The Sun.
London, England, 1856-09-25 00:00:00

One Wm. Ingpen was the author of " The Secrets of
Numbers," published at London in 1624. Its title-page
asserts that it is " no other than a key to all doctrinal
knowledge whatsoever ;" and its preface states that the
object of the work is to wean the world from that sordid,
preposterous kind of arithmetic which consists in reck-
oning money, cattle, corn, and other commodities, and
from which:" The Secrets" are as different as the torrid
and frigid zones are distant from each other.
Speaking of numbers in a general point of view, the
author informs us that they are divided into two groat
divisions—namely, odd and even. Odd is feminine, per-
fect, fertile, and indivisible ; even is masculine, imper-
fect, barren, and divisible.
Commencing, as in duty bound, with number one,
Ingpen tells us that it is not entitled to be a numeral,
by reason of its indivisibility, but it is the beginning of
numbers, and creates innumerable forms of things of and
within itself. Anything remains in existence as long as
it is one ; divided into two, it forms mere fractions with-
out unity. There is ono world, Dr. Whewell will be
delighted to hear, one sue, one moon, one phoenix, one
deluge, one king in one kingdom, one shepherd to a
flock, one queen in a bee-hive, one leader among cranes,
one soul, and one head to one body.
Two, because of itself it worketh nothing, is the weak.
est of numbers, though it has a considerable connection
with the sciences ; for history consists of two things, the
serious and the fabulou ',just as logic is the union of
judgment and invention. Music is natural and artifi-
cial ; medicine, theoretical and practical ; astrology,
judicial and speculative. The art of war is unavailable
without the twins, men and ammunition ; the soldier is
useless if he want strength and discipline. Two also,
through some utterly incomprehensible connection with
Castor and Pollux, is a numerus infaustus, an unlucky
number, especially to English kings. William 11. was
shot to the heart by an arrow, and died miserably in the
New Forest ; Henry 11., mortally wounded by the little
less keen ingratitude of his children, died of a broken
heart ; Edward 11. and Richard 11. were deposed and
murdered ; James 11. was but slightly more fortunate.
Three is the first composite and perfect number. It is
universal, entering into all matter ; for every mandane
thing has three periods—a beginning, a middle, and an
end. There are, however, three things impossible to ac-
complish ; Jupiter cannot be robbed of his thunderbolt,
Hercules of his club, or Homer of his verses. A wise
man is known by three things ; by never telling a lie, by
never speaking ill of his neighbour, and by never talking
without sufficient cause. There is good cheer at three
meals—a hunter's breakfast, a lawyer's dinner, and a
friar's carousel. Ingpen must have had an antipathy to
cheese, for he ironically states that it has three wonderful
and valuable properties ; those who eat cheese will
never grow old, for they will be certain to die in their
youth ; their houses can never be robbed in the night,
for their incessant coughing will terrify the boldest bur-
glars; and with common care, they need never be bitten
by doge, for their extreme debility will require them to
walk with sticks.

