Dictionary of Phrase and Fable
E. Cobham Brewer From The Edition Of 1894
the twenty-second letter in the modern Latin alphabet. Its name in English is pronounced vee.
V ultimately comes from the Semitic letter Waw, as do the modern letters F, U, W, and Y. See F for details.
In Greek, the letter "upsilon" (Y) was adapted from waw to represent, at first, the vowel /u/ as in "moon" (although in later times, this vowel came to be pronounced /y/, a rounded vowel as in English "few").
V represents a hook, and is called in Hebrew vav (a hook).
V. D. M
on monuments is Vir Dei Minister, or Verbi Dei Minister.
V. D. M. I. A. E
(Verbum Dei manet in aeternum). The word of God endureth for ever. The inscription on the livery of the servants of the Duke of Saxony and Landgrave of Hesse, the Lutheran princes, at the Diet of Spires in 1526.
V. V. V.
the letters found on the coin of the 20th Roman legion, stand for “Valeria, Vicesima, Victrix.”
Vacuum
now means a space from which air has been expelled. Descartes says, “If a vacuum could be effected in a vessel the sides would be pressed into contact.” Galileo said, “Nature abhors a vacuum,” to account for the rise of water in pumps. (See Point .)
Vacuum Boyleanum
Such a vacuum as can be produced by Boyle's improved air—pump, the nearest approach to a vacuum practicable with human instruments.
The Guerickian vacuum is that produced by ordinary air—pumps, so called from Otto von Guericke, who devised the air—pump.
The Torricellian vacuum is the vacuum produced by a mercury—pump.
Vade Mecum
[a go—with—me ]. A pocket—book, memorandum—book, pocket cyclopaedia, lady's pocket companion, or anything else which contains many things of daily use in a small compass.
Vae Victis!
Woe to the vanquished.
Vail
(To). To lower; to cast down. Brutus complained that he had not lately seen in Cassius that courtesy and show of love which he used to notice; to which Cassius replies, “If I have vailed [lowered] my looks, I turn the trouble of my countenance merely on myself. Vexed I am of late ... [and this may] give some soil to my behaviour.”
“His hat, which never vailed to human pride,
Walker with reverence took and laid aside.”
Dunciad, iv.
Vails
Blackmail in the shape of fees to servants. (From the Latin verb valeo, to be worth, to be of value; French, valoir.) The older form was avails.
“Vails to servants being much in fashion.”
Russell: Representative Actors.
Vain as a Peacock
(See Similes .)
Valdarno
The valley of the Arno, in Tuscany.
“— the Tuscan artist [Galileo] views
At evening from the top of Fesole,
Or in Valdarno?”
Milton: Paradise Lost, bk. i. 207—200.
Vale of Avoca
in Wicklow, Ireland.
“Sweet Vale of Avoca, how calm could I rest
In thy bosom of shade, with the friends I love best.”
T. Moore: Irish Melodies, No. 1 (The Meeting of the Waters.
Vale of Tears
This world. (See Baca .)
Vale of Bonnet
(To). To cap to a superior; hence to strike sail, to lower (French, avaler, to take off.)
“My wealthy Andrew docked in sand,
Vailing her high—top lower than her ribs.”
Shakespeare: Merchant of Venice, i. 1
Valens
or Valanus. Mercury was the son of Valens and Phoronis. This Mercury is called Trophonius in the regions under the earth. (Cicero De Nat. Deorum, iii. 22.)
“Ciclinius [Mercury] riding in his hirachee
Fro Venus V'lanus might this palais see.”
Chaucer: Compl. of Mars and Venus.
Valentia
The southern part of Scotland was so called from the Emperor Valens.
Valentine
A corruption of galantin (a lover, a dangler), a gallant. St. Valentine was selected for the sweet—hearts' saint because of his name. Similar changes are seen in gallant and valiant.
Valentine. One of the Two Gentlemen of Verona; his serving—man is Speed. The other gentleman is Proteus, whose serving—man is Launce. (Shakespeare: Two Gentlemen of Verona.
