Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 02.djvu/614

BARON. and in comedy, but lie was inordinately vain of his personal appearance, and was frequently connected with the scandals of the time. He retired from the stage in 1691, and on his re- jippearauce in 1720 had lost none of the great charm and power of his talents. He was stricken with apople.xy while on the stage, and died soon afterwards. He wrote seven comedies, of which L'Eomme a ionne fortune held the stage over a century.

BAR'ON AND FEME, fem or fam (Fr. femme, woman, wife, from Lat. femina, woman). Norman-French words employed at the common law to denominate husband and wife (q.v. ). They are rarely used in the United States.

BARON AND FEME. In heraldry, the expression used to designate the bearing by which the arms of husband and wife are carried per pale, or marshaled side by side on the same shield. The husband's arms are always carried on the dexter side. Where the w'ife is an iieiress — i.e. the repiesentative of her father's house — her husband carries her arms, not per pale, 'out in a shield of pretense : and they are quartered with the paternal coat by the issue of the mar- riage. See Heraldry.

BAR'ONET (Fr. dimin. of haron). The lowest degree of liereditary honor in Great Britain. The name baronet or bannaret was originally applied to the lesser barons of the kingdom, but passed out of use with time. The order of baronets was created in 1611 by King James I., for the ostensible object of promoting the plan- tation of Ulster, in Ireland ; but in I'eality for the purpose of refilling his depleted exchequer. The sum exacted, with the fees of honor due to the officers, amounted to upward of flOOO on each patent. Every person, however, who sought the dignity of a baronet was compelled to give proof that he was a gentleman of blood, and had an annual income of more than flOOO. It was part of tlie bargain that no title should be created between a baronet an<l a baron, and that the number of the former should be per- mitted to diminish as the families of the original two hundred died out. The latter stipulation was very speedily departed from. Irish baronets were created until 1800, since which period all baronetcies are of the United Kingdom. There is no limit to the creation of baronets but the will of the sovereign. At investiture there is no cereniou}'. The rank is communicated by patent or writ. According to the patent, the rank may be confined to direct heirs-male; or extended to heirs-male collateral, and sometimes, in default of direct male heirs, to the husbands of heirs- female. The rank of baronet does not raise a person above the rank of commoner. Baronets of Scotland and Xova Scotia were instituted in 1625 by Charles I. for the purpose of encour- aging the settlement of Nova Scotia. There are no new additions to this branch of the baronet- age; the latest creation having been in 1707, the year of the union of Scotland and England, I'hough created f<n' a mercenary object, the order of baronet has always constituted a conservative force in the political and social life of Great Britain, consisting as it does of men of wealth and influence.

BARO'NIUS, Cesar (1538-1607). An emi- nent Iioman Catholic ecclesiastical historian. He was born at Sora in the old Kingdom of Naples, October 30, 1538, and educated at Naples and Rome. He was one of the first pupils of Saint Philip Neri, who founded the Congregation of the Oratory, of which Baronius became su- perior in 1593. He soon after became father- confessor to the Pope, apostolical prothonotary (1595), cardinal in 1590, and librarian of the Vatican Library (1597). On the death of Clement VIII., in 1605, and on that of Leo XL, his successor, he was, against his will, voted on for the Papacy. He received -30 votes on the last occasion, and would probably have been elected but for the opposition of the Spaniards, who were indignant with him for his treatise, De Mon- arch ia Slcula (cf. F. J. Sentio, Die ilonarchie Hicula [Freiburg im Br. 1809]), in which he denied the genuineness of the document at- tributed to Urban II., on which the Spaniards based their claim to spiritual jurisdiction over Sicily, which had already been weakly attempted by Aluzio in 1570. Having already evinced his great diligence and learning as a Church liis- torian, he was commissioned by Philip Neri to prepare tloe Koman Catholic counterpart to the Protestant "Magdeburg Centuries" (q.v.). Ba- ronius entered upon this connnission with great energy and in a position most favorable for ac- cess to authorities, composing his Annnlcs Eccle- siastici a Chrisfo nafo ad annum 1198 (12 vols., Rome, 1588-1607), in which work he labored till his death, June 30, 1607. His polemical pur- pose affects his use of material, but still the material itself is so enormous and often so re- condite that his work is a storehouse of learning of permanent value. He made many mistakes of all kinds, of course, especially in chronology. These were to a considerable extent corrected by A. F. Pagi. 0. Raynaldus and others prepared a continuation of the Annals down to 1646. The best edition of the A7inals is that by A. Theiner (Bar-le-Duc and Paris, 1864-83^ 37 vols. ), but as it is not complete, the one best to use is that by ilansi (Lucca, 1738-57). Both editions contain Pagi's corrections and the con- tinuation, although the latter is of inferior value. Consult: Rauschen, Jahrhiicher drr christ- lichen Kirche untcr dein Kaixcr Theodosius dem Grosscn: Versuch einer ErnrKcrunr/ der Annates Ecclesiastici des Baronitis fiir die Jahre 378-95. (Freiburg im Br. 1897) ; Baronius's Martyro- lociium Romanum (1586) is also worthy of sep- arate mention. There is a life of Baronius by Hieronymus Barnabeus (Rome 1651, 2d ed., Vi- enna, 1718).

BARON MUNCHAUSEN, mun-chn'sen. See !MtJXflIIlAU.SEN.

BAR'ON OF BEEF. A large piece of beef, consisting of both sides of the back, or a double sirloin, and weighing, according to the size of the animal, from 50 to 100 pounds. This mon- strously large piece of beef, roasted, is served only on particular festive occasions at the Eng- lish Court, and at great public entertainments. When served according to ancient custom at civic feasts in Guildhall, London, the 'baron' is hon- ored with a distinguished place on a kind of elevated rostnun, where it is ceremoniously carved for the assembled guests. The term 'baron' probably originated in a fanciful allusion to the word 'sirloin,' inasnuich as a haron is superior in raid-: to a sir.

BARON OF THE EXCHEQ'UER. The honorary title of the judges of the Court of Ex-