Four, as it terms a square, is a noble number, and the
great fountain of nature ; f r are there not four elements
each having four properties ? Fire is hot, lucid, penetrat-
ing, and subtile ; air is humid, transparent, light, and
yielding ; water is cold, white, ductile, and powerful ;
earth is thick, black, dry, and ponderous. There are
four cardinal points of the compass, four virtues, four
evangelists, four patriarchs, and four rivers environed
the earthly Paradise. Men have four rights—natural,
civil, national, and military. War requires four things—
money, weapons, provisions, and ammunition. Ageneral
should have four qualities—courage, wisdom, eloquence,
and nimbleness. A bride should ,have four also—she
should be well born, well bred, well looking, and well
dowered.
Five is termed signifsr, or standard-bearer, because it
is placed in the Middle--of ten, with a host on each side.
It contains more than common excellency, because it
comprehends all things seen, felt, or understood. There
are, however, five deceivers ; small wisdom, weak virtue,
distorted will, turbulent affections, and unbridled reason.
Neither should we place confidence in five things—
beauty, fur it is uncertain ; health, for it is frail ; life,
for it is short; honours, for they are transitory; and
pleasure, for it is mixed with sorrow. There are five
giants mentioned in Scripture—Nephan, Rephaim, Ana-
kim,
Og, and Goliah ; there are also five noticed by
profane writers—Mars, Tityns, Antseuri, Turnus, and
Atlas. A horse should have five qualities borrowed from
five other animals—the speed of a hare, the eyesight of
a fox, the appetite of a wolf, the sure-footedness of an
ass, and the docility of a woman who loves her husband.
Six is in every respect full, perfect, and divine. Every
narration should consist of six elements—the person,
ac ar
eu ssei ,x pdl at.
icnek,
stime,om emaaltltoewr ,a
balnd e,otthhee
rathing
objectionable;
ci
ttisoel f T
na. b
thee;her
first for health, the second for pleasure, the third for
sleep, the fourth for drunkenness, the fifth for noise,
and the sixth for madness.
Seven is the number of perfection, because it contains
three and four, the triangle and the square, by which
all things are measured. There are seven stars, seven
colours, sloven champions, seven churches, seven hills,
seven sleepers, seven sisters But hold l—we can-
not attempt to follow Ingpen in his lengthened illustra-
tions of this number : one sample must suffice. He says
a clown has seven properties; the height of two pig-
mies, the breadth of two bacon hogs, the presumption of
a giant, the power of a gnat, the wit of an ape, the man-
ners of a knave, and the features of a crab. In 1502
a volume was published at LeipSic, divided into seven
books, each book containing seven chapters, and
each chapter seven heads ; all in praise of the number
seven. The ancient prestige of this number still lingers
amongst us. An alleged seventh son of a seventh son
carries on a prosperous trade, as a curer of all diseases,
in the immediate neighbourhood of Seven Dials, where
ohildren are being daily trained, not for a seven years'
apprenticeship, but for a seven years' transportation.
The collective wisdom of the nation recognises barristers
of seven years' standing ; the income tax was imposed
for seven years at sevenpence in the pound.
Eight is a solid number, being created from the dupli-
cation of four, as four is made from two. We trust it is
not the ease now ' • but Ingpen tells us that in his time
there were eight things common at court—namely, ter-
rible lies, false intelligence, dishonest women, feigned
friendships, continual enmity, envenomed malice, foolish
words, and vain hopes. As a threefold cord is tronger
by being trebled, so in like manner nine possesses supe-
rior virtues than three. Ten is the number of all perfec-
tion, power, and virtue, within whose compass all others
are contained. Eleven is a wicked, unlucky number ;
for is it not the first which breaks out of the pale of the
whole ten commandments ! Twelve, on the contrary, is
a gracious, just, and fortunate number. Are there not
twelve apostles, and twelve signs of the zodiac
We have had enough of this nonsense, and must now
permit our author to fall back into his well merited ob-
livion. Nor should we be too severe upon him—there
are plenty of absurd books of our own day for our
descendants to laugh at for centuries to cone. Let us
conclude, then, speaking of Ingpen in the very words he
uses when speaking of Dionysius the Areopagite :—"He
writeth many things at random, others he dreameth ;
the best he writeth are but bare conjectures—childish,
frivolous, and paradoxical." So much then for the
" Secrets of Numbers."—Chambers' Journal.

THE CANADIAN MAlLS,—Liverpool, Sept. 24.—The
Canadian mail steamer Anglo-Saxon sailed to-day for
Montreal and Quebec, with the mails, a large cargo, and
258 passengers, of whom 120 were cabin and 135
steerage.
THE HERRING FISHING.—At Berwick the season of
herring fishing has terminated. Upon the whole it has
been a fair one. The number of boats engaged in the
fishing has been equal to former :-easons. The average
price obtained for the fish is 11. per barrel. One boat,
we have been told, has realised 3001. ; one, if not two,
256/. ; while several are up to 2001. Upon the whole
fleet o seventy boats the average stands at 1001., which.
under the circumstances, is very satisfactory.—Berwick
Advertiser.