pnugues/EB7 huggingface dataset:
VAIRY, in Heraldry, expresses a coat, or the bearings of a coat, when charged or chequered with vairs.
VALANGIN, a market town, the capital of a county of the same name in the canton of Neufchâtel, in Switzerland. It stands on a narrow pass between mountains, on the river Seyon. It is the seat of a court of justice over a large district, with three towns in it, and it contains 5640 inhabitants. Near to it is a very large cotton manufactory. Lat. 47.0.42. Long. 6. 48. E.
VALDEPENNAS, a town of Spain, in the province of La Mancha and the partido of Ciudad Real, of which partido it is the capital. It is surrounded with walls, is well built, having a college, three churches, nine monasteries and five hospitals, with about 9000 inhabitants. It has some manufactures of gloves and woollen goods, and some tanneries, [7:21:545] and is celebrated for the wine which bears its name. In taste and colour it resembles the best of the Burgandy wine. In former times, a portion of it was always engaged for the table of the king; but very little of it finds its way to other countries, from the want of casks to contain it; and from being conveyed in goats’ skins it acquires a disagreeable flavour. Good wheat is produced in the neighbourhood. The town is about eighty miles south-east from Toledo, and one hundred and ten south of Madrid.
VALENCE, an arrondissement in the department of the Drome, in the south-east of France. It is thirty-five and a-half square miles in extent, is divided into ten cantons, distributed into 101 communes, and in 1836 contained 138,546 inhabitants. The capital of the same name stands on the left bank of the Rhone, is surrounded with walls, and has an ancient castle, in which pope Pius the sixth died in 1799∙ In 1836 it contained 10,967 inhabitants. They carry on cotton manufactories on a large scale, and make [7:21:548]gloves and silk hoes, and trade extensively in wine. Lat. 44. 55. 59. Long. 4. 47. 20. W.
VALENCIENNES, a strongly fortified city of France, in the department of the North, and the arrondissement of Douay. It stands on the river Scheldt, where the Rhonelle falls into that stream. It has a powerful citadel and deep trenches. After a brave defence. It was captured by the duke of York in 1793. It is a place of great manufacturing industry. The city is ill built, with narrow and crooked streets, and in 1836 contained 18,953 inhabitants. Lat. 50. 21. Long. 3. 25. E.
VALENTINIANS, a sect of Christian heretics, who sprung up in the second century, and were so called from their leader Valentinus. The Valentinians were only a branch of the Gnostics, who realised or personified the Platonic ideas concerning the Deity, whom they called Pleroma or Plenitude.
VALERIUS FLACCUS, Caius. See Flaccus.
VALERIUS MAXIMUS, a Latin writer of the age of Tiberius. His praenomen is by some supposed to have been Publius, by others Marcus. We learn from different passages of his own work, that he served in Asia with Sextus Pompeius, and returned to Rome after the death of Sejanus, or towards the end of the reign of Tiberius. This S. Pompeius was consul during the year when Augustus died. The work of Valerius, “Dictorum Factorumque memorabilium libri novem,” he inscribed to the successor of that emperor. It is valuable, not from any peculiar elegance of diction, but for its copious and variegated collection of ancient anecdotes of public and private life. According to the opinion of some critics, his composition has not descended to our times in its original form, but as it was reduced to an epitome, either by Julius Paris, or by Januarius Nepotianus. It is however far from being certain that his work was remodelled. See Vossius de Historicis Latinis, p. 123, and Fabricii Bibliotheca Latina, tom. ii. p. 50. edit. Ernesti.

The earliest edition of Valerius Maximus is supposed to have been printed at Strasburg by Mentelin. It is a folio volume without date, but conjectured to be at least as early as the year 1470. An edition which appeared soon after this period, has very frequently been described as the first. It was printed by P. Schoeffer de Gernshem, Mogunt. 1471, fol. And the same year produced an edition by V. de Spira, Venet. 1471, fol. After some intermediate editions, other two proceeded from the press of Aldus, Venet. 1502,1514, 8vo. Many editions afterwards appeared, several with annotations by Pighius, and a few with brief notes by Lipsius. Among the early impressions, we may specify that which contains the annotations of Pighius and Colerus, Francof. 1627, 8vo. A very elaborate and valuable edition, accompanied with a great body of notes, was at length published by Torrenius, Leidae, 1726, 4to. Several other editions have more recently appeared; and among these we may venture to recommend that of Kapp. Lipsiae, 1782, 8vo.
