ELECTED KNIGHTS OF NINE. Called by the French " Master Elect of Nine." The body is termed a Chapter. he presiding officer represents King Solomon, and is styled " Thrice Illustrious." The room represents the audience chamber of King Solomon; it is illuminated by nine lights of yellow wax. The apron is of white lambskin, spotted with red, and lined and bordered with black. On the flap is painted or embroidered an arm holding a dagger; and in the middle of the apron an arm holding a bloody head by the Lair. The sash is a broad black watered ribbon, worn from the right shoulder to the left hip. At the lower end of this are the nine red rosettes, four on each side and one at the bottom; and from the end of the sash hangs the jewel, which is a dagger, its hilt of gold, and its blade of silver. The object of this degree is to exhibit the mode in which a certain work man, who, in order prematurely and improperly to obtain the knowledge of a superior degree, engaged in an execrable deed of villainy, received his punishment. It exemplifies
the truth of the maxim that the punishment of crime, though sometimes slow, is ever sure; and it admonishes us, by the historical circumstances on which it is founded, of the bind ing nature of our Masonic obligation. The symbolic colors in the regalia are white, red, and black; the white being emblematic of the purity of the Knights, the red of the atrocious crime committed, and the black of grief for its results. In the French rite this is the 4th degree; it requires three chambers, and in some respects has similitude to the 11th degree of the and Accepted rite, being also preparatory to the degree of Sublime Knight Elect.