Valentine, in Congreve's Love for Love. Betterton's great character.
Valentine (The Brave). Brother of Orson and the son of Bellisant, sister of King Pepin and wife of Alexander, Emperor of Constantinople. The twin brothers were born in a wood, near Orleans, and while their mother went in search of Orson, who had been carried off by a bear, Pepin happened to see Valentine and took him under his charge. He married Clerimond, niece of the Green Knight. (Valentine and Orson.
Valentinians An ancient sect of Gnostics. So called from Valentinus, their leader.
Valerian
or Valirian. Husband of St. Cecilia. Cecilia told him she was beloved by an angel who frequently visited her, and Valerian requested he might be allowed, to see this constant visitant. Cecilia told him he should do so provided he went to Pope Urban and got baptised. On returning home, he saw the angel in his wife's chamber, who gave to Cecilia a crown of roses, and to himself a crown of lilies, both of which he brought from Paradise. The angel then asked Valerian what would please him best, and he answered that his brother might be brought “to saving faith” by God's grace. The angel approved of the petition, and said both should be holy martyrs. Valerian being brought before Almachius, the prefect, was commanded to worship the image of Jupiter, and, refusing to do so, was led forth to execution. (Chaucer: Secounds Nonnes Tale.) (See Cecilia .)
Valerian
(the herb). An irresistible attraction to cats. (The word is from the Latin valere, to be well, and hence to make well and keep well.) It is an excitant, antispasmodic, tonic, and emmenagogue. The “Father of Botany” says:
“Valerian hath been had in such veneration, that no brothes, pottage, or physical meates are worth anything, if this be not at one end.”
Valhalla
in Scandinavian mythology, is the great hall or refectory of Gladsheim, the palace of the Æsir or Asgard. The Times, speaking of Westminster Abbey, says “The Abbey is our Valhalla.”
“We both must pass from earth away,
Valhalla's joys to see;
And if I wander there to—day,
To—morrow may fetch thee.”
Frithiof—Saga, lay xi.
Valiant
(The). Jean IV. of Brittany. (1389—1442.)
Valis'e
(2 syl.). A small leather portmanteau. (French, valise.)
Valkyriur
or Valkyries. The twelve nymphs of Valhalla. They were mounted on swift horses, and held drawn swords in their hands. In the mêléc of battle they selected those destined to death, and conducted them to Valhalla, where they waited upon them, and served them with mead and ale in cups of horn called skulls. The chief were Mista, Sangrida, and Hilda. Valkyriur means “chooser of the slain.”
“Mista black, terrific maid,
Sangrida and Hilda see.”
Gray: Fatal Sisters.
Valla
(Laurentius). One of the first scholars of the Renaissance, noted for his Latin sermons, and his admirable Latin translations of Herodotus and Thucydides.
Vallary Crown
A crown bestowed by the ancient Romans on the soldier who first surmounted the vallum of an enemy's camp.
Valley of Humiliation
The place where Christian encountered Apollyon, just before he came to the “Valley of the Shadow of Death.” (Bunyan: Pilgrim's Progress, pt. i.)
Valley of the Shadow of Death through which Christian had to pass in order to get to the Celestial City. The prophet Jeremiah describes it as a “wilderness, a land of deserts and of pits, a land of drought and of the shadow of death” (ii. 6); and the Psalmist says, “Though I walk through the valley of `he shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me” (xxiii. 4).
“The light there is darkness, and the way full of traps and gins to catch the unwary.”— Bunyan: Pilgrim's Progress, pt. i.
Vallombrosa
Milton says, “Thick as autumnal leaves that strew the brooks in Vallombrosa” (Paradise Lost, i. 302); but as the trees of Vallombrosa are chiefly pines, they do not strew the brooks with autumnal leaves. The beech and chestnut trees are by no means numerous.
Valorem
Ad valorem. A sliding scale of duty on excisable articles, regulated according to their market value. Thus, tea at 4s. per pound would pay more duty than tea at 2s. per pound.