VALERY, St, a sea-port of France, in the department of the Lower Seine, and the arrondissement of Yvetot. On the English channel it has a good tide-harbour, from which the herring and other fisheries are extensively carried on, and where many ships are built. Lat. 49. 52. 12. Long. 4. 35. 20. The inhabitants in 1836 amounted to 5328.
VALET, a French term, used as a common name for domestic men-servants.
VALETTA, La, the capital of the island of Malta, is situated on the east side of the island, in 14° 30' E. long., [7:21:549]and 36° 53' N. lat. It was founded in 1566 by the celebrated grandmaster of the same name, and received munificent contributions from the pope, and from the kings of Spain, France, and Portugal, and it is now one of the finest towns in Europe. It consists of five parts, La Valetta or Citta Nuova, Citta Vittoriosa, Senleya or the isle of St. Michael, Barmola, and Cottonera. The situation of the town is beautiful, the streets are regular, and well paved with lava. The public buildings and private houses are of a very superior order; they are built of stone, with flat or terraced roofs. Water is supplied by means of an aqueduct seventeen thousand yards long, conveying fifty-eight gallons per minute. The city contains above twenty churches, great and small, besides the cathedral. The principal edifices are the cathedral, the palace of the grandmasters, the lodges of the different languages, the conservatory, the university, the treasury, the palace of justice, the hospital, the Monte di Pieta, the barracks, the theatre, and the exchange. These buildings are distinguished by the elegance and chasteness of their architecture. The public library contains about 100,000 volumes, and there is also an extensive museum. The total population of the island in 1836, including the troops, amounted to 106,614, of which about 40,000 resided in the capital.
VALLADOLID, one of the provinces into which the kingdom of Leon in Spain is divided. It extends over 271 square leagues, and has a population of 187,390 souls. It is situated in a country destitute of trees, except an occasional mixture of fir woods in some of the more sandy soils. From being thus denuded of trees. It appears more barren than it in reality is; for it produces good crops of corn, especially of wheat, when the summer is moist, and on all those spots where either natural or artificial irrigation is practised; but like all the plains of Castile and Leon. It suffers most severely in dry seasons. The canal of Castile runs through a portion of this department, and as it is designed for irrigation, as well as for navigation. It is very beneficial as far as it extends; and if ever it should be completed, so as to unite the river Santander with the Ebro and the Douro. It will be of incalculable advantage to the whole of Valladolid.

Valladolid, a city of Spain in the province of Leon, and the capital of a district of the same name. It is situated on a plain at the spot where the rivers Pisuerga and Esquiva form a junction; and the waters of the latter, divided into two branches, pass through a part of the city. The country around it is not productive, but might be made highly fertile by a small expense in irrigation. The city is large, and contains a population of about 30,000 souls. The streets are narrow and crooked, and exhibit signs of decay, but the principal square is very magnificent, and has many remains of that ancient grandeur which belonged to it when this place was a royal residence, and the palace, now hastening to ruin, was occupied by the court of Philip the Third. The convent of the Dominicans is a fine Gothic pile, and some other ecclesiastical edifices are both large and venerable; but the university, which was once flourishing, is hastening to decay, and has very few students, and these are constantly diminishing in number. Valladolid is situated in Lat. 41. 42.
VALOGNES, an arrondisement of the department of Manche in France. It extends over 406 square miles, and comprehends seven cantons, which are divided into 118 communes, with 95,950 inhabitants in 1836. The capital is the city of the same name, nine miles from the sea, on the banks of the river Werderet. It is a place of manufacturing industry, in which cloths called draps de Valognes, are extensively made. In 1836 it contained 1050 houses, and 6555 inhabitants. Near to it are the remains of an ancient city and an amphitheatre. Lat. 49. 30. 26. Long. 1. 33. 45. W.
VALLEGGIO, a city of Italy, in the delegation of Verona, and under the Austrian government of Milan. It stands on the river Mincio, and contains 5350 inhabitants, chiefly employed in the culture of silk. Near to it is Borghetto, where, in 1796, the Austrian army was defeated by Bonaparte.
VALVE, in Hydraulics, Pneumatics, &c. is a kind of lid or cover of a tube or vessel, so contrived as to open one way, but which, the more forcibly it is pressed the other way, the closer it shuts the aperture; so that it either admits the entrance of a fluid into the tube or vessel, and prevents its return; or admits its escape, and prevents its reentrance.
