Luxemburg was made a grand duchy, and became a member of the German confederacy. Great Britain retained Malta, Heligoland, several conquered colonies (see Great Britain), and protective sovereignty over the restored republic of the Ionian Islands. In Switzerland, three more cantons were formed, and it was declared perpetually neutral. The restored kingdom of Sardinia received Genoa as a duchy, with the grant of a free port; and the succession to the throne was secured to the line of Carignan. Tuscany, the duchy of Modena, the States of the Church, and the kingdom of the Two Sicilies, were also restored. Lucca was given to the Spanish Infanta Maria Louisa, but was afterwards otherwise disposed of. (See Parma, and Lucca.) It was intended that Spain should restore Olivenza to Portugal, which, however, did not take place, as Portuguese troops had occupied Monte Video. June 8, 1815, the act of the Germanic confederacy was signed. It is contained in the act of the congress. (See Germanic Confederation.) March 13, 1815, the congress declared Napoleon an outlaw; March 25, 1815, Austria, Russia, Great Britain and Prussia united anew against Napoleon. (See Napoleon, and Russian-German War.) Sardinia, Portugal, Hanover, Bavaria, Saxony, Würtemberg, the Netherlands, Denmark, Hessia, Baden, &c., joined this alliance, but not Spain nor Sweden. This last war of 1815 decided particularly the Saxon question. England, and even Austria, had agreed that Prussia should have the whole kingdom of Saxony; but the objections of France, of the duke of Saxe-Coburg, the king of Saxony, and, perhaps, most of all, the force of public opinion, induced Metternich to propose the division of Saxony, in January, 1815. Metternich, Talleyrand and Wellington negotiated with the king of Saxony, who had been invited to Presburg. May 18, 1815, he signed the proposed division at Vienna. The abolition of the slave-trade was also a question before the congress (see Slavery), and the free navigation of the Elbe, Weser and Rhine, which, however, has been since the subject of long negotiations. (See Rhine.) The original of the act was deposited in the archives of the emperor. The founders of this new political system of Europe declared that it should be a free one. But as to a political equilibrium, it was clear that it could not exist whilst Russia, an absolute monarchy, received so dangerous an increase of power by the addition of Poland, and Great

Britain was left without a rival on the seas; and as to the freedom of the politi cal system, it may be observed that, in fact, a political aristocracy of the chief powers, originating in the treaty of Chaumont, was confirmed and developed by the congress of Vienna, and continued to operate, as far as respected the continental parties to it, until the French revolution of 1830. (See the articles Troppau, Laybach, Verona, &c., Intervention, and Holy Alliance.) The holy alliance, though England did not accede to it, and the king of France joined it only in his personal character, was the bold and open annunciation of this aristocracy. At this moment it has been obliged to give up many of its pretensions; but its activity is unsbated. Time only can determine what success it will have in future. The political system, as established by the congrese of Vienna, has suffered three most impor tant changes, by the separation of Belgium from Holland, the annihilation of the kingdom of Poland, de facto, and the decree of the German diet of 1832, by which Prussia and Austria have estab lished a complete dominion over the other states, which. by adopting it, have given up, in fact, the chief attribute of sovereignty. The pope protested against those parts of the act of the congress of Vienna by which he remains deprived of Avignon and Venaissin. man church was also not restored to her possessions; and the knights of £.. John sought for their reestablishment in vain.

The Ger

Vienna, Peace of, or Peace of Schimbrunn, concluded Oct. 14, 1809. The war between Austria and France, in 1809, had been ended by the battle of Wagram (q. v.), and the armistice of Zuaim. (q. v.) Aug. 17, the negotiations began between Champagny and Metternich. The landing of the English on the island of Walche ren induced the Austrians to go on slowly. Sept. 27, prince Lichtenstein went, with full powers, to Schönbrunn, where Napoleon resided, and, Oct. 14, the peace was signed. Austria lost, 1. Salzburg (ceded, with other territories, to Bavaria); 2. Görz, Austrian Friuli, Trieste, Carniola, part of Carinthia, Croatia, on the right bank of the Save, and Dalmatia, of which Napoleon formed the government general of Illyria; 3. the lordship of Råzuns, in the Grisons; 4. some Bohemian enclaves in Upper Lusatia, given to Saxony; 5. the duchy of Warsaw, Western Galicia, with Cracow and Zamosc, and her interest in the salt works of Wieliczka; 6. to Russia, the eastern part of East

