A 'lyric writer of a high order of genius,' Barnes was also a most interesting link between present and past forms of rural life—a repertory of forgotten manners, words, and sentiments. Unlike Burns, Béranger, and other poets of the people, he never assumes the high conventional style, and he entirely leaves alone ambition, pride, despair, defiance, and the grand passions, 'His rustics are, as a rule, happy people, and seldom feel the sting of the rest of modern mankind—the disproportion between the desire for serenity and the power of obtaining it.' Like Chaucer, Barnes is filled with the joy of life. Less sombre and more rustic than those of Crabbe, his eclogues, unrivalled in English, are not wholly undeserving of comparison with the prototypes of Theocritus and of Virgil.
Barnes's works comprise: 1. 'A. few Words on the Advantages of a more Common Adoption of the Mathematics as a Branch of Education,' London, 1834. 2. 'Mathematical Investigation of the Principle of Hanging Doors, Gates, Swing Bridges, and other Heavy Bodies,' Dorchester, 1835. 3. 'An Investigation of the Laws of Case in Language,' 1840. 4. 'Poems of Rural Life, in the Dorset Dialect, with a Dissertation and Glossary,' London, 1844, 12mo; 1848, 1852; 4th edit. 1850. 5. 'Se Gefylsta: an Anglo-Saxon Delectus,' London, 1849 and 1866. 6. 'Humilis Domus : some Thoughts on the Abodes, Life, and Social Condition of the Poor, especially in Dorsetshire,' 1849. 7. 'A Philological Grammar grounded upon English and formed from a Comparison of more than Sixty Languages. Being an Introduction to the Science of Grammar in all Languages, especially English, Latin, and Greek,' London, 1854, 8vo. 8. 'Hwomely Rhymes: a second Collection of Poems in the Dorset Dialect,' London, 1859 [1858], 8vo; 2nd edit. 1863. 9. 'Notes on Ancient Britain and the Britons,' London, 1858, 8vo. 10. 'Views of Labour and Gold,' London, 1859. 11. 'Tiw; or, a View of the Roots and Stems of the English as a Teutonic Tongue,' London, 1862, 8vo. 12. 'A Grammar and Glossary of the Dorset Dialect, with the History, Outspreading, and Bearings of South-Western English,' Berlin, 1863, 8vo (for the Philological Society). 13. 'Poems of Rural Life in the Dorset Dialect: third Collection,' London, 1863, 8vo; 2nd edit. 1870. 14. 'Poems of Rural Life in common English,' London, 1868. As with the dialect poems, these are remarkable by the absence of words of Latin origin. Several are in dialogue form, and one or two (such as 'Home's a Nest') unsurpassed for homely pathos. 15. 'Poems of Rural Life in the Dorset Dialect: the three Collections combined, with a Glossary,' London, 1879, 8vo. 16. 'Early England and the Saxon English,' London, 1869, 8vo. 17. 'An Outline of English Speechcraft,' London, 1878, 8vo. 18. 'An Outline of Redecraft or Logic,' London, 1879, 8vo. He contributed largely to the 'Gentleman's Magazine,' the 'Retrospective Review,' also to 'Fraser's' and 'Macmillan's,' in addition to occasional papers in the 'Transactions' of the British Archæological and the Somerset Archæological societies. Several of his letters and extracts from his diary, written in many different languages, but mainly in Italian and Welsh, are given in the 'Life' by Barnes's daughter, Mrs. Lucy Baxter ('Leader Scott'), published with a portrait of the poet in 1887.
[Life of William Barnes, Poet and Philologist, 1887; Times, 9 Oct. 1886; Athenæum, 1886, ii, 501 (by Mr. Thomas Hardy); Academy, 23 Oct. 1886, Doyle's Lectures on Poetry, 1869, pp. 55–75; Miles's Poets and Poetry of the Century, iii. 397; The Eagle Mag. xiv. 231; Fortnightly Review, November 1886; Macmillan's Mag. vi. 154; North British Review, xxxi. 339; Mayo's Bibliotheca Dorsetiensis, 1885, pp. 18, 19, 64–5; Spectator, 16 Oct., 23 Oct., and 20 Nov. 1886; World, 13 Oct. 1886; Brit. Mus. Cat.]
BARNETT, JOHN (1802–1890), musical composer, born at Bedford on 15 July 1802, was the eldest son of a German, Bernhard Beer, and of an Hungarian mother. The opera composer, Meyer Beer, was his second cousin. During the long residence of the Beers in England they changed their name to Barnett.
Barnett, 'when a tiny boy, sang like a bird' (Diehl, Musical Memories), and, at the age of ten, was articled to Samuel James Arnold [q. v.] Barnett made his first appearance at the Lyceum, on 22 July 1813, as Dick in 'The Shipwreck,' and at Drury Lane in the winter pantomime, when he sang 'The Death of Abercrombie.' The sweetness and strength of his contralto and his command of voice were remarkable in a boy of eleven. Barnett continued to sing until 1817. By this time his voice must have broken, and he definitely left the stage. Early studies under Horn and the chorus-master, Price, were now supplemented by lessons from Perez, organist to the Spanish embassy, Ferdinand Ries, Kalkbrenner, William Horsley, and, later, Schneider von Wartensee at Frankfort.
Before 1818 Barnett had composed a mass and published songs; of the latter, 'The Groves of Pomona,' a grand scena, was
