yed to Salisbury, where
he was beheaded. The ghost of the duke prayed that Banastar's eldest
son, "reft of his wits might end his life in a pigstye;" that his
second son might "be drowned in a dyke" containing less than "half
a foot of water;" that his only daughter might be a leper; and that
Banastar himself might "live in death and die in life."--Thomas
Sackville, _A Mirrour for Magistraytes_ ("The Complaynt," 1587).

BANBERG (_The Bishop of_), introduced in Donnerhugel's narrative.--Sir
W. Scott, _Anne of Geierstein_ (time, Edward IV.).

BANBURY CHEESE. Bardolph calls Slender a "Banbury cheese" (_Merry
Wives of Windsor_, act i. sc. 1); and in _Jack Drum's Entertainment_
we read, "You are like a Banbury cheese, nothing but paring." The
Banbury cheese alluded to was a milk cheese, about an inch in
thickness.

BANDY-LEGGED, Armand Gouffe (1775-1845), also called _Le panard du
dix-neuvieme siecle_. He was one of the founders of the "Caveau
moderne."

BANKS, a farmer, the great terror of old mother Sawyer, the witch
of Edmonton.--_The Witch of Edmonton_ (by Rowley, Dekker, and Ford,
1658).

BANQUO, a Scotch general of royal extraction, in the time of Edward
the Confessor. He was murdered at the instigation of king Macbeth, but
his son Fleance escaped, and from this Fleance descended a race of
kings who filled the throne of Scotland, ending with James I. of
England, in whom were united the two crowns. The witches on the
blasted heath hailed Banquo as--

(1) Lesser than Macbeth, and greater.
(2) Not so happy, yet much happier.
(3) Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none.

Shakespeare, _Macbeth_, act i. sc. 3 (1606).

(Historically no such person as Banquo ever existed, and therefore
Fleance was not the ancestor of the house of Stuart.)

BANSHEE, a tutelary female spirit. Every chief family of Ireland has
its banshee, who is supposed to give it warning of approaching death
or danger.

BANTAM (_Angela Cyrus_), grand-master of the ceremonies at "Ba-ath,"
and a very mighty personage in the opinion of the _elite_ of Bath.--C.
Dickens, _The Pickwick Papers_ (1836).

BAP, a contraction of _Bap'liomet, i.e._ Mahomet. An imaginary idol
or symbol which the Templars were accused of employing in their
mysterious religious rites. It was a small human figure cut in stone,
with two heads, one male and the other female, but all the rest of the
figure was female. Specimens still exist.

BAP'TES (2 _syl_.), priest