Vamp
To vamp up an old story. To vamp is to put new uppers to old boots. Vampes were short hose covering the feet and ankles. (Perhaps the French avant—pied, the fore—part of the foot.)
Vampire
An extortioner. According to Dom Calmet, the vampire is a dead man who returns in body and soul from the other world, and wanders about the earth doing mischief to the living. He sucks the blood of persons asleep, and these persons become vampires in turn.
The vampire lies as a corpse during the day, but by night, especially at full moon, wanders about. Sir W. Scott, in his Rokeby (part iii. chap. ii. s. 3) alludes to the superstition, and Lord Byron in his Giaour says,
“But first on earth, as vampire sent,
Thy corse shall from the tomb be rent,
Then ghastly haunt thy native place
And suck the blood of all thy race.”
Van
of an army is the French avant, but van, a winnowing machine, is the Latin vannus, our fan.
The Spirit of the Van. A sort of fairy which haunts the Van Pools in the mountains of Carmarthen on New Year's Eve. She is dressed in white, girded with a golden girdle; her golden hair is very long, and she sits in a golden boat, which she urges along with a golden oar. A young farmer fell in love with her and married her, but she told him if he struck her thrice she would quit him for ever. After a time they were invited to a christening, and in the midst of the ceremony she burst into tears. Her husband struck her, and asked why she made such a fool of herself. “I weep,” she said, “to see the poor babe brought into a vale of misery and tears.” They were next invited to the funeral of the same child, and she could not resist laughing. Her husband struck her again, and asked the same question. “I laugh,” she said, “to think how joyous a thing it is that the child has left a world of sin for a world of joy and innocence.” They were next invited to a wedding, where the bride was young and the man advanced in years. Again she wept, and said aloud. “It is the devil's compact. The bride has sold herself for gold.” Her husband bade her hold her peace, struck her, and she vanished for ever from his sight. (Welsh mythology.)
Van
(pl. Vanir), in Scandinavian mythology. Gods of the ocean, air, fountains, and streams.
Vandal
One who destroys beautiful objects to make way for what he terms “improvements,” or to indulge his own caprice. When Genseric with his Vandals captured Rome in A.D. 455, he mutilated the public monuments regardless of their worth or beauty.
“The word `vandalism' was invented by the Abbé Grégoire, à propos of the destruction of works of art by revolutionary fanatics.”— Nineteenth Century (Aug., 1893, p. 272).
Vandyck The Vandyck of sculpture. Antoine Coysevox (1640—1720).
The English Vandyck. William Dobson, painter (1610—1647).
Vandyke
(2 syl.). To scollop an edge after the fashion of the collars painted by Vandyck in the reign of Charles I. The scolloped edges are said to be vandyked.
Vanessa
is Miss Esther Vanhomrigh, and Cadenus is Dean Swift. While he was still married to Stella [Miss Hester Johnson, whose tutor he had been] Miss Vanhomrigh fell in love with him, and requested him to marry her, but the dean refused. The proposal became known to his wife (?), and both the ladies died soon afterwards. Hester Johnson was called Stella by a pun upon the Greek aster, which resembles Hester in sound, and means a “star.” Miss Vanhomrigh was called Vanessa by compounding Van, the first syllable of her name, with Essa, the pet form of Esther. Cadenus is simply decanus (dean) slightly transposed.
Vanity Fair
A fair established by Beelzebub, Apollyon, and Legion, for the sale of all sorts of vanities. It was held in the town of Vanity, and lasted all the year round. Here were sold houses, lands, trades, places, honours, preferments, titles, countries, kingdoms, lusts, pleasures, and delights of all sorts. (Bunyan: Pilgrim's Progress, pt. i.)
Vanoc
Son of Merlin, one of Arthur's Round—Table Knights.
“Young Vanoc of the beardless face (Fame spoke the youth of Merlin's race),
O'erpowered at Gyneth's footstool, bled,
His heart's blood dyed her sandals red.”
