. Thus it is still a common
belief that one bun should be kept for luck's sake to the following Good
Friday. In Dorsetshire it is thought that a cross-loaf baked on that day
and hung over the chimneypiece prevents the bread baked in the house during
the year from "going stringy."
BUNBURY, HENRY WILLIAM (1750-1811), English caricaturist, was the second
son of Sir William Bunbury, 5th baronet, of Mildenhall, Suffolk, and came
of an old Norman family. He was educated at Westminster school and St
Catharine's Hall, Cambridge, and soon showed a talent for drawing, and
especially for humorous subjects. His more serious efforts did not rise to
a high level, but his caricatures are as famous as those of his
contemporaries Rowlandson and Gillray, good examples being his "Country
Club" (1788), "Barber's Shop" (1811) and "A Long Story" (1782.) He was a
popular character, and the friend of most of the notabilities of his day,
whom he never offended by attempting political satire; and his easy
circumstances and social position (he was colonel of the West Suffolk
Militia, and was appointed equerry to the duke of York in 1787) enabled him
to exercise his talents in comfort.
[v.04 p.0797] His son Sir HENRY EDWARD BUNBURY, Bart. (1778-1860), who
succeeded to the family title on the death of his uncle, was a
distinguished soldier, and rose to be a lieutenant-general; he was an
active member of parliament, and the author of several historical works of
value; and the latter's second son, Sir Edward Herbert Bunbury, also a
member of parliament, was well known as a geographer and archaeologist, and
author of a _History of Ancient Geography._
BUNBURY, a seaport and municipal town of Wellington county, Western
Australia, 112 m. by rail S. by W. of Perth. Pop. (1901) 2455. The harbour,
known as Koombanah Bay, is protected by a breakwater built on a coral reef.
Coal is worked on the Collie river, 30 m. distant, and is shipped from this
port, together with tin, timber, sandal-wood and agricultural produce.
BUNCOMBE, or BUNKUM (from Buncombe county, North Carolina, United States),
a term used for insincere political action or speaking to gain support or
the favour of a constituency, and so any humbug or clap-trap. The phrase
"to talk for (or to) Buncombe" arose in 1820, during the debate on the
Missouri Compromise in Congress; the member for the district containing
Buncombe county confessed that his long and much interrupted speech was
only
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