BARRY (JAMES), an eminent painter, was born at Cork, in Ireland, October 11, 1741. His father had been a builder, and at one time of his life, a coasting trader between the two countries of Eng land and Ireland. To this business of a trader was James destined, and he actually made, when a boy, several voyages ; but these voyages being forced up on him, he on one occasion ran away from the ship, and on others discovered such an aversion to the life and habits of a sailor, as to induce his father to quit all hopes of him in this line, and to suffer him to • pursue his inclinations, which led him to drawing and study. When on board his father's vessel, in stead of handling sails and ropes, and climbing the mast, be was generally occupied with 'a piece of black chalk, sketching the coast, or drawing figures,' as his fahcy directed him. When his father found that the idea of making a sailor of him must be given up, he permitted him to acquire as much in struction as the schools of Cork afforded ; but long retained his aversion to the chalk drawings, with which the floors and walls of the house were cover ed; the boy being always engaged in some attempt at large figures, and early catching at the means of representing action, attitude, and passion. It was at a very early period of his life that some bookseller in Ireland, undertaking to reprint a set of fables or emblems, young Barry offered to furnish the draw ings, and, as it is believed, helped to etch the en gravings, such as they were. At the schools in Cork, which he was seat to, he was distinguished by his parts and industry above his school-fellows ; his habits differed from those of ordinary boys, as he seldom mixed in their games or amusements, but at those times stole off to his own room, where he worked at his pencil, or was studying some book that he had borrowed er bought. He would spend whole nights in this manner at his studies, to the alarm of his mother, who dreaded his injuring his 'health or setting fire to the house, and who often kept up his sister or the servant to watch him. His allowance of money he spent in buying books or candles to read by ; be sometimes locked him self up in his room for days, and seldom slept up on his bed, or else made it so hard as to take which thus early manifested itself, might be re ' marked as the source both of the misfortunes of his life, and of the defects of his genius. Common hu manity, a sense of pleasure, and a sympathy with the feelings of those around us, is not more necessary to success in life, than it probably is to success in the fine arts. Few things can be more fatal to the artist than this sort of indifference to the common plea sures and pursuits of life. If affected, it is bad ; if real and constitutional, it is even worse. It stuck to poor Barry to the last. It is not to be understood that, at this period of his life, he led the life of an absolute recluse, for he could and did occasionally join in any feats going on in the neighbourhood, and was not behind other boys in such pastimes and mis-. chief as boys are usually fond of. An adventure which happened to him about this time, and which left a strong impression on his mind, is worth men tioning here. In one of his rambles in the neigh
bourhood, he entered, one winter's evening, an old, and, as he thought, an uninhabited house, situate in a narrow bye-lane in the city of Cork. The house was without doors or windows ; but curiosity impelled him to enter, and, after mounting a rotten staircase, which conducted to empty rooms on different floors, he arrived at the garret, where he could just discern, by the glimmering light of a few embers, two old and emaciated figures, broken by age, disease, and want, sitting beside each other, in the act, as far as their palsied efforts would permit, of tearing each others faces ; not a word being uttered by either, but with the most horrible grimaces that malice could in vent. They took no notice of his entrance, but went on with their deeds of mutual hate, which made such an impression on the boy that he ran down stairs, making his own reflections, which he after wards found verified through life, that man and all animals are malicious and cruel in proportion as they are impotent ; and that age and poverty, two of the worst evils in human life, almost always add to the ca lamities inherent in them by arts of their own creating. In general, his great desire to improve his mind led him to seek the society of educated men ; who were not averse to receive him, seeing his active and in quisitive disposition, and his seriousness of manner, couched under a garb the plainest and coarsest ; for he adopted this kind of attire from his childhood, not from affectation, but from an indifference to all dress. Having a retentive memory, he profited by his own reading, and by the conversation of others, who di also in the choice of books. As his fi nances were too low to make many purchases, he borrowed books from his friends, and was in the practice of making large extracts from such as he particularly liked, and sometimes even of copying out the whole book, of which several specimens were found among his papers, written in a stiff school boy's hand. As his industry was excessive, his ad vances in the acquisition of knowledge were rapid, and he was regarded as a prodigy by his school-fel lows. His mother being a zealous Catholic, the son . could not avoid mixing at times in the company of priests resident at Cork, who pointed out to him books of polemical divinity, of which he became a great reader, and for which he retained a strong bias during his lifetime. He was said at one time to have been destined for the priesthood, but for this report there is no authority. He, however, always ' continued a Catholic, and in the decline of life mani fested rather a bigoted attachment to the religion of his early choice. For a short interval he had a little wavering in his belief of revealed religion in general ; but a conversation with Mr Edmund Burke put an end to this levity. A book which Mr Burke lent him, and which settled his mind on this subject, was Bishop Butler's Analogy ; and as a suitable reward, he has placed this Prelate in the group of divines, in his picture of Elysium.