cal fresco in the Vatican, Rome, designed by Raphael (1483-1520), but executed by his pupils. Venus and Cupid. A picture by George Pencz (1500-1550), a German painter. In the Gallery at Munich, Bavaria. Venus and Mercury teaching Cupid his Letters. A picture by Antonio Allegri, surnamed Correggio (1494-1534). In the National Gallery, London. Venus at Cytherea. See LANDING Venus Callipyge. An admired statue found at Rome among the ruins of Nero's Golden House, and which has been attributed to Praxiteles. It is now in the Museum at Naples. "The Venus Callipygis, appar ently a boudoir ornament, reminding one of the pretty license of our eighteenth century." Taine, Trans. Venus, The Cnidian. See CNIDIAN VENUS. Venus coming from the Bath. A well-known statue by Antonio Canova (1757-1822), of which there are several repetitions. One is in the Palazzo Pitti, Florence, another in the possession of Lord Lansdowne. Venus de' Medici. A famous statue, and one of the most perfect remains of ancient art. Now in the Tribune of the Uffizi Palace in Florence, and is supposed to be the work of the Greek sculptor Cleomenes (fl. 363? B.C.). It is a figure of the goddess, of small but beautiful proportions, regarded as an example of perfect art in its class. It was discovered in the villa of Hadrian, near Tivoli, about the year 1680. "Her modest attitude is partly On what unmakes her as the heathen god. dess, and softens her into woman. account of the skill with which the statue has been restored, she is just as whole as when she left the hands of the sculptor. One cannot think of her as a senseless image, but as a being that lives to gladden the world, incapable of decay or death; as young and fair as she was three thousand years ago, and still to be young and fair as long as a beautiful thought shall require physical embodiment." Hawthorne. "The Venus stands somewhat aside from the centre of the room, and is surrounded by an iron railing, a pace or two from her pedestal in front and less behind. I think she might safely be left to the reverence her womanhood would win, without any other protection. She is very beautiful, very satisfactory, and has a fresh and new charm about her unreached by any cast or copy." Hawthorne. There, too, the Goddess loves in stone, and fills The air around with beauty; we inhale The ambrosial aspect, which, beheld, in Reels with its fulness; there-forever there, Chain'd to the chariot of triumphal Art, We stand as captives, and would not depart. Byron. Why is yonder simpering Venus de' Medicis to be our standard of beauty, or the Greek tragedies to bound our notion of the sublime? Thackeray. Venus del Pardo. A picture by Venus del Vasto. A picture by MILO. See VENUS OF Venus lamenting over Adonis. A mythological picture by Giuseppe Ribera, called Lo Spagnoletto (1588-1656). In the Palazzo Corsini, Rome. VENUS ANADYOMENE. Venus of Quinipily. A singular | Venus Rising from the Sea. See granite statue in the garden of a ruined château near Baud in the Department of Morbihan, France. Its origin is wrapped in obscurity. It is thought by some to be a statue of Isis. The name Venus is given to it from an inscription on the pedestal in 1689. It was worshipped as late as the seventeenth century, and is an object of superstitious veneration by the peasantry. Venus of the Capitol. A celebrat- Venus, Toilet of. See Toilet of Venus Victrix. [Venus Victori- Verlorenes Loch. [The Lost Gulf.] Venus, Townley. See TowNLEY Vermont, The. An old line-ofVENUS. "If we heard it said of a modern artist that he had even equalled the works of the Greek masters, the Venus of Milo would rise before us in her divine smiling beauty, in derision of all other statues we might try and place beside her." Grimm, Trans. Yon bare-footed girl filling her pitcher at the fountain would have been a Venus of Milo in a higher social sphere. Bayard Taylor. Surprised the senses of Olympian Jove. O Goddess of that Grecian isle An exile from thy native place, e view thee in a northern clime, battle ship, now used as a receiv- Vermont, University of. See UNI- Vernia, La. A celebrated Fran- "This singular convent, which stands on the cliffs of a lofty Apennine, was built by St. Francis himself, and is celebrated for the miracle which the motto records. Here reigns all the terrible of nature, -a rocky mountain, a