OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Varna

See also Varna on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer.
​VARNA, a fortress, seaport, departmental capital and episcopal city of Bulgaria; on the Bay of Varna, an inlet of the Black Sea, in 43 12′ N. and 27 56′ E. Pop. (1906) 37,155. Varna is built on the hilly north shore of the bay, overlooking the estuary of the river Devna or Pravadi, which flows seaward through a magnificent valley surrounded by mountains. It is the eastern terminus of the Varna-Rustchuk railway, opened in 1867, and is connected with all parts of the kingdom by branches of this line. The so-called “Varna quadrilateral,” which has played an important part in Bulgarian military history, consists of the fortresses of Varna, Shumla, Rustchuk and Silistria (q.v.). Varna is the third city of the kingdom in population, after Sofia and Philippopolis, and ranks with Burgas as one of the two principal seaports. Its deep and capacious bay is sheltered from northerly and north-easterly winds, and the construction of modern harbour works has greatly increased the facilities for trade. The principal exports are cattle and dairy produce, grain, lamb and goat skins, and cloth (shayak); the imports include coal, iron and machinery, textiles, petroleum and chemicals. In 1907 the port was entered by 869 ships of 926,449 tons, the largest number of vessels being Bulgarian and the greatest tonnage Austro-Hungarian. Wine is largely produced in the department, and in the city there are breweries, distilleries, tanneries and cloth factories; cotton-spinning was introduced by a British firm. There is a large and commercially important colony of Greeks; the Tews, Turks and gipsies are also numerous. Much of the city has been constructed since 1878, and the barracks, post office, college for'girls and National Bank are handsome modern buildings. Near Varna is the summer palace of the king of Bulgaria.
Varna has been identified with the ancient Milesian colony of Odessus on the coast of Moesia Inferior. It figures largely in the history of more recent times, and close by was fought in 1444 the battle in which Murad II. slew Wladislaus III. of Poland and Hungary, and routed his forces commanded by Hunyadi Janos. Varna was occupied in 1828 by the Russians, in 1854 by the allies, who here organized the invasion of the Crimea, and in 1877 by the Egyptian troops summoned to the defence of Turkey against the Russians. By the treaty of Berlin (1878) it was ceded to Bulgaria. It has long been the seat of a Greek metropolitan and since 1870 of a Bulgarian bishop.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Varnish

See also Varnish on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer.
​VARNISH, a liquid consisting of a gum or resin dissolved in alcohol (spirit varnish) or an oil (oil varnish), which on ​application to wooden and other surfaces improves their appearance and permanency (see Painter-Work).
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Varro, Publius Terentius

See also Varro Atacinus on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer.
​VARRO, PUBLIUS TERENTIUS, surnamed Atacintis (c. 82–36 B.C.), Latin poet, was born near the river Atax in Gallia Narbonensis. He was perhaps the first Roman born beyond the Alps who attained eminence in literature. He seems to have taken at first Ennius and Lucilius as his models, and wrote an epic, entitled Bellum Sequanicum, eulogizing the exploits of Caesar in Gaul and Britain, and also Satires, of which Horace (Satires, i. 10) speaks slightingly. Accordingly to Jerome, Varro did not begin to study Greek literature until his thirty-fifth year. The last ten years of his life were given up to the imitation of Greek poets of the Alexandrian school. Quintilian (Instit. x. 1, 87), who describes him as a “translator,” speaks of him in qualified terms of praise. Although not vigorous enough to excel in the historical epic or in the serious work of the Roman satura, Varro yet possessed in considerable measure the lighter gifts which we admire in Catullus.
His chief poem of the later period was the Argonautae, closely modelled on the epic of Apollonius Rhodius. The age was prolific of epics, both historical and mythological, and that of Varro seems to have held a high rank among them. It is highly spoken of by Ovid (Am. i. 15, 21, A.A. iii. 335, Tristia, ii. 439) and Statius (Silvae, ii. 7, 77), and Propertius (ii. 34, 85) awards equal praise to his erotic elegies. Varro was also the author of a Cosmographia, or Chorographia, a geographical poem imitated from the Greek of Eratosthenes or of Alexander of Ephesus, surnamed Lychnus; and of an Ephemeris, a hexameter poem on weather-signs after Aratus, from which Virgil has borrowed. Fragments in A. Riese’s edition of the fragments of the Menippean Satires of Varro of Reate; see also monographs by F. Wüllner (1829) and R. Unger (1861).
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Variscite

