546 ed by the Adige, and, though partly mountainous, having an agreeable climate and a fertile soil. The productions are corn, wine, oil, flax and silk: in the mountains is beautiful marble. Population, 285,000; square miles, 1330. VERONA; an ancient city, formerly belonging to Venice, now to the Austrian Lombardo-Venetian kingdom, capital of the above delegation, formerly capital of a district called the Veronese, on the Adige, eighteen miles north-north-east of Mantua, and sixty miles west of Venice; lon. 11° 1' E.; lat. 45° 26' N.; population, It has a 55,000. It is a bishop's see. pleasant and picturesque situation, partly on a declivity and partly on the border of a large plain. The Adige flows through it in a rapid, full stream, dividing it into two unequal parts, and is crossed by four stone bridges. The form of the city is irregular, its circuit about six miles. It retains its old fortification of a moat and earthen mound, and has two castles on high ground, with a third on the plain. The interior of the city does not correspond with the beauty of its position, most of the streets being narrow and dirty: several, however, are spacious and well paved. The houses are in an antique style, but of good appearance, from the quantity of marble employed in their construction. It contains a Gothic cathedral, ninety-three churches, forty-one convents, eighteen hospitals, a town-house, a museum, a gymnasium, a lyceum, a public library, an academy of painting, also the academia philarmonica and the philoli, both remarkable for a number of ancient monuments. Some of the churches are noted for their paintings, others for their architecture. The townhouse has on the outside niches, containing busts of the distinguished natives of Verona, Pliny the elder, Catullus, Marcus Æmilius, Cornelius Nepos, and Vitruvius. Other distinguished natives are Maffei, Fracastorius, and Paolo Veronese. There are many antiquities in Verona, particularly in the famous collection of Maffei. The most interesting monument of Verona, and one of the most remarkable remains of Roman architecture now existing, is the amphitheatre, said to have been built by Domitian. The arena, in the centre, and of oval form, is 220 feet by 130. The seats rise in forty-six successive ranges from the arena, capable of containing about 22,000 spectators: the outward circumference of the amphitheatre is 1290 feet. The seats, as well as the different passages, the stair-cases and galleries, remain entire, the whole con- narchical principle. Respecting the difficulties between Russia and the Porte, it was concluded that lord Strangford, who had been invited for that purpose to Verona, should present an ultimatum to the sultan, in which the strictest fulfilment of the treaty of Bucharest (q. v), of 1811, should be demanded, and the Greek insurgents should not receive any assistance. On account of this arrangement, the Greek deputies, who had already arrived in Ancona, were not permitted to proceed any further. Some resolutions were also entered into respecting the Austrian army in Piedmont and Naples; measures were taken for the suppression of secret societies, &c. The monarchs left Verona in October. (See the articles Laybach, and Intervention.) VERONICA, ST. The following is from the Dictionnaire de Théologie (Toulouse, 1817), a strictly Catholic work:-"Véronique is formed of vera icon (true image, that is, of Christ). It is Christ's face imprinted on a kerchief, preserved in St. Peter's, at Rome. Some believe that it is the same kerchief which was put on Christ's face in the tomb, according to John xx,7: others have persuaded themselves, but without proof, that it is the kerchief with which a holy woman wiped the Savior's face, when he went to mount Calvary, bearing the cross. This opinion may have originated from the circumstance that some painters often represent the véronique, or true image, supported by the hands of an angel, and others by the hands of a woman. The first time that this image is mentioned is in a ritual, drawn up in 1143, by Benedict, a canon of St. Peter's. (See P. Mabillon, Museum Italicum, vol. ii, p. 222.) The worship paid to this image is paid in reality to the Savior." So far the Dictionary. It does not mention that the legend, every where propagated, calls the holy woman, mentioned above, St. Veronica; just as if a saint should be worshipped under the name of St. Ubes, the common corruption of Setubal. VERRES, Caius Licinius; a Roman who governed the province of Sicily as pre tor. The oppression and rapine of which he was guilty, while in office, so offended the Sicilians, that they brought an accusation against him before the Roman sen ate. Cicero undertook the cause of the Sicilians, and pronounced those celebrated orations which are still extant. The five memorials which bear the name of secunda actio in Verrem, were drawn up by Cicero after Verres had abandoned his defence as desperate. Verres was de fended by Hortensius; but, as he despaired of the success of his defence, he left Rome, without waiting for his sentence, and lived in great affluence in one of the provinces. He was at last killed by the soldiers of Antony, the triumvir, about twenty-six years after his voluntary exile from the capital. VERRI, Count Alexander, an Italian writer, born at Milan, in 1741, died in 1816, entered at first upon the practice of the law; but perceiving the defects of the civil and criminal legislation