at present. It consists of sixteen small valleys and a large one, which extends from east to west, and is traversed by the Rhone, and bordered on the north and on the south by the loftiest summits of Switzerland. (See Alps.) Over the Bernard (q. v.) and Simplon (q. v.) lead two roads to Italy. In the northern chain, which separates Valais from Berne, are the most celebrated of the Bernese Alps, the Finsteraarhorn, Jungfrau, Shreckhorn, &c. The climate and productions are very various: the mountains are almost perpetually covered with snow and ice, while the valleys enjoy a warm climate and a fruitful soil, produce corn, wine and fruits, and furnish good pasturage. The breeding of cattle is the chief occupation of the inhabitants, who are also supported in part by the travel, particularly over the Simplon. There are here mineral springs; and iron, copper, lead, marble and coal are found in the mountains. The inhabitants are Catholics: those of Upper Valais speak German, and those of Lower Valais, French. They are accused of indolence and want of cleanliness: the goitre is common among them. In the middle ages, the country belonged to the kingdom of Burgundy, and, in 1032, was annexed to the German empire. Upper Valais afterwards rendered itself independent, conquered (1475) Lower Valais, which had been ceded to Savoy, and entered into a league with Berne, and, in 1529, with the Swiss confederacy. In 1810, it was annexed to France, under the title of the department of the Simplon, and, in 1815, was constituted the twentyfirst canton of the confederacy.

VALCKENAER, Louis Caspar, a celebrated Dutch philologist and critic, born at Leuwarden, in Friesland, studied ancient literature, philosophy and theology at Franeker, where, in 1741, he was appointed professor of the Greek language, and afterwards held the same post at Leyden, till his death, in 1785. He was distinguished for his profound and extensive learning; and his commentaries on several Greek authors are highly esteemed, particularly those on Theocritus, the Phoenisse(1755), and the Hippolytus (1768) of Euripides, and on Callimachus (1799). His Opera Philologica were published at Leipsic in 1808 (2 vols.). His Diatribe in Euripidis perditorum Dramatum Reliquias was republished at Leipsic in 1824.

VALCKENAER, Jan or John, son of the preceding, after completing his studies at Leyden, was appointed professor of law at Franeker. His literary reputation, and,

particularly, his zealous attachment to the anti-Orange party, procured him, in 1787, the chair of jurisprudence at Leyden; but the return of the stadtholder obliged him to quit Holland the same year. Valckenaer then went to France, and, in 1793, was one of the deputies, to obtain from the convention the aid of French arms for the Dutch patriots. In 1795, he returned to Holland, and was appointed professor of public law, and, in 1796, was sent ambassador to Spain, and, at a later period, was employed on several important missions to other countries. When Louis Bonaparte, in 1810, made the last effort to prevent the union of Holland with France, Valckenaer was sent to Napoleon on the subject; after which he retired to private life, devoting himself, till his death, in 1821, to study. Among his works are his treatise De Peculio quasi castrensi veteribus Jurisconsultis incognito, and some legal opinions on political affairs.

VAL D'ARNO; the valley of the Arno, which runs by Florence.. (See Arno.)

VAL DI DEMONA. (See Demona.) VALDIVIA; a city and strong fortress of Chile, on the river of its name, three leagues from the sea. It was founded in the year 1551, by the conqueror Pedro de Valdivia, who gave it his name, and obtained immense sums of gold from its vicinity. In 1590, it was taken and plundered by the Araucanians (q. v.), the native inhabitants of the country. It was again rebuilt and fortified by the Spaniards. The harbor is situated in a beautiful bay formed by the river, and is the safest, the strongest from its natural position, and the most capacious, of any of the ports in the South sea. The town contains a college, built by the Jesuits, several convents, a parochial church, and a public hospital. It is one hundred and eightythree miles south of Conception.

