Chapter XI: Part 11

“Who that saw thee in battle, would believe that thou couldst die? Who
before thee has ever shown Uttawa the way into the fight? Thy feet
were like the wings of eagles; thine arm heavier than falling branches
from the pine, and thy voice like the Manitou when he speaks in the
clouds.”--James Fenimore Cooper, _The Last of the Mohicans_.

=Unborn Doctor= (_The_), of Moorfields. Not being born a doctor, he
called himself “The Un-born Doctor.”

=Uncle Larry=, genial man of the world, kindly in thought, and
sagacious in speech, who appears in _The Last Meeting_, _The Rival
Ghosts_ and other tales by Brander Matthews.

=Uncle Toby=, a captain who had been wounded at the siege of Namur,
and had been dismissed the service on half-pay. Most kind and
benevolent, modest, and simple-minded, but brave and firm in his own
opinions. His gallantry towards Widow Wadman, is exquisite for its
modesty and chivalry. Uncle Toby retains his military tastes and camp
habits to the last.--Sterne, _The Life and Opinions of Tristram
Shandy, Gentleman_ (1729).

But what shall I say to thee, thou quintessence of the milk of human
kindness, ... thou master of the best of corporals, ... thou high and
only final Christian gentleman, ... divine Uncle Toby?... He who
created thee was the wisest man since the days of Shakespeare
himself.--Leigh Hunt.

=Uncle Tom=, a negro slave, of unaffected piety, and most faithful in
the discharge of all his duties. His master, a humane man, becomes
embarrassed in his affairs, and sells him to a slave-dealer. After
passing through various hands, and suffering intolerable cruelties, he
dies.--Harriet Beecher Stowe, _Uncle Tom’s Cabin_ (1852).

⁂ The original of this character was the negro slave subsequently
ordained and called “the Rev. J. Henson.” He was in London, 1876,
1877, took part in several religious services, and was even presented
to her majesty, Queen Victoria.

=Undine= [_Oon-deen_], a water-sylph, who was in early childhood
changed for the young child of a fisherman living on a peninsula, near
an enchanted forest. One day Sir Huldbrand took shelter in the
fisherman’s hut, fell in love with Undine, and married her. Being thus
united to a man, the sylph received a soul. Not long after the wedding
Sir Huldbrand returned homeward, but stopped awhile in the city, which
lay on the other side of the forest, and met there Bertalda, a
beautiful but haughty lady, whom they invited to go with them to their
home, the Castle Ringstettin. For a time, the knight was troubled with
visions, but Undine had the mouth of a well closed up, and thus
prevented the water-sprites from getting into the castle. In time the
knight neglected his wife, and became attached to Bertalda, who was in
reality the changeling. One day, sailing on the Danube, the knight
rebuked Undine in his anger, and immediately she was snatched away by
sister sylphs to her water home. Not long after the knight proposed to
Bertalda, and the wedding day arrived. Bertalda requested her maid to
bring her some water from the well; so the cover was removed, Undine
rose from the upheaving water, went to the chamber of Sir Huldbrand,
kissed him, and he died. They buried him, and a silver stream bubbled
round his grave; it was Undine who thus embraced him, true in life,
and faithful in death.--De la Motte Fouqué, _Undine_ (1807).

⁂ This romance is founded on a tale by Theophrastus Paracelsus, in his
_Treatise on Elemental Sprites_.

=Ungrateful Guest= (_The_), a soldier in the army of Philip of
Macĕdon, who had been hospitably entertained by a villager. Being
asked by the king what he could give him in reward of his services,
the fellow requested he might have the farm and cottage of his late
host. Philip, disgusted at such baseness, had him branded with the
words, THE UNGRATEFUL GUEST.

=Unique= (_The_), Jean Paul Richter, whose romances are quite unique,
and belong to no school (1763-1825).

=Universal Doctor=, Alain de Lille (1114-1203).

⁂ Sometimes Thomas Aquinas is also called _Doctor Universālis_
(1224-1274).

=Unknown= (_The Great_), Sir Walter Scott, who published the Waverley
novels anonymously (1771-1832).

=Unlearned Parliament= (_The_). The parliament convened by Henry IV.,
at Coventry, in Warwickshire (1404), was so called because lawyers
were excluded from it.

=Unlucky Possessions=, the gold of Nibelungen and the gold of Tolosa,
Graysteel, Harmonia’s necklace, Sherborne, in Dorsetshire, etc.

=Unready= (_The_), Ethelred II. (*, 978-1016).

⁂ “Unready” does not mean “never ready or prepared,” but lacking
_rede_, _i.e._, “wisdom, judgment or kingcraft.”

=Unreason= (_The abbot of_), or FATHER HOWLEGLAS, one of the masquers
at Kennaquhair.--Sir W. Scott, _The Abbot_ (time, Elizabeth).

=Unwashed= (_The Great_), the common people. It was Burke who first
applied this term to the artizan class.

=Upholsterer= (_The_), a farce by Murphy (1758). Abraham Quidnunc,
upholsterer, in St. Martin’s-in-the-Fields, being crazed with
politics, so neglects his business for the affairs of Europe that he
becomes a bankrupt; but, at this crisis, his son, John, who had
married the widow of a rich planter, returns from the West Indies,
pays off his father’s debts, and places him in a position where he may
indulge his love for politics without hampering himself with business.

=Ura´nia=, sister of Astrophel (_Sir Philip Sidney_), is the countess
of Pembroke.

Urania, sister unto Astrophel,
In whose brave mind, as in a golden coffer,
All heavenly gifts and riches lockèd are,
More rich than pearls of Ind.
Spenser, _Colin Clout’s Come Home Again_ (1595).

_Urania_, daughter of the king of Sicily, who fell in love with Sir
Guy (eldest son of St. George, the patron saint of England).--R.
Johnson, _The Seven Champions, etc._, iii. 2 (1617).

=Ura´nian Venus=, _i.e._, “Celestial Venus,” the patroness of chaste
and pure love.

Venus _pandêmos_ or _popularis_ is the Venus of the animal passion
called “love.”

Venus _etaira_ or _amīca_ is the Venus of criminal sensuality.

The seal was Cupid bent above a scroll,
And o’er his head Uranian Venus hung
And raised the blinding bandage from his eyes.
Tennyson, _The Princess_, i. (1830).

=Urban= (_Sylvānus_), the hypothetical editor of _The Gentleman’s
Magazine_.

=Urbané=, hero of a religious story bearing the title of _Urbané and
His Friends_, by Elizabeth Payson Prentiss (1863).

=Urchin=, a hedgehog, a mischievous little fellow, a dwarf, an imp.

We’ll dress like urchins.
Shakespeare, _Merry Wives of Windsor_, act iv. sc. 4
(1596).

=Ureus=, the Egyptian snake, crowned with a mitre, and typical of
heaven.

=Urfried= (_Dame_), an old sibyl at Torquilstone Castle; _alias_
Ulrica, daughter of the late thane of Torquilstone.--Sir W. Scott,
_Ivanhoe_ (time, Richard I.).

