75 s BAR 
knights excepting, thofe of the garter j and they would 
even take precedency of them, were it not that knights of 
the garter are always privy counfellors. The dignity of 
baronet is given by patent, and is the lowed degree of ho¬ 
nour that is hereditary. The order was founded by jas. I. 
at the i'uggeftion of Sir Robert Cotton, in 1611, and was 
then a purchafed honour, for the pur pole of railing mo¬ 
ney to pay troops lent out to quell Come iniurgents in the 
province of Ulfter in Ireland ; the arms of which province, 
being a red or bloody hand, every baronet has it added, 
on his creation, to his coat of arms. Their number was 
at firft but 200 ; but now they are without limitation. -Ba¬ 
ronets take place according to the dates of their patents; 
by the terms of which no honour is to be erecbed between 
barons and baronets. '1 he title Sir is granted them by a 
particular claufe in their patents, whence both, a baronet, 
and his elded fon, being of full age, may chum knight¬ 
hood. The ftrd baronet who v\as created was Sir Nicho¬ 
las Bacon, of Redgrave in Suffolk, whole fucceffor is 
therefore llyled Primus Baronetorum Anglia. 
Baronets of Scoti.and, called alio Baronets of No¬ 
va Scotia. The order of knights-baronets was intended to 
be eftublifiied in Scotland in 1621, by Janies I. for the 
plantation and cultivation of Nova Scotia ; but it was not 
actually inftituted till the year 1625, by his fon Charles 1 . 
when the firft perfon dignified with this title was Sir Ro- 
, bert Gordon of Gprdonllone, a younger fon of the earl 
of Sutherland. The king granted a certain portion of 
land in Arcadia, or New Scotland, to each of them, which 
they were to horn of Sir William Alexander (afterwards 
earl of Stirling), for their encouragement who ftiould ha¬ 
zard their lives for the good and increafe of that planta¬ 
tion, with precedency to them and their heirs-male ior 
ever before all knights called cquites aurati, and all Idler 
barons called lauds, and all other gentlemen, except Sir 
William Alexander his majefty’s lieutenant in Nova Sco¬ 
tia, his heirs, their wives and children ; that the title of 
Sir fltould be prefixed to their Chriftian name, and Baro¬ 
net added to their furname ; and, that their ow n and their 
cldeft fons wives fliould enjoy the title of Lady , Madam, or 
Dame. His majefty was fo defirous of adding every mark 
of dignity to tliis order, that he granted, them the privi¬ 
lege of wearing an orange ribbon, and a medal. This 
mark of diftindion fell to the ground, with all the other 
honours of Scotland, during the ufurpation of Cromwell. 
It alfo continued in difufe after the reftoration; but, in 
the year 1775, the order was recognifed and eftablilhed 
by Ins prefent majefty George 111 . 
Baronets of Ireland. This order was likewife in- 
ftitutccl by James I. for the fame purpofe and with the 
fame privileges within the kingdom of Ireland, as he had 
conferred on the like order in England ; for which the Irifh 
baronets paid the fame fees into the treafury of Ireland. 
The firft of that kingdom who was advanced to this he¬ 
reditary dignity was Sir Francis Blundell, then fecretary 
.for the affairs of Ireland. Since his time, feveral have 
been created, no number being limited. 
BARO'NI (Leonora), a celebrated finger and - compo- 
fer, w as born at Naples, but fpent tire greateft part of her 
life at Rome. She was daughter of Adriana Baroni of 
Mantua, baronefs of Pian-caretta; a lady alfo diftingitifh- 
ed for her mufical talents, and for her beauty iurnamed 
the fair. Leonora had lefs beauty than -her mother; but 
excelled her in mulic, in the fweetnel’s of her voice, and 
in the attracting charms of her manner. Site is faid by 
Mr. Bayle to have been one of the fineft lingers in the 
world. She was celebrated by the wits, who, in 1639, 
publifiied, at Bracciano, a collection of Latin, Greek, Ita¬ 
lian, Spaniftt, and French, poems, in her praife, under this 
title, ‘ Applaufi Poetici alle Glorie della Signora Leonora 
Baroni.’ Among the Latin poems of Milton there are 
three, wherein this lady is celebrated for her Iinging r with 
an allufion to her mother’s exquilite performance on the 
lute. A fine eulogium on this accompiifhed woman is alfo 
contained in a difeourfe on the Mulic of the Italians, print- 
BAR. 