VANDSHELLING ISLANDS, a cluster of small islands on the south coast of New Guinea. Long. 136. 15. E. Lat 3. 32. S.
VANE, a thin slip of bunting hung to the mast-head, or some other conspicuous place in the ship, to show the direction of the wind. It is commonly sewed upon a wooden frame called the stock, which contains two holes for slipping over the spindle, upon which it turns about as the wind changes.
VANNES, an arrondissement in the department of Morbihan in France, extending over 638 square miles, comprehending eleven cantons, divided into seven communes, and containing a population of 125,898 in 1836. The capital is the city of the same name, which is connected with the gulf of Morbihan by a canal about two and a half miles in length. It is well fortified, is the seat of a bishop, has a cathedral and other three churches, 1850 houses, and 11,623 inhabitants in 1836. The chief trade is in corn, butter, and honey; and a fishery for anchovies affords occupation to many of the people. Lat. 47. 39∙ 14. Long. 2. 52. 16. W.
VARDOOSETTAH, a town of Hindustan, in the province of Tinnevelly, twenty-three miles S.S.W. from Madura. Long. 78. 11. E. Lat. 9. 36. N.
VARNA, a city of Turkey in Europe in the province of Silistra. It stands on the Black sea, at the mouth of the river of the same name. It is strongly fortified, and considered as one of the most important defences o∙' the southern division of Turkey in Europe. The obstinate defence of it, in the late war with Russia, shows both its strength and its consequence. The harbour is good, and is the only one [7:21:561]belonging to Turkey on that side of the Black sea. It is the seat of a Greek bishop, under whom are two churches. There are twelve mosques, 4000 houses, and about 20,000 inhabitants, among whom are a few Franks, and many Armenians, Greeks, and Jews. Varna has considerable shipping and fisheries, and much trade in corn, butter, cheese, and wine. Lat. 43. 17. 30. Long. 27.45. E.
VARPA, an island near the north-east coast of Sumatra, about thirty miles in circumference. Long. 103. 25. E. Lat. 0. 36. S.
VARRO ATACINUS, Publius Terentius, a Latin poet, was born in the province of Narbonne in the year 82 before the Christian era. According to Jerom, he derived his cognomen from a village named Atace; but as we discover no other trace of such a village, the account of Porphyrion, that he derived it from the river Atace, appears more probable. His name indicates a Roman origin. Jerom likewise informs us that, at the age of thirty-five, he applied himself with great ardour to the study of Greek literature. Horace, Sat. i. 10. 46, alludes to him as an unsuccessful writer of satires:
Hoc erat, experto frustra Varrone Atacino
Atque qubusdam aliis, melius quod scribere possem,
Inventore minor.

Wüllner concludes, that of a living poet Horace would not have spoken in such terms. Adopting Bentley’s chronology, [7:21:564] according to which, the satire that contains this passage was written in the year 37 b. c ., he infers that Varro did not exceed the age of forty-five. The conjecture is not devoid of plausibility, but cannot be admitted as certain.

Varro Atacinus is extolled by several of the ancient writers. Velleius Paterculus classes him with Lucretius and Catullus. Quintilian mentions him as a poet who had acquired a name. He is likewise mentioned by Ovid, Propertius, and Statius.^[1. With respect to the allusion of Statius, see Vossius de Histories Latinis. p. 77. ] Virgil adopted several of his verses with little or no alteration. It is however to be regretted that, with the exception of a few fragments, all his works have perished. These fragments are to be found in various collections, and, among the rest, in Wernsdorfs “Poetae Latini Minores.” Altenburgi, 1788-99, 6 tom. 8vo. They are incorporated in Wüllner’s learned dissertation on the life und writings of the author.^[2. ‘ De P. Terentii Varronis Atacini Vita et Scriptis Commentario. Scripsit Dr. Franciscus Wüllner. Monastfrii, 1829, 4to. ] ' One of his works was a version of the Argonautica of Apollonius Rhodius; but from the fragments which remain. It does not appear to have been a close version. Another of his works, “Bellum Sequanicum," was an epic or historical poem in celebration of Caesar’s recent victories. A third was a metrical chorographia; of which Ruhnkenius supposes his Europa, quoted by Festus, to have formed a part.^[3. Ruhnkenii Epistula Critica, ii. μ. 286. Opuscuia, tom. ii. p. 605. ] The rest of his works, so far as they are enumerated, consisted of elegies, satires, and epigrams. (x.)
