the number seven; but as those already given are quite as cogent as the remainder, it is unnecessary to repeat them.*

The Romans found as many and as valid reasons for admiring the number three, as Philo did for his eulogies on seven; indeed, they are much after the same fashion of logic; as, for instance-Jove's thunder was three-forked; Neptune's trident was three-pronged; Pluto's house-dog, Cerberus, was three-headed; the Furies were three; and Diana was of a threefold nature, being Diana upon earth, Hecate in the shades below, and Luna in the sky above. Nothing can be more convincing.

Pythagoras formed a whole system of philosophy upon numbers, and even went so far as to declare that, according to the odd or even numbers in a man's name, blindness, lameness, or any such casualties, will fall upon his left or right side. But it is not often that the philosophy of numbers, as it was expressed both by the Greeks and Romans, is so intelligible as this; at times they dived into depths, or soared up into heights, whither it is no easy affair to follow them; as when they tell us that the soul is united to the body by the force of numbers, and that so long as the numbers remain the union con

* 66

Χαίρει δε ἡ φύσις εβδομαδι &ε.” Philonis Judæi Opera, vol. i. p. 45. London. 1742. But the most sensible part of Philo's observations is on the Creation. He says, that it is idle to talk of the world having been made in seven days, according to our ideas of the words, as time could not exist till after the world was created. When however, he adds, that the phrase is to be understood as meaning a perfect senary he is not quite intelligible. Those who wish to grapple with this mystery will find it fully discussed by our author in the Sacrorum Legum Allegor. lib. i.

"E Pythagoræ inventis non temerè fallere, impositivorum nominum imparem vocalium numerum clauditates, oculive orbitatem, ac similes casus, dextris assignare partibus, parem lævis." C. Plinii Sec. Nat. Hist. lib. xxviii. cap. 6.

tinues, but on their surcease the secret power is destroyed which held soul and matter together. In this way has been explained the poet's line,

"Explebo numerum reddarque tenebris."

"I shall have fulfilled my number and be restored to darkness."*

The Romans had at least a semblance of reason for their preference of odd numbers, since they believed, as Servius tells us in his notes on Virgil's eighth eclogue, that the gods above delight in them, while the deities of the shades below rejoice in even numbers. It would seem to be somewhat contradictory of this doctrine that seven should be held particularly dangerous to males. If we may believe Pliny, they who were made to die of hunger in prison, never survived the seventh day; and Aristotle mentions several animals, who never lived beyond the seventh year. The number, sixty-three, which is a multiple of seven by nine, is particularly fatal to old men, as we learn from Aulus Gellius,† who observes that all of advanced age meet with some disease or misfortune, or the loss of life itself, at that period, whence it acquired the name of climacteric. He then goes on to give a letter from Augustus Cæsar to his grandson Caius, in which this superstitious feeling is simply yet beautifully

* Upon this Rhodiginus observes, " Ex hac item occultiore facultate scribit Aurelius Macrobius, numerorum certa costitutamque rationem animas sociare corporibus, qui numeri dum supersint, perseverat corpus animari; quum vero deficiant, arcanam illam vim solvi quâ societas ipsa constabat." Ludovici Calii Rhodigini Lectiones Antiquæ, lib. xxii. cap. 6, p. 1034, folio. 1599.

+"Observatum in multâ hominum memoriâ, expertumque est in senioribus plerisque omnibus, sexagesimum tertium vitæ annum cum periculo et clade aliquâ venire, aut corporis morbique gravioris, aut vitæ interitus, aut animi ægritudinis; propterea, qui rerum verborumque istiusmodi studio tenentur, eum ætatis annum appellant Kλμактηρikóν." Auli Gellii Noctes Attica, lib. xv. cap. 7.

expressed. "Be of good cheer, my beloved Caius, whom, so help me heaven!—I ever long for when thou art absent. But more particularly do my eyes demand my Caius on days like yesterday, when I hope, wherever you were, that you celebrated in health and joy my sixty-fourth birth-day; for, as you see, I have escaped my sixty-third year, that common climacteric of old men."*

Bodin, however, assures us that this peril, belonging to seven and its multiples, affects only men, while it is six that brings danger to women; and for this excellent reason; women came to puberty in their twelfth year, whereas the same constitutional change does not take place with the male sex till two years later. The argument, as Sir Lucius in the play says of a quarrel, would be only spoiled by explanation.

As if in continuation of the same contradictory system, it was reckoned highly unlucky for thirteen people to meet at table, the odd number in this case losing its usual good character. It would seem, therefore, that the exceptions to the rule of the "gods rejoicing in odd numbers" is pretty numerous.