See also Variscite on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer.
​VARISCITE, a native hydrous aluminium phosphate, AlPO$_4$·2H$_2$O named by A. Breithaupt, in 1837, in consequence of its occurrence in the Saxon Voigtland (Variscia). It is a green mineral generally occurring as an incrustation or in nodules. A compact nodular variety was discovered about 1894 in Cedar Valley, near Old Camp Floyd, Utah, and was described by Dr G. F. Kunz as utahlite. Its beautiful apple-green colour has led to its use, when cut and polished, as an ornamental stone. The term utahlite must be distinguished from utahite, the name given by A. Arzruni to a basic ferric sulphate, 3(FeO)$_2$SO$_4$·4H$_2$O, from Utah.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Varley, John

See also John Varley (painter) on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer.
​VARLEY, JOHN (1778–1842), English water-colour painter, was born at Hackney, London, on the 17th of August 1778. His father, a man of scientific attainments and tutor in the family of Lord Stanhope, discouraged his leanings towards art, and placed him under a silversmith. But on his parent’s death Varley escaped from this uncongenial employment, and, after working with a portrait painter, engaged himself at the age of sixteen to an architectural draughtsman, who took him on a provincial tour to sketch the principal buildings in the towns they visited. His spare hours were employed in sketching from nature, and in the evenings he was permitted, like Turner and Girtin, to study in the house of Dr Munro. In 1798 he exhibited his first work, a “View of Peterborough Cathedral,” in the Royal Academy. In 1799 he visited North Wales, and in its wild mountain scenery found the subjects best suited to his brush. He returned to the same district in 1800, and again in 1802, and the impressions then received powerfully influenced the whole course of his art. In 1804 he became a foundation member of the Water-Colour Society, and contributed over forty works to its first exhibition. He had married in the previous year; and, in order to provide for the wants of an increasing family, he was obliged to produce for the dealers much work of a slight and commonplace character. He also taught drawing, and some of his pupils, such as John Linnell and William Hunt, afterwards became celebrated. He was a firm believer in astrology, skilful in casting horoscopes; and some curious instances were related of the truth of his predictions. It was at his house that his friend William Blake sketched his celebrated “Visionary Heads.” Varley died at London on the 17th of November 1842.
Varley’s landscapes are graceful and solemn in feeling, and simple and broad in treatment, being worked with a full brush and pure fresh transparent tints, usually without any admixture of body-colour. Though his works are rather mannered and conventional, they are well considered and excellent in composition. Some of his earlier water-colours, including his “Views of the Thames,” were painted upon the spot, and possess greater individuality than his later productions, which are mainly compositions of mountain and lake scenery, produced without direct reference to nature. Among his literary works are Zodiacal Physiology (1828); Observations on Colour and Sketching from Nature (1830); A Practical Treatise on Perspective, and Principles of Landscape Design for Young Artists.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Turmeric

See also Turmeric on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer.
​TURMERIC (from Fr. terre mèrite, turmeric, Lat. terra merita, deserved, i.e. excellent earth; Skeat suggests that it is a barbarous corruption, perhaps of Arabic karkam, kurkum, saffron or curcuma), the tuberous root of Curcuma longa, L., an herbaceous perennial plant belonging to the natural order Zingiberaceae. It is a native of southern Asia, being cultivated on a large scale both on the mainland and in the islands of the Indian Ocean. Turmeric has been used from a remote period both as a condiment and as a dyestuff, and to a more limited extent as a medicine (now obsolete). In Europe it is employed chiefly as a dye, also as an ingredient in curry powder and as a chemical test for alkalies. The root is prepared by cleaning it and drying it in an oven. There are several varieties (Madras, Bengal, Gopalpur, Java, China and Cochin turmeric), differing chiefly in size and colour and to a slight degree in flavour. Some of these consist exclusively of the ovate central tubers, known as “bulbs,” or ”round turmeric,” and others of the more cylindrical lateral tubers, which are distinguished in trade as “fingers,” or “long turmeric.” Both are hard and tough, but break with a short resinous or waxy fracture, which varies in tint from an orange brown to a deep reddish brown. The colour is due to curcumin, C$_{14}$H$_{16}$O$_7$, of which the drug contains about 0.3%. When pure it forms yellow crystals having a vanilla odour and exhibiting a fine blue colour in reflected light. It is soluble in alcohol, in chloroform and in alkaline solutions, but only sparingly in water. Paper tinged with a tincture of turmeric exhibits on the addition of an alkali a reddish brown tint, which becomes violet on drying. This peculiarity was pointed out by H. A. Vogel in 1815, and since that date turmeric has been utilized as a chemical test for detecting alkalinity. It is of no therapeutic value. In Sierra Leone a kind of turmeric is obtained from a species of Canna.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Turkestan (town)