=Urgan=, a human child stolen by the king of the fairies, and brought
up in elf-land. He was sent to lay on Lord Richard the “curse of the
sleepless eye,” for killing his wife’s brother. Then said the dwarf to
Alice Brand (the wife of Lord Richard), “if any woman will sign my
brow thrice with a cross, I shall resume my proper form.” Alice signed
him thrice, and Urgan became at once “the fairest knight in all
Scotland,” and Alice recognized in him her own brother, Ethert.--Sir
W. Scott, _Lady of the Lake_, iv. 12 (1810).

=Urganda=, a potent fairy in the _Amădis de Gaul_ and other romances
of the Carlovingian cycle.

This Urganda seemed to be aware of her own importance.--Smollett.

=Ur´gel=, one of Charlemagne’s paladins, famous for his enormous
strength.

=U´riel= (3 _syl._), or =Israfil=, the angel who is to sound the
resurrection trumpet.--_Al Korân._

_Uriel_, one of the seven great spirits, whose station was in the sun.
The word means “God’s light” (see _2 Esdras_ iv., v., x. 28).

The archangel Uriel, one of the seven
Who, in God’s presence, nearest to his throne,
Stand ready at command.
Milton, _Paradise Lost_, iii. 648, etc. (1665).

⁂ Longfellow calls him “the minister of Mars,” and says that he
inspires man with “fortitude to bear the brunt and suffering of
life.”--_The Golden Legend_, iii. (1851).

=U´rien=, the foster-father of Prince Madoc. He followed the prince to
his settlement in North America, south of the Missouri (twelfth
century).--Southey, _Madoc_ (1805).

=Urim=, in _Garth’s Dispensary_, is designed for Dr. Atterbury.

Urim was civil and not void of sense,
Had humor and courteous confidence, ...
Constant at feasts, and each decorum knew,
And soon as the dessert appeared, withdrew.
_The Dispensary_, i. (1699).

=Urra´ca=, sister of Sancho II. of Castile, and queen of
Zamōra.--_Poema del Cid Campeador_ (1128).

=Urre= (_Sir_), one of the knights of the Round Table. Being wounded,
the king and his chief knights tried on him the effect of “handling
the wounds” (_i.e._, touching them to heal them), but failed. At last,
Sir Launcelot was invited to try, and as he touched the wounds they
severally healed.--_Arthurian Romance_.

=Urrie= (_Sir John_), a parliamentary leader.--Sir W. Scott, _Legend
of Montrose_ (time, Charles I.).

=Ursa Major=, Calisto, daughter of Lycāon, violated by Jupiter, and
converted by Juno into a bear; whereupon the king of gods and man
placed her in the Zodiac as a constellation. The Great Bear is also
called “Hellicê.”

_Ursa Major._ Dr. Johnson was so called by Boswell’s father
(1709-1784).

My father’s opinion of Dr. Johnson may be conjectured from the name he
afterwards gave him, which was “Ursa Major;” but it is not true, as
has been reported, that it was in consequence of my saying that he was
a constellation of genius and literature.--Boswell (1791).

=Ursel= (_Zedekias_), the imprisoned rival of the Emperor Alexius
Comnēnus of Greece.--Sir W. Scott, _Count Robert of Paris_ (time,
Rufus).

=Ur´sula=, mother of Elsie, and wife of Gottlieb [_Got.leeb_], a
cottage farmer, of Bavaria.--Hartmann von der Aue, _Poor Henry_
(twelfth century); Longfellow _Golden Legend_ (1851).

_Ursula_, a gentlewoman, attending on Hero.--Shakespeare, _Much Ado
about Nothing_ (1600).

_Ursula_, a silly old duenna, vain of her saraband dancing; though not
fair yet fat and fully forty. Don Diego leaves Leonora under her
charge, but Leander soon finds that a little flattery and a few gold
pieces will put the dragon to sleep, and leave him free of the garden
of his Hesperidês.--I. Bickerstaff, _The Padlock_ (1768).

_Ursula_ (_Sister_), a disguise assumed at St. Bride’s, by the Lady
Margaret de Hautlieu.--Sir W. Scott, _Castle Dangerous_ (time, Henry
I.).

_Ursula_ (_Saint_), daughter of Dianotus, king of Cornwall (brother
and successor of Caradoc, king of Cornwall). She was asked in marriage
by Conan [Meriadoc] of Armorica, or Little Britain. Going to France
with her maidens, the princess was driven by adverse winds to Cologne,
where she and “her 11,000 virgins” were martyred by the Huns and Picts
(October 21, 237). Visitors to Cologne are still shown piles of skulls
and bones heaped in the wall, faced with glass, which the verger
asserts to be the relics of the martyred virgins; but, like Iphis,
they must have changed their sex since death for most undoubtedly many
of the bones are those of men and boys.--See Geoffrey, _British
History_, v. 15, 16.

A calendar in the Freisingen Codex notices them as “SS. XI. M.
VIRGINUM” _i.e._, “eleven holy virgin martyrs;” but, by making the “M”
into a Roman figure equal 1000, we have XIM=11,000; so iiic=300.

Ursula is the Swabian _ursul_ or _hörsel_ (“the moon”), and, if this
solution is accepted, then the “virgins who bore her company” are the
stars. Ursul is the Scandinavian Hulda.

Those who assert the legend to be based on a fact, have supplied the
following names as the most noted of the virgins, and, as there are
but eleven given, it favors the Freisingen Codex:--(1) Ursula, (2)
Sencia or Sentia, (3) Gregoria, (4) Pinnosa, (5) Mardia, (6) Saula,
(7) Brittola, (8) Saturnina, (9) Rabacia, Sabatia, or Sambatia, (10)
Saturia or Saturnia, and (11) Palladia.

In 1837 was celebrated with great splendor the sixteenth centenary
“jubilee of their passion.”

Bright Ursula the third, who undertook to guide
The eleven thousand maids to Little Britain sent,
By seas and bloody men devoured as they went;
Of which we find these four have been for saints preferred.
And with their leader still do live encalendered:
St. Agnes, Cor´dula, Odillia, Florence, which
With wondrous sumptuous shrines those ages did enrich
At Cullen.
Drayton, _Polyolbion_, xxiv. (1622).

=Ursus=, humane, tender-hearted pessimist, posing as a misogynist and
philanthropist. His favorite comrade is the tame wolf, _Homo_.--Victor
Hugo, _L’Homme qui rit_.

=Use of Pests.= David once said he could not image why a wise deity
should have created such things as spiders, idiots, and mosquitoes;
but his life showed they were all useful to him at any rate. Thus,
when he fled from Saul, a spider spun its web at the mouth of the
cave, and Saul, feeling assured that the fugitive could not have
entered the cave without breaking the web, passed on without further
search. Again, when he was taken captive before the king of Gath, he
feigned idiocy, and the king dismissed him, for he could not believe
such a driveller could be the great champion who had slain Goliath.
Once more, when he entered into the tent of Saul, as he was crawling
along, Abner, in his sleep, tossed his legs over him. David could not
stir, but a mosquito happened to bite the leg of the sleeper, and,
Abner shifting it, enabled David to effect his escape.--_The Talmud_.
(See VIRGIL’S GNAT.)

