BASKET, a utensil made of twigs, rushes, or chips, as well as of a variety of other materials, interwoven together, and used for holding or carrying any commodity. The ancient Britons were noted for their ingenuity in making baskets, which they exported in large quantities. These baskets were of very elegant workmanship, and bore a high price. They are mentioned by Juvenal among the extravagantly expensive furniture of the Roman tables in his time.2
1 See a very learned and satisfactory article on the Greek Texts of the Roman Law, in the Foreign Quarterly Review, No. xiv. April 1831.
2 The words of Juvenal are, Addæ et bascudas et mille secaria, "Add baskets, and a thousand other dishes." That these "baskets" were of British manufacture is evident from the lines of Martial:
"Barba a de pietis veni bascunda Britannis,
Sed me jam mavult dicere Roma suara."