See also Turkistan (city) on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer.
​TURKESTAN, or Hazret, a town of Russian Turkestan, in the province of Syr-darya, on the railway from Orenburg to Tashkent, from which it lies 165 m. to the N.N.W. Pop. (1897), 11,592. It lies on the right bank of the Syr-darya river, 20 m. from it, at an altitude of 833 ft. It has a very old mosque of the saint Hazret-Yassavi, which attracts many pilgrims. It is an important dépôt for hides, wool and other produce of cattle-breeding. The town was captured by the Russians in 1864.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Turki

See also Turki on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer.
​TURKI, strictly speaking an Arabic or Persian adjective formed from Turk, used by European writers in two rather different senses. (1) It is applied to tribes or languages which are Turkish as opposed to Aryan, Semitic, &c. (2) It is used as the special designation of the tribes and languages of Kashgaria and Eastern Turkestan. (See Turks.)
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Turle, James

See also James Turle on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer.
​TURLE, JAMES (1802-1882), English organist and composer, was born at Taunton, Somerset, and started as a choir boy at Wells Cathedral. In 1817 he became a pupil in London of the organist at Westminster Abbey, and after acting as deputy for some years he succeeded to this post himself in 1831 and held it till his death. He and Sir John Goss, the organist at St Paul's, had been fellow-pupils in London as boys. Turle was a great organist in his day, and composed a good deal of church music which is still well known. His son Henry Frederic Turle (1835-1883) was editor of Notes and Queries.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Turkoman

See also Turkmen people on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer.
​TURKOMAN, a name applied to certain Turkish tribes still nomad or only recently settled in Transcaspia and northern Afghanistan and Persia. (See Turks.)
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Turks and Caicos Islands

See also Turks and Caicos Islands on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer.
​TURKS AND CAICOS ISLANDS, a group in the British West Indies. They belong geographically to the Bahamas and lie between 21° and 22° N. and 71° and 72° 37′ W. They are of coral and sand formation, their combined area being 169 sq. m. The Turks Islands, taking their name from a species of cactus having the appearance of a turbaned head, are nine in number, but Grand Turk (10 sq. m.) and Salt Cay (5½ sq. m.) are the only two of any size. The town of Grand Turk, on the west of the island of that name, is the seat of government and a port of registry. Salt Cay has a good harbour.
The Caicos Islands lie to the north-west of Turks Islands and are seven in number. Cockburn Harbour on South Caicos, 22m. from Grand Turk, is the principal settlement and a port of entry. The climate, though somewhat relaxing, is healthy, but there is a scarcity of drinking water, the average annual rainfall being only 27½ in. The mean temperature is 82° F., but owing to the sea breezes the climate is never oppressive. Salt raking is the staple industry. Sisal hemp is grown, sponges are found in some quantities off the coast and there are four sponge-curing factories on the Caicos Islands. Pink pearls are occasionally found. The exports, chiefly to the United States, include salt, sponges and sisal hemp. Grand Turk is in cable communication with Bermuda and with Kingston, Jamaica, some 420 m. to the S.W.
The islands were uninhabited when, about 1678, the Bermudians began to visit them to rake the salt found in the ponds. These visits became annual and permanent settlements were made. In 1710 the British were expelled by the Spaniards, but they returned and the salt trade (largely with the American colonies) continued to be carried on by the Bermudians despite attacks by Spaniards and French, and counter-claims to the islands by the British authorities at the Bahamas, who about 1765 made good their claim. In 1799 the islands were given representation in the Bahamas Assembly, and they remained part of that colony until 1848, when on the petition of the inhabitants they were made a separate colony under the supervision of the governor of Jamaica. This arrangement proving financially burdensome the islands were in 1873 definitely annexed to Jamaica. They are governed by a commissioner assisted by a nominated legislative board. The census of 1901 showed a total population of 5287, of whom 342 were whites, the rest being negroes or mulattoes; 1751 of the inhabitants lived in Grand Turk Island.
See J. N. Bellin, Description géographique des débouquements au nord de St Dominique (1768); the Jamaica Handbook (London, yearly) and Sir C. P. Lucas, Historical Geography of the British Colonies, vol. ii. (2nd ed., Oxford, 1905).
# A Christmas Faggot/The Physician

