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VIL'LAIN, n. s. Fr. vilain; low Lat. vilVILLANAGE, lanus. One who held by a VILLANIZE, V. a. base tenure: hence, in VILLANOUS, adj. modern times, a low man VILLANOUSLY, adv. | from whatever cause; VILLANY, n. s. wicked wretch: villanage, the state or tenure of a villain; servitude; baseness; infamy: villanize, to debase; degrade; defame: villanous, base; vile; sorry; wicked: the adverb following corresponds: villany is wickedness; baseness; a wicked action.

We were prevented by a dozen armed knights, or rather villains, who, using this time of their extreme feebleness, all together set upon them.

Sidney.

Spenser.

They exercise most bitter tyranny Upon the parts brought into their bondage: No wretchedness is like to sinful villanage. O villain! villain! his very opinion in the letter. Abhorred villain! unnatural, detested, brutish villain! Shakspeare.

We shall lose our time,

Calm thinking villains, whom no faith could fix; Of crooked counsels and dark politicks.

Pope. VILLAIN, or VILLEIN, in our ancient customs, denotes a man of servile or base condition, viz. a bond-man or servant.

VILLALPANDUS (John Baptist), Jesuit, who died in 1608. He wrote a comment on Ezekiel, 3 vols. folio, 1596, and an Exposition of St. Paul's Epistles.

VILLARET (Claude), born at Paris 1715. He was first an actor, then became an author. He continued Velley's History of France, and wrote a treatise on Acting, and a tract On the Mind of Voltaire. He died in 1766.

VILLARS (Lewis Hector), peer and marshal of France, and grandee of Spain, was born at Moulins in 1653. After distinguishing himself on various occasions in the army, he was made marshalde-camp in 1690, and was sent against Marlborough, but was defeated at Malplaquet, and dangerously wounded. He was appointed plenipotentiary for concluding a peace at Rastadt in 1714.

In 1733 he was sent into Italy, where he took Pisighitone, and died at Turin 1734.

VILLENAGE, in law. The folk-land, or estates held in villenage, was a species of tenure not strictly feudal, Norman, or Saxon; but mixed and compounded of them all; and which also, on account of the heriots that usually attend it, may seem to have somewhat Danish in its composition. Under the Saxon government there were, as Sir William Temple speaks, a sort of people in a condition of downright servitude, used and employed in the most servile works, and belonging, both they, their children, and effects, to the lord of the soil, like the rest of the cattle or stock upon it.

These seem to have been those who held what was

called the folk-land, from which they were removeable at the lord's pleasure. On the arrival of the Normans here, it seems not improbable, that they, who were strangers to any other than a feudal state, might give some sparks of enfranchisement to such wretched persons as fell to their share, by admitting them, as well as others, to the oath of fealty; which conferred a right of protection, and raised the tenant to a kind of estate superior to downright slavery, but inferior to every other condition. This they called villenage, and the tenants villeins. These villeins, belonging principally to the lords of manors, were either villeins regardant, that is, annexed to the manor or land; or else they were in gross, or at large, that is, annexed to the person of the lord, and transferable by deed from one owner to another. They could not leave their lord without his permission; but if they ran away, or were purloined from him, might be claimed and recovered by action, like beasts or other chattels. They held indeed small portions of land by way of sustaining themselves and families; but it was at the mere will of the lord, who might dispossess them whenever he pleased; and it was upon villein services, that is to carry out dung, to hedge and ditch the lord's demesnes, and any other the meanest offices: and their services were not only base but uncertain both as to their time and quantity. A villein could acquire no property, either in lands or goods; if he purchased either, the lord might seize them to his own use; unless he contrived to dispose of them again before the lord had seized them. In many places also a fine was payable to the lord, if the villein presumed to marry his daughter to any one without leave from the lord, and, by the common law, the lord might also bring an action against the husband for damages for thus purloining his property. For the children of villeins were also in the same state of bondage with their parents; whence they were called in Latin nativi, which gave rise to the female appellation of a villein, who was called a neife. In case of a marriage between a freeman and a neife, or a villein and a free woman, the issue followed the condition of the father, being free if he was free, and villein if he was villein; contrary to the maxim of the civil law, that partus sequitur ventrem. But no bastard could be born a villein, because by another maxim of our law he is nullius filius; and as he can gain nothing by inheritance, it were hard that he should lose his natural freedom by it. The law, however, protected the persons of villeins against atrocious injuries of the lord: for he might not kill or maim his villein; though he might beat him with impunity. Villeins might be enfranchised by manumission. In process of time they gained