=Used Up=, an English version of _L’Homme Blasé_, of Felix Auguste
Duvert, in conjunction with Auguste Théodore de Lauzanne. Charles
Mathews made this dramatic trifle popular in England.--Boucicault,
_Used Up_ (1845).

=Useless Parliament= (_The_), the first parliament held in the reign
of Charles I. (June 18, 1625). It was adjourned to Oxford in August,
and dissolved twelve days afterwards.

=Usher= (_The House of_), a doomed family, the last scions of which
are twins--a brother and sister. The brother is the victim of
melancholia, the sister seems to die and is buried prematurely. She
bursts the coffin and appears in the door of her brother’s room. “For
a moment she remained trembling and reeling to and fro upon the
threshold--then, with a low, moaning cry, fell heavily inward upon the
person of her brother, and, in her violent and now final death
agonies, bore him to the floor a corpse, and a victim to the terrors
he had anticipated.”--Edgar Allan Poe, _Tales of the Grotesque and
Arabesque_ (1840).

=Usnach= or =Usna=. Conor, king of Ulster put to death by treachery,
the three sons of Usnach. This led to the desolating war against
Ulster, which terminated in the total destruction of Eman. This is one
of the three tragic stories of the ancient Irish. The other two are
_The Death of the Children of Touran_ and _The Death of the Children
of Lir_.

Avenging and bright falls the swift sword of Erin
On him who the brave sons of Usna betrayed!...
By the red cloud that hung over Conor’s dark dwelling
When Ulad’s three champions lay sleeping in gore ...
We swear to avenge them.
T. Moore, _Irish Melodies_ iv. (“Avenging and Bright ...”
1814).

=Uta=, queen of Burgundy, mother of Kriemhild and Günther.--_The
Nibelungen Lied_ (twelfth century).

=Utha=, the “white-bosomed daughter of Herman.” She dwelt “by Thano’s
stream,” and was beloved by Frothal. When Fingal was about to slay
Frothal, she interposed and saved his life.--Ossian, _Carric-Thura_.

=Uthal=, son of Larthmor, petty king of Berrathon (a Scandinavian
island). He dethroned his father, and, being very handsome, was
beloved by Nina-Tho´ma (daughter of a neighboring prince), who eloped
with him. Uthal proved inconstant, and, confining Nina-Thoma in a
desert island, fixed his affections on another. In the mean time
Ossian and Toscar arrived at Berrothan. A fight ensued, in which Uthal
was slain in single combat, and Larthmor restored to his throne.
Nina-Thoma was also released, but all her ill treatment could not
lessen her deep love, and when she heard of the death of Uthal she
languished and died.--Ossian, _Berrathon_.

=Uther= or UTER, pendragon or war-chief of the Britons. He married
Igerna, widow of Gorloïs, and was by her the father of Arthur and
Anne. This Arthur was the famous hero who instituted the knights of
the Round Table.--Geoffrey, _History of Britain_, viii. 20 (1142).

=Uthorno=, a bay of Denmark, into which Fingal was driven by stress of
weather. It was near the residence of Starno, king of Lochlin
(_Denmark_).--Ossian, _Cath-Loda_, i.

=Uto´pia=, a political romance by Sir Thomas More.

The word means “nowhere” (Greek, _ou-topos_). It is an imaginary
island, where everything is perfect--the laws, the politics, the
morals, the institutions, etc. The author, by contrast, shows the
evils of existing laws. Carlyle, in his _Sartor Resartus_, has a place
called “Weissnichtwo” [_Vice-neckt-vo_, “I know not where”]. The
Scotch “Kennaquhair” means the same thing (1524).

Adoam describes to Telemachus the country of Bétique (in Spain) as a
Utopia.--Fénelon, _Télémaque_, viii.

_Utopia_, the kingdom of Grangousier. “Parting from Me´damoth,
Pantag´ruel sailed with a northerly wind, and passed Me´dam, Gel´asem,
and the Fairy Isles; then keeping Uti to the left, and Uden to the
right, he ran into the port of Utopia, distant about 3½ leagues from
the city of the Amaurots.”

⁂ Parting from _Medamoth_ (“from no place”), he passed _Medam_
(“nowhere”), _Gelasem_ (“hidden land”), etc.; keeping to the left
_Uti_ (“nothing at all”) and to the right _Uden_ (“nothing”), he
entered the port of _Utopia_ (“no place”), distant 3½ leagues from
_Amauros_ (“the vanishing point”).--See _Maps for the Blind_,
published by Nemo and Co., of Weissnichtwo.

(These maps were engraved by Outis and Son, and are very rare.)

=Uzziel= [_Uz´.zeel_], the next in command to Gabriel. The word means
“God’s strength.”--Milton, _Paradise Lost_, iv. 782 (1665).

=Vadius=, a grave and heavy pedant.--Molière, _Les Femmes Savantes_
(1672).

⁂ The model of this character was Ménage, an ecclesiastic, noted for
his wit and learning. Vadius, although a caricature, was at once
recognized by Molière’s readers.

=Vafri´no=, Tancred’s squire, practiced in all disguises, and learned
in all the Eastern languages. He was sent as a spy to the Egyptian
camp. Tasso, _Jerusalem Delivered_ (1575).

=Vagabonds= (_The_).

“We are two travellers, Roger and I.
Roger’s my dog;--come here, you scamp!
Jump for the gentleman,--mind your eye!
Over the table--look out for the lamp!
The rogue is growing a little old;
Five years we’ve tramped through wind and weather,
And slept out-doors when nights were cold,
And ate and drank--and starved--together.”
* * * * * * * * * *
Trowbridge, _The Vagabonds_ (1869).

=Vagabond= (_The Bishop’s_), “Cracker,” who imposes in countless ways
upon the credulity and takes advantage of the humanity of a benevolent
man. In the end he saves the bishop’s life at the cost of his own,
and, as the good man offers to pray by his dying bed, tries to wave
his hand in the old airy style. “I reckon God a’mighty knows I’d be
the same old Demming ef I could get up, an’ I don’ mean to make no
purtenses. But mabbe it’ll cheer up th’ ole ’ooman a bit; so you
begin, an’ I’ll bring in an ‘Amen’ whenever it’s wanted.” When the
prayer ended there was no “Amen.” Demming was gone where prayer may
only faintly follow.--Octave Thanet, _Knitters in the Sun_ (1887).

=Vain´love=, a gay young man about town.--Congreve, _The Old Bachelor_
(1693).

=Valantia= (_Count_), betrothed to the Marchioness Merĭda, whom he
“loved to distraction till he found that she doted on him, and this
discovery cloyed his passion.” He is light, inconsiderate,
unprincipled and vain. For a time he intrigues with Amantis, “the
child of Nature,” but when Amantis marries the Marquis Almanza, the
count says to Merida she shall be his wife if she will promise not to
love him.--Mrs. Inchbald, _Child of Nature_. (See THENOT.)

=Valclusa= (_Vaucluse_), the famous retreat of Petrarch (father of
Italian poetry) and his mistress, Laura, a lady of Avignon.

