VENEREAL, in medicine, belonging to venery; as the lues venerea, &c. See MEDICINE, Index. VENERONI (John), was born at Verdun. He taught Italian at Paris; and, to pass for a Florentine, he changed his name to Vigneron. He was the author of an Italian grammar, dictionary, &c. VEN'ERY. n. s. To the woods she goes to serve her turn, Spenser. The Norman demolished many churches and chapels in New Forest, to make it fitter for his pleasure and venery. Howel. VENESECTION, n. s. Lat. vena and sectio. Blood-letting; the act of opening a vein; phlebotomy. If the inflammation be sudden, after evacuation by lenient purgatives, or clyster and venesection, have Wiseman's Surgery. recourse to anodynes. VENESECTION. See SURGERY. VENETI, a people of Italy, in Cisalpine Gaul, near the mouths of the Po. They were descended from a nation of Paphlagonia, who setted there under Antenor, some time after the Trojan war. VENETIAN BOLE, a fine red earth used in painting, and called in the color shops venetian red. It is dug in Carinthia. VENETIANO (Dominic), a Venetian painter, who introduced oil painting into Italy, but communicating the secret to Castagno, he was murdered by him, that he might have the secret to himself. VENEV, a town of the interior of European Russia, in the government of Tula, on the river Venevka. It contains 2400 inhabitants, and has, on a small scale, manufactures of silk. Thirty miles east of Tula. VE'NEY, n. 8. at fencing. Fr. venez. A bout; a turn I bruised my shin with playing at sword and dagger, three veneys for a dish of stewed prunes. Shakspeare. VENEZUELA, a province of the Caraccas, Colombia, bounded on the north by the Caribbean Sea, on the west by Maracaibo and Varinas, and south by the great plains of Varinas and the Orinoco. It was named Venezuela from the towns inhabited by Indians which were seen by the Spaniards, on the lake of Maracaibo, having a resemblance to Venice. The soil is fertile, and yields in abundance all the tropical products. Its most noted commercial article is cacao, inferior to none in America; vanilla, maize, indigo, cotton, sugar, tobacco, and coffee, are a few of the richest objects of cultivation; wild cochineal, dye woods, medicinal drugs, guins, resins, balsams, All kinds sarsaparilla, sassafras, liquorice, squills, storax, cassia, and aloes, here find that climate the most favorable to their growth; and the immense plains in the interior feed multitudes of cattle, horses, and mules, and in the valleys and mountains sheep and deer are numerous. of game are found. On the coast and in the plains a scorching heat prevails, often accompanied with deluges of rain. The mountains, which form a part of the great branch extending from the west to the gulf of Paria, divide the lands of the coast from the plains of the valley of the Orinoco. Their surface is rent in every direction, by the force of subterranean convulsions, and it is on these mountains that the climate is so singularly altered that a traveller may observe the fruits of the tropics luxuriating at a short distance from those of Europe. To the south of this chain, the llanos or plains, which stretch to the Orinoco, are inhabited solely by herds of cattle, tended by mulattoes, who are as nearly in a state of nature as the beasts they guard. On the plains the rainy season commences in April, and continues till November. The lakes of Venezuela are not numerous, for we can hardly give that appellation to the sheets of water produced by the periodical swell of the Orinoco, or the rains. The lake of Valencia is an extensive sheet of water, and the rivers of Venezuela are more numerous than in any other part of New Spain. Every valley has its stream. The principal of these, which run from the mountains of Caraccas and Coro into the Caribbean Sea, are the Guiges, Tocuyo, Aroa, Yaracuy, and the Tuy. The rivers which rise on the southern side of the chain, and flow to the Orinoco, are the Guarico, which receives some of the branches of the Apure, and then, following a course parallel to that river, enters the Orinoco a short distance eastward of it. The islands formed by the junctions of the Apure and Guarico are the Isla de Blanco, Isla del Apurito, and the Isla de las Garzitas. The Guarico, which is a very fine river, is joined, near its confluence with the Orinoco, by the Rio Maneapra, which flows through the plains of Calabozo. Most of these swell in the month of April, and continue to overflow their banks during three or four months, covering the lowlands. They abound in alligators and fish. VENGE, v. a. Fr. venger. To avenge; VEN'GEABLE, adj. punish: vengeable is reVEN'GEANCE, n. s. vengeful; spiteful; both VENGEFUL, adj. are unusual words: vengeance is punishment; retribution; and hence perhaps, as a species of power, vehemence, ardor: vengeful is vindictive; retributive; spite ful. Let me see thy vengeance on them. Jer. xi. 20. Spenser. Headed with ire and vengeable despite. The