Sir Walter Scott: Bridal of Triermain, ii. 25.
Vantage Loaf
The thirteenth loaf of a baker's dozen.
Varina
Swift, in his early life, professed to have an attachment to Miss Jane Waryng, and Latinised her name into Varina. (See Vanessa .)
Varnish
from the French vernis; Italian, vernice. Sir G. C. Lewis says the word is a corruption of Berenice, famous for her amber hair, which was dedicated in the temple of Arsinoe, and became a constellation. (See Berenice .)
Varro
called “the most learned of the Romans.” (B.C. 116—28.)
Varun'a
The Hindu Neptune. He is represented as an old man riding on a sea—monster, with a club in one hand and a rope in the other. In the Vedic hymns he is the night—sky, and Mitra the day—sky. Varuna is said to set free the “waters of the clouds.”
Vassal
A youth. In feudal times it meant a feudatory, or one who held lands under a “lord.” In law it means a bondservant or political slave, as “England shall never be the vassal of a foreign prince.” Christian says, in his Notes on Blackstone, that the corruption of the meaning of vassal into slave “is an incontrovertible proof of the horror of feudalism in England.” (Welsh, gwas, a boy or servant; gwasan, a page; like the French garcon, and Latin puer; Italian, vassallo, a servant.)
Vathek
The hero of Beckford's fairy romance. He is a haughty, effeminate monarch, induced by a malignant genius to commit all sorts of crimes. He abjures his faith, and offers allegiance to Eblis, under the hope of obtaining the throne of the pre—Adamite sultans.
Vatican The palace of the Pope: so called because it stands on the Vatican Hill. Strictly speaking, the Vatican consists of the Papal palace, the court and garden of Belvidere, the library, and the museum.
“The sun of the Vatican sheds glory over the Catholic world.”— The Times.
The thunders of the Vatican. The anathenias of the Pope, which are issued from the Vatican. The Council of the Vatican. The twenty—first General or OEcumenical Council. It commenced in 1869, Pius
IX. being Pope. (See Councils.)
Vaudeville
(2 syl.). A corruption of Val de Vire, or in Old French, Vau de Vire, the native valley of Oliver Basselin, a Norman poet, the founder of a certain class of convivial songs, which he called after the name of his own valley. These songs are the basis of modern vaudeville.
Father of the Vaudeville. Oliver Basselin, a Norman poet. (Fifteenth century.)
Vaugirard
The deputies of Vaugirard. Only one individual. This applies to all the false companies in which the promoter represents the directors, chairman, committee, and entire staff. The expression is founded on an incident in the reign of Charles VIII. of France: The usher announced to the king “The deputies of Vaugirard.”
“How many are there?” asked the king. “Only one, and please your majesty,” was the answer. (See Tailors .)
Vauxhall
or Fauxhall (2 syl.). Called after Jane Vaux, who held the copyhold tenement in 1615, and was the widow of John Vaux, the vintner. Chambers says it was the manor of Fulke de Breauté, the mercenary follower of King John, and that the word should be Fulke's Hall. Pepys calls it Fox Hall, and says the entertainments there are “mighty divertising.” (Book of Days.)
Thackeray, in Vanity Fair (chap. vi.), sketches the loose character of these “divertising” amusements.
Ve
Brother of Odin and Vili. He was one of the three deities who took part in the creation of the world. (Scandinavian mythology. )
Veal. Calf
The former is Norman, and the latter Saxon. (See Beef, Pork .)
“Mynheer Calf becomes Monsieur de Veau in the like manner. He is Saxon when he requires tendance, but takes a Norman name when he becomes matter of enjoyment.”— Sir Walter Scott: Iranhoe.
Ve das
or Vedams. The generic name of the four sacred books of the Hindus. It comprises (1) the Rig or Rish Veda, (2) Yajar or Yajush Veda, (3) the Sama or Saman Veda; and (4) the Atharvana or Ezour Veda. (Sanskrit, vid, know, Chaldee, yed—a; Hebrew, id—o, Greek, eid—o, Latin, video, etc.)
