Chapter XII: Part 12

=Venice Preserved=, a tragedy by T. Otway (1682). A conspiracy was
formed by Renault, a Frenchman, Elliot, an Englishman, Bedamar, Pierre
and others, to murder the Venetian senate. Jaffier was induced by his
friend, Pierre, to join the conspirators, and give his wife as hostage
of his good faith. As Renault most grossly insulted the lady, Jaffier
took her away, when she persuaded her husband to reveal the plot to
her father, Priuli, under the promise of a general amnesty. The senate
violated the promise made by Priuli, and commanded all the
conspirators except Jaffier to be broken on the wheel. Jaffier, to
save his friend, Pierre, from the torture, stabbed him, and then
himself. Belvidera went mad and died.

=Venner= (_Dudley_), sad and studious father of _Elsie Venner_, in O.
W. Holmes’s novel of that name (1863).

=Ventid´ius=, an Athenian imprisoned for debt. Timon paid his debt,
and set him free. Not long after, the father of Ventidius died,
leaving a large fortune, and the young man offered to refund the loan,
but Timon declined to take it, saying that the money was a free gift.
When Timon got into difficulties he applied to Ventidius for aid; but
Ventidius, like the rest, was “found base metal,” and “denied
him.”--Shakespeare, _Timon of Athens_ (1609).

_Ventidius_, the general of Marc Antony.

⁂ The master scene between Ventidius and Antony in this tragedy is
copied from _The Maid’s Tragedy_ (by Beaumont and Fletcher), Ventidius
being the “Melantius” of Beaumont and Fletcher’s drama.--Dryden, _All
for Love, or the World Well Lost_ (1678).

=Ventriloquist.= The best that ever lived was Brabant, the
engastrimisth of François I. of France.

=Venus= (_Paintings of_). VENUS ANADYOM´ENÊ, or Venus rising from the
sea and wringing her golden tresses, by Apellês. Apellês also put his
name to a “Sleeping Venus.” Tradition says that Campaspê (afterwards
his wife) was the model of his Venus.

THE RHODIAN VENUS, referred to by Campbell, in his _Pleasures of
Hope_, ii., is the Venus spoken of by Pliny, xxxv. 10, from which
Shakespeare has drawn his picture of Cleopatra in her barge (_Antony
and Cleopatra_, act ii. sc. 2). The Rhodian was Protog´enês.

When first the Rhodian’s mimic art arrayed
The queen of Beauty in her Cyprian shade,
The happy master mingled in his piece
Each look that charmed him in the fair of Greece ...
Love on the picture smiled. Expression poured
Her mingling spirit there, and Greece adored.
_Pleasures of Hope_, ii. (1799).

_Venus_ (_Statues of_). THE CNIDIAN VENUS, a nude statue, bought by
the CNIDIANS. By Praxitĕlês.

THE COAN VENUS, a draped statue, bought by the Coans. By Praxitelês.

THE VENUS DE’ MEDICI, a statue dug up in several pieces at Hadrian’s
villa, near Tiv´oli (seventeenth century), and placed for a time at
the Medici palace at Rome, whence its name. It was the work of
Cleom´enês, the Athenian. All one arm and part of the other were
restored by Bandinelli. In 1680 this statue was removed to the Uffizi
gallery at Florence. It was removed to Paris by Napoleon, but was
afterwards restored.

THE VENUS OF ARLES, with a mirror in the right hand and an apple in
the left. This statue is ancient, but the mirror and apple are by
Girardin.

THE VENUS OF MILO. The “Venus Victorious” is called the “Venus of
Milo,” because it was brought from the island of Milo, in the Ægēan
Sea, by Admiral Dumont d’Urville, in 1820. It is one of the _chefs
d’œuvre_ of antiquity, and is now in the Louvre of Paris.

THE PAULINE VENUS, by Canōva. Modelled from Pauline Bonaparte,
Princess Borghese.

I went by chance into the room of the Pauline Venus; my mouth will
taste bitter all day. How venial! how gaudy and vile she is with her
gilded upholstery! It is the most hateful thing that ever wasted
marble.--Ouida, _Ariadnê_, i. 1.

THE VENUS PANDĒMOS, the sensual and vulgar Venus (Greek, _pan-dêmos_,
for the vulgar or populace generally); as opposed to the “Uranian
Venus,” the beau-ideal of beauty and loveliness.

Amongst the deities from the upper chamber a mortal came, the light,
lewd woman, who had bared her charms to live for ever here in marble,
in counterfeit of the Venus Pandēmos.--Ouida, _Ariadnê_, i. 1.

GIBSON’S VENUS, slightly tinted, was shown in the International
Exhibition of 1862.

_Venus_, the highest throw with the four _tali_ or three _tesseræ_.
The best cast of the _tali_ (or four-sided dice) was four different
numbers; but the best cast of the _tesseræ_ (or ordinary dice) was
three sixes. The worst throw was called _canis_--three aces in
_tesseræ_ and four aces in _tali_.

_Venus_ (_The Isle of_), a paradise created by “Divine Love” for the
Lusian heroes. Here Uranian Venus gave Vasco de Gama the empire of the
sea. This isle is not far from the mountains of Imāus, whence the
Ganges and Indus derive their source.--Camoens, _Lusiad_, ix. (1572).

⁂Similar descriptions of paradise are: “the gardens of Alcinŏus”
(_Odyssey_, vii.); “the island of Circê” (_Odyssey_, x.); Virgil’s
“Elysium” (_Æneid_, vi.); “the island and palace of Alci´na” (_Orlando
Furioso_, vi., vii.); “the country of Logistilla” (_Orlando Furioso_,
x.); “Paradise,” visited by Astolpho (_Orlando Furioso_, xxxiv.); “the
island of Armi´da” (_Jerusalem Delivered_); “the bower of Acrasia”
(_Faëry Queen_); “the palace with its forty doors” (_Arabian Nights_,
“Third Calendar”), etc.

_Venus_ (_Ura´nian_), the impersonation of divine love; the presiding
deity of the Lusians.--Camoens, _Lusiad_ (1572).

=Venus and Adonis.= Adōnis, a most beautiful boy, was greatly beloved
by Venus and Proserpine. Jupiter decided that he should live four
months with one and four months with the other goddess, and the rest
of the year he might do what he liked. One day he was killed by a wild
boar during a chase, and Venus was so inconsolable at the loss that
the infernal gods allowed the boy to spend six months of the year with
Venus on the earth, but the other six he was to spend in hell. Of
course, this is an allegory of the sun, which is six months above and
six months below the equator.

⁂ Shakespeare has a poem called _Venus and Adonis_ (1593), in which
Adonis is made cold and passionless, but Venus ardent and sensual.

=Venus of Cleom´enes= (4 _syl._), now called the “Venus de’ Medici” or
“Venus de Medicis.”

=Venusberg=, the mountain of fatal delights. Here Tannhäuser tarried,
and when Pope Urban refused to grant him absolution, he returned
thither, to be never more seen.--_German Legend._

=Ver´done= (2 _syl._), nephew to Champernal, the husband of
Lami´ra.--Beaumont and Fletcher, _The Little French Lawyer_ (1647).