VALENCIA; a city of Spain, capital of the province of the same name, on the Guadilaviar, two miles from the sea; one hundred and seventy miles south-east of Madrid; lon. 23′ W.; lat. 39° 29′ N.; population, about 80,000 in the city, and 20,000 in the villages and environs. It is situated'in a fertile tract of country, and has a mild and pleasant climate. It contains a cathedral, seventy-four churches, forty convents, sixteen hospitals, two public libraries, an academy of painting, a college, a custom-house, and a university. The Alameda is a delightful walk, bordered with orange, pomegranate and palm trees, and the air is perfumed with the mul

neys.

berry, lemon and orange trees of the environs. The streets are narrow, winding, and crossed by a multiplicity of lanes. Many of the buildings are without chimThe university was founded in 1470, and has 58 professors and 1500 students; but the course of study is antiquated. The inhabitants excel in the arts more than in literature. The principal manufacture is that of silk. The maritime trade is carried on by lighters, which load and unload vessels at the village of Grao, near the mouth of the river. It is an ancient town, supposed to be the Valentia Edetanorum of the Romans, and was the capital of the kingdom of Valencia, which continued from 713 to 1238. It is now an archbishop's see.The province of Valencia (255,000 inhabitants) lies between the Mediterranean sea, Murcia, Cuenca, Arragon and Catalonia. It is the Eden of Spain, and enjoys the finest climate in Europe. The face of the country is diversified with hills, valleys and small plains, well watered by numerous streams. The Alicant wine, olives, and other fruits, corn, flax and hemp, with bees, silkworms, and rich mineral productions, are among its riches. Manufactures are also flourishing, and, in the city of Valencia, upwards of 22,000 workmen are engaged in the manufacture of silk stuffs and stockings.

VALENCIENNES ; a city of France, situated on the Scheldt, which runs through the town in several places, and here becomes navigable; lon. 3° 36′ E.; lat. 50° 21' N.; population, 16,918. The form of the town is circular; the streets narrow and crooked; the houses generally old and ill built, many of them of wood; the chief manufactures, lace of great fineness, cambric, gauze and linen stuffs. The public square is handsome. It is supposed to have derived its name from the emperor Valentinian I, who, pleased with the temperature of the climate, and charming situation of the place, laid the foundation of a town, about the year 367, endowing it with many privileges. It was taken by the allies, in 1793, after a severe siege, but was given up to the French in 1794.

VALENTINE, ST., is called by some ecclesiastical writers bishop, but, according to others, was only a presbyter. He suffered martyrdom in the reign of the emperor Claudius II, having been beheaded at Rome, and was early canonized. He was so eminently distinguished for his love and charity, that the custom of choosing Valentines, or special loving friends,

on his day (Feb. 14), is supposed by some to have originated from thence: others deduce it from the birds choosing their mates on this day; but it is more likely to be a corruption of a practice during the Roman Lupercalia, when the names of young women were put into a box, and drawn out by the young men.

VALENTINI, George William, baron von, lieutenant-general in the Prussian service, a military writer of reputation, was born in 1775, and educated in Berlin. He served as a lieutenant in the campaign on the Rhine against the French, and, after the peace, wrote a treatise on Partisan Warfare, which has gone through four editions. In 1805, he served against the Swedes as a captain. In 1809, he served in the Austrian army as aid-de-camp of the present king of the Netherlands, and published, after the peace, his History of the Campaign of 1809. In 1810, he served in the Russian army against the Turks. In 1811, he returned to the Prussian service, and was of much use in the campaigns of 1813, 1814 and 1815. After the peace, he was made commandant of the fortress of Glogau, in Silesia, where he wrote his Treatise on War, in Reference to Great Operations (Berlin, 1821-24, 3 vols.).

VALENTINIAN; the name of three Roman emperors. Valentinian I, son of Gratian, a distinguished general, was born in Pannonia, and ascended the throne A. D. 364. He divided the government of the empire with his brother Valens, to whom he intrusted the eastern provinces. Brave, but ignorant, rude, and addicted to the grossest debaucheries, Valentinian was unable to arrest the decline of the empire. He died in 375. (See Rome, History of Valentinian II, son of the preceding, administered the government after the death of his elder brother Gratian (383), under the regency of his mother, Justína, and was killed by one of his officers, Arbogastes, a Gaul, in 392.-Valentinian III, son of Constantius and Placidia, a daughter of Theodosius the Great, was proclaimed emperor (425), in the sixth year of his age, on the death of his uncle Honorius. (See Western Empire.) During his reign, Spain was overrun by the Suevi and the Visigoths (see Goths), Africa by the Vandals, Britain by the AngloSaxons, Gaul by the Franks, and Italy by the Huns under Attila. Feeble and voluptuous, he perished by a conspiracy in 455. (See Vandals.)

