BAR 



to h'mfelf. V/e alfo read of iarons by temporal tenure ; who 

 »ro fuch as hold honours, caiUes, manors, as heads ot tlitir 

 barony, that is, hy grand fergeanty ; by which tenure they 

 were anciently fuiiimoned to parh:imtnt. But at prefcnt a 

 baron by tenure is no lord of parliament, till he be calLd 

 thither by writ. 



The barons by tenure, after the Conqucft, were divided 

 into majora and minores, and were fummoned accordingly to 

 pailiament ; the mnjores, or greater barons, by immediate 

 writ from the king ; the niiiwn-s, or lefier barons, by gene- 

 ral writ from the high fheriff, at the kin v's command. 



The ancients di(lingui(hed the greater barons from the Icfs, 

 by attributing high and even fovtreign juiifdiiE^ion to tlie 

 former, and ouly inferior jurifdidioii over fmaller matters to 

 the latter. By the late jurifdiiflion aft (20 Geo. TI.) the 

 •ivil jurifdiftion of a baion in Scotland is reduced to the 

 powL'r of recovering from his vaffals and tenants the rents of 

 his lands, and of condemning them in mill-fervices ; and 

 Blfo of judging in caufes wheie the debt and damages do 

 not exceed 40 s. Ilerling. His criminal jurifdic^ion is, by 

 the fame ftatute, hmited to afftinlts, batteries, and other 

 fmaller offences, which may be punifhed by a fine not ex- 

 ceeding 20 s. ilerling, or by fettirig the ofTcnd-r in the Hocks 

 in the day time not above three hours ; the fine to be levied 

 by poinding, or by one month's imprifonment. The jurif- 

 diftion formerly competent to proprietors of mines and 

 coal or faltivorks over their workmen, is referved ; and alfo 

 that which was competent to proprietors-who had the right 

 of fairs or markets, for correfting the diforders that might 

 happen during their continuance ; provided tliat they exer- 

 cife no jurifdiftion inferring the lofs of life or demembra- 

 tion. 



Barons nf the Exchequer are four judges, one' of whom 

 is called the chief baron, and the other three puifne baroi'.s, 

 to whom the adminillration of juflice is committed in caufes 

 between the king and his fubjefts touching matt-crs belong- 

 ing to the exchequer, and the king's revenue. They are 

 called barons, becaufe barons of the realm were ufed to be 

 employed in that office. 



The lord chief baron is created by letters patent to hold 

 this dignity qiiamdiu ft bene gejjerit, wherein he hath a fixed 

 edate ; for tlte law intends this an eftale for life. He alone 

 without the otlier barms fits at Guildhall the afttmoon in 

 term time upon njfi prius in London, takes au'iits, ac- 

 compts, recognizances, prefentations of offices, and many 

 other things of importance. In the abfence of the Lnd 

 chief baron, the-other three barons fupply his place accord- 

 ing to their fenlority. 



Their office is alfo to look to the accounts of the king, 

 to which end they have auditors under them ; as well as to 

 decide caufes relating to the revenue, brought by any means 

 into the exchequer : fo that of late they ave been conllant- 

 ly perfons learned in the law ; whereas formerly they were 

 titujorcs t^ dijcrttirjris in regno, Jroe itc clero ejfentjjlve de curia. 

 See Court o/'Eichf.qjj er. 



Barons of the Cinque Ports, are members of the houfe 

 of commons, elefted by the five ports, two for each port. 

 See Cinque Ports. 



Thofe who have been mayors of Corfe-cadle in Dorfet- 

 fhire, are alfo denomiiiiited barons ; as were formerly like- 

 wife the chief citiy.ens of London. 



Baron, in Laxu, is alfo ufed for the hufband in relation 

 to the wife ; which two, in law, are called baron and feme, 

 and arc confidered as one p:::fon, fo that in tris's of any 

 fort they are not allowed to be ev dence for or againll each 

 other. See Husband nn i Wiff. 



^AaoN and Fen- e, in Heraldry, are t:rxs ufed to ex- 



B A R 



prefs the arms of huHjan J and wife j as thus, he !)earcth baron 

 and /'.•nun'. The modern expreffion is, he beareth impaled. 