=Verdugo=, captain under the governor of Segovia.--Beaumont and
Fletcher, _The Pilgrim_ (1621).

=Vere= (_Mr. Richard_), laird of Ellieslaw, a Jacobite conspirator.

_Miss Isabella Vere_, the laird’s daughter. She marries young Patrick
Earnscliffe, laird of Earnscliffe.--Sir W. Scott, _The Black Dwarf_
(time, Anne).

_Vere_ (_Sir Arthur de_), son of the earl of Oxford. He first appears
under the assumed name of Arthur Philipson.--Sir W. Scott, _Anne of
Geierstein_ (time, Edward IV.).

=Verges= (2 _syl._), an old-fashioned constable and night-watch, noted
for his blundering simplicity.--Shakespeare, _Much Ado about Nothing_
(1600).

=Vergob´retus=, a dictator, selected by the druids, and possessed of
unlimited power, both in war and state, during times of great danger.

This temporary king or vergobretus, laid down his office at the end of
the war.--_Dissertation on the Era of Ossian._

=Verinder= (_Rachel_), pretty, strong-willed, imperious, warm-hearted
young Englishwoman, the legatee of a diamond of immense value. She
receives it upon her twenty-first birthday, wears it all the evening
and insists upon keeping it in her room that night. She sees from the
adjoining apartment, her lover, Franklin Blake, purloin the gem, and
hides the name of the thief, while discarding him.--Wilkie Collins,
_The Moonstone_.

=Verisopht= (_Lord Frederick_), weak and silly, but far less vicious
than his bear-leader, Sir Mulberry Hawk. He drawled in his speech, and
was altogether “very soft.” Ralph Nickleby introduced his niece, Kate,
to the young nobleman at a bachelor’s dinner-party, hoping to make of
the introduction a profitable investment, but Kate was far too modest
and virtuous to aid him in his scheme.--C. Dickens, _Nicholas
Nickleby_ (1838).

=Vernon= (_Diana_), niece of Sir Hildebrand Osbaldistone. She has
great beauty, sparkling talents, an excellent disposition, high birth,
and is an enthusiastic adherent of an exiled king. Diana Vernon
marries Frank Osbaldistone.

_Sir Frederick Vernon_, father of Diana, a political intriguer called
“his excellency the earl of Beauchamp.” He first appears as Father
Vaughan [_Vawn_].--Sir W. Scott, _Rob Roy_ (time, George I.).

_Vernon_ (_Elinor_), “a student, enthusiastic and devoted, and one of
rare attainments, both in character and degree.” She becomes an author
of note. Her betrothed, Walter Mayward, would wean her from devotion
to letters, and loses her thereby. Frederic St. Clair appreciates the
glory of her perfected womanhood, loves and marries her, and her
“poetry finds in his love its triumph, its crowning, its glorious
apotheosis.”--Grace Greenwood, _Heart Histories_ (1850).

=Ver´olame= (3 _syl._) or VERULAM, “a stately nymph” of Isis. Seeing
her stream besmeared with the blood of St. Alban, she prayed that it
might be diverted into another channel, and her prayer was granted.
The place where St. Alban was executed was at that time called
Holmhurst.--Robert of Gloucester. _Chronicle_ (in verse), 57
(thirteenth century).

⁂ A poetical account of this legend is also given by W. Browne in his
_Britannia’s Pastorals_, iv (1613).

=Veron´ica=, the maiden who handed her handkerchief to Jesus on His
way to Calvary. The “Man of Sorrows” wiped His face with it, returned
it to the maiden, and it ever after had a perfect likeness of the
Saviour photographed on it. The handkerchief and the maiden were both
called Veronica (_i.e._, _vera iconica_, “the true likeness”).

⁂ One of these handkerchiefs is preserved in St. Peter’s of Rome, and
another in Milan Cathedral.

=Verrina=, the republican who murders Fiesco.--Schiller, _Fiesco_
(1783).

=Versatile= (_Sir George_), a scholar, pleasing in manners,
warm-hearted, generous, with the seeds of virtue and the soul of
honor, but being deficient in stability, he takes his color, like the
chameleon, from the objects at hand. Thus, with Maria Delaval, he is
manly, frank, affectionate, and noble; with Lord Vibrate, hesitating,
undecided, and tossed with doubts; with Lady Vibrate, boisterously
gay, extravagant, and light-hearted. Sir George is betrothed to Maria
Delaval, but the death of his father delays the marriage. He travels,
and gives a fling to youthful indulgences. After a time, he meets
Maria Delaval by accident, his better nature prevails, and he offers
her his hand, his heart, his title, and his fortune.--Holcroft, _He’s
Much to Blame_ (1790).

=Vertaigne= (2 or 3 _syl._), a nobleman and judge, father of Lamīra
and Beaupré.--Beaumont and Fletcher, _The Little French Lawyer_
(1647).

=Vesey= (_Sir John_), a baronet, most worldly wise, and, being poor,
gives himself the nickname of “Stingy Jack,” that he may be thought
rich. Forthwith his £10,000 was exaggerated into £40,000. Sir John
wanted his daughter to marry Alfred Evelyn, but feeling very uncertain
about the stability of the young man’s money, shilly-shallied about
it; and in the mean time, Georgina married Sir Frederick Blount, and
Evelyn was left free to marry Clara Douglas, whom he greatly
loved.--Lord L. Bulwer Lytton, _Money_ (1840).

=Vestris=, called “The God of Dancing,” used to say, “Europe contains
only three truly great men--myself, Voltaire, and Frederick of
Prussia” (1729-1808).

=Vesuvian Bay:=

“My soul to-day
Is far away,
Sailing the Vesuvian Bay;
My wingéd boat,
A bird afloat,
Swims ’round the purple peaks remote.”

The English language does not contain a more exquisite bit of
word-painting than the poem embodying the above-quoted lines.--Thomas
Buchanan Read, _Drifting_ (1867).

=Veto= (_Monsieur and Madame_), Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette. The
king had the power of putting his _veto_ on any decree of the National
Assembly (1791), in consequence of which he was nicknamed “Capet
Veto.”

⁂ The name occurs in the celebrated song called _La Carmagnole_, which
was sung to a dance of the same name.

=Vetus=, in the _Times_ newspaper, is the _nom de plume_ of Edward
Sterling (1773-1847), “The Thunderer” (1812-13).

=Vexhalia=, wife of Osmond, an old Varangian guard.--Sir W. Scott,
_Count Robert of Paris_ (time, Rufus).

=Vholes= (1 _syl._), a lawyer who draws Richard Carstone into his
toils. He is always closely buttoned up, and speaks in a lifeless
manner, but is pre-eminently a “most respectable man.”--C. Dickens,
_Bleak House_ (1852).

=Vibrate= (_Lord_), a man who can never make up his mind to anything,
and, “like a man on double business bent, he stands in pause, which he
shall first begin, and both neglects.” Thus, he would say to his
valet, “Order the coachman at eleven. No; order him at one. Come back!
order him in ten minutes. Stay! don’t order him at all. Why don’t you
go and do as I bid you?” or, “Tell Harry to admit the doctor. No, not
just yet; in five minutes. I don’t know when. Was ever man so
tormented?” So with everything.

