His holidays were sometimes spent under the roof of his friend, W. Bodham Donne, at Muttishall, Norfolk. Here his delight was to listen to the conversation of Mrs. Bodham, an old lady who in her youth had been the friend of Cowper. In later life Barton grew more and more disinclined to take exercise. He liked to sit in his library and enjoy the prospect through the open window, or, if he started with any friends for a walk, he would soon stretch himself on the grass and wait for his friends' return. Though his sedentary habits affected his health, he was never painfully ill, and always kept a cheerful spirit. In 1846 he made a short stay at Aldborough for the benefit of his health, and on returning to Woodbridge printed privately a little collection of poems entitled 'Seaweeds gathered at Aldborough, Suffolk, in the Autumn of 1846.' Some other trifles remain to be mentioned: 1. 'A Memorial of J. J. Gurney,' 1847. 2. 'Birthday Verses at Sixty-four,' 1848. 3. 'A Brief Memorial of Major E. Moor,' Woodbridge, 1848. 4. 'On the Signs of the Times,' 1838. 5. 'Ichabod,' 1848. On 19 Feb. 1849, Barton died after a short illness and with little suffering. In the same year his daughter Lucy published a selection of his letters and poems, and Edward Fitzgerald (the distinguished translator of 'Omar Khayyam' and 'Calderon'), afterwards her husband, contributed a biographical introduction. In the 'Athenæum' obituary notice it is stated that he left much fugitive verse in manuscript.
Bernard Barton is chiefly remembered as the friend of Lamb. His many volumes of verse are quite forgotten. Even the scanty book of selections published by his daughter contains much that might have been omitted. He wrote easily—too easily—and never troubled to correct what he had written. But all his work is unaffected; nor are there wanting occasional touches of deep and genuine pathos. In his devotional verses there is a flavour of old-world quaintness and charm, recalling homely George Herbert's 'Temple;' and in other lyrics Edward Fitzgerald found something of the 'leisurely grace' that distinguishes the Greek Anthology. Free from all tinge of bigotry, simple and sympathetic, Bernard Barton won the esteem and affection of a large circle of friends, young and old, orthodox and heterodox.
[Poems and Letters of Bernard Barton, selected by Lucy Barton, with a biographical notice by E[dward] F[itz] G[erald], 1849; Lamb's Letters; Davy's MS. Suffolk Collections in the British Museum Addit. MS. 19117.]
BARTON, CHARLES (1768–1843), legal writer, was called to the bar at the Inner Temple in 1795, and practised as a conveyancer. He died at Cheltenham on 18 Nov. 1843, aged 75. His principal publications are: 1. 'Historical Treatise of a Suit in Equity,' 1796. 2. 'Elements of Conveyancing,' 6 vols., 1802—5, 2nd ed. 1821-2. 3. 'Original Precedents in Conveyancing.' 5 vols., 1807-10. 4. 'Practical Dissertations on Conveyancing,' 1828.
[Gent. Mag., new ser., xxii. 215; Clarke's Bibl. Legum. 213, 214, 244; Sweet's Cat. of Law Books (1883), 21; Biog. Dict. of Living Authors (1816), 16.]
BARTON, EDWARD (1562?–1597), the second English ambassador sent to Constantinople, was probably the second son of Edward Barton of Whenby, Yorkshire, who died in 1610 (Glover's Visitation of Yorkshire, ed. Foster, p. 5). Barton was born about 1562. and appears to have succeeded William Harborne as English ambassador at Constantinople in 1590. As was the case with his predecessor, his chief duty was at first to protect the interests of the Turkey Company, which had been established in 1579. Although he bore the title of 'agent for her majesty with the grand seignior' and received a payment of 500l. from the exchequer (10 Oct. 1590), the company was, as a rule, held responsible for his salary, and seems to have failed to remit it regularly. In 1591 Lord Burghley addressed a series of questions to the officials of the Turkey Company as to 'what entertainment has been made to Mr. Barton in certainty, and whether he has been allowed the four per cent. promised; what allowance he has had from the beginning of his service, when he has had any, and what it was for, as he complains of great want and unkind answers, and that Collins and Salter, the consul and vice-consul at Tripoli, deny him relief' (State Paper Calendars. 14 Aug. 1591). In 1594 Barton received 2,000 gold 'chequins,' equivalent to 600l., 'for the queen's special service in Constantinople,' and early in 1596 he received a formal commission as ambassador under the great seal, thus removing him from his dependence on the Turkey Company. Barton was popular among the Turks and fought under their flag. Mustapha, the first Turkish envoy in England, told at court in 1607 how many years previously 'Mr. Barton was in the army . . . when Raab alias Suverin was won from the christians,' and the sultan, Mahomet III, when informing (February 1595-6) Queen Elizabeth of the taking of the fort Agria in Hungary from the forces of the archduke
