The Nuttall Encyclopaedia Part 447

VINCENT DE PAUL, ST., a Romish priest, born in Gascony, of humble parents; renowned for his charity; he founded the congregation of the Sisters of Charity, and that of the Priests of the Missions, afterwards called Lazarites, from the priory of St. Lazare, where they first established themselves, and inst.i.tuted the Foundling Hospital in Paris; he was canonised by Pope Clement XII. in 1737 (1576-1660).

VINDHYA MOUNTAINS, a range of hills, 500 m. in length, forming the N. scarp of the plateau of the Deccan in India, the highest peak of which does not exceed 6000 ft.

VINEGAR BIBLE, an edition of the Bible printed at Oxford, in which the page containing the "Parable of the Vineyard" in Luke xx. was headed "Parable of the Vinegar."

VINEGAR HILL, a hill (385 ft.) near Enniscorthy, co. Wexford, Ireland, where General Lake defeated the Irish rebels on June 21, 1798, to the utter annihilation then and after of almost every man of them.

VINET, ALEXANDRE RODOLPHE, a Protestant theologian, born near Lausanne, where he studied and ultimately became professor of Practical Theology; was a zealous defender of the liberty of conscience and of the freedom of the Church from State connection and control; he was a litterateur as well as an able and eloquent divine (1797-1847).

VIOTTI, GIOVANNI BATTISTA, celebrated violinist, born in Piedmont (1753-1824).

VIRCHOW, RUDOLF, eminent pathologist, born in Pomerania; is distinguished as a politician as well as a man of science, and is in the former regard a strenuous Liberal; his services not only in the interests of medicine but of science generally and its social applications have been very great; _b_. 1821.

VIRGIL, great Latin poet, born near Mantua, author in succession of the "Eclogues," the "Georgics," and the "aeneid"; studied at Cremona and Milan, and at 16 was sent to Rome to study rhetoric and philosophy, lost a property he had in Cremona during the civil war, but recommended himself to Pollio, the governor, who introduced him to Augustus, and he went to settle in Rome; here, in 37 B.C., he published his "Eclogues," a collection of 10 pastorals, and gained the patronage of Maecenas, under whose favour he was able to retire to a villa at Naples, where in seven years he, in 30 B.C., produced the "Georgics," in four books, on the art of husbandry, after which he devoted himself to his great work the "aeneid," or the story of aeneas of Troy, an epic in 12 books, connecting the hero with the foundation of Rome, and especially with the Julian family, and which was finished in 19 B.C.; on his deathbed he expressed a wish that it should be burned, and left instructions to that effect in his will; he was one of the purest-minded poets perhaps that ever lived (70-19 B.C.).

VIRGIN ISLANDS (45), a group of islands in the West Indies, few of them of any size, belonging partly to Denmark, Britain, and Spain.

VIRGIN QUEEN, appellation popularly given to Queen Elizabeth.

VIRGINIA (1,655), one of the United States of America, a State somewhat larger than Scotland, between Maryland and North Carolina, so named by its founder Sir Walter Raleigh in honour of Queen Elizabeth; is divided from West Virginia by the Appalachians; it is well watered; the soil, which is fertile, yields the finest cotton and tobacco, and minerals, particularly coal and iron, are abundant; the largest city is Richmond, with flour-mills.

VIRGINIA, WEST (762), formed originally one State with the preceding, but separated in 1861 to join the Federal cause; is nearly the same in size and resources; is a great mining region, and is rich in coal and iron; its largest city is Wheeling, on the Ohio.

VISHNU, the Preserver, the second G.o.d of the Hindu triad, BRAHMA (q. v.) being the first and SIVA (q. v.) the third; revealed himself by a succession of avatars, RaMA (q. v.) being the seventh and KRISHNA (q. v.) the eighth; he has had nine avatars, and on the tenth he will come to judgment; he is extensively worshipped, and his worshippers, the Vaishnavas, are divided into a great number of sects.

VISIGOTHS, a branch of the Goths that settled in the South of France and in Spain.

VISTULA, a central river of Europe, which rises in the Carpathians and after a course of 600 m. falls into the Baltic; it is almost navigable throughout, and carries down great quant.i.ties of timber, grain, and other produce to the Baltic ports.

VITALIS, ST., a martyr of the 1st century, who was stoned to death, is represented as buried in a pit with stones on his head.

VITELLIUS, AULUS, Roman emperor; reigned only eight months and some days of the year 69; was notorious for his excesses, and was murdered after being dragged through the streets of Rome.

VITRUVIUS, POLLIO, Roman architect and engineer; wrote on architecture, lived in the days of Augustus.

VITTORIA (127), the capital of Alava, a Basque province in the North of Spain, famous as the scene of one of Wellington's victories in June 1813; has a fine old 12th-century cathedral and extensive manufactures; it is one of the most prosperous towns in Spain.

VIVES, LUDOVICUS, a humanist, born at Valencia, studied in Paris; wrote against scholasticism, taught at Oxford, and was imprisoned for opposing Henry VIII.'s divorce; died at Bruges (1492-1540).

VIVIAN, an enchantress in Arthurian legend. See MERLIN.

VLADIMIR (12), capital of a government in the centre of Russia, 120 m. NE. of Moscow; once practically the capital of the country, with many remains of its ancient grandeur.

VLADIMIR I. THE GREAT OR ST., grand-duke of Russia; converted to Christianity through his wife Anna Romanovna, laid the foundation of the Russian empire; has been canonised by the Russian Church; _d_. 1015.

VLADIMIR II., surnamed Monomachus; succeeded to the throne of Russia in 1113, and consolidated it by the establishment and enforcement of just laws; was married to Gida, a daughter of King Harold of England (1063-1126).

VOGLER, ABBe, composer, born in Wurzburg; distinguished once both as a musical performer and teacher; lives only in Browning's "Dramatis Personae" (1749-1814).

VOGT, CARL, German naturalist, born at Giessen; a materialist and disciple of Darwin; has written on geology and anthropology; _b_. 1817.

VOGULS, a Finnish tribe on the E. slope of the Urals; are Christianised, but still practise many Shamanist rites; number some 20,000.

VOLAPuK, a universal language by Schleyer, a German pastor; as yet practically limited to its applicability to commercial intercourse.

VOLGA, a river of European Russia, the largest in Europe, which rises in the Valdai Hills, and after a course of 2200 m. falls by a delta with 200 mouths into the Caspian Sea; it is navigable almost throughout, providing Russia with 7200 m. of water-carriage, and has extensive fisheries, especially of salmon and sturgeon.

VOLNEY, French philosopher, born at Craon; travelled in Egypt and Syria; wrote an account of his travels in his "Voyage"; was imprisoned during the Reign of Terror; patronised and promoted to honour by Napoleon, and by the Bourbons on their return; his princ.i.p.al work, "LES RUINES, OU MeDITATIONS SUR LES ReVOLUTIONS DES EMPIRES," was an embodiment of 18th-century enlightenment (q. v.) (1757-1820).

VOLSUNGS, a race figuring in Norse and German legend of the 12th century, and with the fate in whose history it is so widely occupied, and that of its heroes.

VOLTA, ALESSANDRINO, Italian physicist, born at Como; professor of Physics at Pavia; made electrical discoveries which laid the foundation of what is called after him voltaic electricity; volt, the unit of electric motive force, being a term among sundry others in electric science similarly derived (1745-1827).

VOLTAIC ELECTRICITY, a current of electricity generated by chemical action between metals and different liquids as arranged in a voltaic battery.