Vehmgerichte
or Holy Vehme Tribunal. A secret tribunal of Westphalia, said to have been founded by Charlemagne. (See Fehm—Gericht .)
Veil
At one time men wore veils, as St. Ambrose testifies. He speaks of the “silken garments and the veils interwoven with gold, with which the bodies of rich men are encompassed.” (St. Ambrose lived 340—397.)
Veiled Prophet of Khorassan
The first poetical tale in Thomas Moore's Lalla Rookh.
The Veiled Prophet of Khorassan was Hakim ben Allah, surnamed the Veiled (Mokanna), founder of an Arabic sect in the eighth century. Having lost an eye, and being otherwise disfigured in battle, he wore a veil to conceal his face, but his followers said it was done to screen his dazzling brightness. He assumed to be a
god, and maintained that he had been Adam, Noah, and other representative men. When encompassed by Sultan Mahadi, he first poisoned all his followers at a banquet, and then threw himself into a burning acid, which wholly destroyed his body.
Vendemiiare
(4 syl.), in the French Republican calendar, was from September 22 to October 21. The word means “Vintage.”
Vendetta
The blood—feud, or duty of the nearest kin of a murdered man to kill the murderer. It prevails in Corsica, and exists in Sicily, Sardinia, and Calabria. It is preserved among the Druses, Circassians, Arabs, etc. (Latin, vindicta.)
Vendredi
(French), Friday. (Latin, Veneris dies. Here Vener is metamorphosed into Vendre. The Italian is Venerdi.)
Venerable
The Venerable. Bede, the ecclesiastical historian. (672—735.)
The Venerable Doctor. William de Champeaux, founder of realism. (Twelfth century.) Peter, Abbot of Clugny. (1093—1156.)
Vengeur
(Le). A man—of—war commanded by Cambrone. The tale is this: June 1, 1794, Lord Howe encountered the French fleet off Ushant. Six ships were taken by the English admiral, and the victory was decisive. but Le Vengeur, although reduced to a mere hulk, refused to surrender, and, discharging a last broadside, sank in the waves, while the crew shouted “Vive la République! ” The Convention ordered a medal to be struck with this legend— Le Triomphe du Vengeur. It is almost a pity that this thoroughly French romance should lack one important item— a grain of truth. The day of this victory is often called “The Glorious First of June.” The historic fact is, the ship sank, with the crew crying for help, which was readily given by the British foe.
“We'll show the haughty British race
The Frenchman can such honour boast—
That when one Vengour we have lost,
Another hastes to take her place.
Translated by J. Oxenford.
Veni, Creator Spiritus
A hymn of the Roman Breviary used on the Feast of Pentecost. It has been ascribed to Charlemagne, but Mone thinks that Pope Gregory I. was the author.
Veni, Sanote Spiritus
A Latin hymn in rhyme, ascribed to Robert, King of France; also to Archbishop Langton.
Veni, Vidi, Vici
It was thus that Julius Caesar announced to his friend Amintius his victory at Zela, in Asia Minor, over Pharnaces, son of Mithridates, who had rendered aid to Pompey. (Plutarch.)
Venial Sin
One that may be pardoned; one that does not forfeit grace. In the Catholic Church sins are of two sorts, mortal and venial; in the Protestant Church there is no such distinction; but see Matt. xii. 31.
Venice Glass
The drinking glasses of the Middle Ages, made at Venice, were said to break into shivers if poison were put into them.
Doge. ” `Tis said that our Venetian crystal has
Such pure antipathy to poison, as
To burst, if aught of venom touches it.”
Byron: The Two Foscari, v. 1.
Venice glass, from its excellency, became a synonym for perfection.
Venice of the West
Glasgow.
“Another element in the blazon of the `Venice of the West' is a fish laid across the stem of the tree, `in base,' as the heralds say.”— J. H. Burton.