_Lady Vibrate_, wife of the above. Extravagant, contradictious, fond
of gaiety, hurry, noise, embarrassment, confusion, disorder, uproar,
and a whirl of excitement. She says to his lordship:

I am all gaiety and good humor; you are all turmoil and lamentation. I
sing, laugh, and welcome pleasure wherever I find it; you take your
lantern to look for misery, which the sun itself cannot discover. You
may think proper to be as miserable as Job; but don’t expect me to be
a Job’s wife.--Act. ii. 1.

_Lady Jane Vibrate_, daughter of Lord and Lady Vibrate. An amiable
young lady, attached to Delaval, whom she marries.--Holcroft, _He’s
Much to Blame_ (1790).

=Vicar of Bray= (_The_). Mr. Brome says the noted vicar was Simon
Alleyn, vicar of Bray, in Berkshire, for fifty years. In the reign of
Henry VIII. he was _catholic_ till the Reformation; in the reign of
Edward VI. he was =calvanist=; in the reign of Mary he was _papist_;
in the reign of Elizabeth he was _protestant_. No matter who was king,
he resolved to die the vicar of Bray.--D’Israeli, _Curiosities of
Literature_.

Another statement gives the name of Pendleton as the true vicar. He
was afterwards rector of St. Stephen’s, Walbrook (Edward VI. to
Elizabeth).

Hadyn says the vicar referred to in the song was Simon Symonds, who
lived in the Commonwealth, and continued vicar till the reign of
William and Mary. He was _independent_ in the protectorate,
_episcopalian_ under Charles II., _papist_ under James II., _moderate
protestant_ under William and Mary.

⁂ The song called _The Vicar of Bray_ was written in the reign of
George I., by Colonel Fuller, or an officer in Fuller’s regiment, and
does not refer to Alleyn, Pendleton, or Symonds, but to some real or
imaginary person, who was vicar of Bray, from Charles II. to George I.
The first verse begins: “In good King Charles’s golden days” I was a
zealous high-church*-man. Ver. 2: “When royal James obtained the
crown,” I found the Church of Rome would fit my constitution. Ver. 3:
“When William was our king declared,” I swore to him allegiance. Ver.
4: “When gracious Anne became our queen,” I became a tory. Ver. 5:
“When George, in pudding-time came o’er,” I became a whig. And “George
my lawful king shall be--until the times do alter.”

I have had a long chase after the vicar of Bray, on whom the proverb
... Mr. Fuller, in his _Worthies_ ... takes no notice of him.... I am
informed it is Simon Alleyn or Allen who was vicar of Bray about 1540,
and died, 1588.--_Brome to Rawlins_, June 14, 1735. (See _Letters from
the Bodleian_, II. i. 100.)

=Vicar of Wakefield= (_The_), Dr. Primrose, a simple-minded, pious
clergyman, with six children. He begins life with a good fortune, a
handsome house, and wealthy friends, but is reduced to utter poverty
without any fault of his own, and, being reduced like Job, like Job he
is restored. First, he loses his fortune through the rascality of the
merchant who held it. His next great sorrow was the elopement of his
eldest daughter, Olivia, with Squire Thornhill. His third was the
entire destruction by fire of his house, furniture and books, together
with the savings which he had laid by for his daughters’ marriage
portions. His fourth was being incarcerated in the county jail by
Squire Thornhill for rent, his wife and family being driven out of
house and home. His fifth was the announcement that his daughter,
Olivia, “was dead,” and that his daughter, Sophia, had been abducted.
His sixth was the imprisonment of his eldest son, George, for sending
a challenge to Squire Thornhill. His cup of sorrow was now full, and
comfort was at hand: (1) Olivia was not really dead, but was said to
be so in order to get the vicar to submit to the squire, and thus
obtain his release. (2) His daughter, Sophia, had been rescued by Mr.
Burchell (_Sir William Thornhill_), who asked her hand in marriage.
(3) His son, George, was liberated from prison, and married Miss
Wilmot, an heiress. (4) Olivia’s marriage to the squire, which was
said to have been informal, was shown to be legal and binding. (5) The
old vicar was released, re-established in his vicarage, and recovered
a part of his fortune.--Goldsmith, _The Vicar of Wakefield_ (1766).

⁂ This novel has been dramatized several times: In 1819 it was
performed in the Surrey Theatre; in 1823 it was turned into an opera;
in 1850 Tom Taylor dramatized it; in 1878 W. G. Wills converted it
into a drama of four acts, entitled _Olivia_.

The real interest of the story lies in the development of the
character of the amiable vicar, so rich in heavenly, so poor in
earthly wisdom; possessing little for himself, yet ready to make that
little less, whenever misery appeals to his compassion. With enough of
worldly vanity about him to show that he shares the weakness of our
nature; ready to be imposed upon by cosmogonies and fictitious bills
of exchange, and yet commanding, by the simple and serene dignity of
goodness, the respect even of the profligate.--_Encyc. Brit._, Art.
“Romance.”

=Victor Amade´us= (4 _syl._), king of Sardinia (1665, 1675-1732),
noted for his tortuous policy. He was fierce, audacious, unscrupulous
and selfish, profound in dissimulation, prolific in resources, and a
“breaker of vows both to God and man.” In 1730 he abdicated, but a few
months later wanted to regain the throne, which his son, Charles
Emmanuel, refused to resign. On again plotting to recover the crown,
he was arrested by D’Ormēa, the prime minister, and died.--R.
Browning, _King Victor and King Charles Emmanuel_.

=Victoria= (_Donna_), the young wife of Don Carlos. Don Carlos had
given to Donna Laura (a courtezan) the deeds of his wife’s estate; and
Victoria, to get them back, dressed in man’s apparel, assumed the name
of Florio, and made love to Laura. Having secured a footing, she
introduced Gasper as the rich uncle of Victoria, and Gasper persuaded
Laura that the deeds were wholly worthless, whereupon Laura tore them
to pieces. By this manœuvre the estate was saved, and Don Carlos
rescued from ruin.--Mrs. Cowley, _A Bold Stroke for a Husband_ (1782).

=Victorious= (_The_). Almanzor means “victorious.” The Caliph Almanzor
was the founder of Bagdad.

Thou, too, art fallen, Bagdad, city of peace!
Thou, too, hast had thy day!...
Thy founder The Victorious.
Southey, _Thalaba, the Destroyer_, v. 6 (1797).

=Victory= (_The_), Nelson’s ship.

At the head of the line goes the Victory,
With Nelson on the deck,
And on his breast the orders shine
Like the stars on a shattered wreck.
Lord Lytton, _Ode_, iii. 9 (1839).

=Vidar=, the god of wisdom, noted for his thick shoes, and not
unfrequently called “The god with the thick shoes.”--_Scandinavian
Mythology._

=Vienne= (_The archbishop of_), chancellor of Burgundy.--Sir W. Scott,
_Anne of Geierstein_ (time, Edward IV.).

=Vifell=, father of Viking, famous for being the possessor of
Angurva´del, the celebrated sword made in the East by dwarfs. Vifell
won it from Björn Blœtand, and killed with it the giant Iernhös,
whom he cleft from head to waist with a single stroke. Vifell left it
to Viking, Viking to Thorsten, and Thorsten to his son, Frithjof. The
hilt of the sword was gold, and the blade written with runes, which
were dull in times of peace, but in war glittered “red as the crest of
a cock when he fighteth.”--Tegnér, _Frithjof Saga_, iii. (1825).

