Bresse. A circle of boulevards occupies the site of the
old ramparts, fragments of which still remain. Of the ecclesiastical
buildings, the most noteworthy are St Pierre and St Maclou, both dating
mainly from the end of the 12th century. St Pierre has wooden exterior
galleries and two fine Gothic porches. The sacristy of St Maclou is
conjectured to have formed the chapel of the castle of the counts of Bar,
of which the square tower flanking the north side of the church formed the
entrance. The town is the seat of a sub-prefect, and the public
institutions include a tribunal of first instance and a communal college.
Flour-milling, tanning, and the manufacture of brandy, hosiery and
agricultural implements are carried on. The wine of the district is much
esteemed.

Traces of a Roman settlement have been found on hills to the south of the
town. Under the domination of the counts of Champagne, it became the scene
of important fairs which did not cease till 1648. In 1814 several actions
between the French and the army of the allies took place at Bar-sur-Aube
(see NAPOLEONIC WARS).

BAR-SUR-SEINE, a town of eastern France, capital of an arrondissement in
the department of Aube, on the left bank of the Seine, 20 m. S.E. of Troyes
by the Eastern railway. Pop. (1906) 2812. The town lies at the foot of a
wooded hill on which stand the ruins of the castle of the counts of Bar,
and is composed chiefly of one long street, bordered in places by houses of
the 16th century. Its principal building is the church of St Etienne, of
the 16th and 17th centuries, which contains some fine stained glass.
Bar-sur-Seine has a sub-prefecture and a tribunal of first instance.
Tanning, dyeing, flour-milling, brandy-distilling and the manufacture of
glass are among the industries. The Canal de la Haute-Seine begins at this
point. The town was devastated in 1359 by the English, when, according to
Froissart, no fewer than 900 mansions were burnt. Afterwards it suffered
greatly in the religious wars of the 16th century.

BART, JEAN (1651-1702), French naval commander, son of a fisherman, was
born in Dunkirk on the 21st of October 1651. He served when young in the
Dutch navy, but when war broke out between Louis XIV. and Holland in 1672
he entered the French service. He gained great distinction in the
Mediterranean, where he held an irregular sort of commission, not being
then able from his low birth to receive a command in the navy. His success
was s