right conceit which they had, that to perjury vengeance is due, was not without good effect as touching their lives, who feared the wilful violation of oaths. Hooker. All the stored vengeances of heaven fall You are above, Shakspeare. VENIC E. Jove's and Latona's son his wrath expressed, In vengeance of his violated priest. Dryden. The chorus interceded with heaven for the innocent, and implored its vengeance on the criminal. Addison's Spectator. Prior. VEʼNIABLE, adj. VE'NIAL. 343 gardens; and lastly, that of Dorso Duro forms Harte. of pardon; excusable; permitted. Venial discourse unblamed. Milton's Paradise Lost. More veniable is a dependence upon potable gold, whereof Paracelsus, who died himself at forty-seven, gloried that he could make other men immortal. Browne's Vulgar Errours. What horrour will invade the mind, When the strict judge, who would be kind, Shall have few venial faults to find! Roscommon. While good men are employed in extirpating mortal sins, I should rally the world out of indecencies and venial transgressions. Addison. VENICE, a celebrated city of Italy, situated near the northern extremity of the Adriatic, is built on a collection of small islands, separated from the mainland by shallows of a depth of three, four, five, or six feet, and has hence a sinIts domes gular appearance from a distance. and spires, and public buildings, appear to the spectator, particularly in approaching by sea, alThis most to float on the surface of the waves. appearance is particularly striking at night. The length of the city is somewhat above two miles, its breadth a mile and a half, its circuit six miles. It is divided into two parts by a canal, which winds through its whole length in a serpentine form. This canal is above 100 feet in width, and is crossed on one part by a bridge of a single arch, the celebrated Rialto. Every part almost of the town is intersected by smaller canals navigated by gondolas. The gondolas are five feet in width and twenty in length. The usual hire of one is a shilling an hour; but it is customary among fashionable families to keep a gondola. Venice is separated for the purpose of police into six parts, of which the most eastern adjoins the castle, and bears the name of Sestiere de Castello; the Sestiere de St. Marco lies more towards the centre of the city, and that of Canareggio comprises the north-west division. These three are to the north of the great canal; the remaining quarters are situated to the south of it. That of St. Paolo is in the south-east; that of St Croce in the west, including several small the In regard to the streets it will hardly be cradited that their breadth is in general only four, five, or six feet; in many places still less. The only exception is the street called the Merceria, situated near the centre of the town, and containing shops of all kinds; but even of that the breadth varies only from twelve to twenty feet. The only open place entitled to the name of square is the Piazza di San Marco, an oblong of 280 feet in length by nearly 100 in breadth, bordered by several handsome buildings. The principal are the churches of St. Marco and Geminiano; the palace formerly occupied by the doge, and the buildings, called Procureria, fronted in the Grecian style. This small but elegant square is bordered by arcades containing elegant shops and coffee-rooms. It forms the central point of the gaiety and amusements of the city. The Piazetta is a smaller opening, leading from of St. Marco to the sea, and having on the one side the palace of the doge, on the other the public library with its pillars of granite. To ride either in a carriage or on horseback is wholly out of the question in Venice. Accordingly the streets, or rather lanes, are paved not with round stones but flags, or marble slabs, having small sewers for carrying off the filth: the ordinary dwellings are of brick covered with wood and provided with balconies. Personal accommodation, and in a great measure the enjoyment of good air, are sacrificed, in the interior, that space may be found for magnificent statues and works of art. The general height is three or four stories. The larger houses are commonly of a square form, with an inside court containing a cistern, into which water flows from the roof; and, after being filtrated, serves for domestic purposes. Such houses have in general one door to a canal, and another to a street. number of them are built of marble. A The church of St. Martin, Mark, or Marco, the most entitled to notice of any in Venice, stands at one end of the Piazza di St. Marco, and is so loaded with ornaments as to bear some resemblance to an eastern pagoda. It is partly of stone, partly of marble, and surrounded with a portico of no less than 288 pillars of marble, porphyry, or other valuable materials. Its inside is ornamented with the spoils of Constantinople, and displays a profusion of marble, alabaster, emeralds, &c. Its