and
Pufendorf; but he works out with great skill the theory of moral
obligation, referring it to the command or will of God. He indicates the
distinction, developed more fully by Thomasius and Kant, between the legal
and the moral qualities of action. The principles of international law he
reduces to those of the law of nature, and combats, in so doing, many of
the positions taken up by Grotius. He rejects the notion that sovereignty
in any way resembles property, and makes even marriage a matter of civil
contract. Barbeyrac also translated Grotius's _De Jure Belli et Pacis_,
Cumberland's _De Legibus Naturae_, and Pufendorf's smaller treatise _De
Officio Hominis et Civis_. Among his own productions are a treatise, _De la
morale des peres_, a history of ancient treaties contained in the
_Supplement au grand corps diplomatique_, and the curious _Traite du jeu_
(1709), in which he defends the morality of games of chance.

BARBICAN (from Fr. _barbacane_, probably of Arabic or Persian origin), an
outwork for the defence of a gate or drawbridge; also a sort of pent-house
or construction of timber to shelter warders or sentries from arrows or
other missiles.

BARBIER, ANTOINE ALEXANDRE (1765-1825), French librarian and bibliographer,
was born on the 11th of January 1765 at Coulommiers (Seine-et-Marne). He
took priest's orders, from which, however, he was finally released by the
pope in 1801. In 1794 he became a member of the temporary commission of the
arts, and was charged with the duty of distributing among the various
libraries of Paris the books that had been confiscated during the
Revolution. In the execution of this task he discovered the letters of
Huet, bishop of Avranches, and the MSS. of the works of Fenelon. He became
librarian successively to the Directory, to the Conseil d'Etat, and in 1807
to Napoleon, from whom he carried out a number of commissions. He produced
a standard work in his _Dictionnaire des ouvrages anonymes et pseudonymes_
(4 vols., 1806-1809; 3rd edition 1872-1879). Only the first part of his
_Examen critique des dictionnaires historiques_ (1820) was published. He
had a share in the foundation of the libraries of the Louvre, of
Fontainebleau, of Compiegne and Saint-Cloud; under Louis XVIII. he became
administrator of the king's private libraries, but in 1822 he was deprived
of all his offices. Barbier died in Paris on the 5th of December 1825.

See also a notice by his son, Louis Barbier, and a li