V I s 



V I s 



his fuffragan bidiops ; and the billiops in tlieir feveral dio- 

 cefcs are in eccleliailicdl matters the villtors of all deans and 

 chapters, of all parfons and vicars, and of ail other fpiritual 

 corponitions. With refpetl to all lay corporations, the 

 founder, his heirs or affigns, are the vifitors, whether the 

 foundation be civil or eleemofynary ; for in a lay corpora- 

 tion the ordinary neither can nor ought to vifit. In general, 

 the king being the fole founder of all civil corporations, and 

 the endowcr the perficient founder of all eleemofynary ones, 

 the right of vifitation of the former refults to the king, 

 and of the latter to the patron or endower. The king being 

 conftituted by law tlie vifitor of all civil corporations, the 

 law has alio appointed the place in which he fliall exercife 

 this jurifdiftion ; which is thecourt of king's bench, where, 

 and where ojily, all miibehaviours of this kind of corpora- 

 tions are enquired into and redrcdod, and all their contro- 

 verfies decided. Accordingly this is the meaning of lawyers, 

 when they fay tliat thefe civil corporations arc liable to no 

 vifitation ; viz- that the law having by immemorial ufage 

 appointed them to be vifited and infpefted by the king their 

 founder, in his majefty's court of king's bench ; according 

 to the rules of common law they ought not to be vihted elfe- 

 where, or by any other authority. 



As to eleemofynary corporations, by the dotation the 

 founder and hii heirs are of common right the legal vifitors, 

 to fee that property is rightly employed, which might other- 

 wife have defcended to the viiitor himfelf : but if the founder 

 has appointed and affigned any other pcrfon to be vifitor, then 

 his aflignee fo appointed is inverted with all the founder's 

 power, inexclufion of his heir. Eleemofynary corporations 

 are chiefly hofpitals, or colleges in the univerfity. With re- 

 gard to hofpitals, it has long been held, that if the hofpital 

 be fpiritual, the bilhop (hall vifit ; but if lay, the patron. 

 This right of lay patrons was indeed abridged by 2 Hen. V. 

 cap. I. which ordained, that the ordinary fhould vifit a// hof- 

 pitals founded by fubjefts : though the king's right was re- 

 ferved, to vifit by his commiflioners fuch as were of royal 

 foundation. But the fubjeft's right was in part reflored by 

 flat. 14 Ehz. cap. 5. which direfts the bifhop to vifit fuch 

 hofpitals only, when no vifitor is appointed by the founders 

 <if them ; and all the hofpitals founded by virtue of the 

 Hat. 39 Eliz. c. 5. are to be vifited by fuch perfons as (hall 

 be nominated by the refpeftive founders. But ftill, if the 

 founder appoints nobody, the bifhop of the dioccfe muft 

 vifit. Colleges in the univerfities were formerly confidered 

 by the popifh clergy, under whofe direftion they were, as 

 ecclcfiailical, or at leafl as clerical, corporations; and there- 

 fore the right of vifitation was claimed by the ordinary of 

 the diocefe. In fome of our colleges, where no fpecial vifi- 

 tor is appointed, the bifhop of that diocefe, in which Oxford 

 was formerly coniprifed, has immcmorially exercifed vifitorial 

 authority ; wiiich can be afcribed to nothing elfe but his 

 fiippofed title as ordinary to vifit this, among other cccle- 

 fiallical foundations. And it is not impofiible, that the num- 

 ber of colleges in Cambridge which are vifited by the bifhop 

 of Ely, may in part be derived from the fame original. 

 But whatever might be formerly the opinion of the clergy, 

 it is now held as cft?bli(hed common law, that colleges are 

 lay corporations, though fomctimcs totally compofed of ec- 

 clefiaftical perfons ; and that the right of vifitation does not 

 arife from any principles of the canon law, but of neccffity 

 was created by the common law. In a difputcd cafe it was 

 held by lord chief jullice Holt, that by the common law the 

 office of the vifitor is to judge according to the ftatutes of 

 the college, and to expel and deprive upon juft occafions, 

 and to hear all appeals of courfe ; and that from him, and 

 him only, \he party grieved or.ght to have rcdrefs ; the 



founder having repofcd in him fo entire a confidence, that he 

 will adminifter juftice impartially, tliat iiis determinations are 

 fixed, and examinable in no other court whatfoever. 