mosaics are surpassed only by those of St. Peter at Rome; and its paintings are numerous and splendid. On the portico facing the piazza the Venetians once more see the bronze horses which, during eighteen years (from 1797 to 1815), crowned the triumphal arch in the Place du Carousel at Paris. The church of Santa Maria della Salute, the work of Palladio, is an elegant structure, open to the great canal, and built of marble, with a moderate share of ornament. The church il Redemptore is also an elegant building. The cathedral of Venice, dedicated to St. Peter, stands on an island at the eastern end of the city, and is built of Istrian marble. The church of St. Georgia is remarkable for its front of marble and its cupola; that of St. Giovanni and St. Paolo is large Gothic edifice, surmounted by a cupola, and is the Westminster Abbey of Venice, covering the tombs of many of its duges and defenders. The former palace of the doges, the place of assemblage for the senate and different councils of state during the republic, is a vast ancient fabric in the Gothic style. Its lofty apartments are ornamented with paintings by the first masters; its court and stair-cases with elegant statues. Of the other palaces or mansions of the great families the most conspicuous are those of Goiniani, Tiopolo, Balbi, Cornaro, &c. The arsenal is a commodious and even magnificent building, situated on an island near the eastern end of the city, and defended by a rampart. Before its gates are two great pillars, with the two gigantic lions in granite which stood formerly on the Pircus at Athens. The Rialto consists of one great marble arch, of ninety feet span, ascended at each end by a flight of steps. Its height would afford the passenger a beautiful view of the city were not the prospect impeded by a row of shops which cross it at each side. The public library stands in a fine marble structure near the square of St. Mark. Adjoining is the mint, an elegant building with arcades. On the great canal, not far from the Rialto, stands the Fondaco di Tedeschi, long a depot for German merchandise, now the council house. Of theatres Venice has no less than eight great and small; but several of them are open only during the carnival. To say nothing of political causes, since the discovery of the passage to India by the cape of Good Hope, the trade from Venice to the east has naturally diminished: at present the mercantile transactions of this city are less active than those of Trieste, and are chiefly confined to intercourse with the Levant; to the import of hardware, linen, and other manufactures from the north of Europe; of East and West India goods direct or through the medium of Malta; and, finally, of salt fish from Newfoundland or England. Vessels arriving at Venice, after surmounting the intricacy of the approach, find a spacious and commodious harbour, containing four separate quays or landing places; but most of the shipping lie near the mouth of the great canal, or along the shore westward from that spot. The manufactures of Venice comprise woollens, serges, canvas, and ropes; gold and silver stuffs, velvet, and silk stockings, and lace made chiefly on the adjacent island of Murano. Venice contains petty manufactures of false pearls and other precious stones, ornamental glass works, jewellery, and wax work. Printing is carried on here more extensively than in any other town in Italy; and books are supplied by wholesale to the Grecian islands, Constantinople, Spain, and Portugal. Venice is, however, the seat of an academy of the fine arts, of an athenæum, or seminary forming a medium between a great school and a university; and it contains one of the five sections of the imperial institute for the kingdom of Italy. It also contains a navigation school, and a female establishment called the conservato: the Rio de Pieta, where education is given gratuitously to more than 100 young women. The public library is extensive, and there are a number of private collections of curiosities. At some distance from the town, on the small island of Lazarus, there is a seminary of Armenians, who have an extensive library and printing office; who educate young Armenians, and publish a newspaper, circulated, under certain restrictions, in their own country. The characteristics of the climate of Venice are a summer heat much greater than that of England; a winter not of great length but sharp, particularly during the prevalence of a northwest wind. Rains are frequent in Venice; and there being no springs nor wells, the inhabitants are chiefly supplied with water collected in cisterns. On the other hand Venice is not an expensive city; the abundance and cheapness of its markets exhibit a striking proof of the ease of supplying a city by water. Its population does not at present exceed 120,000. It was founded about A. D. 451 or 452; when Attila having destroyed the cities of Aquileia, Verona, Mantua, Trevigio, &c., such