Venison
Anything taken in hunting or by the chase. Hence Jacob bids Esau to go and get venison such as he loved (Gen. xxvii. 3), meaning the wild kid. The word is simply the Latin venatio (hunting), but is now restricted to the flesh of deer.
Venom
The venom is in the tail. The real difficulty is the conclusion. The allusion is to the scorpion, which has a sting in its tail.
The French say, “It is always most difficult to flay the tail” (C'est lc plus difficile que d'écorcher la queue).
Venomous Preacher
(The). Robert Traill (1642—1716).
Ventilate a Subject
(To). To moof it, to throw it out for discussion that it may be winnowed or sifted. To ventilate a room is to let air and light into it, to drive away bad gases, etc. So in ventilating a subject, light is thrown on it, and all that is false, extraneous, or doubtful is blown away.
Ventre—saint—Gris!
The usual oath of Henri IV. About equal to “Corpus Christi. ” A similar juron is “Par le ventre de Dieu ” (Ventre—dieu! or Ventrebleu!). Cris for Christ is familiarised by our common phrase “the criss—cross or cris—cross row”; and if saint refers to Christ we have a similar phrase in St. Saviour's. Rabelais has “Par sainct Gris ”; and William Price, “the Arch—Druid,” who died in 1893, describes himself in the Medical Directory as “Decipherer of the Pedigree of Jessu Grist.” Chaucer writes the word “Crist.”
Mr. F. Adams has sent me two quotations from the Romance of Huon de Bordeau, from a MS. dated 1250—
“Abes, dist Karles, tort avés par saint Crist.” (Line 1,473)
“Sire, dist Hues, tort aves, par saint Crist.” (Line 2,218)
But a correspondent of Notes and Queries sends this quotation —
Ce prince [Henri IV] avoit pris l'habitude d'employer cette expression. `Ventre—saint—Gris' comme une espèce de jurement, lorsqu'il étoit encore infant, ses gouvèrneurs craignant qu'il ne s'habitual à jurer ... lui avoient permis de dire `Ventre—saint—Gris,' qui étoit un terme derision qu'ils appliquoent aux Franciscans ... de la coleur de leur habillements.” — Feb. 10th, 1894, p. 113.
Ventriloquism
“speaking from the belly.” From the erroneous notion that the voice of the ventriloquist proceeded from his stomach. The best that ever lived was Brabant, the “engastrimist” of François I. (Latin, venter—loquor.)
Venus
Love; the goddess of love; courtship. Copper was called Venus by the alchemists. (See Aphrodite
“Venus smiles not in a house of tears.” Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet, iv.l.
Venus is the name of the second planet from the sun, and the nearest heavenly body to the earth except the moon.
Statues of Venus. The most celebrated statues of this goddes are the Venus de Medici, the Aphrodite of Praxiteles, the Venus of Milo, The Venus Victorious of Canova, and the Venus of Gibson.
Capitoline Venus (The) . In the Capitoline Museum of Rome.
Canova's Venus is the most noted of modern sculpture. (1757—1822.)
Uranian Venus of the Lusiad is the impersonation of heavenly love. She pleads to Destiny for the Lusians, and appears to them in the form of “the silver star of love.” Plato says she was the daughter of Heaven
(Uranos), and Xenophon adds that “she presided over the love of wisdom and virtue, the pleasures of the soul.” Nigidius says that this “heavenly Venus” was not born from the sea—foam, but from an egg which two fishes conveyed to the seashore. This egg was hatched by two pigeons whiter than snow, and have birth to the Assyrian Venus, who instructed mankind in religion, virtue, and equity. (See Aphrodite
Venus in astrology “signifiethe white men or browne ... joyfull, laughter, liberall, pleasers, dauncers, entertayners of women, players, perfumers, musitions, messengers of love.”
“Venus loveth ryot and dispense.” Chaucer: Canterbury Tale, 6,282.
My Venus turns out a whelp (Latin). All my swans are changed to geese; my cake is dough. In dice the best cast (three sixes) was called “Venus,” and the worst (three aces) was called “Canis.” My win—all turns out to be a lose—all.
