rn. This custom was sometimes adopted by the Jews, as in the case of Saul, whose body was burnt by the men of Jabesh, though their usual method was that of inhumation.

VEILS. The veils of the tabernacle were of four colours, blue, purple, scarlet, and white or fine linen. These colours have been adopted as the symbolic colours of masonry. White is the emblem of innocence, and is found in the gloves and apron; blue is the emblem of universal friendship, and is appropriated to the symbolic degrees; scarlet is the emblem of zeal and fervency, and is appropriated to the Royal Arch; purple, which is the union of blue and scarlet, is thence the emblem of unity and concord, and has been adopted as the colour of the intermediate degrees between the symbolic and the Royal Arch. The Jews, according to Josephus, gave to these veils an astronomical signification, and supposed them to represent the four elements. Fine white linen was a symbol of the earth, because it was made out of flax, a production of the earth: the blue, as the colour of the sky, was a symbol of the air; the purple, of the sea, because it derived its colour from the murex, a shell-fish that inhabits the sea; and the scarlet was the natural symbol of fire.*

VEILS, MASTERS OF THE. Three officers of a Royal Arch Chapter, who, being armed with a sword, and bearing a banner of the appropriate colour, are stationed at the blue, purple, and scarlet veils. The white veil is guarded by the Royal Arch Captain.

Josephus, Antiq. Judaic, lib. iii. o. 7.

VERGER. An officer in a Council of Knights of the Holy Sepulchre, corresponding to the Senior Deacon in a symbolic lodge.

VISITATION.

The official visit of the Grand Master and his officers to a subordinate lodge, for the purpose of inspecting its books and mode of work, is called a visitation. On this occasion, the lodge should be opened in the Master's degree; the Grand Officers should be received with all the honours of masonry, and the seats of the officers of the lodge should be surrendered to the corresponding Grand Officers. This last is done as an acknowledgment of the authority from which the lodge derives its Warrant of Constitution.

The Grand Master and the Deputy Grand Master are entitled, in all their visits to subordinate lodges, to certain privileges, which are thus laid down in the English Constitutions:

"The Grand Master has full authority to preside in any lodge, and to order any of his Grand Officers to attend him; his Deputy is to be placed on his right hand, and the Master of the lodge on his left hand. His Wardens are also to act as Wardens of that particular lodge during his presence." P. 30.

"The Deputy Grand Master has full authority, unless the Grand Master, or Pro-Grand Master, be present, to preside in every lodge which he may visit, with the Master of the lodge on his right hand. The Grand Wardens, if present, are to act as Wardens." P. 33.

But this power of presiding, in an informal visit, does not seem to have been extended to the Grand Wardens; though, of course, if the visit be official, and the Grand and Deputy Grand Masters be absent, the Senior Grand Warden will preside as Deputy Grand Master, and the Master of the lodge will, in that case, sit on the right.

VISIT, RIGHT OF. Every mason who is a working brother, that is to say, who is a subscribing member of a lodge, has

a right to visit any other lodge as often it may suit his convenience or his pleasure.*

This right is guaranteed to every mason by the most ancient regulations. In the "Ancient Charges at the Constitution of a Lodge," contained in a MS. of the Lodge of Antiquity in London, it is directed, "That every mason receive and cherish strange fellowes when they come over the countrie, and sett them on worke, if they will worke, as the manner is; that is to say, if the mason have any mould stone in his place, he shall give him a mould stone, and sett him on worke; and if he have none, the mason shall refresh him with money unto the next lodge."

This regulation is explicit. It not only infers the right of visit, but it declares that the strange brother shall be welcomed. It refers, however, only to the case of "strange fellowes," whom we now denominate transient brethren. But in the case of brethren who reside in the place where the lodge is situated, to which they demand admittance, other and subsequent regulations have been created. In this case it seems to be necessary that the visiting brother shall be a member of some other lodge. This doctrine is expressed in the following sections of the Constitution of the Grand Lodge of England: "A brother, who is not a subscribing member to some lodge, shall not be permitted to visit any one lodge in the town or place where he resides, more than once during his secession from the craft." P. 89.

A non-subscribing brother is permitted to visit each lodge once, because it is supposed that this visit is made for the purpose of enabling him to make a selection of the one in which he may prefer working. But afterwards he is excluded, in order to discountenance those brethren who wish to continue members of the order, and to partake of its benefits, without contributing to its support.

I shall not enter upon the question that has been mooted by Brother Moore, [Freemason's Mag. vol. iii. 225,] whether this is an inherent right. It will be sufficient, as seen above, that the right is secured by the oldest regulations.

Another regulation on this subject is, that no visitor can be admitted into a lodge, unless he is personally vouched for by a brother present, or has submitted to a due examination.

A fourth regulation, and one that has lately given occasion to considerable discussion, is, that a strange brother shall furnish the lodge he desires to visit with a certificate of his good standing in the order. The regulation requiring certificates has been said by some to be an innovation. That it is not so, but, on the contrary, was in force at an early period, will appear from the following extract, from the "Regulations made in General Assembly, Dec. 27, 1663," under the Grand Mastership of the Earl of St. Albans: "3. That no person hereafter who shall be accepted a Freemason, shall be admitted into any lodge or assembly, until he has brought a certificate of the time and place of his acceptation, from the lodge that accepted him, unto the Master of that limit or division where such a lodge is kept." This regulation has since been reiterated on several occasions; by the Grand Lodge of England in 1772, and at subsequent periods by several of the Grand Lodges of this and other countries.

The right of visit is, therefore, regulated by the following principles: Transient brethren may visit lodges, provided they prove themselves qualified by a voucher or by examination, and by the possession of a certificate; and resident brethren after the first visit, only while they are contributing members to the order.

VOTING. Voting in lodges viva voce is an innovation. The ancient method was by holding up one of the hands. In the regulations of the Grand Lodge of England, revised in 1767, it is said, "The opinions or votes of the members are always to be signified by each holding up one of his hands; which uplifted hands the Grand Wardens are to count, unless the number of hands be so unequal as to render the counting useless. Nor should any other kind of division be ever admitted on such occasions."

VOUCHING. To vouch is to bear witness; vouching for a brother is, therefore, bearing witness that he is a true and trusty mason. And no one can, of course, give this testimony of a stranger's character, unless he has personally satisfied himself of his qualifications.

A candidate's letter must be signed by two brethren, one of whom vouches for his possessing the necessary qualifications, moral, mental, and physical, and is, hence, called the voucher; and the other, upon this vouching, recommends him to the lodge; and no candidate, unless thus properly vouched for, can be suffered to enter upon the ceremonies of initiation.

W.

that

WAGES. There are various masonic traditions respecting the wages paid to the workmen at the building of the temple. The whole is stated to have been equal to six hundred and seventy-two millions of dollars, but the authorities differ as to the proportion in which it was distributed. Of course, the higher the degree, the higher must have been the amount of wages. A Master must have received more than a Fellow-Craft. There was an old tradition among the English masons, the men were paid in their lodges by shekels-a silver coin of about the value of fifty cents-and that the amount was regulated by the square of the number of the degree that the workman had attained. Thus, the Entered Apprentice received one shekel per day; the Fellow-Craft, who had advanced to the second degree, received the square of 2, or 2×2=4 shekels; and the Markman, or third degree, received the square of 3, or 3X3 9 skekels; whilst the ninth degree, or Super-Excellent Mason, received the square of 9, or 9×9-81 shekels.