ruin of the elements, broken, sawn, and piled in sublime confusion,-precipices crowned with old, gloomy, visionary woods, black chasms in the rock, where curiosity shudders to look down, haunted caverns, sanctified by miraculous crosses,-long excavated stairs that restore you to daylight." Forsyth. On the rude rock 'twixt Tiber and the From Christ did he receive the final Which during two whole years his members bore. Dante, Paradiso, Longfellow's Trans. Vernon Gallery. A collection of paintings of the English school, consisting of 162 pictures presented to the nation by Mr. Robert Vernon (d. 1849), and now deposited in the South Kensington Museum, London. Vernon, Mount. See MOUNT VER NON. Verona Amphitheatre. See ARE NA. Veronica, The. [The True Image.] A famous Catholic relic preserved in St. Peter's Church, Rome, said to be the impress of the countenance of the Saviour upon the handkerchief of Santa Veronica, with which he wiped his brow on the way to Calvary. [Sometimes called also Volto Santo, or Santo Volto (Holy Face).] "Properly speaking, the Veronica (vera icon) is the true likeness of Our Lord; and the same name has been given to the holy woman who obtained it, because the name of this holy woman was uncertain. According to some, she was a pious Jewess, called Seraphia; according to others, she was Berenice, niece of Herod. It is impossible to decide between the different traditions, some of which make her a virgin, and others the wife of Zaccheus. . . . When she saw Our Lord pass, bearing his cross, covered with blood, spittle, sweat, and dust, she ran to meet him, and, presenting her kerchief, tried to wipe his adorable face. Our Lord, leaving for an instant the burden of the cross to Simon the Cyrenian, took the kerchief, applied it to his face, and gave it back to the pious woman, marked with the exact imprint of his august countenance." - Collin de Plancy. Longfellow, from whose notes on Dante this extract is taken, says: "Of the Veronica there are four copies in existence, each claiming to be the origi nal; one at Rome, another at Paris, a third at Laon, and a fourth at Xaen in Andalusia." "There is nothing regarded with so much reverence as this: the people prostrate themselves on the earth before it, most of them with tears rolling down their cheeks, and all uttering cries of commiseration." Montaigne, Trans. "In St. Peter's at Rome, one of the chapels under the dome is dedicated to St. Veronica. An ancient image of our Saviour, painted on linen, and styled the Vera Icon (whence it is supposed that the name of Veronica is derived), is regarded by the people as the veritable napkin of St. Veronica, and is exhibited among the relics of the Church." Mrs. Jameson. "To-day we gazed on the Veronica, the holy impression left_by our Saviour's face on the cloth Sta. Veronica presented to him to wipe his brow, bowed under the weight of the cross. We had looked forward to this sight for days, for seven thousand years of indulgence from penance are attached to it. But when the moment came we could see nothing but a black board hung with a cloth, before which another white cloth was held. In a few minutes this was withdrawn, and the great moment was over, the glimpse of the sacred thing on which hung the fate of seven thousand years." E. R. Charles, Schönberg-Cotta "The strangest thing about the incident that has made her name so famous is, that, when she wiped the perspiration away, the print of the Savfour's face remained upon the handkerchief, a perfect portrait, and so remains unto this day. We knew this, because we saw this handkerchief in a cathedral in Paris, in another in Spain, and in two others in Italy. In the Milan cathedral it costs five francs to see it, and at St. Peter's at Rome it is almost impossible to see it at any price. No tradition is so amply verified as this of St. Veronica and her handkerchief." Mark Twain. As he who peradventure from Croatia But says in thought, the while it is displayed, "My Lord, Christ Jesus, God of very God Now was your semblance made like unto this?" Dante, Paradiso. Trans. of Longfellow. 