Bar’rabas, the famous robber and murderer set free instead of Christ by desire of the Jews.  Called in the New Testament Barab’has.  Marlowe calls the word “Barrabas” in his Jew of Malta, and Shakespeare says: 

  “Would any of the stock of Bar’rabas
  Had been her husband, rather than a Christian.”

  Merchant of Venice, act iv. sc. 1 (1598).

BARRY CORNWALL, the nom de plume of Bryan Waller Procter.  It is an imperfect anagram of his name (1788-1874).

BARSAD (John), alias Solomon Pross, a spy.

He had an aquiline nose, but not straight, having a peculiar inclination towards the left cheek; expression, therefore, sinister.—­C.  Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities, ii. 16 (1859).

BARSIS’A (Santon), in The Guardian, the basis of the story called The Monk, by M. G. Lewis (1796).

BARSTON, alias captain Fenwicke, a jesuit and secret correspondent of the conntess of Derby.—­Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II.).

BARTHOL’OMEW (Brother), guide of the two Philipsons on their way to Strasburg.

—­Sir W. Scott, Anne of Geierstein (time, Edward IV.).

Bartholomew (St.). His day is August 24, and his symbol a knife, in allusion to the knife with which he is said to have been flayed alive.

BARTLEY HUBBARD, the “smart” newspaper-man in A Modern Instance, by William Dean Howells (1883).  He also plies his trade and exhibits his assurance in The Rise of Silas Lapham (1885).

BARTOLDO, a rich old miser, who died of fear and want of sustenance.  Fazio rifled his treasures, and on the accusation of his own wife was tried and executed.—­Dean Milman, Fazio (1815).

Bartoldo, same as Bertoldo (q.v.).

BARTOLI (in French Barthole, better known, however, by the Latin form of the name, Bartolus) was the most famous master of the dialectical school of jurists (1313-1356).  He was born at Sasso Ferrata in Italy, and was professor of Civil Law at the University of Perugia.  His reputation was at one time immense, and his works were quoted as authority in nearly every European court.  Hence the French proverb, applied to a well-read lawyer, He knows his “Barthole” as well as a Cordelier his “Dormi” (an anonymous compilation of sermons for the use of the Cordelier monks).  Another common French expression, Resolu comme Barthole ("as decided as Barthole"), is a sort of punning allusion to his Resolutiones Bartoli, a work in which the knottiest questions are solved with ex cathedra peremptoriness.

BAR’TOLUS, a covetous lawyer, husband of Amaran’ta.—­Beaumont and Fletcher, The Spanish Curate (1622).