“Thrice the brindled rat hath mewed--
Thrice to thine and thrice to mine,
And thrice again to make up nine.”--_Shakspeare._
The ordinal, cardinal, or numeral, THREE, possesses stronger power of
associating application than any other figure in history, or literature.
From the first notice of the Creation, _Ælohim_ is understood to
signify the Trinity. When the third day was created, the sun, moon, and
stars, were set in the firmament. Christ’s resurrection was on the third
day, and his crucifixion between two thieves. Noah’s sons were Shem,
Ham, and Japheth. Job’s daughters were Keziah, Jemima, and Kerenhappuck;
his comforters were Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar. Time is divided into
three parts. The ancients rose at the third hour. The Brahmins have
their Birmah, Vishnu, and Siva; the Persians their Oromanes, Mithra, and
Mithras; the Egyptians their Osiris, Isis, and Orus; the Arabians their
Allah, Al Uzza, and Manah; the Phœnicians and Tyrians their Belus,
Urania, and Adonis; the Greeks their Jupiter, Neptune, and Pluto.
Aristotle, Plutarch, and Macrobius, wrote on the doctrine of numbers.
Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos, were three Fates. The children that
endured the fiery furnace were Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
Jupiter’s thunderbolt had three forks; Neptune’s trident, three prongs;
Cerberus three heads. The Pythian priestess sat on a tripod.[512] There
were the three Parcæ; the three Furies; three attributes of the sun,
Sol, Apollo, and Liber; of the moon, Hecate, Diana, and Luna. David
prayed three times a day. The Hindoos make three suppressions of the
breath when meditating on the triliteral syllable O’M. The Sabians
prayed morning, noon, and night. Three bows of the head, and three
prostrations are peculiar to some nations. In England, are king, lords,
and commons. The ancients washed their eyes three times; drunk potions
out of three cups. The Salians beat the ground three times in their
dance. Three times were allowed for execrations, for spitting on the
ground and sneezing. Juno Lucina was invoked three times in favour of
childbirth. Three steps were allowed to ascend the throne or the altar.
Persons dipped thrice into wells for cure. Persons were touched thrice
for the king’s evil. Three parts of the old world only were known. The
three professions are law, divinity, and physic. Three chirps of a
cricket is said to be a sign of death. Coleridge makes his mastiff bitch
howl three times for his Lady Christabel. The papist crosses himself
three times. The raven’s croak, or the owl’s triad screech, indicates
(it is said) ill omens. Three crows in a gutter betoken good to the
beholder. The funeral bell is tolled thrice for the death of a man. The
third attack of apoplexy is thought fatal. The third finger of the left
hand bears the marriage ring. A Latin motto is _tria una in juncta_. The
witches in Macbeth ask, “When shall we three meet again?” There are
signs of the Three Crowns, Three Pigeons, Three Cups, Three Tuns, Three
Brewers, Three Johns, Three Bells, and others, to an infinite degree. In
the church service are the clerk, curate, and preacher; three priests
serve at the papal shrine. In the courts of justice are the judge, the
jury, and the culprit. In physic, the physician’s consultation is three.
An arbitration is three. A dual public-house sign is, with the gazer
added quaintly, “We _three_ loggerheads be.” The three warnings are
celebrated. The Jews boasted of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The United
Kingdom is England, (Wales included,) Ireland, and Scotland. Who has not
read of Three-fingered Jack? of Octavius, Lepidus, and Anthony? A nest
of chests is three. The British toast is echoed by hip! hip! huzzah!
Three signals decided the fate of Lucius Junius. In the third year of
Cyrus the name of Belteshazzar was revealed to Daniel: his prophecy was,
that “three kings should stand up in Persia;” and Daniel mourned three
weeks by reason of his vision. The beast that he saw, had three ribs in
the mouth of it. The householder went about the third hour, and saw
others standing idle in the market-place. Daniel’s petition was made
three times. In the Revelations, the third part of the creatures which
were in the sea and had life, died. Faith, Hope, and Charity, are three
virtues. The priests’ abodes in Eziekel were three chambers. In the
prophecy it says, “A third part of the hair shall be burnt; a third part
fall by the sword; a third part scattered by the wind.” Demosthenes
says, “Three years after, he met with the same fate as Æschines, and was
also banished from Athens.” History unites an Aristides, a Cimon, and a
Phocion. Peter’s denial was given by the cock crowing thrice. Homer, in
his Frogs and Mice, says,
“Three warlike sons adorned my nuptial bed,
Three sons, alas! before their father, dead.”
Pope Alexander III., 1182, compelled the kings of England and France to
hold the stirrups of his saddle when he mounted his horse. King Richard
III. put an end to the civil wars between the houses of York and
Lancaster, 1483. Peter III. was deposed 1762. Virgil, 565, lib. viii.
says, Nascenti cui _tres_ animas Feronia mater--_ter_ letho sternendus
erat: and again, _tres_ ulnas--_tribus_ nodis. Milton’s three fierce
spirits were Ariel, Arioch, and Ramiel. Lord Nelson’s ship, the Victory,
attacked the Trinidad.[513] Fairs are usually chartered for three days.
Persons used to walk three times round Horn church. The pawnbroker has
three balls. A hearth has a poker, tongs, and shovel.[514] The sentinel
asks--“Who comes there?” thrice, before he dares level his firelock at
the intruder. Three candles in a room are said to indicate death in the
family. The bashaw wears three tails. The passion flower has three
spires.
Thus, it will be readily seen, how intimately the number _three_ has
been, and is, connected with events and circumstances, hypothetical and
absolute. Were the subject worth tracing further, scarcely a poetic or
prose writer, but is liberal in the use of this number. Considering,
however, that the adductions already given are such as to satisfy the
most fastidious disciples of the square root, need I perform a triple
evolution in this threefold science of pure and mixed numbers? I
conclude by apologising for not having treated the subject like a
lexicographer, in technical and alphabetical routine.