studies, but soon reverted to his first views. In 1655 he became
candidate for the Greek Professorship at Cambridge, but was unsuccessful,
and travelled for four years on the Continent as far as Turkey. On his
return he took orders, and, in 1660, obtained the Greek Chair at
Cambridge, and in 1662 the Gresham Professorship of Geometry, which he
resigned on being appointed first Lucasian Professor of Mathematics in
the same university. During his tenure of this chair he _pub._ two
mathematical works of great learning and elegance, the first on Geometry
and the second on Optics. In 1669 he resigned in favour of his pupil,
Isaac Newton, who was long considered his only superior among English
mathematicians. About this time also he composed his _Expositions of the
Creed_, _The Lord's Prayer_, _Decalogue_, and _Sacraments_. He was made a
D.D. by royal mandate in 1670, and two years later Master of Trinity
Coll., where he founded the library. Besides the works above mentioned,
he wrote other important treatises on mathematics, but in literature his
place is chiefly supported by his sermons, which are masterpieces of
argumentative eloquence, while his treatise on the _Pope's Supremacy_ is
regarded as one of the most perfect specimens of controversy in
existence. B.'s character as a man was in all respects worthy of his
great talents, though he had a strong vein of eccentricity. He _d._
unmarried in London at the early age of 47. B.'s theological works were
edited by Napier, with memoir by Whewell (9 vols., 1839).


BARTON, BERNARD (1784-1849).--Poet, _b._ of Quaker parentage, passed
nearly all his life at Woodbridge, for the most part as a clerk in a
bank. He became the friend of Southey, Lamb, and other men of letters.
His chief works are _The Convict's Appeal_ (1818), a protest against the
severity of the criminal code of the time, and _Household Verses_ (1845),
which came under the notice of Sir R. Peel, through whom he obtained a