Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 5.djvu/24

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NOTES AND QUERIES. rn s. v. JAN. 6, 1912.

the aldermen and the treasurers of charity funds could attend only on the Sabbath day, owing to living at a distance on their farms (' Tractate Sabbath,' 150). The hard- ship entailed on the yeomen was as nothing compared with the suffering of the labour- ing classes under the obnoxious "Techum," the " measured distance." Numberless eva- sions are recorded *in the Talmud, until the Rabbins bethought themselves of a way to defeat the Roman tyranny. They had kiosks or hostels, called " Burgeen," erected along the main highways leading to the big cities ('Erubin,' 21 ; 'Succoth,' 8) for all kinds of wayfarers travelling on the Sabbath on foot. For doctors visiting patients or going to perform Abrahamic rites there were no " Techums " at all. They could post at all hours and times ; but the Par- nassim had to go on foot always. Much in- convenience and risk to life and limb were the lot of those public servants in the " ante-burgeen " days. They had either to set the law openly at defiance by ignoring " the Techum, ' or else to rise with the lark, if they did not wish to sleep sub Jove over- night under the shadow of those terrible towers. In the days of the " Amoraim " (editors of the law) these unpaid and zealous proctors were in better case for coping with social evils than their predecessors were in earlier times, inasmuch as they were not called upon to sacrifice their religious scruples or much of their Sabbath leisure in the prosecution of their unsavoury duties, and were always sure of food and shelter in the hostels. The " hedyouteem," or " laymen," were trained to regard wilful breaches of the Sabbath as one of the three cardinal crimes for which " Ivoruth " (early death) was the sole expiation.

M. L. R. BRESLAR. Percy House, South Hackney.

REV. PATRICK GORDON'S 'GEOGRAPHY' (US. iv. 188, 237). I happen to have the fourth edition of Gordon's ' Geography Anatomiz'd.' The title-page is the same as that of the. eighth edition quoted by MR. BTJLLOCH, except that, towards the foot of the page, my copy reads thus :

" The Fourth Edition Corrected, and somewhat Enlarg d | By Pat. Gordon, M.A. F.R.S. I ' Omne tulit punctuin qui miscuit utile dulci.' Hor I London: [Printed for S. and J. Sprint, John Nicholson, and S. Burroughs | in Little Britain'; And r Bell at the Cross Keys and Bible in I Corn hill, and R. Smith under the Royal Exchange

From MR. BULLOCH'S information and the replies already given, together with a

few notes I have been able to make, it would appear that the first edition of Gordon's 'Geography' was issued in 1693 (see US. iv. 188) ; the second in 1695 (there is a note to this effect in Watt) ; the third in 1699 (see US. iv. 237); the fourth in 1704, as noted above. The fifth and sixth editions I have not heard of, but the seventh ap- peared in 1716, the eighth in 1719 (see US. iv. 188), and the ninth in 1722 (see 11 S'. iv. 189). Between 1722 and 1741 several issues must have appeared, the seventeenth edition being dated 1741 (see US. iv. 237). There was an edition in 1749, possibly num- bered the nineteenth. The twentieth was published in 1754 (see 11 S iv. 189). Many of these issues were probably impressions rather than editions in the true sense of the word. W. SCOTT.

LACKINGTON THE BOOKSELLER'S MEDALS (11 S. iv. 470). Perhaps the word "token " is more appropriately applied to the several coins issued by James Lackington. The following is a list of all known, with numerous variants noted. James Lackington made over his business to his " third cousin," George Lackington, in 1798, after which date no "tokens" were issued by the house. No more vain person than Lackington has ever followed the calling of bookseller, and the issuing of these "tokens" is further proof than even his ' Life ' affords of '' swelled head." Mr. Tedder's excellent notice in the ' D.N.B.' does not mention these " tokens," which are fully dealt with in ' The Tradesmen's Tokens of the Eighteenth Century,' by James Atkins (W. S. Lincoln & Son, 1892), pp. 98-100.

1. O. : A three-quarter bust to left. J. LACK- INGTON. 1794.

R. : A figure of Fame, blowing a trumpet*

HALFPENNY OP J. LACKINGTON & CO. CHEAPEST

BOOKSELLERS IN THE WORLD. Notice that the Y of " HALFPENNY " comes between the o's, and the initial J just over the first E of " BOOKSELLERS." E. : Milled.

2. As last, but E. : AN ASYLUM FOR THE OPPRESS'D OF ALL NATIONS.

3. As last, but E. : BIRMINGHAM OR IN SWANSEA.

4. As last, but E. : PAYABLE AT LONDON

LIVERPOOL OR BRISTOL.

5. O. : The same as last.

R. : Similar to last, but the J is over the first I* of "BOOKSELLERS."

E. : PAYABLE AT LACKINGTON & CO.S FINSBURY SQUARE LONDON +

6. As last, but E. : PAYABLE IN ANGLESEY

LONDON OR LIVERPOOL.

7. O. : Similar to preceding, but with a quatre- f oil after legend. The 1 of date is just under and nearly touches the bottom button of coat.

R. : Fame as before. HALFPENNY OF LACKINGTON. ALLEN & co. The inner legend