Editing Daines Barrington (section)

==Antiquarian and scientific writings==
[[File:Pit Mead Roman villa mosaic, illustration by Catherine Downes.jpg|thumb|Pit Mead Roman villa mosaic, illustrations by [[Catherine Downes]], engraved by [[James Basire]] and presented to the Society of Antiquaries of London by Barrington]]
[[File:Richard Westall (1765-1836) - Nelson and the Bear - BHC2907 - Royal Museums Greenwich.jpg|thumb|''[[Nelson and the Bear]]'' by [[Richard Westall]]. A young [[Horatio Nelson]] served on the [[1773 Phipps expedition towards the North Pole|1773 expedition]] to the [[Arctic]] supported by Barrington.]]
In 1773 Barrington published an edition of ''[[Paulus Orosius|Orosius]]'', with the [[Old English Orosius|Anglo-Saxon version]], and an English translation with original notes. His ''Tracts on the Probability of reaching the North Pole'' (1775) were written in consequence of the [[1773 Phipps expedition towards the North Pole|northern voyage of discovery]] undertaken by Captain [[Constantine John Phipps]], afterwards Lord Mulgrave (1744–1792).<ref name="EB1911"/>

Barrington's other writings are chiefly to be found in the publications of the [[Royal Society]] and the [[Society of Antiquaries of London|Society of Antiquaries]]: he was elected to both bodies in 1767, and afterwards became a vice-president of the latter. Many of these papers were collected by him in a quarto volume entitled ''Miscellanies on various Subjects'' (1781).{{citation needed|date= September 2023}}

His ''Account of a very remarkable young Musician'' describes the 1764 London visit of the nine-year-old [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]] and first appeared in ''[[Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society]]'' in 1770, later to be gathered in his ''Miscellanies'' with accounts of other [[child prodigy|prodigies]], namely, [[William Crotch]], [[Charles Wesley|Charles]] and [[Samuel Wesley (composer, born 1766)|Samuel Wesley]], and [[Garret Wesley, 1st Earl of Mornington]].  
<blockquote> Finding that he was in humour, and as it were inspired, I then desired him to compose a ''Song of Rage'', such as might be proper for the opera stage.
The boy again looked back with much archness, and began five or six lines of a jargon recitative proper to precede a ''Song of Anger''.
This lasted also about the same time with the ''Song of Love''; and in the middle of it, he had worked himself up to such a pitch, that he beat his harpsichord like a person possessed, rising sometimes in his chair.
…I must add [the fact that] I have been informed by two or three able musicians, when Bach the celebrated composer<ref group=note>Presumably 'the London Bach' [[Johann Christian Bach|Johann Christian]], (1735 – 1782)</ref> had begun a fugue and left off abruptly, that little Mozart hath taken it up, and worked it after a most masterly manner.
Witness as I was myself of most of these extraordinary facts, I must own that I could not help suspecting his father imposed with regard to the age of the boy, though he had not only a most childish appearance, but likewise had all the actions of that stage of life. For example, whilst he was playing to me, a favorite cat came in, upon which he immediately left his harpsichord, nor could we bring him back for a considerable time.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Barrington, Daines|title=Account of a very remarkable young Musician|journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society|volume=60|year=1770|pages=54–64|doi=10.1098/rstl.1770.0008|doi-access=free}}</ref></blockquote>

Other studies include ''Experiments and Observations on the Singing of Birds''<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1098/rstl.1773.0031 |title=Experiments and Observations on the Singing of Birds, by the Hon. Daines Barrington, Vice Pres. R. S. In a Letter to Mathew Maty, M. D. Sec. R. S |journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London |volume=63 |pages=249–291 |year=1773 |last1=Barrington |first1=D. |s2cid=186207885 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Barrington |first=Daines |date=1773 |title=Experiments and Observations on the Singing of Birds, by the Hon. Daines Barrington, Vice Pres. R. S. In a Letter to Mathew Maty, M. D. Sec. R. S. |url=https://archive.org/details/philtrans03800619 |journal= Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London |series=Series I|volume=63 |pages=249–291 |bibcode=1773RSPT...63..249B |issn=0260-7085}}</ref> and an essay on the language of birds.<ref name="EB1911"/> Barrington attempted [[cross-fostering]] experiments on birds and noted that young linnets raised with foster parents could be induced to learn the songs of various lark species.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Barrington, D. |year=1773|title= Experiments and observations on the singing of birds|journal= Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London|volume= 63|pages= 249–291|url=https://archive.org/details/philtrans03800619|doi=10.1098/rstl.1773.0031|s2cid=186207885}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1006/anbe.2003.2051|title=Fifty years of bird song research: A case study in animal behaviour|journal=Animal Behaviour| volume=65|issue=4|pages=633–639|year=2003|last1=Slater|first1=P.J.B.|s2cid=53157104|url=https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6bz1v7pf}}</ref> He however dismissed the idea of long-distance migration in birds, and supported the ancient view that swallows went to sleep underwater during winter.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Barrington, D. |year=1772|title= An Essay on the Periodical Appearing and Disappearing of Certain Birds, at Different Times of the Year. In a Letter from the Honourable Daines Barrington, Vice-Pres. RS to William Watson, MDFRS.|journal= Philosophical Transactions|volume= 62|pages= 265–326|doi=10.1098/rstl.1772.0022|doi-access= free}}</ref>

Letters to Barrington from the [[parson-naturalist]] [[Gilbert White]] form a large part of White's 1789 book ''[[The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne]]''; Barrington's half of the correspondence is not included. Barrington established the format of the ''Naturalist's Journal'' for "keeping a daily register of observations on the weather, plants, birds, insects, &c" based on [[Benjamin Stillingfleet]] for collating information from across England. This format printed by Gilbert White's brother [[Benjamin White (publisher)|Benjamin]] was used from around 1769 to serve the study of the natural history of Selbourne.<ref>{{cite journal|title=The Hon. Daines Barrington, F.R.S.. Annotations on Two Journals Compiled by Gilbert White| author=Foster, Paul G. M. | journal= Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London | volume=41| issue=1| year=1985| pages=77–93 | jstor=531496 | doi=10.1098/rsnr.1986.0004| s2cid=143620884 }}</ref> Very few of his log books are extant but Barrington has been considered as a pioneer of the study of [[phenology]].<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1002/qj.94706226304|title=The history of British phenology|journal=Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society|volume=62|issue=263|pages=19–24|year=2007|last1=Clark|first1=J. Edmund|bibcode=1936QJRMS..62...19C}}</ref>

Barrington met the [[Cornish language|Cornish]] speaker [[Dolly Pentreath]] and published a report of the encounter. This report is the main source for the claim that Dolly was the [[last speaker of the Cornish language]]. A year after Dolly Pentreath died in 1777, Barrington received a letter, written in Cornish and accompanied by an English translation, from a fisherman in Mousehole named William Bodinar stating that he knew of five people who could speak Cornish in that village alone. Barrington also speaks of a John Nancarrow from [[Marazion]] who was a native speaker and survived into the 1790s.<ref>{{cite book|last=Ellis|first= P. Berresford |year=1971| title=The Story of the Cornish Language|place= Penryn|publisher=Tor Mark Press}}</ref>

The plant genus ''[[Barringtonia]]'' is named in his honour.<ref>{{cite book|title=Verba nominalia; or, Words derived from proper names|author= Charnock, Richard Stephen| year=1866| publisher=Trübner & co.|place=London|url=https://archive.org/stream/verbanominaliaor00charrich#page/16/mode/2up/| page=16}}</ref>