VALENTINIANS. (See Gnostics.)

ana of Poitiers.)

VALERIA. (See Coriolanus.) VALERIAN (valeriana). These plants are mostly herbaceous, with simple, opposite, pinnatifid leaves, and small flowers, usually disposed in a corymb or panicle. They are distinguished from most dicotyledonous plants by having three stamens, a number almost exclusively belonging to the other great division of vegetables. The species are numerous in the northern and temperate parts of the eastern continent. We have one in our Western States, and a second in Canada. The root of the officinal valerian has an acrid and somewhat bitter taste, and a strong, disagreeable odor. It has been employed in medicine, principally in epilepsy and hysterical affections, but sometimes as a vermifuge, and in intermittent fevers. Cats are excessively fond of this plant, so much so that it is difficult to preserve it in a garden; and ratcatchers employ the roots to draw the rats together, as they do oil of anise. Other species have the same properties in a greater or less degree.

VALERIAN, Publius Licinius, Roman emperor from A. D. 253 to 260, was born in 190. He was descended of a noble family, and had distinguished himself, in several campaigns, for his military skill, and in general bore the character of great magnanimity and virtue. The emperor Decius having determined to revive the censorship, for the purpose of checking the decline of the empire, Valerian was unanimously named for this post by the senate. But the corruption of Roman manners was too great to be cured by the appointment of a censor. Being declared emperor by the legions at the age of sixtythree years, he associated his son Gallienus with himself in the government. But the position of the Roman empire was such, that the whole period of their united reign was little else than a scene of internal confusion and foreign war. In the year 225, a new Persian empire had been founded in Asia by Artaxerxes; and his successor, Sapor, endeavored to recover the Persian provinces which had been conquered by the Romans. Valerian marched against him at the head of his army, but was defeated and made prisoner near Edessa (260). If the accounts of historians are not exaggerated, Sapor treated him in a most unworthy manner. The unhappy old man was daily exposed to the insults of the people, and Sapor mounted on horseback by placing

Valerian died of grief, his skin was stuffed, and preserved by Sapor as a trophy of victory. The truth of this story is, however, doubted by Gibbon (ch. x.).

VALERIUS; the name of many Romans. The most distinguished of this name is the chief instigator of the conspiracy against the last king, Tarquinius Superbus, and was famed for his love of liberty, of his country and of justice, which procured him the surname of Publicola, or Poplicola (friend of the people). He and Brutus were the first consuls of the new republic. He retained the office after the death of Brutus, for some time exercised it alone with the greatest impartiality, and made several ordinances of great benefit to the people, and highly conducive to civil freedom. He was consul three times successively in a period of tranquillity, and also distinguished himself as a general by his courage and conduct. Amongst others, he subdued and triumphed over the Sabines. Soon after, he died so poor that his remains were interred at the public expense. A monument was erected to his memory in the forum. The Roman women wore mourning for him a year, as they had done for Brutus.

VALERIUS MAXIMUS; a Roman historian, who lived in the reign of the emperor Tiberius. He served in Asia under Sextus Pompeius, and, returning to Rome, appears to have taken no part in public affairs, but devoted his leisure to the composition of his Dicta et Facta Memorabilia, a collection of anecdotes and observations. On the revival of literature, it was one of the earliest books which issued from the press after the invention of printing. Among the best modern editions are those of Torrenius (Leyden, 1726, 4to.), of Kapp (Leipsic, 1782, 8vo.), and of Helfrecht (Hoff, 1799, 8vo.).

VALERIUS FLACCUS, Caius. (See Flaccus, Caius Valerius.)

VALETTA. (See Malta.)

VALETTE, LA, count de. An account of him is given under Lavalette; and we have to add here, only, that he died Feb. 15, 1830, and that his relations have since published his Memoirs, which have been translated into English.

VALHALLA. (See Northern Mythol

ogy.)