of the inhabitants as escaped the slaughter fled to the islands on their coast, and there took up their residence. Historians are profuse in their commendations of the virtue of the Venetians during the infancy of their city. Nothing, remarkable, however, occurs in the history of Venice for some time, excepting the change of government from the consular to the tribunitial form, which happened about thirty years after the building of the city. The republic first began to be of consequence after the destruction of Padua by the Lombards. About this time they were become masters of a fleet and a body of land forces. They engaged in a quarrel with the Lombards, and soon after distinguished themselves against the Istrian pirates, who had committed depredations on their coasts; and the Tergestines or inhabitants of Trieste, who had suddenly carried off a number of the citizens of Venice. The city very soon arrived at a high pitch of affluence and power. In the war carried on by Justinian with the Goths in Italy, the Venetians gave considerable assistance to Narses the Roman general, who expressed his gratitude by several rich presents, and by building two fine churches dedicated to the saints Theodore and Germinian; the oldest public buildings, beside St. Mark's and St. Peter's, in Venice. From the time of Justinian to A. D. 697, historians are silent with regard to the Venetian affairs. A great revolution then took place in the government; the tribunes, having abused their power, were abolished; and in their stead was elected a doge or duke, in whom was vested the supreme authority. He was to represent the honor and majesty of the state; to have respect and distinction paid him beyond what the tribunes, or even the consuls, enjoyed: he was to assemble and preside at the great council; to have a casting vote in all disputed points; to nominate to all offices, places, and preferments; and, lastly, to enjoy the same authority in the church as in the state. Paul Anafestus Paoluccio was the first doge. He died in 717. This form of government was changed in 737, and a supreme magistrate chosen, with the title of master of the horse or general of the forces. His power was to continue only for a year, the shortness of its duration being thought a security against the abuse of it. But in five years afterwards the doges were restored, and John Fabritio, the fourth and last master of the horse, was deposed, and his eyes put out. Under the doges, the power and wealth of the Venetian republic continued to increase. In 764 the Heracleans and Jesulans, subjects to the republic, having formed some designs against the state, put themselves under the protection of Charlemagne. That conqueror, not finding it convenient to give them present assistance, settled them in Malamocco, until he could give them more effectual succor. The Venetians, however, disregarding the protection of that powerful monarch, attacked and instantly drove them out of Malamocco. In censed at this, Charlemagne ordered his son Pepin to declare war against the republic. This was done; but the blow was for some time diverted by Astolphus king of the Lombards, who, committing great devastations in the territories of the pope, obliged Pepin to come to the assistance of his holiness. However, after having afforded the necessary succor to the pope, Pepin prosecuted the war with Venice. Upon which the Venetians declared themselves a free and independent state. But in 804 the war was renewed with the utmost fury. Pepin having quarrelled with Nicephorus the Greek emperor, and finding Obelerio the Venetian doge inclined to favor his adversary, he determined to exterminate the very name of the republic. After having laid waste the surrounding province, he led his army directly to Venice, blocking the city up at the same time by his fleet. The Venetians united and gave the chief command to Valentin, as Obelerio was supposed too nearly allied to Pepin to fight with that good-will and cheerfulness the service of his country required. The Venetians, notwithstanding the most obstinate defence, were at length reduced to that part of the city south of the Rialto. While Pepin was preparing to lay a bridge over the canal, they resolved, as a last effort, to attack his fleet. Embarking all the troops they could spare, they succeeded in driving the enemy's fleet aground, and the greater part of their troops perished in attempting to escape; the ships were all, to a few, either taken or destroyed. During this action at sea, Pepin, having thrown a bridge over the Rialto, was attacked on every side by the Venetians from their boats and others who had posted themselves on the bridge. The battle was long, bloody, and doubtful, until the Venetians succeeded in breaking down the bridge; when, all communication being cut off with the troops on shore, the French were to a man either killed or drowned. Pepin was so struck with the intrepedity of the