At last the Muses rose ... from fair Valclusa’s bowers.
Akenside, _Pleasures of Imagination_, ii. (1744).

=Valdes= (2 _syl._) =and Cornelius=, friends of Dr. Faustus, who
instruct him in magic, and induce him to sell his soul, that he may
have a “spirit” to wait on him for twenty-four years.--C. Marlowe,
_Dr. Faustus_ (1589).

=Valence= (_Sir Aymer de_), lieutenant of Sir John de Walton, governor
of Douglas Castle.--Sir W. Scott, _Castle Dangerous_ (time, Henry I.).

=Valenti´na=, daughter of the conte di San Bris, governor of the
Louvre. She was betrothed to the conte di Nevers, but loved Raoul [di
Nangis], a Huguenot, by whom she was beloved in return. When Raoul was
offered her hand by the Princess Margheri´ta di Valois, the bride of
Henri le Bernais (_Henri IV._), he rejected it, out of jealousy; and
Valentina, out of pique, married Nevers. In the Bartholomew slaughter
which ensued, Nevers fell, and Valentina married her first love,
Raoul, but both were shot by a party of musketeers under the command
of her father, the conte di San Bris.--Meyerbeer, _Les Huguenots_
(1836).

=Valentine=, one of the “two gentlemen of Verona;” the other
“gentleman” was Protheus. Their two serving-men were Speed and Launce.
Valentine married Silvia, daughter of the duke of Milan, and Protheus
married Julia. The rival of Valentine was Thurio.--Shakespeare, _The
Two Gentlemen of Verona_ (1595).

_Valentine_, a gentleman in attendance on the duke of
Illyria.--Shakespeare, _Twelfth Night_ (1602).

_Valentine_ (3 _syl._), a gentleman just returned from his travels. In
love with Cellide (2 _syl._), but Cellide is in love with Francisco
(Valentine’s son).--Beaumont and Fletcher, _Mons. Thomas_ (a comedy,
before 1620).

_Valentine_ (3 _syl._), a gallant that will not be persuaded to keep
his estate.--Beaumont and Fletcher, _Wit without Money_ (1639).

_Valentine_, brother of Margaret. Maddened by the seduction of his
sister, he attacks Faust during a serenade, and is stabbed by
Mephistophelês. Valentine dies reproaching his sister,
Margaret.--Goethe, _Faust_ (1798).

_Valentine_ [LEGEND], eldest son of Sir Sampson Legend. He has a
_tendre_ for Angelica, an heiress, whom he eventually marries. To
prevent the signing away of his real property for the advance of £4000
in cash to clear his debts, he feigns to be mad for a time. Angelica
gets the bond, and tears it before it is duly signed.--Congreve, _Love
for Love_ (1695).

⁂ This was Betterton’s great part.

_Valentine_ (_Saint_), a Romish priest, who befriended the martyrs in
the persecution of Claudius II., and was, in consequence, arrested,
beaten with clubs, and finally beheaded (February 14, 270). Pope
Julius built a church in his honor, near Pontê Molê, which gave its
name to the gate _Porta St. Valentini_, now called “Porta del Popolo,”
and by the ancient Romans “Porta Flaminia.”

⁂ The 15th February was the festival of _Februta Juno_ (Juno, the
fructifyer), and the Roman Catholic clergy substituted St. Valentine
for the heathen goddess.

=Valentine and Orson=, twin sons of Bellisant and Alexander (emperor
of Constantinople). They were born in a forest near Orleans. While the
mother was gone to hunt for Orson, who had been carried off by a bear,
Valentine was carried off by King Pepin (his uncle). In due time
Valentine married Clerimond, the Green Knight’s sister.--_Valentine
and Orson_ (fifteenth century).

=Valentine Mortimer=, scatter-brained youth, who accepts against his
conscience ill-gotten possessions, and is forced by conscience to
renounce them, just before his early death.--Jean Ingelow, _Fated to
be Free_ (1875).

=Valentine and Violet=, two girls who are made the subject of the
curious social experiment described in _The Children of Gibeon_, by
Walter Besant (1890).

=Valentine de Grey= (_Sir_), an Englishman and knight of France. He
had “an ample span of forehead, full and liquid eyes, free nostrils,
crimson lips, well-bearded chin, and yet his wishes were innocent as
thought of babes.” Sir Valentine loved Hero, niece of Sir William
Sutton, and in the end married her.--S. Knowles, _Woman’s Wit, etc._
(1838).

=Valentin´ian= [=III.=], emperor of Rome (419, 425-455). During his
reign the empire was exposed to the invasions of the barbarians, and
was saved from ruin only by the military talents of Aët´ius, whom the
faithless emperor murdered. In the year following Valentinian was
himself “poisoned” by [Petrōnius] Maxĭmus, whose wife he had violated.
He was a feeble and contemptible prince, without even the merit of
brute courage. His wife’s name was Eudoxia.--Beaumont and Fletcher,
_Valentinian_ (1617).

=Valenti´no=, Margheri´ta’s brother, in the opera of _Faust e
Margherita_, by Gounod (1859).

_Valentino_, familiar name of Duke Cæsar Borgia. Daring, unscrupulous
noble, whose amours are as audacious as the measures he devises for
ridding himself of his rivals and enemies. His relationship to Pope
Alexander VI. gives him peculiar advantages for prosecuting his evil
designs. He is poisoned at a banquet, together with his father, who
dies. Valentino procures an antidote in time to save his life, but
remains an invalid for long. Recovering partially, he sets sail for
France, is seized by the Spaniards and imprisoned for two years in
Seville. Escaping, he takes service under the king of Navarre and is
killed in a skirmish with the soldiers of the constable of Lerina, at
the early age of thirty-one.--William Waldorf Astor, _Valentino, An
Historical Romance_ (1885).

=Valère= (2 _syl._), son of Anselme (2 _syl._), who turns out to be
Don Thomas d’Alburci, a nobleman of Naples. During an insurrection the
family was exiled and suffered shipwreck. Valère, being at the time
only seven years old, was picked up by a Spanish captain, who adopted
him, and with whom he lived for sixteen years, when he went to Paris
and fell in love with Elise, the daughter of Har´pagon, the miser.
Here also Anselme, after wandering about the world for ten years, had
settled down, and Harpagon wished him to marry Elise; but the truth
being made clear to him that Valère was his own son, and Elise in love
with him, matters were soon adjusted.--Molière, _L’Avare_ (1667).

_Valère_ (2 _syl._), the “gamester.” Angelica gives him a picture, and
enjoins him not to lose it on pain of forfeiting her hand. He loses
the picture in play, and Angelica, in disguise, is the winner of it.
After a time Valère is cured of his vice and happily united to
Angelica.--Mrs. Centlivre, _The Gamester_ (1709).

=Vale´ria=, sister of Valerius, and friend of Horatia.--Whitehead,
_The Roman Father_ (1741).

_Valeria_, a blue-stocking, who delights in vivisection, entomology,
women’s rights, and natural philosophy.--Mrs. Centlivre, _The Basset
Table_ (1706).