of his country, he applied himself with great diligence to the study of Grotius, Pufendorf, Montesquieu, and other publicists. In connexion with Carli, Frisi, and Beccaria, he published a periodical work entitled Il Cafe, which had great success. In 1766, he went to Paris with Beccaria, travelled in England, and, returning to Italy, settled himself at Rome, where he wrote two tragedies, Panthea, and the Conspiracy of Milan. His other works are an Essay upon the general History of Italy, from the Foundation of Rome to the present Time; Commentaries and Criticisms upon the principal Grecian Orators; Roman Nights, which has been translated into German, French and English, and frequently reprinted, and a Life of Erostratus. His brothers Peter (born 1728, died 1797) and Charles (born 1743, died 1826) also published several valuable works; the former on political economy and legislation, the latter on agricultural subjects. VERSAILLES, one of the most beautiful cities of France, about ten miles from Paris, lies in an extensive, and, in part, barren plain. Until the middle of the seventeenth century, it was an inconsiderable village, with a hunting castle. Louis XIV determined to erect, on this solitary spot, a royal residence worthy of his age and his grandeur. Seven years (1673-1680) were employed in completing the palace, park and gardens, around which a city, with regular streets and handsome buildings, and a population of 100,000 souls, soon grew up. The palace, erected after the plans and under the inspection of Mansard, is more than 800 feet in length, consisting of a first story and the attic, decorated with Ionic pilasters, with fifteen projecting buildings, supported by isolated columns of the same order. It contains eight magnificent saloons, adorned with statuary, paintings and architectural embellishments, and the great gallery, 232 feet long, thirty broad, and thirty-seven high, and lighted by seventeen great windows. The galle ry is indebted to Lebrun for its architecture and paintings, and is not surpassed by any in Europe for magnificence, taste or arrangement. The chapel is one of the most superb monuments of the mag nificence of Louis XIV: its external decoration consists of Corinthian pilasters, ornamented with numerous statues; the interior, of the same order, presents twelve fluted pillars, richly ornamented, and sustaining the dome. The banqueting room, the opera-house, &c., are also splendidly finished. The gardens of this sumptuous palace are equal in splendor to the fabric to which they belong. Innumerable statues, temples and pavilions greet the view in every direction, while shrubberies, parterres, sheets of water, and jets d'eau, diversify the scenery. Within the circuit of the park lie the two palaces called the Great and Little Trianon. Versailles was the residence of Louis XIV, XV and XVI, and of all the chief officers of state, until the 6th of October, 1789, when Louis was compelled, by the Paris mob, to take up his residence in the Tuileries. The national assembly also opened its sessions here, and was transferred, at the same time, to Paris. In consequence of this removal of the court and government, Versailles declined as rapidly as it had risen. Napoleon did something towards restoring it, and also caused the palace to be repaired. The treaty of Versailles was signed here, Sept. 3, 1783, between Great Britain, France and Spain, on the same day that the treaty between Great Britain and the U. States of America was signed at Paris. The French court, during the three reigns above mentioned, was styled the court of Versailles. The city of Versailles has, at present, a population of 28,000, and is a bishop's see. It contains a town-house, a public library of 30,000 volumes, three churches, and several other public buildings and institutions. VERSE (from the Latin vertere, to turn; hence versus, a furrow, line, series, verse). The connexion of several metres or rhythms forms a rhythmical series-a verse which contains as many metrical members or bars as there are uniform arsises in the verse. Verse may also be defined as that form which sounds assume by means of a regular motion and measure, or a series, a whole of rhythms metrically divided. The word is also used for a series of verses, connected according to some rule; but strophe is the better expression for this. (See Strophe.) Versification is the art of applying the rules or 8 time. Verses in uneven time are more conformable to the spirit of the ancient languages; those in even time to that of the modern. Formerly verses were measured according to feet, in the Roman fashion (the Greeks measured verses more correctly according to the time or bars), which led to various mistakes. Because a foot is but the form of a single part of the metrical period, the proportionate value of it is the very thing which must be determined by the rhythm or metre, and therefore is to be measured by this, but is not its measure. The grammarians, with whom the foot was only an aggregate of syllables, sought, in order to determine the measure, for a fundamental foot, prevailing in the whole verse. As they knew only the difference between long and short syllables, but not the different degrees of length and shortness (which different proportions produce variety of movement), a number of arbitrary and confused notions originated, which were elevated to rules; and thus the rhythm became only the more