=Villalpando= (_Gaspar Cardillos de_), a Spanish theologian,
controversialist and commentator (1505-1570).

“Truly,” replied the canon, “I am better acquainted with books of
chivalry than with Villalpando’s divinity.”--Cervantes, _Don Quixote_,
I. iv. 17 (1605).

=Ville´rius=, in Davenant’s _Siege of Rhodes_ (1656).

... pale with envy, Singleton foreswore
The lute and sword, which he in triumph bore,
And vowed he ne’er would act Villerius more.
Dryden, _MacFlecknoe_ (1682).

⁂ This was a favorite part of Singleton.

=Villers= (_Mr._), a gentleman who professed a supreme contempt for
women, and declared, if he ever married, he should prefer Widow Racket
to be his executioner.--Mrs. Cowley, _The Belle’s Stratagem_ (1780).

=Villiard=, a villain from whose hands Charles Belmont rescued
Fidelia.--E. Moore, _The Foundling_ (1748).

=Vincent= (_Jenkin_), or “Jin Vin,” one of old Ramsay’s apprentices,
in love with Margaret Ramsay.--Sir W. Scott, _Fortunes of Nigel_
(time, James I.).

=Vincent de la Rosa=, a boastful, vain, heartless adventurer, son of a
poor laborer, who had served in the Italian wars. Coming to the
village in which Leandra lived, he induced her to elope with him, and,
having spoiled her of her jewels, money and other valuables, deserted
her, and she was sent to a convent till the affair had blown over.

He wore a gay uniform, bedecked with glass buttons and steel
ornaments; to-day he dressed himself in one piece of finery, and
to-morrow in another. He would seat himself upon a bench under a large
poplar, and entertain the villagers with his travels and exploits,
assuring them there was not a country in the whole world he had not
seen, nor a battle in which he had not taken part. He had slain more
Moors than ever Tunis or Morocco produced; and as to duels, he had
fought more than ever Gante had, or Luna, Diego Garcia de Paredez, or
any other champion, always coming off victorious, and without losing
one drop of blood.--Cervantes, _Don Quixote_, I. iv. 20 (“The
Goat-herd’s Story,” 1605).

=Vincen´tio=, duke of Vienna. He delegates his office to Angelo, and
leaves Vienna for a time, under the pretence of going on a distant
journey; but, by assuming a monk’s hood, he observes, incognito, the
conduct of his different officers. Angelo tries to dishonor Isabella,
but the duke re-appears in due time and rescues her, while Angelo is
made to marry Mariana, to whom he was already betrothed.--Shakespeare,
_Measure for Measure_ (1603).

⁂ Mariana was Angelo’s wife by civil contract, or, as the duke says to
her, “He is thy husband by pre-contract,” though the Church had not
yet sanctified the union and blessed it. Still, the duke says that it
would be “no sin” in her to account herself his wife, and to perform
towards him the duties of a wife. Angelo’s neglect of her was “a civil
divorce,” which would have been a “sin” if the Church had sanctified
the union, but which, till then, was only a moral or civil offence.
Mariana also considered herself Angelo’s “wife,” and calls him “her
husband.” This is an interesting illustration of the “civil contract”
of matrimony long before “The Marriage Registration Act,” in 1837.

_Vincentio_, an old gentleman of Pisa, in Shakespeare’s comedy called
_The Taming of the Shrew_ (1593).

_Vincentio_, the troth-plight of Evadne, sister of the marquis of
Colonna. Being himself without guile, he is unsuspicious, and when
Ludovico, the traitor, tells him that Evadne is the king’s wanton, he
believes it and casts her off. This brings about a duel between him
and Evadne’s brother, in which Vincentio falls. He is not, however,
killed; and when the villainy of Ludovico is brought to light, he
re-appears and marries Evadne.--Sheil, _Evadne_, or _The Statue_
(1820).

_Vincentio_ (_Don_), a young man who was music mad, and said that the
_summum bonum_ of life is to get talked about. Like Queen Elizabeth,
he loved a “crash” in music, plenty of noise and fury. Olivia de
Zuniga disgusted him by maintaining the jew’s-harp to be the prince of
musical instruments.--Mrs. Cowley, _A Bold Stroke for a Husband_
(1782).

=Vi´ola=, sister of Sebastian; a young lady of Messaline. They were
twins, and so much alike that they could be distinguished only by
their dress. Viola and her brother were shipwrecked off the coast of
Illyria, Viola was brought to shore by the captain, but her brother
was left to shift for himself. Being a stranger in a strange land,
Viola dressed as a page, and, under the name of Cesario, entered the
service of Orsīno, duke of Illyria. The duke greatly liked his
beautiful page, and, when he discovered her true sex, married
her.--Skakespeare, _Twelfth Night_ (1602).

=Vi´ola and Hono´ra=, daughter of General Archas, “the loyal subject”
of the great-duke of Muscovia.--Beaumont and Fletcher, _The Loyal
Subject_ (1618).

=Violan´te= (4 _syl._), the supposed wife of Don Henrique (2 _syl._),
an uxorious Spanish nobleman.--Beaumont and Fletcher, _The Spanish
Curate_ (1622).

_Violante_, the betrothed of Don Alonzo, of Alcazar, but given in
marriage by King Sebastian to Henri´quez. This caused Alonzo to desert
and join the emperor of Barbary. As renegade, he took the name of
Dorax, and assumed the Moorish costume. In the war which followed, he
saved Sebastian’s life, was told that Henriquez had died in battle,
and that Violante, who never swerved from his love, being a young
widow, was free and willing to be his wife.--Dryden, _Don Sebastian_
(1690).

_Violante_, an attendant on the Princess Anna Comnēna, the
historian.--Sir W. Scott, _Count Robert of Paris_ (time, Rufus).

_Violante_, (4 _syl._), wife of Pietro (2 _syl._), and putative mother
of Pompilia. Violantê provided this suppositious child partly to
please old Pietro, and partly to cheat the rightful heirs.--R.
Browning, _The Ring and the Book_, ii.

_Violante_ (_Donna_), daughter of Don Pedro, a Portuguese nobleman,
who intends to make her a nun; but she falls in love with Don Felix,
the son of Don Lopez. Isabella (sister of Don Felix), in order to
escape a hateful marriage, takes refuge with Donna Violantê (4
_syl._), who “keeps the secret” close, even at the risk of losing her
sweetheart, for Felix discovers that a Colonel Briton calls at the
house, and supposes Violantê to be the object of his visits.
Ultimately the mystery is cleared up, and a double marriage takes
place.--Mrs. Centlivre, _The Wonder_ (1714).

Mrs. Yates (in the last act), with Garrick as “Don Felix,” was
admirable. Felix, thinking he has gone too far, applies himself to
soothe his Violantê. She turns from him and draws away her chair; he
follows, and she draws further away. At length, by his winning,
entreating, and cajoling, she is gradually induced to melt, and
finally makes it up with him. Her condescension ... was admirable; her
dignity was great and lofty, ... and when by degrees she laid aside
her frown, and her lips relaxed into a smile, ... nothing could be
more lovely and irresistible.... It laid the whole audience, as well
as the lover, at her feet.--William Goodwin.

