The _dies festus_ was not only not _dies fastus_, but _dies nefastus_.

Without going beyond _feast_ and _fast_, I see nothing in C.B.'s suggestion
better than the old derivations of the words _feast_ from _festus -um_, and
_fast_ from the Anglo-Saxon; nor indeed anything half so good. _Feast_ and
_fast_ are opposed in meaning: our word _fast_ has a meaning which neither
_fas, fari_, nor _fastus_, nor all three together, will explain.

CH.

* * * * *

+Replies to Minor Queries.+

_The Badger's Legs_ (Vol. i., p. 381.).--In answer to one of your
correspondents, who inquires whether there is any allusion to the
inequalities of the badger's legs previous to that made by Sir T.
Browne:--

"And as that beast hath legs (which shepherds fear,
'Yclept a badger, which our lambs doth tear),
One long, the other short, that when he runs
Upon the plain, he halts, but when he runs
On craggy rocks, or steepy hills, we see
None runs more swift or easier than he."

Browne's _Britannia's Pastorals_, B.I.

Song 5. A.D. 1613.