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 pretor. 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 senate. 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 magnificence 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. or VERSE (from the Latin vertere, to turn; hence versus, a furrow, line, series, verse). The connexion of several metres 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 9 or g 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, 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 9 VERSE-VERTEBRA. 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.) cesses. 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 proThe 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 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'AUBEUF, 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 succes sively 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 eclesiastic, 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, wanted 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, he 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 mysteri ous 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 priests of Rome and Greece, the Druids of Gaul and Britain, and the magi of India. But it is now regarded as of no value. We have two native species of verbena, of common occurrence in the Northern States, one bearing blue and the other white flowers. Several others are found in the south and west, one of which (V. aubletia) has pretty large flowers, somewhat resembling those of a phlox, and is often cultivated as an ornamental plant. An exotic species has flowers of the same size, but of a bright scarlet color. VERVIERS; a well-built town in the province of Liege, kingdom of Belgium, lying in the middle of a rich and fertile valley, on the small river Weze, to which it is indebted for its prosperity; lon. 5° 53 E.; lat. 50° 36′ N.; seventeen miles southeast of Liege. It has been enriched by the sale of its woollen goods, numerous manufactories of which are erected on the Weze. Its population amounts to 16,000 souls. hardship, in 1564. The great work of Vesalius, On the Structure of the human Body, was first published at Basle (1543, fol.); and the second edition, augmented and corrected by the author, appeared in 1555. Many subsequent editions have been printed; but the most accurate and complete is that published at Leyden (1725, 2 vols., fol.), by Boerhaave and Albinus. VESPASIANUS, Titus Flavius, emperor of Rome, was born near Rieti, in the country of the Sabines, towards the close of the reign of Augustus. His father was a receiver of taxes in Asia, and, in that generally disreputable office, was distinguished for moderation and integrity. Vespasian displayed but little ambition in his youth; and it was not till the reign of Claudius that he exhibited his military talents. Being then appointed commander of a legion, he acquired great reputation in Germany and in Britain; and, on his return to Rome, he was made consul. In the beginning of Nero's reign, he lived in retirement, but was at length appointed proVESALIUS, Andrew, a celebrated sur- consul of Africa; and on the rebellion of geon and anatomist, born at Brussels, in the Jews, he was sent with an army into 1514, studied the languages and philoso- Judea (A. D. 66). After taking some imphy at Louvain, and at an early age dis- portant fortresses, and reducing almost played his predominant taste for anatom- the whole of Galilee to subjection, he was ical inquiries, by dissecting the bodies of preparing to attack Jerusalem, when he animals. He then went to Paris, and received the news of the death of Nero studied the medical sciences under James (A. D. 68). After the transient reigns of Sylvius. When only eighteen, he com- Galba, Otho and Vitellius, he was himself posed his treatise De Corporis humani elevated to imperial power; and such was Fabrica, and, returning to Louvain, de- his good fortune, that he found himself livered lectures on anatomy. He after- seated on the throne, without having rewards visited Italy, and by his lectures course to those hostilities which he had and demonstrations at Pisa, Bologna, and anticipated as necessary to support his other Italian cities, acquired great reputa- claims. Reaching Rome about the midtion. In 1537, the government of Venice dle of the year 70, he was received with appointed him professor of anatomy in general and sincere rejoicing, the reputathe university of Padua, where he re- tion he had acquired promising relief mained seven years. He was subsequent- from the miseries of misgovernment, unly physician to Charles V, and to Philip II der which the people had long suffered. of Spain. When in the height of his He did not disappoint the expectations fame, he engaged in a pilgrimage to Jeru- which his character had excited. He resalem. The motive to this undertaking is formed the discipline of the army, purithus related: Vesalius, believing a young fied the senatorial and equestrian orders, Spanish nobleman, whom he had attended, by degrading the unworthy, and filling to be dead, opened him; but, after making their places with respectable citizens, and an incision into the body, he perceived appointed a commission to settle the vast the symptoms of life. The parents, com- multitude of suits which had accumuing to the knowledge of this, accused him lated during the late troubles, besides to the inquisition of impiety. But the presiding on the bench frequently himking interposed, and saved him, on condi- self, that justice might be administered tion that he would undertake a pilgrimage with impartiality. He was an enemy to to the Holy Land. But different motives luxury, and devoid of personal or famifor this journey have been assigned. On ly pride, being by no means desirous to his return from Jerusalem, he was ship- conceal the obscurity of his origin. On wrecked on the island of Zante, and died the other hand, he is charged with disthere, from the effects of hunger and playing a degree of meanness and ra |