VARSHAH, a town in the Affghan territories, in the province of Lahore, thirty-eight miles east from the Indus. Long. 71. 40. E. Lat. 31. 47. N.
VASE, a term frequently used for ancient vessels dug from under ground, or otherwise found, and preserved in the cabinets of the curious. In architecture, the appellation vase is also given to those ornaments placed on corniches, fochles, or pedestals, representing the vessels of the ancients, particularly those used in sacrifice, as incense-pots, flowerpots, &c.
VASSAL, in our ancient customs, signified a tenant or feudatory; or person who vowed fidelity and homage to a lord, on account of some land, &c. held of him in fee; also a slave or servant, and especially a domestic of a prince. See Feudal System.
VATNA, or Fatsa, a small sea-port of Asia Minor, in the Black sea, at the end of a fine bay. It is now a poor village, with an old palace, and a large khan for the accommodation of merchants trading with the Crimea. It is ten miles south-east of Unieh.
VATTEL, Emmerich de, an eminent jurist, was the son of a protestant minister, and was born at Couret in the principality of Neuchâtel, in the month of April 1714. His academical studies he prosecuted at Basel and Geneva. During his early years, his favourite pursuit was philosophy; and having carefully examined the works of Leibnitz and Wolf, he exhibited a specimen of his talents for metaphysical investigation, by publishing a defence of Leibnitz’s system against Crousaz. It was printed in 1741; and in the course of the same year, he repaired to Berlin in the hope of obtaining some public employent from the king; but this hope was so long deferred, that in 1743 he proceeded to Dresden with similar views,' and experienced a very favourable reception from Count Bruhl. Some private affairs required his presence in his native country; but he returned to the court of Saxony in 1746, and obtained from the elector, Augustus the Third, the title of counsellor of embassy, accompanied with a pension. He was sent to Berne in the capacity of the elector’s minister to that republic; and as his diplomatic functions did not require constant re sidence, he passed some portion of his time with his own family. Much of his leisure was devoted to literature and jurisprudence. Among other works, he published “Mélanges de Littérature, de Morale, et de Politique,” and “Loisirs Philosophiques.” But his best efforts were directed to a more elaborate work, on which his reputation is chiefly founded. It appeared under the title of "Droit des Gens; ou, Principes de la Loi Naturelle appliqués à la Conduite et aux Affaires des Nations et des Souverains.” Neuchâtel, 1758, 2 tom. 4to. During the same year, having been recalled from Switzerland, he was employed in the cabinet of Dresden, and was soon afterwards honoured with the title of privy-counsellor. Although his constitution had originally been robust, his labours now became so intense as to exhaust his strength. Having tried the effects of relaxation and of his native air, he thought himself sufficiently recovered to resume his place in the cabinet. He accordingly returned to Dresden in 1766; but his renewed exertions soon produced a relapse, and he made another excursion to Neuchâtel, where he died on the 20th of December 1767, in the fifty-fourth year of his age. He left a son, who was recently a member of the council of that principality. The last of his literary labours was a work entitled, “Questions de Droit Naturel; ou, Observations sur le Traité du Droit de la Nature, par Wolf.” Vattel’s Droit des Gens continues to be studied and quoted as a book of authority. It has passed through many editions, and has been translated into various languages. An English translation was published in the year 1760.
VAUBAN, Sebastian le Prestre de, marshal of France, and the greatest engineer that country ever produced. was born in 1633. He displayed his knowledge of fortification in the course of many sieges, and his services were rewarded with the first military honours. He was made governor of Lisle in 1668, commissary-general of the fortifications of France in 1678, governor of the maritime parts of Flanders in 1689, and a marshal of France in 1703. He died in 1707, after having brought the arts of attacking and defending fortified places to a degree of perfection unknown before. His writings on these subjects are in great esteem.
VAUDOTS, or Valpenses. See Waldenses.
VAULT, in Architecture, an arched roof, so contrived that the stones which form it sustain each other. Vaults are on many occasions to be preferred to soffits or flat ceilings, as they give a greater height and elevation, and are besides more firm and durable.
VAVAO or Vavon, one of the Friendly islands, in the South Pacific ocean, seen by Perouse in 1787. It is nearly equal to the size of Tongataboo. Lat. of the western point 18. 34. S.
