in 1853,’ London, 1853. 6. ‘William Paterson, the Merchant Statesman and Founder of the Bank of England; his life and trials,’ Edinburgh, 1858, 8vo. 7. ‘The Writings of William Paterson, with biographical notices of the author,’ 3 vols., 1859. 8. ‘A Journal of the First French Embassy to China, 1698–1700; translated from an unpublished manuscript, with an essay on the friendly disposition of the Chinese government and people to foreigners,’ London, 1859. 9. ‘Classical and pre-Historic Influences upon British History,’ second edition, 1871.
[Private Information; Bannister's Claims, Lond. 1853; Cat. of Advocates' Library, Edinburgh, pt. ii. p. 311; Cat. of Oxford Graduates.]
BANSLEY, CHARLES (fl. 1548), poet, clearly wrote in the time of Henry VIII and Edward VI, but the dates of his birth and death are unknown. He is remarkable for a rhyming satire on the love of dress in women, which concludes with a benediction on the latter monarch, and commences with the line
Bo pepe what have I spyed!
There can be no doubt of Bansley's religious opinions. Speaking in his poem of the feminine love for light raiment, he says—
From Rome, from Rome, thys carkered pryde,
From Rome it came doubtles:
Away for shame wyth soch filthy baggage,
As smels of papery and develyshnes!
He also complains very seriously that foolish mothers made ‘Roman monsters’ of their children. Perhaps, it has been said, he was an unworthy and therefore justly rejected suitor, and revenged himself by this wholesale attack on the sex. But the attack is not wholesale, as he expressly excepts right worthy, sad, and plain women who walk in godly wise. Indeed the whole satire is mainly directed against extravagant attire. Ritson says it was printed about 1540, but he erred by at least ten years (Collier, Bibliogr. and Crit. Account, i. xxxiv). The title of his work, as it appears in a reprint from a unique copy in the British Museum, edited by J. P. Collier in the year 1841, is as follows: ‘A Treatyse shewing and declaring the pryde and abuse of women now a dayes:’ black letter, London (without date), probably about 1540, 4to.
[Lowndes's Bibliog. Man. i. 110; Brit. Mus. Cat.; Watt's Bibl. Brit.; Tanner's Bibl. Brit.-Hibern. p. 72.]
BANTING, WILLIAM (1797–1878), writer on corpulence, was an undertaker and furnisher of funerals in St. James's Street, London. He was somewhat short in stature (5 feet 5 inches), and with advancing years suffered great personal inconvenience from his increasing fatness. Before sixty years of age he found himself unable to stoop to tie his shoe, ‘or attend to the little offices which humanity requires, without considerable pain and difficulty.’ He was compelled to go downstairs slowly backwards, to avoid the jar of increased weight on the ankle-joints, and with every exertion ‘puffed and blowed in a way that was very unseemly and disagreeable.’ He took counsel with the medical faculty, and was advised to engage in active bodily exercise. He walked long distances, rowed in a boat for hours together, and performed other athletic feats. But all this served but to improve his appetite and add to the weight of his body. On 26 Aug. 1862 he, being in the sixty-sixth year of his age, weighed 202 pounds, or fourteen stone six pounds, an amount which he found unbearable. After trying fifty Turkish baths and ‘gallons of physic’ without the slightest benefit, he consulted Mr. William Harvey for deafness. Mr. Harvey, believing that obesity was the source of the mischief, cut off the supply of bread, butter, milk, sugar, beer, soup, potatoes, and beans, and in their place ordered a diet, the details of which, mainly flesh meat, fish, and dry toast, are given in Tanner's ‘Practice of Medicine’ (i. 148). The result of this treatment was a gradual reduction of forty-six pounds in weight, with better health at the end of several weeks than had been enjoyed for the previous twenty years. The delight at being so much relieved by means so simple induced Banting to write and publish a pamphlet entitled ‘A Letter on Corpulence, addressed to the Public,’ 1863. Written in plain, sensible language, the tract on the ‘parasite corpulence’ at once gained the attention of the public. Edition followed edition in quick succession. ‘To bant’ became a household phrase, and thousands of people adopted the course which the word involves. The Germans have recognised the impression made by the pamphlet in the word ‘Bantingeur,’ which appears in the ‘Conversations-Lexikon.’
Banting died at his house on the Terrace, Kensington, 16 March 1878.
[Blackwood's Mag. xcvi. 607; Tanner's Practice of Medicine; Convers.-Lexikon.]
BANYER, HENRY (fl. 1739), medical writer, studied at St. Thomas's Hospital, and practised as a physician at Wisbeach. He was admitted extraordinary licentiate of the College of Surgeons on 30 July 1736. His works are ‘Methodical Introduction to the