From the Greeks and Romans the traditional superstition in regard to numbers came down to the moderns

* "Have, mi Caii, meus ocellus jucundissimus, quem semper medius fidius desidero cum a me abes; sed præcipuè diebus talibus qualis est hodiernus oculi mei requirunt meum Caium, quem, ubicunque hoc die fuisti, spero lætum et benevalentem celebrasse quartum et sexagesimum natalem meum ; nam, ut vides, λμaктñρа communem seniorum omnium tertium et sexagesimum annum evasimus." Auli Gellii Noctes Atticæ, lib. xv. cap. 7.

"At numero Deus impare gaudet, ut ait poeta," (Virgilii Eclog. viii.) "et impares numeri maribus tribuuntur; nam quòd Seneca scribit, 'septimus quisque annus ætati notam imprimit,' de maribus tantum dictum est, nam fæminis quisque sextus ætati notam aliquam indidit, ut cum mares anno decimo quarto, fæminæ duodecimo pubescant.' Bodinus, De Republicâ, lib. iv. cap. ii. p. 414. folio. Paris. 1586.

though with many alterations. Werensal in enumerating the fears and precautions of one under this belief says, that if sick he will never take the prescribed pills in an even number" ægrotus præscriptas pilulas pari numero nunquam deglutiet;"* and we read in Delrio that the seventh son of a seventh son has a singular gift of curing fevers, provided no female birth has intervened, † and they are born in legitimate wedlock.

This, long as it may seem to many, is only a slight taste of the various superstitions connected with the subject. But enough has probably been detailed to satisfy the mass of readers, who would not, I fear, derive much pleasure from any attempt to explain the Pythagorean philosophy of numbers, if indeed it be capable of explanation.

Les Hans. (France).—A sort of spirits that inhabit certain houses, and every night torment the inmates by making a terrible uproar. Noise and disorder seem to be the natural element of these goblins, and in consequence the houses, which they have unluckily selected for their vagaries, generally end by being deserted.‡

Revenans (Ghosts; France.) Ghosts are spirits, which

* Werenfelsii Opuscula, vol. ii. p. 634. 4to. Basileæ, 1718.

“Tale curationis donum, sed a febribus tantum sanandi, habere putantur in Flandriâ quotquot nati sunt Die Parasceues, et quotquot nullo fæmineo foetu intercedente septimi masculi legitimo thoro sunt nati." Disquisitiones Magica, a M. Delrio, lib. i. cap. 3. Quæstio iv. p. 24. 4to. Venetiis. 1616. So far is plain enough, but Delrio is not always, or often, so intelligible. In imitation of the ancients he tells us that heaven delights in odd numbers, and odd numbers are given to men, who by the same token change every seven years, while women change in six. One might be inclined to find in these more rapid bodily changes an excuse for the proverbial inconstancy of the sex.

For this, and the following popular French superstitions, I am in part indebted to Pluquet, Contes Populaires, Préjuges, &c., 8vo. Rouen. 1834.

usually appear in the form they wore during their life-time. These souls of the dead return to see their friends or relations, and in general demand prayers, or the fulfilment of a promise. Even the sound of their voices is the same as it was when they belonged to the living, and they seldom cease from their visits 'till what they ask has been scrupulously complied with.

Fifollets, i.e. feux-follets. (Will-o-the-Wisp, France). Exhalations from marshes, composed of inflammable gas, which burn with a blueish flame on the surface of stag.. nant waters, and present a strange and fantastic sight on summer evenings. The country people deem them malicious spirits, that take a delight in leading travellers astray, and afterwards burst out into shouts of villainous laughter. This must not, however, be confounded with the follets, which seems to be much the same as the goubelin, i.e. household-spirit, the Kobold of the Germans.

Letiches. (France).-Animals of a dazzling white, who appear only in the night-time, and disappear as soon as any one attempts to touch them. They do no harm to any one, and according to a beautiful popular belief are the souls of children who have died without baptism. Pluchet in a very prosaic mood suggests that they may be the Ermine of France, a little animal whose natural agility may account for its sudden vanishing.

Lubins. (France).-These are phantoms in the shape. of wolves, who prowl about at night, and endeavour to get into churchyards, but for the rest are very timid. The chief of them is all black, and much larger than the others. When any one approaches he stands upon his hind legs, and begins to howl, when the whole troop disappear with cries of "Robert is dead!-Robert is dead!"

Goubelin, or Gobelin. (Goblin. France).-A sort of spirit, or familiar demon, who leads horses to drink, gives