Baron, Court. See Court. 



V>. \KO!i, prender de. vSee Presuer. 



Baron, Robert, in Bi:.gr.iphy, a dramatic author, who lived 

 during the rei^n of Charles L and the proteftorate of Oliver 

 Cromwell. From Cambridge, where he received part of his 

 education, he removed to Gray's Inn, of the honourabla 

 fociety of which he became a member. At the univerfity 

 he v/rote a novel called the " Cyprian Academy," contain- 

 ing two dramatic pieces, intilled " Deorum Dona," a 

 mtfque, and " Gripus and Htgio," a paRoral. His trage- 

 dy of " Mirza," which is a more regular play, was probably 

 written at a ripv.r age. 



Baron, AHehail, a celebrated French aftor, was the fon 

 of a fhop-kceper of LToudun, who himfelf went upon the 

 llnge, and born at Piris in 1652. He firll joined the com- 

 pany of Raifin, and afterwards that of Moliere, in whicli 

 conneftion he was univerfally admired and applauded. Ba- 

 ron was equally fuccef'ifu! both in tragedy and comedy ; al- 

 though it is faid he acquired his principal reputation in the 

 former department. Racine, on occafion of introducing his 

 Andromache on the Ibge, gave inlh-uftions to the other 

 aftors with refpeft to the performance of their feveral parts ; 

 but addrtlling Baron who was to aft Pyrrlius, he laid to 

 him, " To vou, fir, I have no inllruftions to give ; your 

 own heart will tell you more than my lefTons can inform you." 

 Preachers are faid to have attended in a grated box to lludy 

 his aftion ; " and thence (fays Voltaire) went to declaiia 

 againft the theatre." Such was his vanity, that in alkifioii 

 to the title that was bellowed upon him ot the " Rofcuis" 

 of his age, he faid, that " every century produced a Cxfar, 

 but that it required 2000 years to produce a Baron." Fie 

 was highly careffid by perfons of dillinftion, although he 

 fometimes was mortified by their redeftions. At length, 

 difg'jftcd by this circumflance, or influenced by fome other 

 motive, he withdrew from the flage in 1 691, and enjoyed 

 a penfion from the king. After an interval of 29 years he 

 refumed his profeffion, and at the age of 68 was as much 

 applauded as ever. In September 1729, his infirmities re- 

 duced him to the neceffity of retiring, and he furvived only- 

 two months. • Baron was a writer as well as an aftor, and 

 compoftd feveral comic pieces for the theatre ; which are 

 faid to be lively and amufing, and to exhibit much know- 

 ledge of the flage and of the world. He a'fo wrote fomc 

 poems. A coUeftion of his works was printed at Paris, in 

 two vols. 121110. in 173C; and in three vols, in 1760. But 

 fome of the jieces contained in this colleftion are fuppofed 

 not to be his, Voltaire's Age of Lewis XIV. Nouv. Dift. 

 Hillor. 



Baron, Bonaventure, whofe true name was Fitzgerald, 

 was a native of Clonnell, in the county of Tipperaiy, ia 

 Ireland, and educated under the care of his uncle Luke 

 Wadding, a Francifcan friar at Rome, who induced him to 

 aiTuine th- habit of this order. He refided at Rome, where 

 he was for a confiderable time prjeleftor of divinity in the 

 college of St. Ilidore, founded by his uncle in 1625, about 

 6o years, and died there, alter having loll his fight, and at 

 an advanced age, ii the year 1696. He was dillinguifned 

 by the purity of his Latin flyle, and wrote many books 

 both in profe and verfc in that language. His chief work 

 was his " Theologia," in 6 vols, printed at Paris in 1676. 

 Biog. Brit. 



BAROXET of England, an hereditary dignity hy 

 patent, next to that of a baron inllitutcd by king James the 

 Firll on the 2 2d of May 1611. The lin1 baronet thrt was 

 cr.ated was fir Nicholas Bacon of Redgrave ia Suffolk, 



whofe 



