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-