Venetians, that he raised the siege, abandoned the enterprise, and concluded a peace with the republic. He afterwards came to Venice to intercede for Obelerio; but, the populace being persuaded that he had acted treacherously, Pepin was no sooner gone than they tore him and his wife to pieces, though she was Pepin's sister. In 839 the Venetians engaged in an alliance offensive and defensive against the Saracens, with Michael III., the Greek emperor. A fleet of sixty galleys was immediately equipped, who joined the Grecian fleet and engaged the enemy; but during the heat of the engagement, the Greeks having basely deserted their allies, the Venetians were so completely defeated that scarcely a single vessel remained to carry the news of their misfortune to Venice. This defeat threw the city into the utmost consternation, as it was not doubted that the Saracens would immediately lay siege to the capital; instead of which they turned their arms against Ancona, which they pillaged and destroyed. The Narentines, however, a piratical people, no sooner heard of the defeat of the Venetians, than they laid waste the coasts of Dalmatia, and ravaged the country for a considerable way; at the same time that the city was distracted by internal dissensions and tumults, in one of which the doge was murdered. It was not till the year 881 that the Venetian affairs were thoroughly re-established. By the prudent and vigorous administration of Orso Participato the power of the Saracens was checked, the Narentines utterly defeated, and peace and domestic tranquillity restored. From this time the republic continued to flourish; and in 903 her reputation for arms became famous all over the world by a great victory gained over the Hunns, who had invaded Italy, defeated Berengarius, and threatened the country with total destruction. For a long time after, we meet with no remarkable transactions in the Venetian history; but in general the republic increased in wealth and power by its indefatigable application to maritime affairs and to commerce. About the year 1040 it was ordained that no prince should associate a colleague with him in the supreme prower. In 1084 the republic was, by the emperor of Constantinople, invested with the sovereignty of Dalmatia and Croatia, which, however, had been held long before by right of conquest. As soon as the crusade was preached up, the Venetians fitted out a fleet of 200 sail against the infidels; but, before this armament was in a condition to put to sea, war broke out with Pisa. The doge Vitalis Michael took upon him the command of the fleet, when, after having defeated the Pisans in a bloody action at sea, he set sail for Smyrna, and thence to Ascalon, at that time besieged by the Christians. To his valor was owing the conquest of this city, as well as those of Caipha and Tiberias; but, before he had time to push his good fortune further, he was recalled on account of an invasion by the Normans of Dalmatia. Here he was equally successful: the Normans were every where defeated; and Michael returned home loaded with booty; but died soon after to the great grief of all his subjects. He was succeeded by Ordelapho Faliero, under whom the Venetians assisted Baldwin in the siege of Ptolemais, and were the chief instruments of its conquest; and Baldwin, in recompense for the services of the republic, invested her with the sovereignty of that city, which he endowed with many extraordinary privileges, to render his present more valuable. This good fortune, however, was overbalanced by a rebellion in Dalmatia and Croatia. The former was reduced; but, in a battle with the Croatians, the doge was killed, and his army entirely defeated; by which disaster the Venetians were so much dispirited, that they made a peace on the best terms they could, giving up all thoughts of Croatia for the time. Under the government of Dominico Micheli, who succeeded Ordelapho, the pope's nuncio arrived at Venice, and excited such a spirit of enthusiasm among all ranks and degrees of men, that they strove whose names should be first enrolled for the holy war. The doge, having fitted out a fleet of sixty galleys, sailed with it to Joppa, which the Saracens were then besieging. The garrison was reduced to the last extremity when the Venetian fleet arrived, surprised, and defeated that of the enemy with great slaughter; soon after which the Saracens raised the siege with precipitation. Tyre was next besieged, and soon was obliged to capitulate; on which occasion, as well as on the taking of Ascalon, the Venetians shared two-thirds of the spoils. But in the mean time the emperor of Constantinople, jealous of the increasing power and wealth of the republic, resolved to make an attack upon Venice, now weakened by the absence of the doge and such a powerful fleet. But the senate, having timely notice of the emperor's intentions, recalled the doge, who instantly obeyed the summons. Stopping at