[Legolas]

But this only refers to it being said that there were five. It is therefore not conclusive. And it is also in reference to the "order", of which the quote given earlier says the number is unknown.

Having such conditions said to be given "allegedly" is simply a product of the books being written by historians living in this created world - not by some omnipotent narrator.

This sort of 'alleged' statement can be found elsewhere within the stories; the truth is hinted at or even stated, but not proclaimed to be the absolute truth (though we find elsewhere, i.e. Letters, that the truth is confirmed with Tolkien writing outside of the story). As Sharku stated, it indeed could simply be referring to the fact that 'it is said [previously in these records]' - the fact that there are five wizards is mentioned earlier in Lord of the Rings by Saruman speaking to Gandalf of the five staffs [of the wizards].

Mithadan made a nice comment about this in another thread:

The Red Book presumably contained Bilbo's versions of Elvish tales heard directly from the Elves, but may have been recorded inaccurately due to lack of complete understanding. Further, the Red Book was supplemented by scholars in Gondor who may have included remote rumors and legends (true or untrue) as well as "facts". So when LoTR and the Sil. say "it was later said" or "it was sung", this may refer to "mannish" legends rather than true Elvish tales.

Similarly, they could have interpretted fact or something presented as almost fact in the original writings to be more open, more rumor due to their removal from/ignorance of the Elvish culture that produced the early histories. One example being the 'alleged' presence of Elvish blood in the line of Princes of Dol Amroth - it's stated to be some sort of rumour, yet the blood is clearly there because Legolas can see/sense it.

Plenty of examples of these 'allegations.' The case of Tuor...

and with Idril Celebrindal he set sail into the sunset and the West, and came no more into any tale or song. But in after days it was sung that Tuor alone of mortal Men was numbered among the elder race, and was joined with the Noldor, whom he loved; and his fate is sundered from the fate of Men.

You might note that the following are found in the Appendices of Lord of the Rings just as one of your quotes about the wizards:

The two highest of this order (of whom it is said there were five) were called by the Eldar Curunír, 'the Man of Skill', and Mithrandir, 'the Grey Pilgrim', but by Men in the North Saruman and Gandalf.

Celeborn going to Imladris after Galadriel's departure:

It is said that Celeborn went to dwell there after the departure of Galadriel; but there is no record of the day when at last he sought the Grey Havens, and with him went the last living memory of the Elder Days in Middle-earth.

Sam's depature for Aman is called 'tradition' instead of merely being presented as fact:

Among them the tradition is handed down from Elanor that Samwise passed the Towers, and went to the Grey Havens and passed over Sea, last of the Ring-bearers.

Merry/Pippin's graves near Aragorn's, Gimli sailing to Aman:

It is said that the beds of Meriadoc and Peregrin were set beside the bed of the great king. Then Legolas built a grey ship in Ithilien, and sailed down Anduin and so over Sea; and with him, it is said, went Gimli the Dwarf.

In The Silmarillion, even Frodo's quest to Mt. Doom as inspired by Gandalf is stated in a similar fashion:

For Frodo the Halfling, it is said, at the bidding of Mithrandir took on himself the burden, and alone with his servant he passed through peril and darkness and came at last in Sauron's despite even to Mount Doom;

We, of course, find all of these to be truth, facts, the way things were intended to be, the way things are. You'll find "it is said" a million and half times throughout these histories of Middle-earth.

My reading is that the number of said 'order' is unknown because it refers to the Ainur, not the Istari.

As was always my reading of that line, but it seems it could be meant otherwise, since the prior paragraph is clearly describing the Istari specifically. I read it as "Of the Ainur" simply because it's the only thing that made sense. The possibility is there - the previous paragraph speaks of

they sent members of their own high order, but clad in bodies of as of Men, real and not feigned, but subject to the fears and pains and weariness of earth, able to hunger and thirst and be slain; though because of their noble spirits they did not die, and aged only by the cares and labours of many long years.

and the paragraph that follows (where your quote is at) mentions Saruman as chief of this "Order." [and he was regarded by well-nigh all, even by the Eldar, as the head of the Order.] Order is used in both parts - first as the high-order of Ainur, next (capitalized) as whatever order Saruman is chief of. Whether or not the capitalization is important in distinguishing between the orders of Ainur and Istari is debatable - Tolkien had notoriously bad handwriting when he was in a hurry (check out the copy of his scribblings of IV, 1 'The Taming of Sméagol' found in HoLOTR), and thus he could've been in a hurry, or changed his mind between paragraphs, or anything of that sort. If he's capitalized it because it's an abbreviation of the translation of the proper Heren Istarion, it could be important.

Earlier on in the essay (at the very beginning, actually), Tolkien speaks of the 'order' and gives 'Order of Wizards' as the translation of Heren Istarion:

Wizard is a translation of Quenya istar (Sindarin ithron): one of the members of an "order" (as they call it), claiming to possess, and exhibiting, eminent knowledge of the history and nature the World. [...] since Heren Istarion or "Order of Wizards"

Well, as I've been looking back, I went to Sharku's link and had forgotten how he went into detail about the possibilities I was going to mention, so I'll recommend heading there instead.

The other point is that the notes and essays on the istari, which are most important to determining their number exactly and beyond doubt, came later than the Appendices to The Lord of the Rings. Perhaps Tolkien was, at the time of writing the appendices, unsure himself, and later felt the need to remove the uncertainty about the number of istari.

A solid point; of the latter part, we will unfortunately never get a straight answer as to what it was about certain points that Tolkien could not decide (or of which we have been given no definitive say) - the names/courses of the Blue Wizards, Gil-galad's ancestry, Glorfindel's second coming, et. al.

[ July 11, 2003: Message edited by: Legolas ]