VALIDE; SULTANA VALIDE. (See Ha

rem.)

gist, was born at Rome in 1406 or 1415. At Pavia he was made professor of rhetoric; but, the plague having dispersed the members of the university, he lectured at Milan, Genoa and Florence. At length he became known to Alphonso, king of Arragon, whom he followed in his wars and travels from 1435 till 1442, when that prince made himself master of the king dom of Naples. In 1443, on the return of pope Eugenius to Rome, he settled in that city. A work on the pretended donation of Constantine to the holy see, reflecting on the characters of some of the popes, having excited the displeasure of Eugenius, Valla returned to Naples, and opened a school of eloquence, to which many scholars resorted. He narrowly escaped suffering in consequence of the freedom with which he attacked notions sanctioned by antiquity; and it was to the influence of Alphonso that he owed his preservation from the vengeance of the inquisition. At length he was invited to Rome by Nicholas V, and there commented giving lectures on rhetoric in 1450. He engaged in a literary dispute with George Trapezuntius, on the comparative merits of Cicero and Quintilian, and carried on a controversy with Poggio, which was conducted with much illiberality and virulence by both parties. He died in 1457 or 1465. Among the revivers of literature, Valla has always held a high rank, which he merited by unwearied application and an enlarged course of study, including history, criticism, dialectics, moral philosophy and divinity. Of his numerous writings his treatise De Elegantia Latini Sermonis still maintains its reputation. His original works were published together at Basle in 1543.

VALLADOLID, or MECHOACAN; a city of Mexico, and capital of a state of the same name (see Mechoacan); one hundred and eight miles west of Mexico; lon. 102° 11' W.; lat. 20° 5' N.; population, 18,000. It is situated on a river near the west side of a lake, which abounds with fish. It is the see of a bishop, and contains a cathedral, a college, an hospital, and several convents. The elevation of the town above the sea is 6396 feet.

VALLADOLID, STATE OF. (See Mechoacan.)

VALLADOLID; a city of Spain, in Leon, capital of a province of the same name, on the Pisuerga, at the junction of the Esgueva, which flows through the town; 84 miles north-west of Madrid; lon. 4° 47' W.; lat. 41° 42′ N. It is situated in the midst of an extensive plain, and con

tains a cathedral, sixteen parish churches, forty-six convents, three hospitals, and a university, with 1250 students; population, 30,000. The manufactures consist of silks, coarse woollens, and earthen ware. It is a bishop's see, and was formerly more important than at present. The streets are dirty, many of the houses in decay, and half-finished edifices are the chief indications of its ancient splendor. Philip II was a native of Valladolid, and made it the occasional residence of his court.

VALLE, Pietro della, a celebrated traveller of the seventeenth century, born at Rome, in 1586, of a noble family, has left us accounts of his travels, which, though not free from credulity, and a love of the marvellous, are highly interesting. Valle received a good education, and had already become distinguished for his acquisitions, when an unhappy passion, and some other difficulties, induced him to quit Rome and go to Naples. Here he came to the resolution of making a pilgrimage to Palestine, and, going to Venice, embarked there for the East in 1614. He visited Turkey, Egypt, Arabia, Persia and India, passing upwards of eleven years in these countries, and studying the languages and manners of the inhabitants. At Bagdad he married a beautiful Georgian, Sitti Maani, of whom, however, he was soon deprived by death. This calamity hastened his return; and, in 1626, he arrived in Rome, with a numerous retinue of Eastern followers, and soon after married a servant of his first wife, also a Georgian. Here he lived, devoted to the arts and to scientific pursuits, and wrote an account of his travels. This work, consisting of fifty-four letters, shows the various acquirements of the author to advantage. He died at Rome, in 1652.

VALLIÈRE, Louisa Frances de la Baume le Blanc, duchess de la, mistress of Louis XIV, descended from the ancient noble family De la Baume, was lady of honor to the wife of the duke of Orleans. For two years, she cherished a secret passion for Louis, who finally noticed her. In the height of her power, which she used only to do good, her conduct never belied her gentle disposition. The king raised the estate of Vaujour and the barony of St. Christophe to a duchy and a peerage in favor of her and her children. Superseded in the affections of Louis by Mad. de Montespan, Mlle. de Vallière retired into the Carmelite convent in the suburb St. Jacques, where she assumed the

name of sister Louisa de la Miséricorde, and died in 1710. She is considered the author of Réflexions sur la Miséricorde de Dieu. Mad. de Genlis has written a historical romance founded on the events of her life, and Lebrun executed a penitent Magdalen, of which the face is from her portrait.