considerable ground on their lords; and in particular strengthened the tenure of their estates to that degree that they came to have in them an interest in many places full as good, in others better than their lords. For the good-nature and benevolence of many lords of manors having, time out of mind, permitted their villeins and their children to enjoy their possessions without interruption, in a regular course of descent, the common law, of which custom is the life, now gave them title to prescribe against their lords; and, on performance of the same services, to hold their lands, in spite of any determination of the lord's will. For though in general they are still said to hold their estates at the will of the lord, yet it is such a will as is agreeable to the custom of the manor; which customs are preserved and evidenced by the rolls of the several courts baron in which they are entered, or kept on foot by the constant immemorial usage of the several manors in which the lands lie. And as such tenants had nothing to show for their estates but these customs, and admissions in pursuance of them entered on these rolls, or the copies of such entries witnessed by the steward, they now began to be called tenants by copy of court roll, and their tenure itself a copyhold.

VILLENAGE, PRIVILEGED, a species of tenure otherwise called villein soccage. See TENURE. Ancient demesne consists of those lands or manors which, though now perhaps granted out to private subjects, were actually in the hands of the crown in the time of Edward the Confessor or William the Conqueror, and so appear to have been, by the great survey in the exchequer, called doomsday book. The tenants of these lands, under the crown, were not all of the same order or degree. Some of them, as Britton testifies, continued for a long time pure and absolute villeins, dependent on the will of the lord; and common copyholders in only a few points. Others were in a great measure enfranchised by the royal favor; being only bound in respect of their lands to perform some of the better sort of villein services; but those determinate and certain; as, to plough the king's land for so many days, to supply his court with such a quantity of provisions, and the like; all of which are now changed into pecuniary rents; and in consideration hereof they had many immunities and privileges granted to them; as, to try the right of their property in a peculiar court of their own, called a court of ancient demesne, by a peculiar process denominated a writ of right close; not to pay toll or taxes; not to contribute to the expenses of knights of the shire; not to be put on juries, and the like. These tenants, therefore, though their tenure be absolutely copyhold, yet have an interest equivalent to a freehold for though their services were of a base and villeinous original, yet the tenants were esteemed in all other respects to be highly privileged villeins; and especially for that their services were fixed and determinate, and that they could not be compelled (like pure villeins) to relinquish those tenements at the lord's will, or to hold them against their own: et ideo (says Bracton) dicuntur liberi. Lands holding by this tenure are therefore a species of copyhold, and as such preserved and exempted from the operation of the statute of Charles II. Yet they differ from common copyholds, principally in the privileges before mentioned: as also they differ from freeholders by one especial mark and tincture of

villenage, noted by Bracton, and remaining to this day, viz. that they cannot be conveyed from man to man by the general common law conveyances of feoffment, and the rest; but must pass by surrender to the lord or his steward, in the manner of common copyholds; yet with this difference, that, in the surrenders of these lands in ancient demesne, it is not used to say, 'to hold at the will of their lord,' in their copies; but only, 'to hold according to the custom of the manor.'