Galicia, with 400,000 souls. The peace also confirmed the abolition of the Teutonic order, pronounced by Napoleon, April 24. Austria lost, by this peace, her southern and western military frontier (45,600 square miles, with 3,505,000 inhabitants; see Military Districts), and her seaports; yet she was allowed the right of export and import trade in Fiume. She acknowledged Napoleon's arrangements in Spain, Portugal and Italy (where he had declared the papal dominions to be united to France, by a decree dated Schönbrunn, May 17, 1809), and joined the continental system against England. Austria now consisted of 198,000 square miles, with 20,738,000 inhabitants. This peace lasted till August, 1813.-Respecting the war of 1809, see also Das Heer von Innerőstreich, and general Pelet's Mémoires sur la Guerre de 1809 en Allemagne, &c. (Paris, 1824, 2 vols.).

VIENNE; the name of a department in France (see Department); also of a river and of some towns. Of the latter we mention only Vienne, the principal place of a district, in Isere; lon. 4° 54′ E.; lat. 45° 33′ N.; population, 12,300. It contains a fine Gothic cathedral, like wise fourteen churches, a high school, and a museum, and has various manufactures. It is situated on the left side of the Rhone, over which was formerly a stone bridge, built in the year 1265, now destroyed. A Roman colony was established here, and called Vienna Allobrogum; and there are still to be seen various remains of its ancient importance, as the ruins of a temple, a theatre, an amphitheatre, aqueducts, &c. In the fifth century, it was taken by the Burgundians, and the kings made it their place of residence. In the ninth century, it was the capital of the kingdom of Provence. It was afterwards erected into an archbishopric, and became the capital of a province called Viennois. In 1311, a council was held here under the pontificate of Clement V, by which the order of the Templars was abolished. (See Clement V.)

VIERWALDSTADTERSEE, (i. e. the Lake of the Four Forest Towns; called also the Lake of the Four Cantons); a romantic lake of Switzerland, lying in the cantons of Lucerne, Unterwalden, Uri and Schweitz, and deriving its name from this position. Its length is about twentyfive miles, and its breadth very unequal, as it consists of several detached parts, which form, in a manner, separate lakes, and take their names from the chief

places on their banks; thus it is called, in different places, the lake of Lucerne, the lake of Alpnach, the lake of Stanz. and the lake of Uri. The waters are clear and of a light green. It contains only one island, called Altstad. The environs are among the most beautiful regions of Switzerland. In the neighborhood of Lucerne (q. v.), which seems to rise with its spires out of the waves, the banks are low, and adorned with pretty_country seats, villages and orchards. To these succeed valleys, with hamlets built on the sides of the mountains, and solitudes where the rocks sink plumb down to the lake. From its bosom may be counted more than twenty-five mountains, comprising some of the highest summits of the Alps, mount Pilate, Righi, and Furca.

VIGIL. This word is derived from the Latin vigilia, which denoted the watches and guards among the Roman soldiers by night, in contradistinction to the excubiæ, who kept guard by day, either in the camp, or at the gates and intrenchments. The proper vigilia were four, which kept guard successively, three hours each. The four watches took their name from this custom. In the language of the church, vigil (in French, veille) was at first the evening, and afterwards the whole day, preceding a great festival. This name originated from the circumstance, that the first Christians spent a part of the night preceding such festivals in prayer, to prepare themselves for the coming celebration.-Vigil is further used to denote the custom, yet existing among Catholics, to sing or pray in the church the evening before All-Souls day—a custom also sometimes observed the day before the performance of a mass for the dead.-Linnæus gave the name of vigils or watchings to the time of the day when certain flowers open and close their petals.

VIGNE. (See Vineis.)