=Violen´ta=, any young lady nonentity; one who contributes nothing to
the amusement or conversation of a party. Violenta is one of the
_dramatis personæ_ of Shakespeare’s _All’s Well that Ends Well_, but
she only enters once, and then she neither speaks nor is spoken to
(1598). (See ROGERO.)

_Violenta_, the fairy mother, who brought up the young princess, who
was metamorphosed into a white cat for refusing to marry Migonnet (a
hideously misshapen fairy).--Comtesse D’Aunoy, _Fairy Tales_ (“The
White Cat,” 1682).

=Violet=, the ward of Lady Arundel. She is in love with Norman, the
“sea-captain,” who turns out to be the son of Lady Arundel by her
first husband, and heir to the title and estates.--Lord Lytton, _The
Sea-Captain_ (1839).

_Violet_ (_Father_), a sobriquet of Napoleon I.; also called “Corporal
Violet” (1769, 1804-1815, died, 1821).

⁂ Violets were the flowers of the empire, and when, in 1879, the
ex-empress Eugénie was visited at Chislehurst by those who sympathized
with her in the death of her son, “the prince imperial,” they were
worn as symbols of attachment to the imperial family of France. The
name was given to Napoleon on his banishment to Elba (1815), and
implied that “he would return to France with the violets”.

=Violet-Crowned City= (_The_). Athens is so called by Aristophănês,
(ιοστέφανος) (see _Equites_, 1323 and 1329; and _Acharnians_, 637).
Macaulay refers to Athens as “the violet-crowned city.” Ion (_a
violet_) was a representative king of Athens, whose four sons gave
names to the four Athenian classes; and Greece, in Asia Minor, was
called Ionia. Athens was the city of “Ion crowned its king,” and hence
was the “Ion crowned” or King Ion’s city. Translating the word Ion
into English, Athens was the “Violet-crowned” or King Violet’s city.
Of course, the pun is the chief point, and was quite legitimate in
comedy.

Similarly, Paris is called the “city of lillies,” by a pun between
Louis and lys (_the flower-de-luce_), and France is _l’empire des lys_
or _l’empire des Louis_.

By a similar pun, London might be called “the noisy town,” from
_hlúd_, “noisy.”

=Violetta=, a Portuguese, married to Belfield, the elder brother, but
deserted by him. The faithless husband gets betrothed to Sophia
(daughter of Sir Benjamin Dove), who loves the younger brother. Both
Violetta and the younger brother are shipwrecked and cast on the coast
of Cornwall, in the vicinity of Squire Belfield’s estate; and Sophia
is informed that her “betrothed” is a married man. She is therefore
free from her betrothal, and marries the younger brother, the man of
her choice; while the elder brother takes back his wife, to whom he
becomes reconciled.--R. Cumberland, _The Brothers_ (1769).

=Violin= (_The Angel with the_). Rubens’s “Harmony” is an angel of the
male sex playing a bass-viol.

The angel with the violin,
Painted by Raphael, (?) he seemed.
Longfellow, _The Wayside Inn_ (1863).

=Violin-Makers= (_The best_): Gasparo di Salo (1560-1610); Nicholas
Amati (1596-1684); Antonio Stradivari (1670-1728); Joseph A. Guarneri
(1683-1745).

⁂ Of these, Stradivari was the best, and Nicholas Amati the next best.

The following are eminent, but not equal to the names given
above:--Joseph Steiner (1620-1667); Matthias Klotz (1650-1696). (See
Otto, _On the Violin_.)

=Vipont= (_Sir Ralph de_) a knight of St. John. He is one of the
knights challengers.--Sir W. Scott, _Ivanhoe_ (time, Richard I.).

=Virgil=, in the _Gesta Romanorum_, is represented as a mighty but
benevolent enchanter, and this is the character that Italian romances
give him.

Similarly, Sir Walter Scott is called “The Great Wizard of the North.”

_Virgil_, in Dantê, is the personification of human wisdom, Beatrice
of the wisdom which comes of faith, and St. Bernard of spiritual
wisdom. Virgil conducts Dantê through the Inferno and through
Purgatory too, till the seven P’s (_peccata_ “sins”) are obliterated
from his brow, when Beatrice becomes his guide. St. Bernard is his
guide through a part of Paradise. Virgil says to Dantê:

What _reason_ here discovers, _I_ have power
To show thee; that which lies beyond, expect
From Beatrice----_faith_ not reason’s task.
Dantê, _Purgatory_, xviii. (1308).

_Virgil._ The inscription on his tomb (said to have been written by
himself) was:

Mantua me genuit; Calabri rapuere; tenet nunc
Parthenope; cecini pascua, rura, duces.

In Mantua was I born; Calabria saw me die;
Of sheep, fields, wars I sung; and now in Naples lie.

_Virgil_ (_The Christian_), Giacomo Sannazaro (1458-1530).

Marco Girolamo Vida, author of _Christias_ (in six books), is also
called “The Christian Virgil” (1490-1566).

⁂ Aurelius Clemens Prudentius, of Spain, is called by Bentley “The
Virgil and Horace of Christians” (348-*).

=Virgil of our Dramatic Poets= (_The_). Ben Jonson is so called by
Dryden (1574-1637).

Shakespeare was the Homer or father of our dramatic poets; Jonson was
the Virgil, and pattern of elaborate writing. I admire rare Ben, but I
love Shakespeare.--Dryden.

=Virgil of the French Drama= (_The_). Jean Racine is so called by Sir
Walter Scott (1639-1699).

=Virgil’s Courtship.= Godfrey Gobilyve told Graunde Amoure that
Virgil, the poet, once made proposals to a lady of high rank in the
Roman court, who resolved to punish him for his presumption. She told
him that if he would appear on a given night before her window, he
should be drawn up in a basket. Accordingly he kept his appointment,
got into the basket, and, being drawn some twenty feet from the
ground, was left there dangling till noon the next day, the laugh and
butt of the court and city.--Stephen Hawes, _The Passe-tyme of
Plesure_, xxix. (1515).

=Virgil’s Gnat= (the _Culex_, ascribed to Virgil). A shepherd, having
fallen asleep in the open air, was on the point of becoming the prey
of a serpent, when a gnat stung him on the eyelid. The shepherd
crushed the gnat, but at the same time alarmed the serpent, which the
shepherd saw and beat to death. Next night the gnat appeared to the
shepherd in a dream, and reproached him for ingratitude, whereupon he
raised a monument in honor of his deliverer. Spenser has a free
translation of this story, which he calls _Virgil’s Gnat_ (1580). (See
USE OF PESTS.)

=Virgile du Rabut= (_Le_), “The Virgil of the Plane,” Adam Bellaut,
the joiner-poet, who died, 1662. He was pensioned by Richelieu,
patronized by the “Great Condé,” and praised by Pierre Corneille.

=Virgil´ia= is made by Shakespeare the _wife_ of Coriolanus, and
Volumnia his _mother_; but historically Volumnia was his wife, and
Vetu´ria his mother.--_Coriolanus_ (1610).

