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 288 BANNS OF MATRIMONY BANTING BANNS OF MATRIMONY, a public proclama- tion of the intention of the parties named to enter into the state of matrimony, being a notice to any one to make objection if he knows of any reason why the marriage should not take place. The term seems to be derived from the Teutonic Jan, an interdict, whence to put under ban in the German empire was to ex- communicate or declare outlawry. The custom is traced to the early Christians, who inter- wove it into their ecclesiastical polity. Its introduction into France dates from the 5th century, and in other parts of Europe it, was probably adopted about the same time, or was coeval with the establishment of Christianity, as the laws regulating it are everywhere very similar. In the French and English churches they were identical, and required the procla- mation to be made on three successive Sundays in church, during the celebration of public worship. The object of publication was to prevent clandestine marriages, or those which for various reasons are unlawful, as also the effect of precipitancy. In England the banns of a marriage to be celebrated according to the forms of the established church are required to be published three weeks previous to the marriage, a modification of the old custom of oral proclamation; but the parties may dis- pense with this by procuring a license from a person authorized to grant it. In Scotland three weeks' publication is necessary to a regular, as distinguished from a clandestine marriage ; and also in France, by the provi- sions of the Code Napoleon. In the United States the tendency of legislation has been to- ward the repeal of all statutes requiring pub- lication. In the Roman Catholic churches of this country, however, it is the rule to publish the banns on two Sundays previous to the wedding, when both the parties to the mar- riage are Catholics. BANQUO, a Scottish thane and warrior of the llth century, celebrated as the progenitor of the royal house of Stuart, through his grandson "Walter, first lord high steward of Scotland. He was assassinated by Macbeth in 1066, after having joined him in his conspiracy against King Duncan; but Shakespeare, instead of making him Macbeth's accomplice, represents him simply as his victim. BANSHEE, or Benshee, in popular superstition, an invisible being, supposed to announce by mournful presence and voice the approaching death of some members of certain ancient houses in Ireland and Scotland. It was said that, on the decease of a hero, the harps of his bards voluntarily emitted mournful sounds. In later times it was popularly supposed that each fam- ily had its banshee, which gave warning of mis- fortune or haunted the scenes of past troubles. BANTAJI. !. A Dutch province forming the western end of the island cf Java, separated from Sumatra by the strait of Sunda; area, 3,081 sq.m.; pop. in 1857, 577,107. The coasts are level, but the interior districts mountainous, and there are two active volcanoes, one of which, Karang, is 6,069 feet high. The chief productions are coft'ee, rice, sugar, indigo, tea, cinnamon, and bay salt. All of these, except rice and salt, are exotics. Pepper, which first attracted European adventurers, and made this country one of the most noted commercial points during the 17th century, is no longer cultivated. The wild animals include tigers, rhinoceroses, apes, and pigs. Cattle, buffaloes, and goats are extensively reared, and there are considerable fisheries on the coasts. The mass of the population of Bantam are of the Sunda nation, and speak its peculiar language ; but on the coast they are mixed with Malays, Java- nese, and others who speak Malay. Bantam was an independent state under a sultan prior to the Dutch dominion. It was first visited by the Portuguese, under Henrique Leme, in 1511. The Dutch, under the two brothers Houtman, came in 1596; and one of the brothers was captured and held prisoner for some time by the sultan. The English made their first ap- pearance here in 1602, and were engaged in almost constant hostilities with their European rivals, but the English and Portuguese were finally driven out by the Dutch. For a long time the district was held as a sort of depen- dency by the Dutch East India company until 1843, when the last of its rajahs was banished to Surabaya, at the further end of Java, and the country made a province. There are 41 small islands and islets, chiefly in the strait of Sunda, which belong to the government of this province. II. A town, formerly capital of the above described province, situated at the head of a bay on the N. coast of the island, 15 m. from the strait of Sunda and 61 m. W. of Ba- tavia ; lat. 6 2' S., Ion. 106 9' E. Before the arrival of Europeans it was a prosperous city with a rich trade in pepper. The Portuguese, English, and Dutch each had a factory here. The capital, however, was in 1816 removed to Sirang, some miles inland. The trade has gone to Batavia, the harbor has been obstructed by the increase of coral reefs and deposits from the rivers, and since the destruction of most of the houses by fire in 1817 the town has not been rebuilt. BANTING, William, a London merchant, bora in 1797, died in 1871. Owing to the wide cir- culation of his "Letter on Corpulence," pub- lished at first in 1868 in the newspapers, and subsequently in a pamphlet (Gth ed., London, 1868 ; German translation, 10th ed., Leipsic, 1867), his name has been popularly associ- ated with a dietetic method of curing corpu- lence. His prescriptions, however, are almost identical with those of Brillat-Savarin in his Phygioloyie du gotit (1825). By the applica- tion of the method which he describes, under the guidance of William Harvey, a London surgeon, his weight was reduced from 202 pounds on Aug. 26, 1862, to 156 on Sept. 12, 1863, and to 150 in April, 1864, which latter weight he regarded as appropriate to his age