THE PHYSICIAN.
Is life sad for lost love's sake,
 Falls a blight upon thy bliss,
Smiles no more their sunshine make,
 Lips estranged withhold their kiss?
For thy consolation take
 Some such song as this:—
Shine on us, O Morning Star!
 Help our weeping eyes to see;
Never may we deem things are
 What to us they seem to be;
Rise, Thou Dayspring, and afar
 Bid the shadows flee!
Jesu, Thou art swift to bless,
 Strong to comfort, skilled to heal;
Failure is with Thee success,
 Woe the forerunner of weal;
Every stroke is a caress,
 Every crust a meal.
Master, Thou canst raise the dead
 From the grave, the bed, the bier,
Souls astray, forlorn, misled,
 Buffeted by doubt and fear,
Cannot but be comforted
 When Thou drawest near.
Sweeter than the Sunday-bells
 Banishing all week-day cares,
Thine the gracious voice that tells
 What a Father's love prepares.
Leading to salvation's wells
 Up God's altar-stairs.
Lord, Thou art the Master-singer,
 And Thy song is a recall;
Many on life's pathway linger,
 Many by life's wayside fall,
But Thy Heart, the comfort-bringer,
 Is a Home for all!
Tyrol : 1882.
# A Christmas Faggot/The Daysman

THE DAYSMAN.
In boyhood's sorrow-shadowed days, Which memory recalls to-day, In many moods and many ways, My yearning heart would pray.
'Twas holy ground where'er I set My feet, God's shrine was everywhere; But this I scarcely knew as yet— Christ is His Fathers Prayer.
​God ever seeks His children's bliss, Appeals to them; and, rightly heard, The music of creation is The echo of His Word.
But when the child has learnt his part, The echo is an answer strong; A prayer up-springing from the heart That blossoms in a song.
Christ is the Living Word of God, His Poem and His Prophecy; The homeward way His Feet have trod Mankind must travel by.
​And every man, God's child and priest, Is pledged to ministry divine, Who sees the Ruler of life's feast Turn water into wine;
Who hears the Father's voice above, The Spirit's whispering within; Who knows the Messenger of love The Conqueror of sin.
Responsive to God's call, our Prayer Art Thou, dear Lord, whene'er we pray; So always now, and everywhere, My heart keeps holiday.
On the Danube:
    Feast of the Holy Name, 1883.
# A Christmas Faggot/The Madonna Di San Sisto

THE MADONNA DI SAN SISTO
'The Lord Himself shall give you a sign; behold, a Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son.'
Behold, by Raphael shown, Love's sacrament! Earth's curtains part, God's veil is lifted up; There comes a Child, forth from His Bosom sent To rule the feast of life, His Bread and Cup, His purpose making plain with man to sup. Out-streams the light, accomplished is the Sign, A Virgin-Mother clasps a Babe Divine.
​Her lovely feet descend the cloudy stair, Great succour bringing to a world forlorn; On either side a man and woman share A common rapture, welcoming the dawn Of God's new day, the everlasting morn— Of such a day as shall from East to West Dispel the darkness, doing Love's behest.
He turns a face all radiant to the Sun, Enamoured of the sight he looks upon; She to the end of what is now begun Downgazes, stooping, shadowed by the throne Made by a Maiden's arms, maternal grown; ​Than ivory most fair, than purest gold, More ivory, more fair, and stronger to uphold.
On cherubs twain, whom watching has made wise, A spell has fallen—a prophetic dream; Their upward-gazing and far-seeing eyes, Like stars reflected in a tranquil stream, To look beyond the Child and Mother seem; A twisted thorn-branch and a cross to them Are manifest — His throne and diadem.
High heaven open stands, and there a crowd Of worshippers with love-lit eyes appear, Like stars down-gazing through a fleecy cloud, ​Dimly discerned as morning draweth near Spreading a radiant pall upon night's bier. The blessed thing the Sign doth signify They partly know, and are made glad thereby.
But more the Mother knows, and more she sees Than soaring angel or than climbing saint; Her heart familiar grown with mysteries Of God's own working under love's constraint, The remedy she knows for man's complaint. The clouds are all beneath her, and above The light of life, the radiancy of love.
​And He, Whom Lord of love and life we hail, Is on her bosom borne, a blossom fair; The pentecostal breath that lifts her veil Has fanned His royal brow, and stirred His hair. And kissed His lips just parted for a prayer. That spirit-wind shall blow, that Face shall shine, Till all His brothers know their Father's Sign.
Dresden : 1883.
# A Christmas Faggot/Three Sisters