VIKINGR, OF SEA KINGS, among the Danes or Normans; leaders of piratical squadrons, who passed their lives in roving the seas in search of spoil and adventures. The younger sons of the Scandinavian kings and jarls, having no inheritance but the ocean, naturally collected around their standards the youth of inferior order, who were equally destitute with themselves. These were the same, who, in England and Scotland, under the name of Danes, and on the continent under that of Normans, at first desolated the maritime coasts, and afterwards penetrated into the interior of countries, and

formed permanent settlements in their conquests. (See Normans.)

VILLA signified, with the Romans, a country seat, with its appendages. To it belonged three different kinds of houses: the villa urbana, where the master lived, the real country seat; villa rustica, where the farmer or peasant lived; and the villa fructuaria, the barns. Some of these villas, towards the end of the republic, and under the emperors, were real palaces. By degrees, numbers of houses were built around them; and thus the villages originated. The word villa has passed, with various changes, into all the languages of Western Europe-ville, village, weiler, &c. As the inhabitants of remote villages were not converted to Christianity till after those of cities (see Pagans), and as the cultivators of the ground in the middle ages labored under many legal disabilities, we find in many modern languages words derived from villa, which express vileness or servitude, as villenage and villain. Besides, servitude and villany naturally go hand in hand (cattivo, in Italian, from captivus, a prisoner, means bad; and the word for free in Dutch also signifies beautiful). The modern Italians call the season during which they live in their villas, villeggiatura. Some of the modern Italian villas are yet splendid, e. g. the Borghese, Aldobrandini, Estense, and Ludovisi villas, in the neighborhood of Rome. In the times of the Carlovingians, the imperial country residences (see Charlemagne) were called villa regia; and as many houses grew up around them, the word ville may have therefore come to signify, with the French, a town. VILLAGE (see Villa), or VILL, in England, is taken sometimes for a manor, and sometimes for a parish, or part of it. In countries where there are peasants, with privileges and obligations distinct from those of the inhabitants of cities and towns, village has a legal meaning, denoting a place inhabited by peasants. In the U. States, village has received a peculiar signification. In the article Town, we have said that towns, or rather townships, are the last divisions of communities in many of the states, so that village has no legal meaning; but it is used to indicate that part of a township where most of the houses are collected. A traveller in a town asks the way to the village.

VILLANI. There are three Italian historians of this name:-Giovanni, a native of Florence, who, having been present at the celebration of the jubilee in Rome in 1300, was induced, by reflecting

on the excellent writers who had adorned the history of that city, to contribute in the same manner to the honor of his native place. He accordingly wrote the history of the city of Florence, in twelve books, from its foundation to 1348, when he died of the plague. His narrative extends not only to the events occurring in the other provinces of Italy, but also to other countries through which he had travelled, and with the history of which he had become acquainted. This work is extremely valuable, although it abounds in errors: it deserves full credit wherever the author, whose veracity and honesty are every where visible, speaks as an eyewitness. It is simple and inartificial, but not without interest, on account of its naïveté and vigor. After his death, his brother Matteo continued the work in a thirteenth book, to 1363, when he also died of the plague. This book treats of contemporaneous events, and is characterized by the same love of truth which is found in the work of Giovanni. In style and manner, Matteo is inferior to his brother, but he has the charm of simplicity and a certain grace of antiquity.Filippo, the son of Matteo, a Florentine citizen, lawyer and judge, was for many years president of Perugia, but finally retired from public life, for the purpose of devoting himself to letters, and wrote, in Latin, a work entitled De Origine Civitatis Florentina et ejusdem Civibus. The first part is full of fables, and has never been printed. Mazzuchelli had the second part printed in 1747, in an old Italian version, which is superior to the original in elegance and purity of expression, but is inferior in point of accuracy. This work is the first specimen of a native literary history, since most of the persons whose lives are described by Villani are men of letters. His style is lively and vigorous, but sometimes too concise: he often sketches an admirable portrait with a few strokes.

