of the Gulf of Venice; once a rich and
powerful city, but which lost its commerce
in 1498, through the Portuguese discovery
of the way by sea to the E. Indies.
VENTILATION (Lat. ventus, wind, whence
ventilatio). See Remarks on, 362.
VENUS DE MEDICI (pronounced Venus deh
Med'e-che, the ch as in chill), a cele-
brated ancient statue of Venus, which re-
ceives its name from having been placed
in the gallery of the Medici family at
Florence, after its discovery at Tivoli,
Italy, in 1695. It is of pure white marble,
four feet eleven inches in height. The
sculptor's name is unknown, but he is
supposed to have flourished before the
Christian era.

VERDICT (Lat. verum, true, dictum, say-
ing), true declaration.

which a Mexican army were repulsed by
a greatly inferior American force, under
Gen. Taylor. The Spanish words Buena
Vista signify good view.

VIZIER (viz yer), a Turkish minister of state.
VOLCA'NO, a mountain having an internal
fire, and at times emitting fire, smoke, and
lava. The word is derived from Vulcan,
the Roman name of the imaginary god
who presided over the forge and the
working of metals.

By

VOLITION (Lat. volo, I will), the act of will-
ing; power of willing.
VOLTA'IC. The Voltaic Pile or Battery
was discovered by Volta, a native of
Pavia, in Italy, about the year 1801.
its means the phenomena resulting from
the accumulation of the electric fluid, and
from the evolution of electricity by chemi-
cal action, were manifested in a novel and
surprising manner.

VOLUNTEER (Lat. volun'tas, will), one
who enters into military or other service
of his own free will; a voluntary fighter.
VowEL SOUNDS. See pp. 16, 17.

VERTICAL (Lat. vertex, the top), placed or

being in the zenith, or perpendicularly
over the head.

VER'TI-GO (Lat. verto, I turn), giddiness, or
swimming of the head.

VESUVIUS, MOUNT, a volcano near Naples, in
Italy, is three thousand nine hundred and
thirty-two feet high. See Volcano.
VIA (Lat. a way), via Liverpool, by the
way of Liverpool.
VIL'LICLE (Lat. villus, hair), in anatomy,
one of the minute fibrils of those internal
surfaces, which, minutely examined, look
like the pile or nap of velvet.
VINCENNES (pronounced vang-senz), a town
of France, about three miles east of Paris.
VIOLET. Some philologists derive this word
from the Latin via, because of the violet's
flourishing by the way-side; whence an
English poet has called it way-ling, the
postfix ling in Saxon meaning offspring.
VIRGIL. Publius Virgilius Maro, the most
distinguished epic poet of ancient Rome,
was b. near Mantua, 70 B. C., and d. 19
B. C. His supposed tomb is still shown
at Naples.

VIRGINIUS, a centurion (military officer com-
manding a hundred men) of ancient
Rome, whose daughter Virginia being
claimed as a slave by Appius Claudius,
the father, to save her from dishor or,
8.abbed her with a knife snatched from a
butcher's stall.

VISTA. Buena Vista (pronounced boo-e'na-
vis'ta), a town of Mexico, thirty-two miles
south of Tampico, was the scene of an ac
tion, on the 224 and 23d Feb., 1847, in

ing in panels wherewith a wall is faced;
the timber lining or covering of a room.
WALLENSTEIN (pronounced in German Vol
lenstin), Duke of Friedland, a celebrated
German general, b. in Bohemia 1583; as-
sassinated 1634. On the incidents of his
career Schiller has founded a noble
drama, an extract from which see on p.
343.

WAR, Barbarism of, 303. See also pp. 271,
326, 343, 410.

WARD, WARDER. The primary meaning of
the verb to ward is to look at or after,
and consequentially, to defend, to protect.
A ward of a lock is that which guards or
secures it; in other words, that part
which corresponds to its proper key.
WARE, WM., Vesuvius, by, 251.
WASHINGTON, GEORGE, the "first in war,"
as well as "in peace," among the Ameri-
cans, was born Feb. 22, 1732, near the
banks of the Potomac, in the county of
Westmoreland, Va. That he was diligent
and studious in his youth his writings in
mature years abundantly testified. He
entered the military service of the colony in
1751; was in Braddock's expedition against
Fort du Quesne (pronounced Kåne) in
1755, and had two horses shot under him;
was appointed commander-in-chief of the
American army in 1775; was elected
president of the Convention for forming
the Constitution in 1787; was elected
President of the United States in 1789,
again in 1793, and died in 1799. "Great
he was," says Lord Brougham, "pre
eminently great; a perfect, just man, with
a thoroughly firm resolution, never to be
misled by others, any more than to be by
others overawed. To his latest breath
did this great patriot maintain the noble
character of a captain the patron of peace,
and a
statesman the friend of justice.
Dying, he bequeathed to his heirs the

sword which he had worn in the war for
liberty, and charged them 'Never to take
it from the scabbard but in self-defence,
or in defence of their country and her
freedom.' Until time shall be no more,
will a test of the progress which our race
has made in wisdom and in virtue be de-
rived from the veneration paid to the im-
mortal name of Washington."