THREE SISTERS.
Three fountains clear as crystal spring  In one secluded garden-plot;  In shade and shelter of one cot Three sister-doves are harbouring.
Adown one pathway hand in hand  Three Sister-Graces wend their way;  I shall not soon forget the day I met with them in fairy land.
They dawned, I know not how or whence:  A halo circling round the head  Of each, whereby transfigurèd They clomb the bill of frankincense.
I know not whence or how, they bloomed:  Each sweeter than the sweetest rose  That in the haunted garden grows Where burns the bush still unconsumed.
And one is like a rising sun  When dewy Morn unveils her eyes;  And one is as Minerva wise; And very lily-like is one.
And all are dear. I seem to see  The weaving of a three fold cord—  To hear a softly whispered word, ’Love makes a unity of three.’
# A Christmas Faggot/The Children's Eucharist

THE CHILDREN'S EUCHARIST.
The children’s star-crowned Bethlehem,  The children's ’house of bread.’ Where Jesus’ arms encircle them,  With milk and honey fed:— Such is the Church, whose altar-gates  Stand ever open, when The board is furnished where He waits  To feast the hearts of men.
A Babe He came one heart to bless  (It is His cradle still), And evermore her blessedness  Is theirs who do His will; A Child He trod the Temple-floor,  By Mary Mother led; By children’s voices evermore  His praise is perfected.
’Forbid them not,’ He said of old:  The words so stern and sweet Still make believing mothers bold  To gather at His Feet,
And bring their babes; their hearts discern  (And oh, that others would!) How mother-like His Heart must yearn  Who made their motherhood.
A happy Home where children pray,  With milk and honey fed, Whose altar-hearth burns bright alway,  Whose bread is richly spread:— Such is the Church; and sweet the song  Her little children sing, Of all who round His Altar throng  The dearest to our King.
Ballachulish : 1884.
# A Christmas Faggot/The Poet

THE POET.
The poet is the child of God,  Who with anointed eye Discerns a sacrament of love  In earth and sea and sky, And finds himself at love’s behest  Constrained to prophesy.
Love is of loveliness the root,  Love is of life the spring,
Love is the sole interpreter  Of every lovely thing: This is the burden of his song,  Well may the poet sing!
A joy-inspirèd song he sings  Because far off he hears A whisper silencing the storm,  A laughter through the tears, The music of eternity  Beyond the dying years.
His song is rapture, for he sees  God’s loveliness, and we,
When with his insight we are blest,  Shall share his ecstasy; Oh, come the day when all shall sing  As blithe a song as he!
Lord Christ, Thou art the King of Love,  Thou art the Poet true; The men who would Thy vision share  Must learn Thy works to do, All, all shall have the singing heart  Whose feet Thy steps pursue!
Pitz Ortler: 1882.
# A Christmas Faggot/The Victim

THE VICTIM.
For the Feast of the Circumcision : New Year's Day.
The sun methinks rose rosy-red On that great New Year's Day, When Blood was in the cradle shed Where Mary's Darling lay.
The lark, uprising with the sun, Was silent on the wing; The nightingale, when day was done, Forgot her song to sing.
​A holy silence reigned around, And hushed was every voice, When in the crib the Cross was found, The Infant-Victim's choice.
As moonbeam on a mountain-mere The Mother's face was white; Her eyes were stars, and every tear Gave lustre to their light.
Methinks a blushing moon looked down Upon that manger-bed, And wove a mystic glory-crown Around the Sleeper's head.
​The silence issues in a song, It rises and it swells; E'en than the lark's more blithe and strong, Sweeter than Philomel's, His Church's anthem loud and long The Victim's triumph tells.