VILLARET, Claude, a French historian, born at Paris about 1715, was intended for the legal profession, but preferred the study of the belles-lettres, and published, in 1743, a novel called Histoire du Cœur Humain, and, in 1745, another, La Belle Allemande. The derangement of his affairs obliging him to leave Paris, he went, in 1748, to Rouen, where he appeared on the stage, and continued that mode of life till 1756. He then returned to Paris, and, having obtained a financial situation, relinquished his lighter studies, and applied himself to the investigation

of the history of his native country. On the death of the abbé Velly in 1759, he was selected to continue the history of France, commenced by that writer, and was, at the same time, made secretary to the peerage. His portion of the work extends from 1329 to 1469, or from the reign of Philip de Valois to that of Louis XI. He also assisted in the Cours d'Histoire Universelle, undertaken by Luneau de Boisgermain. His death took place in February, 1766.

VILLARS, Louis Hector, first marquis, and afterwards duke of, peer and marshal of France, descended from a respectable, but reduced family, was born at Lyons, in 1653. At an early age, he served in the Low Countries, and distinguished himself at the siege of Maestricht (1673), where, as a subaltern officer of cavalry, he made a daring attack, with a detachment of grenadiers, upon an intrenchment, for which he was censured by Louis XIV, under whose eyes it happened, but in such a manner as to redound to his honor. In 1690, he was created maréchal de camp; and, in 1700, Louis XIV sent him as ambassador to the imperial court of Vienna, to conduct the negotiations on the subject of the Spanish succession. Villars was, however, recalled in 1701, and, on the breaking out of the war for the Spanish succession, was attached to the army of Italy, where he added to his reputation. The chief command of an army in Germany was next intrusted to him, and, on the 14th of October, 1702, he defeated prince Louis of Baden, who commanded the Austrian forces, and wished to prevent his junction with the elector of Bavaria, at Friedlingen. For this achievement he received the marshal's baton, although, on account of the numerical superiority of the enemy, he did not succeed in effecting his object. In 1703, after a bold and sudden march, he captured Kehl (March 12), which was highly important to the French, on account of its position, and attacked the lines of the prince of Baden, at Stolhofen, though without success, but finally accomplished (May 12) the long-contemplated junction with the elector of Bavaria. An attack was then made by the united forces on the Austrian general count Styrum, near Hochstädt (September 20), and the allies were victorious. Villars was now recalled, at the request of the elector of Bavaria, and employed in reducing to submission the reformers of the Cevennes, known under the name of the Camisards (q. v.), in the execution of which charge he endeavored to restore

tranquillity by moderate measures, not less than by force of arms. The French arms having suffered many reverses in Germany, the chief command was again given to marshal Villars, who, by his activity, baffled the plans of the prince of Baden, to whom he was inferior in numbers, and compelled him to retreat across the Rhine. In 1707, he forced the lines of Stolhofen (May 23), which were occupied by the German forces, and extorted large sums of money from the inhabitants of Suabia. The finances of France were reduced so low by the expenses of the war, and other causes, that it became impossible to keep on foot an army equal to the allied forces; and marshal Villars was therefore prevented from attempting any great enterprise. In 1709, after some ineffectual attempts towards negotiation, the allies formed the design of laying siege to Mons; and the celebrated battle of Malplaquet (q. v.) was the result of the operations on this occasion (Sept. 11). Villars himself was wounded in the knee in this affair. In 1712, he defeated the Austrians at Denain, forced Eugene to raise the siege of Landrecy, and took several fortresses. In 1713, he penetrated into Germany, and took Landau (Aug. 20), and Freyburg, in the Breisgau (Nov. 16). Louis was now very desirous of peace, and Villars and Eugene entered upon negotiations at Rastadt, which were conducted with the greatest secrecy, and terminated, March 6, 1714, in a peace between Austria and France. (See Rostadt.) On the death of Louis, marshal Villars was made member of the regency (1715), and minister of state, and was also admitted into the French academy. A new war between France and Austria, on the subject of the election to the Polish throne, broke out in 1733, and Villars was sent into Italy at the head of an army, with the title of maréchal-général. Here, in conjunction with the king of Sardinia, he reduced Milan within three months, and died soon after, at Turin, when on the point of setting out on his return to France, June 17, 1734, at the age of eighty-two years. He was the last great French general of that period. Of the Mémoires published under his name, only the first part is froin his pen.

VILLE (Latin, villa), a French word, originally meaning a country house, appears in many French geographical names, as Hauteville, Neuville, &c. Villaine, Villette, Vilotte, &c., are diminutives of ville. As there is a great want of names for towns in the U. States, and as ville readily admits of

composition with other words, it has become common, particularly in the west and south, to make a name for a new settlement, by adding ville to some other word, as Jacksonville, Fayetteville.