Eulogized by Webster, 147.
The Youth of, by Everett, 249.
Our Political System, by, 287.
Religion Essential, by, 313.
WATERLOO. The village of Waterloo, noted
for the great battle fought on the 18th of
June, 1815, between Napoleon and the
allied forces, is in Belgium, about ten
miles southward from Brussels.
WATER, THE World of, 206.
WATER-WRAITH (p. 276). Wraith is a Scot-
tish word, signifying a spirit or appari-
tion.

WAYLAND, REV. FRANCIS, President of
Brown University, R.I., and distinguished
as a theologian and a writer on Moral
Science and Political Economy, was born
in N. Y. March 11, 1796. His writings
are much esteemed. Quoted, 288, 369.
WEBER, CHARLES MARIA VON, an eminent
musical composer, born in Holstein, a de-
pendency of Denmark, in 1786; died 1826.
He composed the celebrated opera of Der
Freischutz (the Free-shooter). Mentioned
p. 172.

WEBSTER, DANIEL, highly distinguished as
a lawyer, orator, and statesman, was born
in Salisbury, N. H., Jan. 18, 1782; died
at his residence in Marshfield, Mass., Oct.
24th, 1852.
His parents were poor; but
he was enabled to enter Dartmouth Col-

lege in 1797. He first practised law in his
native state, and was in Congress in 1812.
He removed to Boston in 1816, was sent
to Congress from that city in 1822, and
from that time up to the period of his
death was in public life, distinguishing
himself by many remarkable efforts of
eloquence, which place him in the front
rank of great orators, with Demosthenes,
Chatham, Mirabeau, and Patrick Henry.
On his death-bed, he prepared an inscrip-
tion for his tomb stone, in which he says
that his "heart has always assured and
reassured" him "that the Gospel of Jesus
Christ must be a divine reality."
Character of Washington, 147.
Education in the United States, 184.
On Early Rising, 226.

The American Union, 271.
Love of Home, 368.

Peculiarities of our Liberty, 424
WEBSTER, NOAH, was born in West Hart-
ford, Connecticut, in 1758, died 1843. He
is principally known for his elaborate
English dictionary. Into this work he
introduced many innovations in orthog-
raphy, which are still a subject of con-
troversy among authors and publishers,
and many of which are repudiated by
philological scholars in England and this

country. (See Philology.) In England
his innovations have not been generally
adopted. In the United States some of
the principal printing-offices have ad-
mitted them; so that considerable con-
fusion in the spelling of various words ex-
ists in American publications. Of the
propriety of several of his innovations
there seems to be little question. That in
regard to doubling the last consonant
before ed or ing in words of more than
one syllable, not accented on the last syl-
lable, was recommended, though not
always adopted, by Lowth, Walker, and
Perry. The arbitrary deviations from the
usual rule, in such words as travelled,
travelling, worshipped, equalled, jew
elled, libelled, modelled, &c., were reject
ed by Webster, who spells these words
traveled, traveling, worshiped, &c.; aud
public usage begins to favor this reform,
not only in this country but in England.
As a defining dictionary of the English
language, Webster's is probably the best
in existence.

WEDNESDAY (wenz'da) is so named from the
Scandinavian deity Woden. His functions
corresponded to those of Mercury in the
Greek and Roman mythology.

WEL'KIN, the visible regions of the air; the
vault of heaven. It is from the Saxon
welk, to roll.

WESTMINSTER, a city of England, now so
united with London that they form one
city, and, in ordinary speech, are men-
tioned as one, though they have separate
jurisdictions.

WHAT & Common Man may say, 293.
WHALE, CAPTURE OF A, 400.
WHEN I AM OLD, 238.

WHEREFORE (composed of where and for).
Both Walker and Webster pronounce this
word hwär'-for. Sheridan pronounces it
hwĕr-för.

WHEWELL (pronounced Hu'el), Wм., an
eminent English theologian and writer
Quoted, 407.