=Valerian=, husband of St. Cecilia. Cecilia told him she was beloved
by an angel, who constantly visited her; and Valerian requested to see
this visitant. Cecilia replied that he should do so, if he went to
Pope Urban to be baptized. This he did, and on returning home, the
angel gave him a crown of lilies, and to Cecilia, a crown of roses,
both from the garden of paradise. Valerian, being brought before the
Prefect Almachius for heresy, was executed.--Chaucer, _Canterbury
Tales_ (“The Second Nun’s Tale,” 1388).

=Vale´rio=, a noble young Neapolitan lord, husband of Evanthê (3
_syl._). This chaste young wife was parted from her husband by
Frederick, the licentious brother of Alphonso, king of Naples, who
tried in vain to seduce her, and then offered to make her any one’s
wife for a month, at the end of which time the libertine should suffer
death. No one would accept the offer, and ultimately the lady was
restored to her husband.--Beaumont and Fletcher, _A Wife for a Month_
(1624).

=Valerius=, the hero and title of a novel by J. G. Lockhart (1821).
Valerius is the son of a Roman commander, settled in Britain. After
the death of his father, he is summoned to Rome, to take possession of
an estate to which he is the heir. At the villa of Capĭto he meets
with Athanasia, a lady who unites the Roman grace with the elevation
of the Christian. Valerius becomes a Christian also, and brings
Athanasia to Britain. The display at the Flavian amphitheatre is
admirably described. A Christian prisoner is brought forward, either
to renounce his faith or die in the arena; of course the latter is his
lot.

This is one of the best Roman stories in the language.

_Valerius_, the brother of Valeria. He is in love with Horatia, but
Horatia is betrothed to Caius Curiatius.--Whitehead, _The Roman
Father_ (1741).

=Valiant= (_The_), Jean IV. of Brittany (1338, 1364-1399).

=Valiant-for-Truth=, a brave Christian, who fought three foes at once.
His sword was “a right Jerusalem blade,” so he prevailed, but was
wounded in the encounter. He joined Christiana’s party in their
journey to the Celestial City.--Bunyan, Pilgrim’s Progress, ii (1684).

=Valjean= (_Jean_), ex-convict, whose efforts at re-habilitation meet
with rebuff and misconstruction. The best qualities of a really noble
nature appear in his care for his adopted child, the daughter of poor
Fantine.--Victor Hugo, _Les Miserables_.

=Valkyrior= or _Valkyrs_, stern, beautiful maidens, who hover over
battle-fields to bear away to Valhalla the souls of slain heroes. They
also wait at table in the halls of Valhalla.--_Scandinavian
Mythology._

=Val´ladolid´= (_The doctor of_), Sangrado, who applied depletion for
every disease, and thought the best diet consisted of roast apples and
warm water.

I condemned a variety of dishes, and arguing like the doctor of
Valladolid, “Unhappy are those who require to be always on the watch,
for fear of overloading their stomachs!”--Lesage, _Gil Blas_, vii. 5
(1735).

=Valley of Humiliation=, the place where Christian encountered
Apollyon, and put him to flight.--Bunyan, _Pilgrim’s Progress_, i.
(1678).

=Valley of the Shadow of Death=, a “wilderness, a land of deserts, and
of pits, a land of drought, and of the shadow of death” (_Jer._ ii.
6). “The light there is darkness, and the way full of traps ... to
catch the unwary.” Christian had to pass through it, after his
encounter with Apollyon.--Bunyan, _Pilgrim’s Progress_, i. (1678).

Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear
no evil: for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort
me.--_Psalm_ xxiii. 4.

=Valunder=, the Vulcan of Scandinavian mythology, noted for a golden
arm-ring, on which was wrought all the heathen deities, with their
attributes. It was once stolen by Sotê, but being recovered by
Thorsten, became an heirloom, and of course descended to Frithjof, as
one of his three inheritances, the other two being the sword
Angurva´del, and the self-acting ship, _Ellīda_.--Tegnér, _Frithjof
Saga_, iii. (1825).

Farewell, and take in memory of our love
My arm-ring here, Valunder’s beauteous work,
With heavenly wonders graven on the gold.
viii.

=Valver´de= (3 _syl._), a Spaniard, in love with Elvi´ra. He is the
secretary of Pizarro, and at the end preserves the life of
Elvira.--Sheridan, _Pizarro_ (altered from Kotzebue, 1799).

=Vamen=, a dwarf, who asked Baly, the giant monarch of India, to
permit him to measure out three paces to build a hut upon. The kind
monarch smiled at the request, and bade the dwarf measure out what he
required. The first pace compassed the whole earth, the second the
whole heavens, and the third all pandalon or hell. Baly now saw that
the dwarf was no other than Vishnû, and he adored the present
deity.--_Hindû Mythology._

⁂ There is a Basque tale the exact counterpart of this.

=Vamp=, bookseller and publisher. His opinion of books was that the
get-up and binding were of more value than the matter. “Books are like
women; to strike, they must be well dressed. Fine feathers make fine
birds. A good paper, an elegant type, a handsome motto, and a catching
title, have driven many a dull treatise through three
editions.”--Foote, _The Author_ (1757).

=Van= (_The Spirit of the_), the fairy spirit of the Van Pools, in
Carmarthen. She married a young Welsh farmer, but told him that if he
struck her thrice, she would quit him forever. They went to a
christening, and she burst into tears, whereupon her husband struck
her as a marjoy; but she said, “I weep to see a child brought into
this vale of tears.” They next went to the child’s funeral, and she
laughed, whereupon her husband struck her again; but she said, “I
truly laugh to think what a joy it is to change this vale of tears for
that better land, where there is no more sorrow, but pleasures for
evermore.” Their next visit was to a wedding, where the bride was
young, and the man old, and she said aloud, “It is the devil’s
compact. The bride has sold herself for gold.” The farmer again struck
her, and bade her hold her peace; but she vanished away, and never
again returned.--_Welsh Mythology._

=Vanbeest Brown= (_Captain_) _alias_ Dawson, _alias_ Dudley, _alias_
Harry Bertram, son of Mr. Godfrey Bertram, laird of Ellangowan.

_Vanbeest Brown_, lieutenant of Dirk Hatteraick.--Sir W. Scott, _Guy
Mannering_ (time, George II.).

=Vanberg= (_Major_), in _Charles XII._, by J. R. Planché (1826).

=Vanda=, wife of Baldric. She is the spirit with the red hand, who
appears in the haunted chamber to the Lady Eveline Berenger, “the
betrothed.”--Sir W. Scott, _The Betrothed_ (time, Henry II.).

=Van´dunke= (2 _syl._), burgomaster of Bruges, a drunken merchant,
friendly to Gerrard, king of the beggars, and falsely considered to be
the father of Bertha. His wife’s name is Margaret. (Bertha is in
reality the daughter of the duke of Brabant.)--Beaumont and Fletcher,
_The Beggars’ Bush_ (1622).

=Vandyck= (_The English_), William Dobson, painter (1610-1647).

