BARNES, JOSHUA, was the son of a tradesman in London, where he was born in the year 1654. He received his grammatical education at Christ's Hos pital, and was admitted into Emmanuel College at Cambridge in 1671. He was elected a fellow in 1678 ; took the degree of bachelor in divinity in 1688 ; and in 1695 was chosen Greek professor in that university. A Mrs Mason, a widow of Hem mingford, near St Ives, became a great admirer of his learning ; and intimated her purpose of leaving him an annuity of £100. Upon this hint he spake," and secured the widow herself, with a jointure of .0.201 per annum. He lived about 12 years after his• marriage, and died on the 3d of August 1712. He was buried at Hemmingford, where his widow erect ed a monument to his memory, with a Latin. inscrip tion, and the following anacreontic lines : lireevr,ria5 Yii7rxilrec Nixrrri rr.a.urszt*c, Aeyoyeceply 'Avees Ti.,, `Icrrograr tesvcrra;,.
Ka. rnT0e0,17 aglITTOS, Kgt Me07,101, 13x0scra5 Berrxvrocrs leerigrc.
Which are also thus rendered into English : Kind Barnes, adorn'd by every muse, Each Greek in hi, own art outdoes : No orator was ever greater, No poet ever chanted sweeter.
1-1'excell'd in grammar mystery, And the Black. Prince of history : And a divine the mnst profound, That ever trod on English ground, The learning of Barnes was very extensive, and his pen remarkably ready and prolific. His principal publications were, a volume of Latin and English poems, most of which were composed during his at tendance at Christ's Hospital, and before he had corn preted the 17th year of his age ; a poetical para phrase of the book of Esther in Greek verse, with a Latin translation and Greek notes ; a History of Ed ward III., in which he imitates the ancient and puts long elaborate speeches into the mouths of the principal personages ; all the works of Euripides, with a preliminary dissertation on the life and wri tings of that poet ; the works of Anacreon, with a Latin translation and notes, a life of the poet, and a dissertation on lyric poetry, all dedicated rather pre posterously to the Duke of Marlborough Homer, with various tracts and dissertations, and a long Eng lish poem, in which lie ascribes the Iliad and Odyssey to the pen of Solomon, with a view, it has been sus pected, to induce his wife to assist the more willingly in defraying the expense of the publication. lie
wrote a great number of other pieces, which were ne ver published ; and which consisted chiefly of Greek and Latin verses on different subjects ; the lives of Pindar, Sophocles, Thcocritus, and the Black Prince ; an ecclesiastical history from the beginning of the world ; sermons, and orations, and critical notes on sacred scripture. He expended much money, and involved himself in considerable difficulties, by the publication of his critical works, few of which pro duced him much fame or profit in return.
Barnes is admitted to have surpassed most men in the extent of his literary knowledge, to have been full of words, and to have composed in Greek and Latin with wonderful facility ; but he wrote with little elegance, and is frequently very deficient in cri tical judgment. He was so continually quoting from the Greek classics, that he generally went by the name of Greek Barnes. He neither valued nor understood the English language much ; and was so little ac quainted with the usages of his own country, that it has often been said, he would have been more at home in Athens than in London. He had several enemies,. or rather rivals in his literary career, some of whom really envied his acquirements, and unjustly slighted his performances ; while others only despised his. vanity, or were provoked by the virulence of his. censures. He was so remarkable for the compass and quickness of his memory, while his judgment was accounted frequently very deficient, that it has. been proposed to add to his' epitaph, what Menage. said of Pierre Montmaur, Hicjacet Joshua Barnes Felicissimce memoriw Expectans judiciunt.
But, with all his errors as a critic,, he will always be respected by the lovers of Anacreon, Euripides,, Homer ; while his pedantry as a scholar was coun terbalanced by the many excellent qualities, which he possessed as a man. He was ever liberal of his money to serve his friends ; and has been known, in the warmth of his charity, to give the coat from his back to a ragged beggar. It is also recorded of him,. that he always carried about with him a small pocket bible, which, at his leisure hours, he read over 121 times in the course of his life. See Biog. Britanni ca. Biog. Dictionary. Grainger's Biog. Hist. of England. Monthly Review, vol. xiv. (q)