VILLEGAS, Estevan Manuel de, a celebrated Anacreontic poet of Spain, was born at Naxera, in Old Castile, in 1595. He studied in Madrid and Salamanca, and not only translated Anacreon and Horace into Spanish verse, but continued to produce original poems in their spirit. In the twenty-third year of his age, he published a collection of his poems, dedicated to king Philip III, under the title of Eroticas (Naxera, 1617). He also translated Boëthius in prose and verse (Madrid, 1665), and died in 1669, having devoted his last years chiefly to philology. Villegas ranks among the best lyric poets of Spain. His versification is characterized by a charming ease; and one can only learn to estimate the beauty of the Spanish language from his poems. His Eroticas contains his translations from Anacreon and Horace, with forty-four cantilenas, elegies, idyls, sonnets, &c. Villegas, according to his own account, labored his poems with the greatest care, having revised his cantilenas twenty times, and copied them

fourteen times.

VILLEGGIATURA (Italian). (See Villa.) VILLEHARDOUIN, Geoffroy de, an ancient French chronicler, born in 1167, was marshal of Champagne, an office held by his father and descendants. He acted a considerable part in the fourth crusade of 1198, which led to the capture of Constantinople by the French and Venetians, in 1204. Of this expedition, he wrote, or dictated, a narrative, which is extant, in the rude idiom of his age and country. It is interesting from its simplicity and apparent fidelity, and is much referred to by Gibbon in his account of the events which it describes. The best edition is that of Du Cange (folio, 1657).

VILLÈLE, Joseph, count de, French minister of finance, and president of the ministerial council from 1822 to 1827, was born at Toulouse, in 1773, and entered the navy young. After his return from the expedition to St. Domingo, in 1791, he sailed for the East India station under vice-admiral de St. Félix, who, in 1793, was obliged to quit his command and take refuge in the isle of Bourbon, on account of his attachment to royalty. Here Villèle exposed his own life to protect that of his late commander, and continued to reside in the island, where he became a member of the colonial assembly, until

1807. At that time, he returned to France, and lived at Toulouse. In 1814, on the appearance of the royal declaration from St. Ouen (see Louis XVIII, and Charte), promising the establishment of liberal institutions, Villèle published a pamphlet entitled Observations sur le Projet de Constitution, in which he maintained that a representative constitution was dangerous for France, and advised the French to return to the constitution of their fathers. In 1815, he was elected a member of the chamber of deputies (see Chambre Introuvable), in which he voted with the extreme right, or anti-constitutional party. This party had lost much of its influence, when the assassination of the duke of Berry, and the new electoral law of 1820, again revived them; and Villèle, who had for several years been a leading speaker in the chamber, was finally raised to the ministry, with his friends Peyronnet (q. v.) and Corbière. The portfolio of the financial department was intrusted to Villèle in December, 1821: the title of count was added in August, and the dignity of president of the ministry in September, of the following year. The friends of constitutional principles were, about this time, exerting themselves in Spain, Portugal, Piedmont and Naples, to support their cause by force of arms; and the ultra-monarchical faction in France was little satisfied with what they called the moderation of the ministry. The invasion of Spain, the law for the prolongation of the term of elections for seven years, the reduction of the rentes, the law of indemnification of the emigrants, the establishment of the censorship, and other measures, indicated, bowever, no such tendency on the part of the ministers. Labourdonnaye, at the head of a part of the right side, and Châteaubriand, though with different views, kept up a vigorous attack upon the ministers The popular excitement was testified by cries of A bas les ministres! uttered by the national guard of Paris on the day of their general review (April 29, 1827), and was increased by the dissolution of that body on the following day. The minis try now determined to convoke a new chamber of deputies, and created seventysix new peers to secure a majority in the upper house. The elections resulted in the complete defeat of the ministers, who found themselves in a minority in the newly-elected chamber; and, Jan. 4, 1828, they gave in their resignations. (See Charles X, and France.) Villele, Peyronnet and Corbière were admitted