VAYPEN, a small town in the territories of the Cochin rajah, standing upon a narrow island of the same name, which extends along the coast thirteen miles, and is only one mile in breadth. Long. 76. 7. E. Lat. 9. 58. N.
VAZIRABAD, a town of the Seik territories, in the province of Lahore, situated on the cast side of the Chinaub river, forty-seven miles N.N.W. from the city of Lahore. Long. 73. 28. E. Lat. 32. 25. N.
VEDAS, the sacred books of the Hindus believed tn he revealed by God, and called immortal. They are considered as the fountain of all knowledge human and divine, and are four in number; of which we have the following account in the first volume of the Asiatic Researches. The Rigue-da consists of five sections; the Yajurveda of eighty-six; the Samaveda of a thousand; and the Atharvaveda of nine; with eleven hundred sac'hu's, or brunches in various divisions and subdivisions. The Vedas in truth are infinite; but have been long reduced to this number and order; [7:21:566] the principal part of them is that which explains the duties of man in a methodical arrangement; and in the fourth is a system of divine ordinances.

From these are reduced the four Upavedas, the first of which was delivered to mankind by Brahma, Indra, Dhanwantari, and five other deities; and it comprises the theory of disorders and medicines, with the practical methods of curing diseases. The second consists of music, invented for the purpose of raising the mind by devotion to the felicity of the Divine nature; the third treats of the fabrication and use of arms; and the fourth of sixty-four mechanical arts. Of however little value we may esteem the mechanical arts of the Hindus, and however despicable their theological system may really be, the Upaveda, which treats of diseases and the method of curing them, surely deserves to be studied by every European physician practising in India. There is indeed a great number of medical books in the Shanscrit language worthy of attention; for though the theories of their authors may be groundless and whimsical, they contain the names and descriptions of many Indian plants and minerals, with their uses, discovered by experience, in the cure of diseases.
VEERE, or Ter Veere, or by the English Campvere. This is a fortified town of the province of Brabant, and the kingdom of the Netherlands. It stands on the north side of the island of Walcheren, on a narrow channel near the mouth of the Scheldt, where two arms of that river meet. It has a fine arsenal, a handsome town-hall, and two churches. It was formerly the staple-town for the trade between Scotland and Holland; but its privileges, and much of its commerce, have been removed to Rotterdam. It has some large handsome dwelling-houses, but now not more than 1750 inhabitants.
VEGETIUS RENATUS, Flavius, a Latin writer, flourished towards the close of the fourth century. His treatise “De Re Militari,” he inscribed to the emperor Valentinian the Second, who was assassinated in the year 393. He appears to have been a man of rank. Raphael Volaterranus styles him “Comes Constantinopolitanus,” and some manuscripts of his own work describe him in a similar manner. In the older editions, his treatise is divided into four books; but Scriverius, on the authority of certain manuscripts, divided it into five. The authors whom Vegetius professes to follow are Cato, Celsus, Frontinus, and Paternus, together with Augustus, Trajan, and Hadrian, in their constitutions, or legal enactments. He has thus collected a valuable mass of materials; but Lipsius has remarked that he confounds the customs and practices of his own with those of former ages.

An edition of his work, supposed to be the first, appeared under the title of “Epitoma de Re Militari.” It is in folio, without place or date, but, according to conjecture, was printed at Utrecht about the year 1473. There is another undated edition in quarto, and a third in folio. After various intermediate editions appeared that of F. Modius, Colon. 1580, 8vo. It was followed by two editions containing the elaborate commentary of Stewechius, Antverp. 1585, 4to., Lugd. Bat. 1592, 8vo. His commentary, together with that of Modius, is to be found in the edition of Scriverius, Lugd. Bat. 1607, 4to. These three, like most of the editions, include Frontinus and other ancient writers on military affairs. The text of these authors, with the notes of Scriverius, was reprinted in 12mo. at the same place in 1633 and 1644. An edition of Vegetius, containing select notes of Stewechius and Scriverius, with those of the editor, and a French translation, was published by N. Schwebelius, Norimbergae, 1767, 4to. Another, containing the annotations of various critics, appeared long afterwards, Argent. 1806, 8vo. The work has been translated into several modern languages. There is an early English version by John Sadler, Lond. 1572, 4to. And a more recent translation was published by Lieutenant John Clarke, Lond. 1767, 8vo.