1644, 11 April. St. Veronica's handker chief (with the impression of our Saviour's face] was exposed, and the next day the speare with a world of ceremonie. John Evelyn. Veronica, St. See St. VERONICA. Verplanck House. An old colonial mansion near Fishkill, N.Y., for a time the headquarters of Baron Steuben, in the Revolutionary War. Here in 1783 the Society of the Cincinnati was instituted. Versailles. A magnificent palace in the city of the same name, 10 miles from Paris. It was built by Louis XIV. in 1661. It became a royal residence in 1681. It was attacked by the mob at the outbreak of the Revolution in 1789. The palace is now used as an historical museum, and its immense galleries are adorned with paintings and statues arranged in chronological order. A grand park is connected with the palace. "Before us lies the palace dedicated to all the glories of France. Honored pile! Time was when tall musketeers and gilded body-guards allowed none to pass the gate. Fifty years ago, ten thousand drunken women from Paris broke through the charm; and now a tattered commissioner will conduct you through it for a penny, and lead you up to the sacred entrance of the palace. place, however, as they will, and plas Let them disguise the ter the walls with bad pictures as they please, it will be hard to think of any family but one, as one traverses this vast, gloomy edifice. It has not been humbled to the ground, as a certain palace of Babel was of yore; but it is a monument of fallen pride, not less awful, and would afford matter for a whole library of sermons. The cheap defence of nations expended a thousand millions in the erection of this magnificent dwelling-place. Armies were employed, in the intervals of their warlike labors, to level hills or pile them up; to turn rivers, and to build aqueducts, and transplant woods, and construct smooth terraces and long canals. A vast garden grew up in a wilderness, and a stupendous palace in the garden, and a stately city round the palace; the city was peopled with parasites who daily came to do worship before the creator of these wonders, - the Great King. 'Dieu seul est grand,' said courtly Massillon; but next to him, as the prelate thought, was certainly Louis, his vice-gerent here upon earth, -God's lieutenant, governor of the world, before whom courtiers used to fall upon their knees, and shade their eyes, as if the light of his countenance, like the sun, which shone supreme in heaven, the type of him, was too dazzling to bear." Thackeray. "Versailles is the most complete type of the classic style. That palace was the seat and tomb of the old dynasty of French monarchs, and has held a great place in the history of France. Louis XIII. built at Versailles a sort of feudal château, flanked by four large pavilions at the angles, encircled by ditches with drawbridges. Louis XIV. continued his father's labors, but in his additions the feudal character is no longer seen. The mod VER est hunting rendezvous of Louis XIII. presents towards the town a façade in stone and brick, the arrangement of which forms an agreeable perspective. The buildings were commenced a little after the death of Mazarin, in 1661, under the direction of Levan, and were continued by Mansart from 1670 to 1684. They were severely criticised by court retainers. Saint-Simon declared that the place chosen was 'unpleasant, sad, without view, without wood, without water, without land, because the ground was sandy and marshy.' To this complaint the finished structures are a victorious answer, opening as they do upon beautiful gardens, with a thousand fine views and vistas, and numberless sheets of water. It is only fair to say that the architects themselves experienced a hundred difficulties in carrying out this undertaking. The chief diffi culty was to obtain funds. · 90,000,000 of francs (which at the present day would be worth 400,000,000) were sunk at Versailles under Louis XIV., and Mirabeau valued the total expense at 1,200,000,000. There is no doubt that these enormous expenses affected the economy of the public finances, and largely contributed to the embarrassments which resulted in the fall of the monarchy. The façade overlooking the garden was a repetition of the arrangements common to all the great buildings of the reigns of Louis XIV. and Louis XV. Seen at sunset from near the Swiss lake, the profile of the façade produces a grand impression of nobleness and simplicity. The interior arrangement is imperfect; the vesti bules are ill-placed; and the stairs do not correspond with the richness