=Vandyck in Little=, Samuel Cooper. In his epitaph in old St. Pancras
Church he is called “the Apellês of his age” (1609-1672).

=Vandyck of France=, Hyacinth Rigaud y Ros (1659-1743).

=Vandyck of Sculpture=, Antoine Coysevox (1640-1720).

=Vane= (_Ellery_), a coquettish girl, who has method in her coquetry,
beguiles Ellery Vane to the loss of his heart by tying on her hat in
his presence.

“Ah! Ellery Vane, you little thought,
An hour ago, when you besought
This country lass to walk with you,
After the sun had dried the dew,
What perilous danger you’d be in
As she tied her bonnet under her chin!”
Nora Perry, _After the Ball and Other Poems_ (1875).

_Vane_ (_Henry_), a man who begins life as a flippant young fellow
with a French education; settles down into an astute money-maker;
falls in love seriously when he meant to flirt, and, finding that the
girl with whom he is enamored has played a sharper game than he, and
is engaged to another man, blows out his own brains.--Frederic Jesup
Stimson, _The Crime of Henry Vane_.

=Vanessa=, Miss Esther Vanhomrigh, a young lady who proposed marriage
to Dean Swift. The dean declined the proposal in a poetical trifle
called _Cadēnus and Vanessa_.

Essa, _i.e._, Esther, and Van, the pet form of Vanhomrigh; hence
Van-essa.

=Vanity=, the usher of Queen Lucifĕra.--Spenser, _Faëry Queen_, i. 4
(1590).

_Vanity_, a town through which Christian and Faithful had to pass on
their way to the Celestial City.

Almost five thousand years agone, there were pilgrims walking to the
Celestial City,... and Beëlzebub, Apollyon, and Legion ... perceived,
by the path that the pilgrims made, that their way to the city lay
through this town of Vanity.--Bunyan, _Pilgrim’s Progress_, i. (1678).

=Vanity Fair=, a fair established by Beëlzebub, Apollyon and Legion,
for the sale of earthly “vanities,” creature comforts, honors,
decorations and carnal delights. It was held in Vanity town, and
lasted all the year round. Christian and Faithful had to pass through
the fair, which they denounced, and were consequently arrested, beaten
and put into a cage. Next day, being taken before Justice Hate-good,
Faithful was condemned to be burnt alive.--Bunyan, _Pilgrim’s
Progress_, i. (1678).

⁂ A looking-glass is called Vanity Fair.

_Vanity Fair_ is the name of a periodical noted for its caricatures
signed “Ape,” and set on foot by Signor Pellegrini.

_Vanity Fair_, a novel by W. M. Thackeray (1848). Becky (Rebecca)
Sharp, the daughter of a poor painter, dashing, selfish, unprincipled,
and very clever, contrives to marry Rawdon Crawley, afterwards his
excellency Colonel Crawley, C.B., governor of Coventry Island. Rawdon
expected to have a large fortune left him by his aunt, Miss Crawley,
but was disinherited on account of his marriage with Becky, then a
poor governess. Becky contrives to live in splendor on “nothing a
year,” gets introduced at court, and is patronized by Lord Steyne,
earl of Gaunt; but, this intimacy giving birth to a great scandal,
Becky breaks up her establishment, and is reduced to the lowest
Bohemian life. Afterwards she becomes the “female companion” of Joseph
Sedley, a wealthy “collector,” of Boggley Wollah, in India. Having
insured his life and lost his money, he dies suddenly under very
suspicions circumstances, and Becky lives for a time in splendor on
the Continent. Subsequently she retires to Bath, where she assumes the
character of a pious, charitable Lady Bountiful, given to all good
works. The other part of the story is connected with Amelia Sedley,
daughter of a wealthy London stock-broker, who fails, and is reduced
to indigence. Captain George Osborne, the son of a London merchant,
marries Amelia, and old Osborne disinherits him. The young people live
for a time together, when George is killed in the battle of Waterloo.
Amelia is reduced to great poverty, but is befriended by Captain
Dobbin, who loves her to idolatry, and after many years of patience
and great devotion, she consents to marry him. Becky Sharp rises from
nothing to splendor, and then falls; Amelia falls from wealth to
indigence, and then rises.

=Vanhorne= (_Miss_), “an old woman with black eyes, a black wig,
shining false teeth, a Roman nose and a high color,” who munches
aromatic seeds coated with sugar, and tries to make or mar the
fortunes of everybody she knows. Lonely, crabbed and rich.--Constance
Fenimore Woolson, _Anne_ (1882).

=Van Ness= (_Aunt_), sentimental, worldly old woman, who succeeds in
marrying her niece, Constance Varley, to the man she does not want to
accept.--Julia Constance Fletcher, _Mirage_ (1878).

=Vanoc=, son of Merlin, one of the knights of the Round Table.

Young Vanoc, of the beardless face
(Fame spoke the youth of Merlin’s race),
O’erpowered, at Gyneth’s footstool bled,
His heart’s blood dyed her sandals red.
Sir W. Scott, _Bridal of Triermain_, ii. 25 (1813).

=Vantom= (_Mr._). Sir John Sinclair tells us that Mr. Vantom drank in
twenty-three years 36,688 bottles (_i.e._, 59 pipes) of wine.--_Code
of Health and Longevity_ (1807).

⁂ Between four and five bottles a day.

=Vanwelt= (_Ian_), the supposed suitor of Rose Flammock.--Sir W.
Scott, _The Betrothed_ (time, Henry II.).

=Vapians= (_The_), a people of Utopia, who passed the equinoctial of
Queūbus, “a torrid zone lying somewhere beyond three o’clock in the
morning.”

In sooth, thou wast in very gracious fooling last night, when thou
spokest ... of the Vapians passing the equinoctial of
Queubus.--Shakespeare, _Twelfth Night_, act ii. sc. 3 (1602).

=Vapid=, the chief character in _The Dramatist_, by F. Reynolds, and
said to be meant for the author himself. He goes to Bath “to pick up
characters.”

=Varbel=, “the lowly but faithful squire” of Floreski, a Polish count.
He is a quaint fellow, always hungry.--J. P. Kemble, _Lodoiska_
(1719).

=Varden= (_Gabriel_), locksmith, Clerkenwell; a round, red-faced,
sturdy yeoman, with a double chin, and a voice husky with good living,
good sleeping, good humor and good health. He was past the prime of
life, but his heart and spirits were in full vigor. During the Gordon
riots Gabriel refused to pick the lock of Newgate prison, though at
the imminent risk of his life.

_Mrs. Varden_ [_Martha_], the locksmith’s wife and mother of Dolly, a
woman of “uncertain temper” and a self-martyr. When too ill-disposed
to rise, especially from that domestic sickness, ill temper, Mrs.
Varden would order up “the little black teapot of strong mixed tea, a
couple of rounds of hot buttered toast, a dish of beef and ham cut
thin without skin, and the _Protestant Manual_ in two octavo volumes.
Whenever Mrs. Varden was most devout, she was always the most
ill-tempered.” When others were merry, Mrs. Varden was dull; and when
others were sad, Mrs. Varden was cheerful. She was, however, plump and
buxom, her handmaiden and “comforter” being Miss Miggs. Mrs. Varden
was cured of her folly by the Gordon riots, dismissed Miggs, and lived
more happily and cheerfully ever after.

