_The Number Seven_ (Vol. v., p. 532.).--The reply to the Query of MR. EDWARDS is, that _sheva_, "seven," is used indefinitely for _much_ or _frequently_ in Ruth iv. 15., 1 Sam. ii. 5., Is. iv. 1., Jer. xv. 9., and Ezech. xxxix. 9. 12.; also in Prov. xxiv. 16., where, however, it may refer to seven witnesses or pledges, as in Gen. xxi. 28-30. Compare Herodotus, l. 3. c. 8. on the seven stones of the Arabs, with Homer's _Iliad_, l. 19. v. 243. on the seven tripods of Agamemnon. In Arabic and Hebrew the word _seva_ means finished, completed, satiated, as in Ezech. xvi. 28, 29. and Hos. iv. 10. Seven, as an astronomical period, is known to most nations, and has been from times prior to history. Clemens Alex. (_Stromat._ lib. vi. p. 685., Paris, 1629) says the moon's phases are changed every seven days. Seleucus, the mathematician, he also says distinguished seven phases of that luminary. He notices the seven planets, seven angels, seven stars in the Pleiades and in the Great Bear, seven tones in music, seventh days in diseases, and gives an elegant elegy of Solon on the changes of every seven years in man's life. Clemens (lib. v. p. 600., Paris, 1629) has accumulated a variety of passages from ancient poets on the sacredness of the seventh day. Cicero, in the _Somnium Scipionis_, speaks of seven as "numerus rerum fere omnium nodus est." The following have treated on this mystic number: _Fabii Paulini Hebdomades, sive septem de septenario libri_; Omeisius _de Numero septenario_; Philo, _de Mundi opificio_; Macrobius, in _Somnio Scipionis_, l. 50. c. 6.; Gellius, _Noct. Attic._ l. 3. 10.; Censorinus _de die Natali_, c. 7.; and Eusebius, _de Praep. Evang._ l. 13. c. 12. The Hebrews commemorated their seventh day, a seventh week (Pentecost), the seventh month (commencing their _civil_ year), the seventh year (for fallowing the land), and the seven times seventh year, or jubilee. T. J. BUCKTON. Bristol Road, Birmingham. _Gabriel Hounds_ (Vol. v., p. 534.).--The term occurs in Mr. Halliwell's _Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words, &c._, vol. i. p. 388., with the following, explanation:-- "At Wednesbury, in Staffordshire, the colliers going to their pits early in the morning hear the noise of a pack of hounds in the air, to which they give the name of _Gabriel's Hounds_, though the more sober and judicious take them only to be wild geese making this noise in their flight.--Kennett, MS. Lansd. 1033."