obscure. If we measure verse, however, as the ear requires, musically and according to time, we shall find regularly returning metrical periods, and thus determine the melody of the verse, or the metrical music of it; and the prosodic value of syllables is elevated to rhythmical and metrical. Verses have been measured according to feet or double feet (dipodies). The tripodic, above indicated as 3, was unknown; the dactylic, cretic, choriambic, ionic, pæonic and antispastic verses were measured according to feet, so that each was a metre: the anapæstic, trochaic and iambic verses, however, in which a dipody made a metre, were measured by dipodies. If a metre is contained in a verse once, twice, three times, &c., the verse is called monometer, dimeter, trimeter, tetrameter, pentameter, hexameter, &c. As many bars are filled out by the imagination, and not in reality, the division of catalectic, or incomplete, and acatalectic, or complete, verses has arisen. If the verse is concluded in the middle of the period, it is called brachy catalectic, or half-complete; if it is one syllable too long, it is called hypercatalectir. According to the theory of time, these divisions appear unnecessary and erroneous, as every one, who can divide a verse musically, will easily find. In the same way the division of the, so called, polyschematic or many-formed verses-verses capable of several forms or changes-appears superfluous; also that of the unconnected verses, which, as is said, cannot be united, and the invention of which is ascribed to Archilochus. These can be measured rhythmically perfectly well. A consistent theory of time reduces all the sorts of verses to one fundamental form, of which there are a variety of modifications. Mr. Apel, a German, has done much to promote a better understanding of the character of verses.-Blank verse is a species of verse disencumbered of rhyme, and allowing the lines to run into each other with nearly as much freedom as the Latin hexameter. As it is naturally read with less cadence than rhyme, the pauses in it and the effect of them are not always so sensible to the ear as in rhyme. It is constructed, however, upon the same principles with respect to the place of the pause. VERSIFICATION. (See Verse.) VERST, OF WERST; a Russian measure, equal to about two thirds of an English mile. (See Measures.) VERTEBRA; the name of the little bones which compose the spine. They are short, thick, angular, twenty-four in number, placed one above the other. Each vertebra has commonly seven processes. The first of these is the spinous process, which is placed at the back part of the vertebra, and gives the name of spine to the whole of this bony canal. Two others are called transverse processes, from their situation with respect to the spine, and are placed on each side of the spinous process. The four others, which are called oblique processes, are much smaller than the other three. There are two of these on the upper, and two on the lower part of each vertebra, rising from near the basis of the transverse processes. They are sometimes called articular processes, because the two superior processes of one vertebra are articulated with the two inferior processes of the vertebra above it; and they are called oblique processes, from their situation with respect to the processes with which they are articulated. These oblique processes are articulated to each other by a species of ginglymus, and each process is covered at its articulation with cartilage. There is in every vertebra a hole large enough to admit a finger. These holes correspond with each other, and form a long bony conduit, for the lodgment of the spinal marrow. Besides this great hole, there are four notches on each side of every vertebra, between the oblique processes and the body of the vertebra. Two of these notches are at the upper, and two at the lower part of the bone. Each of the inferior notches, meeting with one of the superior notches of the vertebra below it, forms a foramen; whilst the superior notches do the same with the inferior notches of the vertebra above it. These four foramina form passages for bloodvessels, and for the nerves that pass out of the spine. The vertebræ are united together by means of a substance, compressible like cork, which forms a kind of partition between them. The change which takes place in these intervertebral cartilages (as they are usually called), in advanced life, occasions the decrease in stature, and the stooping forwards, which are usually to be observed in old people. The cartilages then become shrivelled, and consequently lose, in a great measure, their elasticity. But, besides this gradual effect of old age, these cartilages are subject to a temporary diminution, from the weight of the body in an erect posture; so that people who have been long standing, or who have carried a considerable weight, are found to be shorter than when they have been long in bed. Hence we are taller in the morning than at night. The difference in such cases depends on the age and size of the subject: in tall, young people, it is nearly an inch; but in older or shorter persons, less considerable. Besides these cartilages, there are many strong ligaments, which unite the bones of the spine to each other. Besides the uses of the vertebræ in defending the spinal marrow, and in articulating the several vertebræ, they serve to form a greater surface for the lodgment of muscles, and enable the latter to act more powerfully on the trunk, by affording them a lever of considerable length. In a part of the body that is composed of so great a number of bones, and constructed for such a variety of motion, as the spine is, luxation is more to be expected than fracture; and this is very wisely guarded against, in every direction, by the many processes that are to be found in each vertebra, and by the cartilages, ligaments, and other means of connexion which we have described as uniting then together. VERTEBRAL ANIMALS. (See Animals.) VERTEX is used, in astronomy, for the point of heaven perpendicularly over our heads, properly called the zenith.