WHITTIER, JOHN G., an American poet and
prose writer, born 1808. Quoted, 178,
207.

WIFE. This familiar word is from "to
weave; " wife and woof are of one origin.
It is a title (says Trench) given to her
who is engaged at the web and woof,
these having been the most ordinary
branches of wifely employment when the
language was forming. See Husband.
WILD. See p. 125.

WILLIS, NATHANIEL P., a popular Ameri-
can poet and essayist, b. 1807.

The New Year, by, 434.

WILNA, the name of a city and river of
West or Polish Russia. The city is two
hundred and fifty miles north-east of
Warsaw, has considerable trade, and is
noted for several remarkable churches,
for its literary institutions and medical
academy.

WILSON, JOHN, eminent as a poet and critic,
was b. in Paisley, Scotland, in 1788.

He

edited Blackwood's Magazine, and was professor of Moral Philosophy in the University of Edinburgh. Died 1854.

The Ship, by, 223.

This Life and the Next, 314. Assurance of an Hereafter, 315. WIN'CHELSEA, COUNTESS OF.

A Wished-for Retreat, by, 334. WIND AND RAIN, THE, 208.

WIND WARD, the point from which the wind blows.

WINTER, POETRY OF, 90, 453.

WINTHROP, JOHN, b. in England, in 1587; governor of Massachusetts in 1630; d. in 1649.

WINTHROP, ROBERT C., of the family of John, was born about 1808. Quoted pp. 275, 333.

WIRT, Wм., an eloquent lawyer and graceful writer, was b. in Maryland, in 1772; d. 1835. Quoted, 288, 332, 431. WISE, a manner, mode, fashion.

It is

often compounded in such words as lengthwise, breadthwise, &c., incorrectly written lengthways, &c. WOLSEY, THOMAS, Cardinal, an eminent English prelate, was the son of a butcher, and was b. 1471; d. 1530. He rose to great power under Henry VIII.; but that treacherous king finally worked his ruin. See p. 421. WOMAN'S MISSION, 359. WORDS, THE STUDY OF, 119.

The Permanence of, 160. WORDSWORTH, Wм., a great and good English poet, b. April 7th, 1770, d. 1850. His claims to a rank among the greatest poets of England were long contested, but at length very generally admitted by those whose verdict is fame. He had a lofty sense of the worth of his art, and, in him, poetry, which is but another name for the reverent study of nature, embraces all knowledge, all sanctity, all truth and is ever made subservient to the doctrines of Christian revelation. In 1843 he succeeded Southey as poet-laureate. Quoted, 398.

The Daffodils, by, 70.

The Blind Street-Fiddler, 93. Affectionate Remembrance, 102. Friendship, 113.

The Moral Law, 114.
Essential Knowledge, 177.
Address to Duty, 178.

Heroism of Grace Darling, 201.
The Old Man by the Brook, 257.
WOUND. The preferred pronunciation of
Walker and Worcester is woond, of
Webster, wound, rhyming with sound.
WRACK, synonymous with wreck, and an
ancient form of that word.

YANG-TSE-KIANG', a large river of China Its total course is about 2500 miles. Y-CLEPED (e-klept), called, termed. It is the perfect participle of the Saxon word ge-clypian, to call.

YEA. Both Walker and Webster prefer to pronounce this word like the pronoun ye; Worcester, Sheridan, and others, pronounce it yā. YOUNG, EDWARD, author of "Night Thoughts," was b. in Hants, England, in 1681, d. 1755. It is impossible to open any page of his "Night Thoughts" without finding something grand, true, and striking.

Trust in God, 256.
Death, 309.

Defiance, from "Zanga," 102.

ZEAL. The Greek is zelos, which is from zeo, I boil.

ZENITH (from the Arabic). In Astronomy, the top of the heaven, or vertical point; the point directly overhead.

Zr'ON or SION, the name of one of the moun tains on which Jerusalem was built. It was sometimes called "the city of David ;" also "the holy hill."

ZONE (Gr. zōnē, a girdle). In Geography the terrestrial zones are the five broad spaces or belts into which the surface of the earth is divided by the two tropics and the two polar circles. ZSCHOKKE, HENRY, a prolific German writer, b. at Magdeburg, in Prussia, 1771, d. 1848. He commenced life as a strolling player, but afterwards studied divinity, and became a teacher of youth.

The Snow of Winter, by, 90. ZUTPHEN (Zoot'phen), a town of the Neth erlands, with a population of 11,000.