To this leading cafe all fubfequent determinations have 

 been conformable. But where the vifitor is under a tempo- 

 rary difabilily, then the court of king's bench will interpofe, 

 to prevent a defedt of juftice. Alfo it is faid, that if a 

 founder of an eleemofyBary foundation appoints a vifitor, and 

 Hmits his jurifdiftion by rules and ftatutes, if the vifitor in 

 his fentence exceeds tliofe rules, an adtion lies againft him ; 

 but otherwife, where he miftakes in a thing within his 

 power. Blackft. Comm. book i. 



Among the Romanifts, the general of each religious order 

 is obUged to vifit the feveral monafteries of his order. 



In abbeys, that are chiefs of their orders, there are parti- 

 cular officers, called vifitors ; who :(re difpatched into all the 

 houfes and congregations depending on them, to fee that the 

 regular difcipline is obferved. 



In Spain there is a vifitor, and inquifitor-general. The 

 vifitation of the cloifter belongs to the ordinary. 



Visitation, in a moral and religious fenfe, is alfo ap- 

 plied to the a/Hiftions that befall mankind ; as coming from 

 the hand of God, to try or prove them. In which fenfe, 

 the plague, among us, is frequently tailed the ■vifitation. 



Visitation of the Virgin Mary, is a feaft inllituted in 

 memory of the vifit paid by the Virgin to Elizabeth, firll 

 eflablifhed by Bonaventure, general of the order of St. 

 Francis, by a decree of the general chapter, comprehending 

 the churches of his own order, held at Pifa in 1 263 ; 

 and afterwards extended to the whole church, by pope 

 Urban IV. in the year 1379, and ordained te be kept on the 

 2d of .July. 



Visitation is likewife an order of monks founded by 

 Francis de Sales and his mother Chantalia. 



VISITORS. See Visitation, fupra. 



Visitors of the Inquifttion. See Inquisition. 



VISITZ, in Geography, a town of Aullria ; 4 miles 

 S.E. of Bavarian Waidhoven. 



VISIVE, Visivus, in the School Philofophy, a term ap- 

 plied to the power of feeing. See Vision. 



Authors are exceedingly divided about the place where 

 the vifive faculty reiides : fome will have it in the retina ; 

 others, in the choroides ; others, in the optic nerve ; others, 

 as fir Ifaac Newton, in the place where the optic nerves 

 meet, before they come to the brain ; and others, in the brain 

 itfelf. 



VISKAIA, in Geography, a fort of RufTia, in the go- 

 vernment of Upha ; 64 miles W.S.W. of Tcheliabinfk. 



Viskaia, UJI, a fort of Ruffia, in the government of 

 Upha, near the Tobol ; 88 miles S.E. of Tcheliabinlk. 



VISMEA,in i9o/(jnj', received its name from the younger 

 Linna;us, who erroneoufly called it Vifnea, in honour of 

 Mr. De Vifmc, a merchant at Lifbon. Willdenow retains 

 the latter orthography ; Schrcber, better inftruAed, ufes 

 the former. This name, though not rumbling with confo- 

 nants, like fome with which our fcience is encumbered, is 

 nevcrthclcfs moft irreconcilcable to Latin pronunciation ; nor 

 ought fuch to be admitted, but when fupported by the 

 highell poffible pretenfions, which in this cafe are not con- 

 fpicuous. The worthy MafTon, perfonally informed on the 

 fubjcft, ufed vehemently to exclaim againll the above name, 

 and the French botanifts have preferred its barbarous fyno- 

 nym Mocancra, by which the flirub in queftion is known in 

 the Canary iflauds. Mr. De Vifm.e, it feems, was a mere 

 amateur ; but as he endeavoured to diffiife a tafte for plants 

 :imong I he Portugucfe, who were prtvioufly little difpofcd to 

 any fuch elegancies, or to ;niy thing ufeful or praifcvrorlhy 

 M m 2 in 