VALLISNERIA; a very extraordinary plant, a submersed aquatic of the natural order hydrocharidea. It is found in Italy and France, and grows in large quantities in the still waters of most of the principal rivers from the Delaware to the Mississippi, near their banks. It presents partly submerged fields of narrow, linear threenerved, grass-like, olive-green leaves, of a thin and semitransparent substance, as is usual in all herbage growing under water. From the bosom of some of these arise staminiferous flowers, contained in an ovate, two-parted spathe. The enclosed spadix is covered with very minute flowers, each consisting of a three-parted calyx with two stamens. These, when mature (from the depth at which they are submerged, and the shortness of the peduncle of the spathe), have no means of attaining the surface of the water but by breaking their connexion with the parent. As soon as it arises to the surface, the calyx instantly springs open, and the anthers burst; by which impulse, and the accidents of the element on which they are launched, they, in fact, migrate accidentally to the vicinity of the fertile flower, furnished with a long spiral peduncle, by which it is enabled to attain the surface of the water even at a variable depth. The spathe of the latter is bifid and one-flowered, the calyx three-parted and superior, the corolla of three petals, the stigma ligulate and bifid, the capsule valveless, one-celled, and the seeds numerous, attached to its sides.

VALMY. (See Kellermann.) VALOIS, HOUSE OF. (See France.) VALOMBROSA; an abbey on the Apennines, belonging to the diocese of Fiesole, in the Florentine territory, where John Gualbert, the saint, founded an order of monks in 1038, subject to the rule of St. Benedict, and called the order of Valombrosa, from the place of its origin, or the gray monks, in reference to the former habit of the members. The original purpose of the institution was solitude and undisturbed devotion; but the life of the hermit was soon exchanged for a monastic constitution, and only a few hermitages were retained in the neighborhood of the monasteries. The original monastery, which Gualbert, from its situation in a thick for

est of firs on the verge of the mountain, called Valombrosa, became rich by donations; and, in 1637, the society erected magnificent edifices. This order, however, which has always been simply of a devotional character, and was the first which admitted lay brethren, has never become widely extended, nor attained any great importance. Upon its union with the Silvestrines, 1662, a black dress was adopted. Valombrosa remained undisturbed during all the storms of the revolution, and was a resort of the priests during the French dominion in Italy. It is also of interest in the history of art. A monk of Valombrosa, father Henry Hugford, practised the art of painting on stone, known by the name of scagliola (q. v.), during his residence at the beautiful hermitage Il Paradisino, near Valombrosa. The art was subsequently much improved in Florence. This monastery still exists, and is often visited by devotees and travellers, who wish to enjoy the lovely prospect which it affords.

VALPARAISO; the port of Santiago (q. v.), the capital of Chile, on a bay of the Pacific ocean, 55 miles south of Santiago, and 225 north of Conception; lon. 71° 45 W.; lat. 33° 2′ S.; population, 10,000. Its situation is inconvenient for purposes of building, as it stands at the foot of a mountain, and so near to its cliffs that many houses are erected in the breaches and on the acclivities. It contains a parish church and two convents, and is inhabited chiefly by whites, mestizoes and mulattoes, who are engaged in the trade carried on with Peru and Europe. It has an excellent harbor, every where free from rocks and shoals, except to the north-east, where there is a sunken rock within a cable's length of the shore.

VALPY, Abraham John, son of doctor Valpy, is master of a reading school, and proprietor of an extensive printing establishment in London. He is an excellent classical scholar, and a rival of the three Manutiuses, and other learned printers of former times. He has published correct editions of various Latin authors, and a much enlarged reprint of Brotier's Tacitus. The works, however, on which his reputation chiefly rests are a new and improved edition of Stephens's Thesaurus in conjunction with Mr. Barker of Trinity college, Cambridge; and a splendid republication of the Delphin classics, with variorum notes and other additions. He was also the publisher of the Classical Journal and the Pamphleteer. Mr. Valpy, at a great expense, founded the first