BANSHEE 
 
 
measure out what he required. The first 
pace of the dwarf compassed the whole 
earth, the second the whole heavens, and 
the third the infernal regions. Baly at 
once perceived that the dwarf was Vishna, 
and adored the present deity. Vishnmi 
made the king " Governor of Pad'alon" or 
hell, and permitted him once a year to 
revisit the earth, on the first full moon of 
November. 
                        Baly built 
  A city, like the cities of the gods, 
  Being like a god himself. For many an age 
  Hath ocean warred against his palaces, 
  Till overwhelmed they lie beneath the waves, 
  Not overthrown. 
     Southey, Curse of Kehama, xv. 1 (1809). 
 
  Ban, king of Benwick [Brittany], father 
of sir Launcelot, and brother of Bors king 
of Gaul. This "shadowy king of a still 
more shadowy kingdom" came over with 
his royal brother to the aid of Arthur, 
when, at the beginning of his reign, the 
eleven kings leagued against him (pt. i. 8). 
  Yonder I see the most valiant knight of the 
world, and the man of most renown, for such 
two brethren as are king Ban and king Bors are 
not living.-Sir T. Malory, History of Prince 
Arthur, 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 Slen- 
der a "Banbury cheese" (Merry Wives of 
Windsor, act i. se. 1); and in Jack Drunm'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 Gouff6 (1775- 
1845), also called Lepanard du dix-neuvi~me 
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 Iowley, Dek- 
ker, and Ford, 1658). 
 
  Banquo, a Scotch general of royal ex- 
traction, in the time of Edward the Con- 
fessor. He was murdered at the instiga- 
tion 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 Eng- 
land, 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. se. 3 (1606). 
 
  (Historically no such person as Banquo 
ever existed, and therefore Fleance was 
not the ancestor of the house of Stuart.) 
 
  Ban'shee, a tutelary    female spirit. 
Every chief family of Ireland has its ban- 
 
 
BALY 
 
 
95