18

Its digits add to 9, as the digits of 27, 36 and 45 do too. Clement files it as one of the Nines with the 9th and 27th and gives it E flat major. Walton's universal love and Cheasley's broad sympathy attach to the digit and were written for 9 in general.

Reports on the unreduced figure are scattered and peculiar. Westcott mentions that 18 was once deemed a protection against thieves, and counts eighteen blessings in the Hebrew liturgy. Sepharial's name list goes the other way, with miserliness, hardness and tyranny. Readers get a collection of old associations here and no agreed meaning.