This works in Firefox, but IE8.0 is choking on the following code in jQuery:

prepend: function() {
   return this.domManip(arguments, true, function( elem ) {
      if ( this.nodeType === 1 ) {
         this.insertBefore( elem, this.firstChild );
      }
   });
},

With the this.insertBefore statement, IE errors with "Unexpected call to method or property access". As I understand it, IE does this if you try to, say, insert a DOM child element in a non-container (like IMG). The variables are:

elem = SPAN DOM object
this = LEGEND DOM object (with a type of DispHTMLUnknownElement)
this.firstChild = null
this.nodeType = 1

The prime suspect here seems to be the LEGEND tag, as it looks like IE doesn't actually understand what it is, so it calls it "DispHTMLUnknownElement". If it doesn't know what it is, it may not know that it's a container.