Barbary

St. Barbary, the patron saint of arsenals and powder magazines. Her father delivered her up to Martian, governor of Nicomeʹdia, for being a Christian. After she had been subjected to the most cruel tortures, her unnatural father was about to strike off her head, when a lightning flash laid him dead at her feet. Hence, those who invoke saints select St. Barbary in thunderstorms. (See Barbe.)

Roan Barbary. The favourite horse of Richard II. (See Horse.)

“O, how it yearned my heart when I beheld

In London streets that coronation day.

When Bolingbroke rode on roan Barbary!

That horse that thou [Rich. II.] so often hast bestrid,

That horse that I so carefully have dressed.”

Shakespeare: Richard II., v. 5.

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

Barbary

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