the nobility of Rome. During his reign he seemed chiefly intent on the aggrandizement of his three nephews, of whom two were appointed cardinals, and the third Prince of Palestrina. The Barberini Palace in Rome contains a famous picture gallery.
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Barberry
or BERBERRY, the English name of the berberis, a genus of plants constituting the typical one of the order berberidaceæ (berberids). The common barberry (barberis vulgaris) is planted in gardens or in hedges, being an ornamental shrub, especially when covered with a profusion of yellow flowers or loaded with fruit. The flowers are much frequented by bees. The juice of the berries is acid, hence they are used for preserves and confectionery. The root, boiled in lye, and the inner yellow. bark of the stem, dye a fine
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Barberry Blight
the English name of a minute fungal, the æcidium berberidis of Persoon. It occurs on leaves of the barberry, forming roundish, bright red spots, consisting of the fruits of the æcidium, which form little cups full of spores when they burst. These spores germinate on the leaves or stems of wheat, send out mycelium into the called plant, and produce the disease rust.
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Barberton
a city of Ohio, in Summit co. It is on the Baltimore and Ohio, the Erie, the Northern Ohio, and the Pennsylvania railroads, and on the Ohio canal. It has important industries, including the manufacture of matches, chemicals, sewer pipes, rubber, paint, etc. Pop. (1910) 9,410; (1920) 18,811.
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Barberton
a mining town of the province of Transvaal Union of South Africa, in the De Kaap gold fields. It is situated at the base of a high range of miles hills 2,500 feet above sea-level, 180 E. of Pretoria, and 100 N. W. of Delagoa Bay, with both of which it is connected by railway. In 1886-1887, owing to the discovery of rich gold reefs, there was a rush to the place, and the population soon rose to 8,000 or more; but the superior attraction of the Witwatersrand reefs and the growth of Johannesburg reduced Barberton to a subordinate place. Pop. about 3,000.
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Barbizon
a village on the outskirts of the forest of Fontainebleau, a great artists' resort, the home of Millet; Corot, Diaz, Daubigny, Dupré, Troyon, and Rousseau were also of the "Barbizon school" of painters. They were really not a "school," but simply a group of painters of animal, landscape, and peasant subjects having similar aims and painting in accordance with similar principles: a close study of nature, an individual expression of the painter's mood of sentiment. They belonged to the Romantic school of painting.
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Barbour
RALPH HENRY, an American writer, born in Cambridge, Mass., in 1870. He received an academic education and began early in life to contribute to periodicals and magazines under the pen name of Richard Stillman Powell. He was a prolific writer of "The boys' story books, which whi include Junior Trophy" (1908); "Benton's Ven- " ture" (1914); (1914); "The Brother of a Hero (1914); "The Lucky Seventh (1915); "Hearts Content" (1915); etc.
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Barbuda
one of the Leeward Islands, West Indies, annexed by Great Britain in 1628; about 15 miles long and 8 wide; lying N. of Antigua. It is flat, fertile, and healthy. Corn, cotprinton, pepper, and tobacco are the cipal produce. There is no harbor, but a well sheltered roadstead on the W. side. It is a dependency of Antigua. Pop. about 1,000, mostly colored.
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Barcelona (Formerly called New Barcelona)
formerly called New Barcelona, capital of the state of Anzoategui, Venezuela, near the mouth of the Neveri, 160 miles E. of Caracas. The surrounding ing country is fertile, but Barcelona is very unhealthy. Cattle, jerked beef, hides, indigo, cotton, and cacao are the chief exports. There are coal and salt mines in the vicinity. Pop. about 15,000. The town was founded in 1638 at the foot of the Cerro Santo, but was removed to its present location in 1671.
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Barcochba
or BARCOKECAS ("son of a star"), a famous Jewish impostor, whose real name was Simeon, and who lived in the 2d century A. D. After the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, the Jews, at different periods, sought to regain their independence; and Barcochba, seeing his countrymen still impatient of the Roman yo yoke, res resolved to attempt their emancipation. With this view he sought to sound the dispositions of his co-religionists of Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece, Italy and Gaul, and sent forth emissaries, who traveled over all the provinces of the Roman Empire. When all was ready Barcochba solemnly announced himself as King and Messiah, and seized by surprise on many fortified places. All who refused to submit to him, particularly the Christians, were put to death. Great numbers of Jews, from all parts of the world, hastened to join his standard; and so formidable did this revolt become that Julius Severus, general of the armies of the Emperor Adrian, was compelled to act with extreme caution, and to content himself with surprising detached bodies of the enemy. Soon, however, the superior discipline of the Romans prevailed. The Jewish army, shut up in the fortress of Bethar, succumbed under fatigue and famine; Barcochba perished miserably, and all his followers were massacred or reduced to slavery. From this period may be dated the entire dispersion of the race of Israel over the face of the earth.
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