ed at Paris in 1672, by M, Maugars prior of St. Peter dc 
Mac, the king’s interpreter of the Englifti language, and 
fo famous a performer on the viol, that the king of Spain 
and Several other (overeign princes of Europe "defined to 
hear him. The character he gives of Leonora Baroni is 
as follows : “ She is endowed with the fuperior judgment 
of diftinguififing good from bad muftc ; file underftands it 
perfectly well ; and even compotes. She lings with a bold 
and generous modefty ; her voice reaches a large compafs 
ot notes, and is exait, loud, and harmonious ; fhe foftens 
and railes it without (training or making grimaces. Her 
raptures and lighs are not lafciyioits ; her looks having no. 
thing impudent, nor does (lie tranfgrefs a virgin modefty' 
in her geftnres. In palling from one key to another, (he 
fliews fometimes the divifions of the enharmonic and chro¬ 
matic kind with (o much art and iweetnefs, that every bo¬ 
dy is raviftted with that fine and difficult method of 
finging. She has no need of any perfon to affift her 
with a theorbo or viol, one of w hich is neceftary to make 
her linging complete ; for fhe plays perfectly well herlelf 
0:1 both thele inftriunents 1 . In ftiort, I have had the good 
fortune to hear liar ling above thirty different airs, coni- 
pofed by herfelf. I one day heard her ling with her mo¬ 
ther and her lifter. Her mother played upon the lute, her 
filler upon the harp, and herlelf upon the theorbo. This 
concert, computed of three fine voices, ar.d of three dif¬ 
ferent inftruments, lo powerfully tranfported my fenfes, 
that 1 forgot my mortality, and thought my fell among 
the angels enjoying the felicity of the blefted.” 
BARO'NIUS (Caefar), a pious and learned Neapolitan 
cardinal, was born at Sore in 153S. He ftudied at Rome, 
and put himfelf under the difeiplineof St. Philip deNeri. 
In 1593 * ie was iiAade general of the congregation of the 
Oratory by the.relignation of the founder Philip de Neri. 
Pope Clement VIII. made him his confelfor, and created 
him a cardinal in 1596. He was afterwards made libra¬ 
rian to the Vatican ; and died in 1605, at (ixty-eight years 
of age. He wrote feveral works; the principal of which 
is his Annales Ecclefiaftici, from A. D. 1 to 1198, in twelve 
vols. folio ; which has been abridged by feveral perfon?, 
particularly by Henry Spondams, Bzovius, and Ludovico 
Aurelio. 
BA'RONY, BARONiA,or Baronagium,/ [. baronnie, 
Fr. bcorny, Sax.] The iordfiiip or fee of a baron, either 
temporal or fpiritual: in which lenfe barony amounts to the 
fame with what is otherwile called honour. A barony may 
be confidered as a Iordfiiip held by fonie fervice in chief of 
the king, coinciding with what is othervvife called grand 
fergeanty. Baronies, in their firft creation, moved from 
the king himfelf, the chief lord of the whole realm, and 
cotild be holden immediately of no other Jord. For ex¬ 
ample, the king enfeoffed a man of great feigneurie in 
land, to hold to the perfon enfeoffed and his heirs, of the 
king and his heirs, by baronial fervice ; to wit, by the fer¬ 
vice of twenty, forty, lixty, knights, or of fuch other 
number of knights, either more or fewer, as the king by 
his enfeoffment limited or appointed. In the ages next af¬ 
ter the conqueft, when a great lord was enfeoffed by the 
king of a large feigneurie, fuch leigneurie was called a 
barony, but more commonly an honour-, as, the honour of 
Gloucefterlliire, the honour of Wallingford, the honour 
of Lancafter, the honour of Richmond, &c. There were 
in England certain honours, which were often called by 
Norman or other foreign names ; that is to fay, fometimes 
by the Englifii and fometimes by the foreign name. This 
happened when the I ante perfon was lord of an honour in 
Normandy, or fome other foreign country, and alfo of an 
honour in England. For example, William de Forz, de 
Force, or de Fortibus, was lord of the honour of Albe¬ 
marle in Normandy: he was alfo lord of two honours in 
England ; to wit, the honour of Holdernefs, and the ho¬ 
nour of Skipton in Cravene. Thefe honours in England 
were fometimes called by the Norman name, the honour 
of Albemarle, or the honour of the earl of Albemarle. 
In like manner, the earl of Britannie was lord of the ho- 
1 Houy 
