, i. 14 (1470).
Banastar (Humfrey), brought up by Henry duke of Buckingham, and advanced by him to honor and wealth. He professed to love the duke as his dearest friend; but when Richard III. offered £1000 reward to any one who would deliver up the duke, Banastar betrayed him to John Mitton, sheriff of Shropshire, and he was conveyed 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 Gouffé (1775-1845), also called Le panard du dix-neuvième 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.