VILLENEUVE (Gabrielle Susannah Barbot, De), novel writer, was the widow of a French lieutenantcolonel. Her novels are numerous. She died in 1755. VILLERS (Charles François Dominique de), a modern French writer, was a native of Belchen in Lorraine, where he was born 1764. In the earlier part of his life he served as a lieutenant of artillery, but on the breaking out of the revolution emigrated, and joined the Royalist force under the prince de Condé. After this he retired to Lubec, and devoted himself to literary pursuits. Villers obtained the prize given by the institute for an Essay on the Influence of the Reformation; and was at length invited to fill the professor's chair in philosophy at Gottingen. This situation, when the French influence predominated, he was compelled to resign, but received a pension. During the occupation of Hanover by the troops of that nation, under Davoust, the excesses committed by the soldiery induced him to address a letter to Fanny Beauharnois, with the hope of procuring, through her interest, some mitigation of these evils; but the only effect was to draw on its author the personal hatred of the French commander. He also addressed to the Institute two reports on the state of ancient literature, and on the history of Germany. The Swedish government made him a chevalier of the order of the polar star. Villers died in the spring of 1815.

VILLIERS (George), duke of Buckingham, was born at Brookesby, 1592. He became a very great favorite of James I., who advanced him to his dignity of duke, and made him a knight of the garter, lord high admiral, and master of the horse, and gave him the disposal of all places in church and state. He retained the same place in the favor of Charles I., but the people detested him. He took the command of an expedition for the relief of Rochelle, instead of which he made a descent on the Isle of Rhé, and lost the greater part of his troops. A new expedition was planned, but he was stabbed by a lieutenant Fellon, when at Portsmouth ready to embark, 23d of August 1628.

VILLIERS (George), duke of Buckingham, son of the preceding, was born in 1627. He was educated at Cambridge, and, on the breaking out of the civil wars, served the king with great zeal, till the ruin of the royal cause, when he went abroad. He afterwards accompanied Charles II. to Scotland, and was with him at the battle of Worcester, when he had the good fortune to escape. By marrying the daughter of lord Fairfax, he recovered a principal part of his estate before the Restoration, when he was made a lord of the bed-chamber, member of the privy-council, and master of the horse. But, entering into a conspiracy against the king, he lost his places. He afterwards recovered the royal favor, and was sent ambassador to France. died in 1688. He wrote the celebrated comedy of the Rehearsal, and some poems. His morals were very dissipated.

He

VINCA, in botany, a genus of the monogynia order, and pentandria class of plants; natural order thirtieth, contorta: COR. twisted; there are two erect follicles: SEEDS naked. There are five species; only two of which are natives of Britain. 1. V. major, great periwinkle. It has a woody, erect stem; leaves broader and sharper pointed; pedicles of the flowers straight, and calyx as long as the tube; otherwise like the next. 2. V. minor, small periwinkle, has a woody, creeping, slender, crooked stem; leaves long, oval, entire, pointed, opposite, glossy. Flowers single, on long curved pedicles from the alæ of the leaves, which are large and blue.

VINCE (Rev. Samuel), A. M., F. R. S., late Plumian professor of astronomy and experimental philosophy at Cambridge, was of humble Suffolk parentage; but the munificence of Mr. Tilney, of Harleston, enabling him to enter himself of Caius College in 1775, he distinguished himself by gaining one of Smith's mathematical prizes, and became the senior wrangler of his year. In 1796, then a fellow of Sidney Sussex College, he was elected to the professorship, which he afterwards filled in so distinguished a manner, and which he held till his death in 1821. His works are a treatise on the Elements of Conic Sections, 8vo. 1781; another on Practical Astronomy, 4to., 1790; Plan of a Course of Lectures on Natural Philosophy, 8vo., 1793; The Principles of Fluxions, 2 vols., 8vo., 1795; The Principles of Hydrostatics, 8vo., 1796, 1800; A Complete System of Astronomy, 2 vols., 4to., 1797-1799: 3 vols., 4to., with additions, 1814; A Vindication of Christianity against the objections of Hume, in two discourses, preached before the University, 1798–1809; A Treatise on Trigonometry, the nature and use of Logarithms, &c., 8vo., 1800; A Confutation of Atheism, from the Laws of the Heavenly Bodies, 8vo., 1806; and On the Hypotheses accounting for Gravitation from Mechanical Principles, 8vo., 1806. He was, at the time of his decease, rector of Kirkby Bedon, vicar of South Creak (both in Norfolk), and archdeacon of Bedford.