and grandeur of the apartments. But these defects are more than compensated for by the splendid pictures of Lebrun, Audran, Coypel, Jouvenet, Lafosse, and Lemoyne. rarest marbles, fine specimens of the Ancient statues, the goldsmith's art, jewels, and curiosities of every description, were formerly lavished on these empty saloons. We may still judge of the former splendor of Versailles by the famous Mirror Gallery. It is 228 feet long by 33. Its 17 great crosses correspond with the mirrors, which reflect the gardens and the lakes." Lefevre, Trans. Donald. He [Admiral Torrington] had long been Versailles! Up the chestnut alleys, Walter Thornbury. I do not think that on this earth, Véry's. A noted restaurant in I had eaten for a week at Very's before I discovered that since Pelham's day that gentleman's reputation has gone down. He is a subject for history at present. N. P. Willis. We are not prepared to say what sums were expended upon the painting of Very's ..or of other places of public resort in the capital. Thackeray. Vespasian, Temple of. See TEMPLE OF VESPASIAN. Vesta, Temple of. See TEMPLE OF VESTA. Via Appia. [Appian Way.] One of the great avenues leading from ancient Rome, and the principal line of communication with Southern Italy, Greece, and the East. It was begun by Appius Claudius Cæcus, the Censor, B.C. 312, from whom it derived its name. Under Pope Pius IX. this ancient road was laid open in the most interesting part of its extent. The Appian Way is about 11 Roman miles in length, and is remarkable for the number and magnificence of the.tombs which lined it, and for the solid and durable construction of its pavement, which is now exposed for parts of its extent. "The Via Appia is a magnificent promenade amongst ruinous tombs, the massive remains of which extend for many miles over the Roman Campagna. The powerful families of ancient Rome loved to build monuments to their dead by the side of the public road, probably to exhibit at once their affection for their relations and their own power and affluence." Frederika Bremer. "The best known of the Roman roads, the Appian Way,... forms the most travelled route between Rome and Naples. been impressed with the idea of the eternal duration of Rome." Hillard. "Even the Pyramids form hardly a stranger spectacle, or a more alien from human sympathies, than the tombs of the Appian Way, with their gigantic height, breadth, and solidity, defying time and the elements, and far too mighty to be demolished by ordinary earthquakes." Hawthorne. Then you must build up or uncover the massive tombs, now broken or choked with sand, so as to restore the aspect of vast streets of tombs like those on the Appian Way, out of which the Great Pyramid would rise like a cathedral above smaller churches. A. P. Stanley. "Is there time," I asked, "In these last days of railroads, to stop short Like Cæsar's chariot (weighing half a ton) On the Appian road for morals?" Mrs. Browning. Awe-struck I gazed upon that rock-paved way, The Appian Road; marmorean witness still Of Rome's resistless stride and fateful will, Which mocked at limits, opening out for aye Divergent paths to one imperial sway. Aubrey de Vere. Via Babuino. One of three streets diverging from the Piazza del Popolo in Rome. It extends to the Piazza di Spagna. Via Balbi. The principal street in Genoa, Italy, containing many fine palaces. Via de' Bardi. An ancient and historic street in Florence, Italy, which has of late in great part disappeared as a consequence of city improvements. The color of these objects was chiefly pale or sombre; the vellum bindings, with their deep ridged backs, gave little relief to the marble livid with long burial, the dark bronzes wanted sunlight upon them to bring out their tinges of green, and the sun was not yet high enough to send gleams of brightness through the narrow windows that looked on the Via de' Bardi. George Eliot. Via Dolorosa. A narrow street about a mile in length, which pursues a winding or zigzag course through the city of Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives to Golgotha, and which has borne its present name for the last few On this street the credulous may find the scenes of all the historical and legend centuries. Such roads could not have been constructed unless the very workmen who wrought upon them had |