Sir John Hawkins, in his Life of Johnson, has left character portraits of some of the members of the club; he describes Barker as a dissenter by education, a unitarian by religious profession, and a disciple of Lord Shaftesbury in philosophy.
According to the same authority, Barker was an acute reasoner on ethics, a deep metaphysician, an excellent classical scholar, and a student of the Italian poets.
[1] He was, however, "a thoughtless young man", so slovenly in his habits, dress, and appearance as to be a jest to his companions; and naturally he "succeeded ill in his profession".
Hawkins continues: After leaving us (i.e. the Ivy Lane company) he went to practice at Trowbridge, in Wiltshire, but at the end of two years returned to London, and became librarian to the College of Physicians in room of Edwards the ornithologist, and for some misbehaviour was displaced, and died in obscurity.
[2]The third part of Edwards's 'Gleanings of Natural History,’ published in 1764, was translated by Barker from English into French, the work being printed in parallel columns in both languages.