VINCENNES, a town and castle of France, near the confluence of the Seine and Marne, about three miles east of Paris. The castle was built in a remote age, as a country residence of the royal family. It continued a palace during three centuries; but, since Louis XIV. removed the court of Versailles, has been used as a state prison. It is surrounded by a deep ditch, and has nine towers, of great height and solidity. The largest, called the dungeon, is surrounded by a separate ditch of forty feet in depth. It was here that the unfortunate duke d'Enghien was murdered on 21st March 1804. Adjoining to the castle is a fine park, and a forest called the Bois de Vin

tion 1800.

VINCENNES, a post town of the United States, and capital of Knox county, Indiana, on the east bank of the Wabash, 100 miles from its junction with the Ohio, in a direct line, and nearly 200 miles by the course of the river.

VINCENT (Thomas), a divine who continued to preach regularly during the plague. He died in 1671. He wrote God's Terrible Voice in the City by Plague and Fire, an Explanation of the Catechism, and other religious books.

VINCENT (Nathaniel), a non-conformist, wrote the Conversion of a Sinner, and the Day of Grace, 8vo.; several sermons and other pious books. Ile died in 1697.

VINCENT (William), D. D., master of Westminster School, was born in London in 1739. He was educated at Westminster, and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he obtained a fellowship. In 1762 he became an usher, and nine years after succeeded to the office of second master, at Westminster. He now took the degree of D. D., and was appointed chaplain in ordinary to the king. In 1778 he became vicar of Longdon, in Worcestershire; but soon after resigned his benefice for the rectory of Allhallows, Thames Street, in London. In 1788 he became head master at Westminster, where he continued to preside till 1801, when he was made a prebend; and two years after he succeeded to the deanery of Westminster, on the promotion of Dr. Horsley to the see of St. Asaph. As an author dean Vincent is principally known on account of his commentary on Arrian's Voyage of Nearchus; and his Periplus of the Erythrean Sea, republished together under the title of The Commerce and Navigation of the Ancients in the Indian Ocean, 1807, 2 vols., 4to. The Voyage of Nearchus was translated into French by Billecocq, Paris, 1800. Dr. Vincent died in December 1815. He published also The Conjugation of the Greek Verb, and the Greek Verb Analysed; A Defence of Public Education; and a Charity Sermon. A volume of his Discourses, with his life, was published posthumously.

VINCENT (St.), an island of the West Indies, is twenty-three miles long, and eighteen broad, containing 84,000 acres, of which nearly one half consist of mountains incapable of improvement. The island is sufficiently watered by twenty small rivers, turning sugar mills. It is divided into five parishes, with one town, named Kingston, on the south-west, and three insignificant villages. The population in 1787 was 1450 whites and 11,853 negroes. In the same year the exports of the island sold for £186,450 in England. They were composed of coffee 634 cwt., cotton 761,880 lbs., sugar 65,000 cwt., rum 88,000 galls., and cocoa 143 cwt. The peace establishment of the island is a regiment of regular infantry, and a company of artillery, besides a Negro corps, raised in the island, and a militia of two regiments, serving without pay. The governor's salary is £2000.

VINCENT, CAPE ST., the south-west point of Portugal, noted for the naval victory gained off it on 14th February 1797, by Sir John Jervis. Long. 8° 58′ 39′′ W., lat. 37° 2′ 54′′ N.

VINCENT (St.), BAY, a bay on the north coast of Terra del Fuego, a little to the east of cape St. Vincent.

VINCENTIUS, one of the Christian Fathers,