-Vertical circle, in astronomy; a great circle of the sphere, passing through the zenith and nadir, and cutting the horizon at right angles: it is otherwise called azimuth.-Vertical prime is that vertical circle or azimuth which passes through the poles of the meridian, or which is perpendicular to the meridian, and passes through the equinoctial points.-Vertical plane, in perspective, is a plane perpendicular to the geometrical plane, passing through the eye, and cutting the perspective plane at right angles. -Vertical plane, in conics, is a plane passing through the vertex of the cone, and parallel to any conic section. VERTOT D'AUBŒUF, René Aubert de, a French historian, whose works have been translated into English, was born at the castle of Bennetot, in Normandy, of a good family, in 1655. His application to study was early and persevering; but, much against his father's will, he entered among the Capuchins, and took the name of brother Zachary. The austerities of his order not agreeing with his health, he was induced to change it for that of the Premonstratenses, and became successively secretary to the general of the order, rector, and, at length, prior of the monastery. After some other ch. nges of situation, he became a secular ec. lesiastic, and, in 1701, came to Paris in that character. His talents soon procured him patronage. In 1705, he was made associate of the academy of belles-lettres, and, after a while, secretary of languages to the duke of Orleans. In 1715, the grand master of Malta appointed him his historiographer. His last years were passed in much bodily infirmity, from which he was relieved by death, in 1735. He was bordering on his forty-fifth year when he wrote his first history, and had passed his seventieth when he finished his last, that of Malta. His style is lively, pleasing and elegant; his reflections always just, and often profound. He, however, want ed the industry and research which are among the leading requisites of the historian; and he yielded too much to imagination, and depended too much upon memory, to be either accurate or trustworthy. His principal works are, Histoire des Révolutions de Portugal (1689); Histoire des Révolutions de Suède (1696, 2 vols., 12mo.); Histoire des Révolutions Romaines (3 vols., 12mo.); Histoire de Malthe (1727, 4 vols., 4to.); Traité de la Mouvance de Bretagne; Histoire Critique de l'Etablissement des Bretons dans les Gaules (2 vols., 12mo.). He wrote also some dissertations in the Memoirs of the Academy of Belles-lettres, and had much intercourse with the literati of his day. His correspondence with lord Stanhope on the senate of ancient Rome has been published by the historian of Rome, Hooke. VERTUMNUS; a deity among the_Romans, who borrowed him from the Etrurians: he presided over the spring and orchards. He endeavored to gain the affections of the goddess Pomona; and, to effect this, he assumed the shape and dress of a fisherman, of a soldier, a peasant, a reaper, &c., but all to no purpose, till, under the form of an old woman, be prevailed upon his mistress, and married her. He is generally represented as a young man crowned with flowers, covered up to the waist, and holding in his right hand fruit, and a crown of plenty in his left. VERULAM, LORD. (See Bacon.) VERVAIN (verbena). These plants have usually quadrangular herbaceous stems. Their leaves are opposite: the flowers are generally small, disposed in spikes, which are sometimes arranged in panicles. The calyx is tubular, and five-toothed; the corolla funnel-shaped, dividing into five irregular lobes; the stamens four in number, two of which are shorter than the others: the capsule contains four seeds, which become naked at maturity. The common European vervain (V. officinalis) is an ordinary looking weed, naturalized in waste places in some parts of the U. States. It was employed by the ancients in religious ceremonies, and particularly by the Druids. The celebrity which this plant obtained without its possessing one apparent quality, or presenting, by its manner of growth or form, any mysterious character, to arrest the attention or excite imagination, is indeed very extraordinary and unaccountable. Most nations venerated, esteemed and used it. The ancients had their verbenalia, at which period the temples and frequented places were strewed and sanctified with vervain : the beasts for sacrifice and the altars were verbenated, the one filleted, the other strewed, with the sacred herb; no incantation or lustration was perfect without the aid of this plant. It seems to have had ascribed to it the power of curing bites of rabid animals, arresting the progress of the venom of serpents, reconciling antipathies, conciliating friendships, &c., and was in equal veneration among the |