_Dolly Varden_, the locksmith’s daughter; a pretty, laughing girl,
with a roguish face, lighted up by the loveliest pair of sparkling
eyes, the very impersonation of good humor and blooming beauty. She
married Joe Willet, and conducted with him the Maypole inn, as never
country inn was conducted before. They greatly prospered, and had a
large and happy family. Dolly dressed in the Watteau style; and modern
Watteau costume and hats were, in 1875-6, called “Dolly Vardens.”--C.
Dickens, _Barnaby Rudge_ (1841).

=Vari´na=, Miss Jane Waryng, to whom Dean Swift had a _penchant_ when
he was a young man. Varina is a Latinized form of “Waryng.”

=Varney= (_Richard_, afterwards _Sir Richard_), master of the horse to
the earl of Leicester.--Sir W. Scott, _Kenilworth_ (time, Elizabeth).

=Varro= (_The British_). Thomas Tusser, of Essex, is so called by
Warton (1515-1580).

=Vasa= (_Gustavus_), a drama, by H. Brooke (1730). Gustavus, having
effected his escape from Denmark, worked for a time as a common
laborer in the copper mines of Dalecarlia [_Dah´.le.karl´.ya_]; but
the tyranny of Christian II. of Denmark having driven the Dalecarlians
into revolt, Gustavus was chosen their leader. The revolters made
themselves masters of Stockholm; Christian abdicated; and Sweden
became an independent kingdom (sixteenth century).

=Vashti.= When the heart of the king [Ahasuerus] was merry with wine,
he commanded his chamberlains to bring Vashti, the queen, into the
banquet hall, to show the guests her beauty; but she refused to obey
the insulting order, and the king, being wroth, divorced
her.--_Esther_ i. 10, 19.

O Vashti, noble Vashti! Summoned out
She kept her state, and left the drunken king
To brawl at Shushan underneath the palms.
Tennyson, _The Princess_, iii. (1830).

=Vatel=, the cook who killed himself, because the lobster for his
turbot sauce did not arrive in time to be served up at the banquet at
Chantilly, given by the Prince de Condé to the king.

=Vath´ek=, the ninth caliph of the race of the Abassides, son of
Motassem, and grandson of Haroun-al-Raschid. When angry, “one of his
eyes became so terrible that whoever looked at it either swooned or
died.” Vathek was induced by a malignant genius to commit all sorts of
crimes. He abjured his faith, and bound himself to Eblis, under the
hope of obtaining the throne of the pre-Adamite sultans. This throne
eventually turned out to be a vast chamber in the abyss of Eblis,
where Vathek found himself a prisoner without hope. His wife was
Nouron´ihar, daughter of the Emir Fakreddin, and his mother’s name was
Catharis.--W. Beckford, _Vathek_ (1784).

=Vathek’s Draught=, a red-and-yellow mixture given him by an emissary
of Eblis, which instantaneously restored the exhausted body, and
filled it with unspeakable delight.--W. Beckford, _Vathek_ (1784).

=Vato=, the wind-spirit.

Even Zoroaster imagined there was an evil spirit called Vato, that
could excite violent storms of wind.--T. Rowe [_i.e._, Dr. Pegge],
_Gentleman’s Magazine_, January, 1763.

=Vaudeville= (_Father of The_), Oliver Basselin (fifteenth century).

=Vaughan=, the bogie of Bromyard exorcised by nine priests. Nine
candles were lighted in the ceremony, and all but one burnt out. The
priests consigned Nicholas Vaughan to the Red Sea; and casting the
remaining candle into the river Frome, threw a huge stone over it, and
forbade the bogie to leave the Red Sea till that candle re-appeared to
human sight. The stone is still called “Vaughan’s Stone.”

=Vaugirard= (_The deputies of_). The usher announced to Charles VIII.
of France, “The deputies of Vaugirard.” “How many?” asked the king.
“Only one, may it please your highness.”

=V. D. M. I. Æ.=, _Verbum Dei manet in æternum_ (“the Word of God
endureth for ever”). This was the inscription of the Lutheran bishops,
in the diet of Spires. Philip of Hessen said the initials stood for
_Verbum diaboli manet in episcopis_ (“the word of the devil abideth in
the [_Lutheran_] bishops”).

=Veal= (_Mrs._), an imaginary person, whom Defoe feigned to have
appeared, the day after her death, to Mrs. Bargrave, of Canterbury, on
September 8, 1705.

Defoe’s conduct in regard to the well-known imposture, Mrs. Veal’s
ghost, would justify us in believing him to be, like Gil Bias, “tant
soi peu fripon.”--_Encyc. Brit._, Art. “Romance.”

=Veal’s Apparition= (_Mrs._). It is said that Mrs. Veal, the day after
her death, appeared to Mrs. Bargrave, at Canterbury, September 8,
1705. This cock-and-bull story was affixed by Daniel Defoe to
Drelincourt’s book of _Consolations against the Fears of Death_, and
such is the matter-of-fact style of the narrative that most readers
thought the fiction was a fact.

=Vec´chio= (_Peter_), a teacher of music and Latin; reputed to be a
wizard.--Beaumont and Fletcher, _The Chances_ (1620).

=Veck= (_Toby_), nicknamed “Trotty;” a ticket-porter, who ran on
errands. One New Year’s Eve he ate tripe for dinner, and had a
nightmare, in which he fancied he had mounted up to the steeple of a
neighboring church, and that goblins issued out of the bells, giving
reality to his hopes and fears. He was roused from his sleep by the
sound of the bells ringing in the new year. (See MEG.)--C. Dickens,
_The Chimes_ (1844).

=Vedder= (_Jan_), a fisherman whose mistaken marriage leads to every
evil he does or suffers. One who would become a good man but for his
perverse, wrong-headed wife. He is desperately wounded in a quarrel,
and his condition, working upon all that is best in his wife, changes
her temper and behavior to him.--Amelia E. Barr, _Jan Vedder’s Wife_
(1885).

=Vegliantino= [_Val.yan.tee´no_], Orlando’s horse.--Ariosto, _Orlando
Furioso_ (1516). Also called Veillantif.

=Vehmgericht=, or THE HOLY VEHME, a secret tribunal of Westphalia, the
principal seat of which was in Dortmund. The members were called “Free
Judges.” It took cognizance of all crimes in the lawless period of the
Middle Ages, and those condemned by the tribunal were made away with
by some secret means, but no one knew by what hand. Being despatched,
the dead body was hung on a tree to advertise the fact and deter
others. The tribunal existed at the time of Charlemagne, but was at
its zenith of power in the twelfth century. Sir W. Scott has
introduced it in his _Anne of Geierstein_ (time, Edward IV.).

Was Rebecca guilty or not? The Vehmgericht of the servant’s hall
pronounced against her.--Thackeray, _Vanity Fair_, xliv. (1848).

