istorical and quite recent practice. When
a barony, however, is vested in a lady it is now the recognized custom to
speak of her as baroness, _e.g._ Baroness Berkeley.

The solemn investiture of barons created by patent was performed by the
king himself, by enrobing the peer in the scarlet "robe of estate" during
the reading of the patent, and this form continued till 13 Jac. I., when
the lawyers declared that the delivery of the letters patent without
ceremony was sufficient. The letters patent express the limits of
inheritance of the barony. The usual limit is to the grantee and heirs male
of his body, occasionally, in default of male issue, to a collateral male
relative (as in the case of Lord Brougham, 1860) or (as in the case of Lord
Basset, 1797, and Lord Burton, 1897) to the heirs-male of a daughter, and
occasionally (as in the case of Lord Nelson, 1801) to the heirs-male of a
sister. Sometimes also (as in the case of the barony of Rayleigh, 1821) the
dignity is bestowed upon a lady with remainder to the heirs-male of her
body. The coronation robes of a baron are the same as those of an earl,
except that he has only two rows of spots on each shoulder; and, in like
manner, his parliamentary robes have but two guards of white fur, with rows
of gold lace; but in other respects they are the same as those of other
peers. King Charles II. granted to the barons a coronet, having six large
pearls set at equal distances on the chaplet. A baron's cap is the same as
a viscount's. His style is "Right Honourable"; and he is addressed by the
king or queen, "Right Trusty and Well-beloved." His children are by
courtesy entitled to the prefix "The Honourable."

_Barons of the Exchequer_ were formerly six judges (a chief baron and five
puisne barons) to whom the administration of justice was committed in
causes betwixt the king and his subjects relative to matters of revenue.
Selden, in his _Titles of Honour_, conjectures that they were originally
chosen from among the barons of the kingdom, and hence their name; but it
would probably be more exact to say that they were officers of a branch of
the king's _Curia_, which was theoretically composed of his "barons." The
title has become obsolete since 1875, when the court of exchequer was
merged in the High Court of Judicature.

_Barons of the Cinque Ports_ (originally Hastings, Dover, Hythe, Romney and
Sandwich) were at first the whole body of their freemen, who were so spoken
of in