Numbers.

never annihilated . It was also consecrated to the spheres , because the circumference of a sphere is 300 degrees , and 3 and 6 and 0 are equal to 9 . In Freemasonry , 9 derives its A alue from its being the product of 3 multiplied into itself ; and

consequently , in Masonic language , the number 9 is always denoted b y the expression 3 times 3 . For a similar reason , 27 , which is 3 times 9 , and 81 , Avhich is 9 times 9 , are esteemed as sacred numbers in the hi gher degrees .

Ten was denominated Heaven , because it was the perfection and consumationof all things , and ivas constituted by the union of One , the monad , or active principle ; Two , the duad , or passive principle ; Three , the triad , or Avorld proceeding from their union -, and

Four , the sacred tetractys ; thus , —1 + 2 + 3 + 4 = 10 . Heuce ten contained all the relations numerical and harmonic .

The Pythagoreans extended still further their speculations ou the first three numbers—the monad , the duad , aud the triad . The monad was male because its action produces no change in itself , but only out of itself . It represented the creative principle . The

duad , for a contrary reason , was female , being ever changing by addition , subtraction , or multiplication . It represents matter capable of form . The union of the monad aud the duad produces the triad , which signifies the world formed by the creative princi ple

-out of matter . This world , Pythagoras represented by the right-angled triangle " , because the square of the longest side is equal to the squares of the two other sides , and the world , as it is formed , is equal to the formative cause and matter clothed with form

Thus—*rI, y i

^ m * / _ % Jloiiad—Creative principle . In Symbolic Masonry , three , five , and seven are mystic numbers ; as is nine , in Royal Arch Masonry .

In the ineffable degrees , nine , with its products , such as twenty-seven and eighty-one , are sacred .

IHE Poet Laureate ( who has just been elected an honorary Je ! oiv of Pi-imt y College , Cambridge ; lias a new volume nearly ready Tennyson is , perhaps , the most fastidious of authors as regards h ... productions , and has a printing-press at home , so that ins works are composed by his own hands as well as his head His conies to '

own . copy tlio publisher in type .

Masonic Notes And Qeries.

MASONIC NOTES AND QERIES .

HERALDIC BADGES .

I am glad to read Bro . Haye ' s article at page 369 . I Avish I could agree with him in this last reference to the Hospitaller Arms ; but as the authority for the shield I last referred to , carries us back to the Grand Mastery of Raymond de Puis , who died in 1160 , whilst no one knows better than Bro . Haye that the

suppression of the Templars occurred in 1307 , 1 am unable to do so . Bro . Haye sajs that at the latter date the Hospitallers " assumed the red cross . ' This , uo doubt , is an accidental error for " . red field . " The above dates , however , shoAv that the field of the arms wns red at a period nearly two centuries anterior

to the suppression of the Templars . I shall be glad to see an article from Bro . Mackersy explaining the blue cross said to be worn at this time by the Roman Knights of St . John . I have never heard , excepting from Bro . Haye , of any such cross . The cross of the Papal Order of St . Gregory has a blue enamelled centre ; so has that of the remodelled Order of the Golden Spur ; and the badge of the

Order of Pius IX . is a hexagonal blue enamelled star ; but I kuow of no blue cross ivorn by any grade of the Order of St . John , in auy of its present brunches . Whilst on the subject of these Orders , let me refer for a moment to the very exaggerated statement of Bro . Melville at pago 365 , that— " Every Order of

Knighthood of more than 200 years standing derived its origin from Masonry . " Can it be beneficial to our ancient and honourable Oraft to set forth claims of this sweeping and preposterous description ? I will not occupy your space by any reference to the Orders included in Bro . Melville ' s ivonderful statement , nor

to his equally startling heraldic assumptions . I fear , if the Heralds of this day kneiv no more of the subject than Bro . Melville appears to do , their trade would not be quite so profitable as he assumes it ' to be . Bro . Melville states that the Order of the Bath " yet shows tliat its ori gin was derived from Masonry . "

lie identiCes his statement with foe present Order of the Bath , because he instances the use of the title Companion , and he tells us what he supposes they Avear .

The present Order of the Bath was founded b y King George I ., on the 25 th May , 1725 , so Bro . Melville may at once ease his miud of any further speculations about the British Museum . There were at first only SS Grand Officers and Knights of the Baththe grade of Companion not being known

un-, till the ordinances of the 2 nd January , 1815 . I have seen very many Companions of the Bath wearing their insignia , but I never saw one Avear a sash , and there is no such thing as a star appertaining to their grade . It is almost a coincidence that ou the

evening of your press day , I was dining , at a regimental mess , with three Companions ( two military crosses and one civil ) of the Bath , but no sash appeared . I shall probably meet them again on Tuesday , and -will not fail to inquire what , and where , is the sash . I have presented my copy of the Statutes of the Bath to the library of the Supreme

Grand Council , 33 ° ( which I recommend to the aid of literary and inquiring brethren ) and so cannot refer to it . — LUPUS .