=Vehmique Tribunal= (_The_), or the Secret Tribunal, or the court of
the Holy Vehme, said to have been founded by Charlemagne.--Sir W.
Scott, _Anne of Geierstein_ (time, Edward IV.).

=Veil of St. Agatha=, a miraculous veil belonging to St. Agatha, and
deposited in the church of the city of Catania, in Sicily, where the
saint suffered martyrdom. “It is a sure defence against the eruptions
of Mount Etna.” It is very true that the church itself was overwhelmed
with lava in 1693, and some 20,000 of the inhabitants perished; but
that was no fault of the veil, which would have prevented it if it
could. Happily, the veil was recovered, and is still believed in by
the people.

=Veilchen= (_Annette_), attendant of Anne of Geierstein.--Sir W.
Scott, _Anne of Geierstein_ (time, Edward IV.).

=Veiled Prophet of Khorassan= (_The_), Hakim ben Allah, surnamed
Mokanna, or “The Veiled,” founder of an Arabic sect, in the eighth
century. He wore a veil to conceal his face, which had been greatly
disfigured in battle. He gave out that he had been Adam, Noah,
Abraham, and Moses. When the Sultan Mahadi marched against him, he
poisoned all his followers at a banquet, and then threw himself into a
cask containing a burning acid, which entirely destroyed his body.

⁂Thomas Moore has made this the subject of a poetical tale, in his
_Lalla Rookh_ (“The Veiled Prophet of Khorassan,” 1817).

There, on that throne, ... sat the prophet-chief,
The great Mokanna. O’er his features hung
The veil, the silver veil, which he had flung
In mercy there, to hide from mortal sight
His dazzling brow, till man could bear its light.
* * * * * * * * *
“’Tis time these features were uncurtained,
This brow whose light--oh, rare celestial light!--
Hath been reserved to bless thy favored sight ...
Turn now and look; then wonder, if thou wilt,
That I should hate, should take revenge by guilt,
Upon the hand whose mischief or whose mirth
Sent me thus maimed and monstrous upon earth ...
Here--judge if hell, with all its power to damn,
Can add one curse to the foul thing I am!”
He raised the veil; the maid turned slowly round,
Looked at him, shrieked, and sunk upon the ground.
_The Veiled Prophet of Khorassan._

=Velasquez=, the Spanish governor of Portugal in 1640, when the
people, led by Don Juan, duke of Braganza, rose in rebellion, shook
off the Spanish yoke, and established the duke on the throne, under
the name and title of Juan or John IV. The same dynasty still
continues. Velasquez was torn to pieces by the mob. The duchess calls
him a

Discerning villain,
Subtle, insidious, false, and plausible;
He can with ease assume all outward forms ...
While with the lynx’s beam he penetrates
The deep reserve of every other breast.
R. Jephson, _Braganza_, ii. 2 (1785).

=Velinspeck=, a country manager, to whom Matthew Stuffy makes
application for the post of prompter.--Charles Mathews, _At Home_
(1818).

=Vellum=, in Addison’s comedy, _The Drummer_ (1715).

=Velvet= (_The Rev. Morphine_), a popular preacher, who feeds his
flock on _eau sucrée_ and wild honey. He assures his hearers that the
way to heaven might once be thorny and steep, but now “every hill is
brought low, every valley is filled up, the crooked ways are made
straight, and even in the valley of the shadow of death, they need
fear no evil, for One will be with them to support and comfort them.”

=Veneering= (_Mr._), a new man, “forty, wavy-haired, dark, tending to
corpulence, sly, mysterious, filmy; a kind of well-looking veiled
prophet, not prophesying.” He was a drug merchant of the firm of
Chicksey, Stobbles and Veneering. The two former were his quondam
masters, but their names had “become absorbed in Veneering, once their
traveller or commission agent.”

_Mrs. Veneering_, a new woman, “fair, aquiline-nosed and fingered, not
so much light hair as she might have, gorgeous in raiment and jewels,
enthusiastic, propitiatory, conscious that a corner of her husband’s
veil is over herself.”

Mr. and Mrs. Veneering were bran-new people, in a bran-new house, in a
bran-new quarter of London. Everything about the Veneerings was spick
and span new. All their furniture was new, all their friends were new,
all their servants were new, their plate was new, their carriage was
new, their harness was new, their horses were new, their pictures were
new, they themselves were new, they were as newly married as was
lawfully compatible with their having a bran-new baby.

In the Veneering establishment, from the hall chairs, with the new
coat of arms, to the grand pianoforte with the new action, and
upstairs again to the new fire-escape, all things were in a state of
high varnish and polish.--C. Dickens, _Our Mutual Friend_, ii. (1864).

=Veneerings of Society= (_The_), flashy, rich merchants, who delight
to overpower their guests with the splendor of their furniture, the
provisions of their tables and the jewels of their wives and
daughters.

=Venerable Bede= (_The_). Two accounts are given respecting the word
_venerable_ attached to the name of this “wise Saxon.” One is this:
When blind, he preached once to a heap of stones, thinking himself in
a church, and the stones were so affected by his eloquence that they
exclaimed, “Amen, venerable Bede!” This, of course, is based on the
verse, _Luke_ xix. 40.

The other is that his scholars, wishing to honor his name, wrote for
epitaph:

Hæc sunt in fossa,
Bedæ presbyteri ossa;

but an angel changed the second line into “Bedæ venerabilis ossa”
(672-735).

⁂The chair in which he sat is still preserved at Jarrow. Some years
ago a sailor used to show it, and always called it the chair of the
“Great Admiral Bede.”

=Venerable Doctor= (_The_), William de Champeaux (*-1121).

=Venerable Initiator= (_The_), William of Occam (1276-1347).

=Venetian Glass=, an antique goblet with a tragic history, bought in
Venice of a _vertu_ dealer, by John Manning, to whose remote ancestor
it had belonged. Manning goes into the army, is wounded at Gettysburg,
and nursed back to life by a beautiful woman. He marries her, and
falls into a lingering decline. One day the Venetian goblet arrives
from Italy, and his wife, in a freak, pours his medicine into it. In
passing it to her husband the glass drops, and is shivered, “as its
fellow had been shivered three centuries ago,” and more. She still
stared steadily before her; then her lips parted, and she said, “The
glass broke! The glass broke! then the tale is true!” Then, with one
hysterical shriek, she fell forward amid the fragments of the Venetian
goblet, unconscious thereafter of all things.--Brander Matthews,
_Venetian Glass_ (1884).

=Venery.= Sir Tristram was the inventor of the laws and terms of
venery. Hence a book of venery was called _A Book of Tristram_.

Of Sir Tristram came all the good terms of venery and of hunting; and
the sizes and measures of blowing of an horn. And of him we had first
all the terms of hawking; and which were beasts of chase and beasts of
venery, and which were vermin; and all the blasts that belong to all
manner of games. First to the uncoupling, to the seeking, to the
rechase, to the flight, to the death and to the strake; and many other
blasts and terms shall all manner of gentlemen have cause to the
world’s end to praise Sir Tristram, and to pray for his soul.--Sir T.
Malory, _History of Prince Arthur_, ii. 138 (1470).