Rhodes, in his way home, to refresh and water the fleet, the inhabitants refused to furnish him with the necessaries he demanded. Incensed at this denial, he levelled their city with the ground: and thence sailing to Chios, he laid waste and destroyed the country, carrying off the body of St. Isidore, in those days accounted an inestimable treasure. After this he seized on the islands of Samos, Lesbos, Andros, and all those in the Archipelago belonging to the emperor; and having reduced Zara, Spolatra, and Trahu, places in Dalmatia which had revolted during his absence, he returned in triumph to Venice, where he was received with great joy. The Venetians now became very formidable throughout all Europe. The Sicilians, Paduans, with the states of Verona and Ferrara, felt the weight of their power; and in 1173 they ventured to oppose Frederic Barbarossa, emperor of Germany. The occasion of this quarrel was, that pope Alexander had taken shelter in Venice to avoid the resentment of Barbarossa, who had conceived an implacable aversion against him, and threatened destruction to their city if they did not give him up. On this terrible menace, it was agreed to equip a fleet, and repel the attacks of such a formidable and haughty enemy. But, before the armament could be prepared, Otho, the emperor's son, arrived before the city with a fleet of seventy-five galleys. The doge Sebastiano Ziani sailed out with the few vessels he had got equipped, to give the enemy battle. The fleets met off the coasts of Istria, and a terrible engagement ensued, in which the imperial fleet was totally defeated, Otho himself taken prisoner, and forty-eight of his ships destroyed. On the doge's return, the pope went out to meet him, and presented him with a ring, saying, 'Take this, Ziani, and give it to the sea, as a testimony of your dominion of it. Let your successors annually perform the same ceremony, that posterity may know that your valor has purchased this prerogative, and subjected this element to you, even as a husband subjecteth his wife.' Otho was treated with the respect due to his rank; and soon conceived a great friendship for Ziani. At last, being permitted to visit the imperial court on his parole, he not only prevailed on his father to make peace with the Venetians, but even to visit their city, so famed for its commerce and naval power. He was received with all possible respect, and on his departure attended to Ancona by the doge, the senate, and the whole body of the nobility. During this journey he was reconciled to the pope; and both agreed to pay the highest honors to the doge and republic. In the beginning of the thirteenth century, the Venetians, now become exceeding powerful and opulent, by the commerce which they carried on with the richest countries of the world, were invited by young Alexis, son to the emperor of Constantinople, to his father's assistance, who had been deposed by a rebellious faction. In conjunction with the French, they undertook to restore him; and easily succeeded. But the old emperor dying soon after, his son was elected in his room, and a few days after murdered by his subjects; on which the empire was seized by Myrtillus, a man of mean birth, who had been raised by the favor of old Alexis. As the allied army of French and Venetians was encamped without the city, Myrtillus resolved immediately to drive them out of his dominions, and for this purpose attempted to surprise their camp; but, being repulsed, he shut himself up in the city, with a resolution to stand a siege. The allies assaulted it with so much vigor that the usurper was obliged to fly; and, though the citizens held out after his departure, they were obliged in less than three months to capitulate. This proved a source of greater acquisition to Venice than all that had yet happened. All the chief offices of the city were filled up with Venetians, in recompense for their services; the allies entered Thrace and subdued it; Candia, and all the Greek islands, also fell under the dominion of the republic. In the mean time the Genoese, by their successful application to commerce, having raised themselves in such a manner as to be capable of rivalling the Venetians, a long series of wars took place between the republics; in which the Venetians generally had the advantage, though sometimes they met with terrible overthrows. These expensive and bloody quarrels undoubtedly weakened the republic, notwithstanding its successes. In 1348, however, the Genoese were obliged to implore the protection of Visconti, duke of Milan, to support them against their implacable enemies the Venetians. Soon after this, in 1352, the latter were utterly defeated, with such loss, that it was thought the city itself must have fallen into the hands of the Genoese, had they known how to improve their victory. This was in a short time followed by a peace; but from this time the power of the republic began to decline. Con |