_Pandoxare_.--Having met with an old volume containing the entire
household expenses, as well as in some degree a diary, kept by a country
gentleman during the reigns of James II., William and Mary, and Anne, I
observed that he has made use of a species of hieroglyphics, to
facilitate his reference to his book, as it contained all the entries of
all kinds, in chronological order. For instance, where mention is made
of money spent on behalf of one person in his house, he puts at the side
of the page a clay pipe, rudely drawn; an entry of the payment of wages
to another servant has a jug of ale; another a quill pen; another a
couple of brooms, as the housemaid; a fiddle for the dancing master for
his daughter; payment made to the sexton or parish-clerk has a
representation of the village church by its side, and the window-tax a
small lattice-window; and on the days that they brewed, a small barrel
is drawn by the side of the date. And the chief object of my letter is
with respect to this last; a barrel is often drawn, and by its side the
words, _primò relinitus_, and the date, naturally meaning the day it was
tapped; and then shortly after comes another barrel, and to it is
written the word _Pandox_., or sometimes in full _Pandoxavimus_; in some
places at the end of the year there is a list to this effect:--
"(1705.)
(------------------)
_Memoranda_.
29. Mar.--Pandoxe.
6. Apr.--relinit.
28. Apr.--relinit.
3. May.--Pandoxe.
17. May.--relinit.
31. May.--relinit.
5. Iun.--Pandoxe."
and at the top of the list the figure of a barrel.
I should be glad if any of the readers of your paper could tell me the
meaning of the word _Pandoxare?_ Whatever it was, it took place about
once a month.