The old man’s merriment in Menenius; the lofty lady’s dignity in
Volumnia; the bridal modesty in Virgilia; the patrician and military
haughtiness in Coriolanus; the plebeian malignity and tribunitian
insolence in Brutus and Sicinius, make a very pleasing and interesting
variety.--Dr. Johnson, _On Coriolanus_.

=Virgil´ius=, Feargil, bishop of Saltzburg, an Irishman. He was
denounced as a heretic for asserting the existence of antipodês
(*-784). (See HERESY.)

⁂ Metz, in France, was so called in the Franco-Prussian war (1870-1).

=Virgin Martyr= (_The_), a tragedy by Philip Massinger (1622).

”

=Virgin Mary= (_The_), is addressed by the following titles:--“Empress
and Queen of Heaven;” “Empress and Queen of Angels;” “Empress and
Queen of the Earth;” “Lady of the Universe or of the World;” “Mistress
of the World;” “Patroness of all Men;” “Advocate for Sinners;”
“Mediatrix;” “Gate of Paradise;” “Mother of Mercies and of Divine
Grace;” “Goddess;” “The only Hope of Sinners,” etc., etc.

It is said that Peter Fullo, in 480, was the first to introduce
invocations to the Virgin.

=Virgin Modesty.= John Wilmot, earl of Rochester, was so called by
Charles II., because of his propensity to blushing (1647-1680).

=Virgin Queen= (_The_), Elizabeth (1533, 1558-1603).

=Virgin Unmasked= (_The_), a farce by H. Fielding. Goodwill had
acquired by trade £10,000, and resolved to give his daughter Lucy to
one of his relations, in order to keep the money in the family. He
sent for her bachelor relations, and told them his intention; they
were Blister (the apothecary), Coupee (the dancing-master), and Quaver
(the singing-master). They all preferred their professions to the
young lady, and while they were quarrelling about the superiority of
their respective callings, Lucy married Thomas, the footman. Old
Goodwill says, “I don’t know but that my daughter has made a better
choice than if she had married one of these booby relations.”

=Virginians= (_The_), a sequel to Henry Esmond. It gives the story of
Colonel Esmond’s twin grandsons, George and Harry Warrington, born and
brought up in Virginia. George joins Braddock’s expedition, and is
reported killed, Harry goes to England. George, escaping from Indian
captivity, joins his brother, whom everybody had supposed the head of
the family. Harry enters the army and George marries. One of the
characters introduced in the book is George Washington, whom the twins
believe to be in love with their widowed mother.--W. M. Thackeray,
_The Virginians_.

=Virgins= (_The Eleven Thousand_). Ursul or Hörsel in Swabia, like
Hulda in Scandinavia, means “the moon,” and her eleven thousand
virgins are the stars. The bones shown in Cologne, as those of the
eleven thousand virgins are those of males and females of all ages,
and were taken from an old Roman cemetery across which the wall of
Cologne ran (1106).

=Virginia=, a young Roman plebeian of great beauty, coveted by Appius
Claudius, one of the decemvirs, and claimed as his slave. Her father,
Virginius, being told of it, hastened to the forum, and arrived at the
moment when Virginia was about to be delivered up to Appius. He seized
a butcher’s knife, stabbed his daughter to the heart, rushed from the
forum, and raised a revolt.

This has been the subject of a host of tragedies. In _French_, by
Mairet (1628), by Leclerc (1645), by Campistron (1683), by La
Beaumelle (1760), by Chabanon (1769), by Laharpe (1786), by Leblanc du
Guillet (1786), by Guiraud (1827), by Latour St. Ybars (1845), etc. In
_Italian_, by Alfieri (1783). In _German_, by Gotthold Lessing
(eighteenth century). In _English_, by John Webster, entitled _Appius
and Virginia_ (1654); by Miss Brooke (1760); J. S. Knowles (1820),
_Virginius_.

It is one of Lord Macaulay’s lays (1842), supposed to be sung in the
forum on the day when Sextus and Licinius were elected tribunes for
the fifth time.

_Virginia_, the daughter of Mde. de la Tour. Madame was of a good
family in Normandy, but, having married beneath her social position,
was tabooed by her family. Her husband died before the birth of his
first child, and the widow went to live at Port Louis, in the
Mauritius, where Virginia was born. Their only neighbor was Margaret,
with her love-child, Paul, an infant. The two children grew up
together, and became strongly attached; but when Virginia was 15 years
old, her wealthy great-aunt adopted her and requested that she might
be sent immediately to France to finish her education. The aunt wanted
her to marry a French count, and as Virginia refused to do so,
disinherited her and sent her back to the Mauritius. When within a
cable’s length of the island, a hurricane dashed the ship to pieces,
and the corpse of Virginia was cast on the shore. Paul drooped, and
died within two months.--Bernardin de St. Pierre, _Paul and Virginia_
(1788).

⁂ In Cobb’s dramatic version of this story, Virginia’s mother is of
Spanish origin, and dies committing Virginia to the charge of
Dominique, a faithful old negro servant. The aunt is Donna Leonora de
Guzman, who sends Don Antonio de Guardes to bring Virginia to Spain,
and there to make her his bride. She is carried to the ship by force;
but scarcely is she set on board when a hurricane dashes the vessel to
pieces. Antonio is drowned, but Virginia is rescued by Alhambra, a
runaway slave, whom she has befriended. The drama ends with the
marriage between Virginia and Paul (1756-1818).

=Virginius=, father of the Roman Virginia, the title of a tragedy by
S. Knowles (1820). (For the tale, see VIRGINIA.)

Macready (1793-1873) made the part of “Virginius” in Knowles’s drama
so called, but the first to act it was John Cooper, in Glasgow (1820).

=Visin=, a Russian who had the power of blunting weapons by a look.
Starchat´erus, the Swede, when he went against him, covered his sword
with thin leather, and by this means obtained an easy victory.

=Vision of Judgment= (_The_), a poem in twelve parts, by Southey,
written in hexameter verse (1820). The laureate supposes that he has a
vision of George III., just dead, tried at the bar of heaven. Wilkes
is his chief accuser, and Washington his chief defender. Judgment is
given by acclamation in favor of the king, and in heaven he is
welcomed by Alfred, Richard Cœur de Lion, Edward III., Queen
Elizabeth, Charles I. and William III., Bede, Friar Bacon, Chaucer,
Spenser, the duke of Marlborough and Berkeley the sceptic, Hogarth,
Burke the infidel, Chatterton, who made away with himself, Canning,
Nelson and all the royal family who were then dead.

⁂ Of all the literary productions ever issued from the press, never
was one printed of worse taste than this. Byron wrote a quiz on it
called _The Vision of Judgment_, in 106 stanzas of eight lines each
(1820).

=Visines, De= (_The_). The uncle, an emigrant abbé who teaches French
in Philadelphia, to private pupils. One of these is Marguerite Howard,
with whom the nephew, Henri De Visines, speedily falls in love. The
girl, in skating, finds herself upon a floating cake of ice from which
she is rescued by Henri De Visines. A series of revelations brings
about the truth that Marguerite is of the De Visine blood, and in due
time she marries her newly-found cousin.--S. Weir Mitchell, _Hephzibah
Guinness_ (1880).

=Vita´lis=, the pseudonym of Eric Sjöberg, a Swedish poet. (Latin,
_vita lis_, “life is a strife.”)

=Viti´za= or =Witi´za=, king of the Visigoths, who put out the eyes of
Cordŏva, the father of Roderick. He was himself dethroned and blinded
by Roderick.--Southey, _Roderick, the Last of the Goths_ (1814).

=Vitruvius= (_The English_), Inigo Jones (1572-1652).

=Vivian=, brother of Maugis d’Agremont, and son of Duke Bevis of
Agremont. He was stolen in infancy by Tapinel, and sold to the wife of
Sorgalant.--_Roman de Maugis d’Agremont et de Vivian son Frère._

_Vivian_, son of Buovo (2 _syl._), of the house of Clarmont, and
brother of Aldiger and Malagigi.--Ariosto, _Orlando Furioso_ (1516).

=Viviane= (3 _syl._), daughter of Dyonas, a vavasour of high lineage,
and generally called the “Lady of the Lake.” Merlin, in his dotage,
fell in love with her, and she imprisoned him in the forest of
Brécéliande, in Brittany. Viviane induced Merlin to show her how a
person could be imprisoned by enchantment without walls, towers, or
chains, and after he had done so, she fondled him into a sleep under a
whitethorn laden with flowers. While thus he slept, she made a ring
with her wimple round the bush, and performed the other needful
ceremonies, whereupon he found himself enclosed in a prison stronger
than the strongest tower, and from that imprisonment was never again
released.--_Merlin_ (a romance).

⁂ See the next article.

=Viv´ien= or =Vivian=, the personification of shameless harlotry, or
the crowning result to be expected from the infidelity of Queen
Guin´evere. This wily wanton in Arthur’s court hated all the knights,
and tried without success to seduce “the blameless king.” With Merlin,
she succeeded better, for, being pestered with her importunity, he
told her the secret of his power, as Samson told Delilah the secret of
his strength. Having learnt this, Vivien enclosed the magician in a
hollow oak, where he was confined as one dead, “lost to life, and use,
and name, and fame.”--Tennyson, _Idylls of the King_ (“Vivien,”
1858-9). (See VIVIANE.)

⁂ In Malory’s _History of Prince Arthur_, i. 60, Nimue (? _Ninive_) is
the fée who inveigled Merlin out of his secret:

And so upon a time it happened that Merlin shewed to her [_Nimue_] in
a rock, whereas was a great wonder, and wrought by enchantment, which
went under a stone. So by her subtle craft and working, she made
Merlin to go under that stone, to let her wit of the marvels there;
but she wrought so there for him that he came never out, for all his
craft. And so she departed and left him there.

=Voadic´ia= or =Boadice´a=, queen of the British Icēni. Enraged
against the Romans, who had defiled her two daughters, she excited an
insurrection against them, and while Suetonius Paulīnus, the Roman
governor, was in Mona (_Anglesea_), she took Colchester and London,
and slew 70,000 Romans. Being at length defeated by Suetonius
Paulinus, she put an end to her life by poison (A.D. 61).

Cowper has an ode on _Boadicea_ (1790).

Brave Voadicĭa made with her resolvedest men
To Virolam [_St. Alban’s_], whose siege with fire and sword she plyed
Till levelled with the earth ... etc.
Drayton, _Polyolbion_, viii. (1612).

=Voadine= (2 _syl._), bishop of London, who reproved Vortiger[n] for
loving another man’s wife and neglecting his own queen, for which
reproof the good bishop was murdered.

... good Voadine, who reproved
Proud Vortiger, his king, unlawfully that loved
Another’s wanton wife, and wronged his nuptial bed,
For which by that stern prince unjustly murdered.
Drayton, _Polyolbion_, xxiv. (1622).

⁂ This is very like the story of John the Baptist and Herod.

=Voice= (_Human_). The following animals possessed both human voice
and articulate speech, speaking in the language of their masters:--

AL BORAK, the animal which conveyed Mahomet to the seventh heaven. He
not only spoke good Arabic, but had also a human face.

ARION, the wonderful horse which Herculés gave to Adrastos. It not
only spoke good Greek, but both his near feet were those of a man.

BALAAM’S ASS spoke Hebrew to Balaam on one occasion.--_Numb._ xxii.

THE BLACK PIGEONS, one of which gave the responses in the temple of
Ammon, and the other in Dodōna.--_Classic Story_.

The BULBUL-HEZAR, which had not only human speech, but was oracular
also.--_Arabian Nights_ (“The Two Sisters”).

COMRADE, Fortunio’s horse, spoke with the voice of a man.--Comtesse
D’Aunoy, _Fairy Tales_ (“Fortunio”).

The little GREEN BIRD which Fairstar obtained possession of, not only
answered in words any questions asked it, but was also prophetic and
oracular.--Comtesse D’Aunoy, _Fairy Tales_ (“Cherry and Fairstar”).

KATMÎR, the dog of the Seven Sleepers, spoke Greek.--_Al Korân_,
xviii.

SÄLEH’S CAMEL used to go about crying, in good Arabic, “Ho! every one
that wanteth milk, let him come, and I will give it him.”--Sale, _Al
Korân_, vii. (notes).

The SERPENT which tempted Eve to eat of the forbidden fruit.--_Gen._
iii.

TEMLIHA, the king of serpents, had the gift of human speech.--Comte de
Caylus, _Oriental Tales_ (“History of Aboutaleb”).

XANTHOS, one of the horses of Achillês, announced to the hero, in good
Greek, his approaching death.--_Classic Fable._

=Voiture= (2 _syl._), a French poet, idolized by his contemporaries in
the reign of Louis XIV., but now only known by name (1598-1648).

E’en rival wits did Voiture’s death deplore,
And the gay mourned, who never mourned before;
The truest hearts for Voiture heaved with sighs,
Voiture was wept by all the brightest eyes.
Pope, _Epistle to Miss Blount_ (1715).

=Voland= (_Squire_), the devil. (German, _Junker Voland_.)

=Volan´te= (3 _syl._), one of the three daughters of Balthazar.
Lively, witty, sharp as a needle and high-spirited. She loves the
Count Montalban; but when the count disguises himself as a father
confessor, in order to sound her love for him, she sees the trick in a
moment, and says to him, “Come, count, pull off your lion’s hide, and
confess yourself an ass.” Subsequently, all ends happily and well.--J.
Tobin, _The Honeymoon_ (1804).

=Volet´ta=, Free-will personified.

Voletta,
Whom neither man, nor fiend, nor God constrains.
Phineas Fletcher, _The Purple Island_, vi. (1633).

=Volksmährchen= (“_popular tales_”), in German, the best exponents
being Ludwig Tieck (1773-1853), Musäus (1735-1787), De la Motte Fouqué
(see UNDINE), Chamisso (see SCHLEMIHL, PETER), Wilhelm Hauff
(1802-1827), Achim von Arnim (1781-1831), Clemens Brentano
(1777-1842), Zschokke (1771-1848), Hoffmann (1776-1822), Gustav
Freytag, “The German Dickens” (1816-1878), and the brothers Grimm.

=Vol´pone= (2 _syl._), or THE FOX, a comedy by Ben Jonson (1605).
Volpone, a rich Venetian nobleman, without children, feigns to be
dying, in order to draw gifts from those who pay court to him under
the expectation of becoming his heirs. Mosca, his knavish confederate,
persuades each in turn that he is named for the inheritance, and by
this means exacts many a costly present. At the end, Volpone is
betrayed, his property forfeited, and he is sentenced to lie in the
worst hospital in all Venice.

Jonson has three great comedies: _Volpone_, or _The Fox_, _Epicene, or
The Silent Woman_, and _The Alchemist_.--R. Chambers, _English
Literature_, i. 192.

=Volscius= (_Prince_), a military hero, who falls in love with the
fair Parthenŏpê, and disputes with Prince Prettyman upon the
superiority of his sweetheart to Cloris, whom Prince Prettyman sighs
for.--Duke of Buckingham, _The Rehearsal_ (1671).

Why, this is worse than Prince Volscius in love!--Sir W. Scott.

Oh, be merry, by all means. Prince Volscius in love! Ha, ha, ha!--W.
Congreve, _The Double Dealer_ (1694).

=Volsunga Saga= (_The_), a collection of tales in verse about the
early Teutonic heroes, compiled by Sæmund Sigfusson in the eleventh
century. A prose version was made some 200 years later by Snorro
Sturleson. This saga forms a part of the _Rhythmical_, or _Elder
Edda_, and of the _Prose_, or _Younger Edda_.

=Voltaire= (_The German_), Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1838).

Christoph Martin Wieland is also called “The German Voltaire”
(1733-1813).

_Voltaire_ (_The Polish_), Ignatius Krasicki (1774-1801).

_Voltaire_ (_The Russian_), Alex P. Sumorokof (1727-1777).

=Vol´timand=, a courtier in the court of Claudius, king of
Denmark.--Shakespeare, _Hamlet_ (1596).

=Volumnia= was the _wife_ of Coriolanus, and Vetu´ria his _mother_;
but Shakespeare makes Virgilia the wife, and Volumnia the
mother.--_Coriolanus_ (1610).

The old man’s merriment in Menenius; the lofty lady’s dignity in
Volumnia; the bridal modesty in Virgilia; the patrician and military
haughtiness in Coriolanus; the plebeian malignity and tribunitian
insolence in Brutus and Sicinius, make a very pleasing and interesting
variety.--Dr. Johnson.

=Voluspa Saga= (_The_), the prophecy of Völa. It contains between 200
and 300 verses, and resembles the Sibylline books of ancient Rome. The
_Voluspa_ Saga gives, in verse, a description of chaos, the formation
of the world, the creation of all animals (including dwarfs and
giants, genii and devils, fairies and goblins), the final
conflagration of the world and its renewal, when it will appear in
celestial beauty, like the new Jerusalem described in the book of the
_Revelation_.

=Vorst= (_Peterkin_), the sleeping sentinel at Powys Castle.--Sir W.
Scott, _The Betrothed_ (time, Henry II.).

=Vortigern=, counsel of the Gewisseans, who crowned Constans, king of
Britain, although he was a monk, but treacherously contrived to get
him assassinated afterwards, and then usurped the crown. He married
Rowen’a, daughter of Hengist, and was burnt to death in a tower set on
fire during a siege by Ambrosius.--Geoffrey, _British History_, vi. 6;
viii. 1 (1142).

_Vortigern_, a drama put forward by Henry W. Ireland (1796) as a newly
discovered play by Shakespeare. It was brought out at Drury Lane
Theatre, by John Kemble. Dr. Parr declared it to be his opinion that
the play was genuine.

=Vortigern and Hengist.= The account of the massacre of the
Long-Knives, given by Geoffrey, in his _British History_, vi. 15,
differs greatly from that of the _Welsh Triads_ (See STONEHENGE, A
TROPHY). Geoffrey says that Hengist came over with a large army, at
which King Vortigern was alarmed. To allay this suspicion, Hengist
promised to send back all the men that the king did not require, and
begged Vortigern to meet him in conference at Ambrius (_Ambresbury_),
on May-day. Hengist, in the meantime, secretly armed a number of his
soldiers with “long-knives,” and told them to fall on the Britons
during the conference, when he uttered the words, “Nemet oure Saxas.”
This they did, and 460 “barons and consuls” fell. It does not appear
from this narrative that the slaughter was due “to the treachery of
Vortigern,” but was wholly the work of Hengist. Geoffrey calls the
earl of Gloucester “Eldol,” and not “Eidiol.”

=Vortigern’s Tower=, like Penelopê’s web, is a work ever beginning,
and never ending. Vortigern was told by his magicians to build a
strong tower for his own security; so he commanded his workmen to
build one on Mount Erir, but whatever they built one day, was wholly
swallowed up by the earth during the night.--Geoffrey, _British
History_, vi. 17 (1142).

=Vos non Vobis.= The tale is that Virgil wrote an epigram on Augustus
Cæsar, which so much pleased the emperor that he desired to know who
was the author. As Virgil did not claim the lines, one Bathyllus
declared they were his. This displeased Virgil, and he wrote these
four words, _Sic vos non vobis_ ... four times as the commencement of
four lines, and Bathyllus was requested to finish them. This he could
not do, but Virgil completed the lines thus:

Sic vos non vobis nidificatis aves;
Sic vos non vobis villera fertis oves;
Sic vos non vobis mellificatis apes;
Sic vos non vobis fertis aratra boves.

Not for yourselves your nests ye song-birds build;
Not for yourselves ye sheep your fleeces bear;
Not for yourselves your hives ye bees have filled;
Not for yourselves ye oxen draw the share.

=Vox et præterea Nihil.= A Spartan, pulling a nightingale, and finding
only a very small body, exclaimed, φωνὰ τύ τις ἐσσι, καὶ οὐδὲν ἄλλο
(“Voice art thou, and nothing more”).--Plutarch, _Apophthegmata
Laconica_.

=Vox= (_Valentine_), enterprising ventriloquist, who figures in the
novel called by his name.--Henry Cochton (1840).

=Vran= (_Bendigeid_, _i.e._, “Blessed”), king of Britain, and father
of Caradawc (_Caractacus_). He was called “Blessed,” because he
introduced Christianity into this island. Vran had shared the
captivity of his son, and had learned the Christian faith during his
seven years’ detention in Rome.

Vran or Bran the Blessed, son of Llyr, first brought the faith of
Christ to the nation of the Cymry, from Rome, where he was seven years
a hostage for his son, Caradawc, whom the Romans made prisoner,
through craft and the treachery of Aregwedd Fôeddawg [_Cartismandua_]
_Welsh Triads_, xxxv.

=Vran’s Caldron= restored to life whoever was put therein, but the
revivified never recovered speech. (See MEDEA’S KETTLE.)

“I will give thee,” said Bendigeid Vran, “a caldron, the property of
which is that if one of thy men be slain to-day, and be cast therein
to-morrow, he will be as well as he was at the best, except that he
will not regain his speech.”--_The Mabinogion_ (“Branwen,” etc.,
twelfth century).