The Island of Venus in the Lusiad is a paradisaical island raised by “Divine Love,” as a reward for the heroes of the poem. Here Venus, the ocean—goddess, gave her hand to Gama, and committed to him the empire of the sea. It was situate “near where the bowers of Paradise are placed,” not far from the mountains of Imaus, whence the Ganges and Indus derive their source. This paradise of Love is described in the ninth book.
We have several parallel Edens, as the “gardens of Alcinous,” in the Odyssey, bk. vii.; the “island of Circe,” Odyssey, x.; the “Elysium” of Virgil, Æneid, vi.; the “island and palace of Alcina” or Vice, in Orlando Furioso, vi. vii.; the “country of Logistilla” or Virtue, in the same epic, bk. x.; the description of “Paradise,” visited by Astolpho, the English duke, in bk. xxxiv.; the “island of Armida,” in Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered; the “bower of Acrasia,” in Spenser's Faërie Queene, the “palace with its forty doors,” the keys of which were entrusted to prince Agib, whose adventures form the tale of the “Third Calendar,” in The Arabian Nights' Entertainments etc. E. A. Poe calls Eden “Aiden,” which he rhymes with “laden.” (The Raven, 16.) (See Venusberg.)
Venus Anadyomene
(6 syl.). Venus rising from the sea, accompanied by dolphins.
Venus Genetrix
Worshipped at Rome, especially on April day, as the mother of AEneas, and patroness of the Julian race.
Venus Victrix
Venus, as goddess of victory, represented on numerous Roman coins.
Venus de Medicis
supposed to be the production of Cleomenes of Athens, who lived in the second century before the Christian era. In the seventeenth century it was dug up in the villa of Hadrian, near Tivoli, in eleven pieces; but it is all ancient except the right arm. It was removed in 1680, by Cosmo III., to the Imperial Gallery at Florence, from the Medici Palace at Rome.
“So stands the statue that enchants the world,
So bending tries to veil the matchless boast,
The mingled beauties of exulting Greece.”
Thomson: Summer.
Venus of Cnidus
The undraped statue of Praxiteles (4 syl.) purchased by the ancient Cnidians, who refused to part with it, although Nicomedes, King of Bithynia, offered to pay off their national debt as a price for it. The statue was subsequently removed to Constantinople, and perished in the great fire during the reign of Justinian, (A.D. 80.)
Praxiteles made also a draped statue of the same goddess, called the “Venus of Cos.”
Venus of Milo
or Melos. The statue, with three of Hermes, was discovered in 1820 by Admiral Dumont in Milo or Melos, one of the Greek islands, whence its name. It now stands in the Louvre.
Venusberg
The mountain of delight and love, where Lady Venus holds her court. Human beings occasionally are permitted to visit her, as Heinrich von Limburg did, and the noble Tannhäuser (q.v.); but as such persons run the risk of eternal perdition, Eckhardt the Faithful, who sat before the gate, failed not to warn them against entering. (German Legend Children of Limburg, a poem. (1337.) (See The Island of Venus.)
Vera Causa
A cause in harmony with other causes already known. A fairy godmother may be assigned in story as the cause of certain marvellous effects, but is not a vera causa. The revolution of the earth round the sun may be assigned as the cause of the four seasons, and is a vera causa.
Verbum Sap
[A word to the wise. ] A hint is sufficient to any wise man; a threat implying if the hint is not taken I will expose you. (Latin, Verbum sapienti.)
Verbum Sat [A word is enough. ] Similar to the above. (Latin, Verbum sat [satienti]. A word to the wise is enough.)
Verdant Green
An excessivley `green' or unsophisticated young man. The character was epitomized in The Adventures of Mr Verdant Green (1853) by `Cuthbert Bede, BA' (Rev Edward Bradley). Verdant's adventures at Oxford, where he goes as a very green freshman, the victim of endless practical jokes and impostures, make an entertaining and enlightening commentary on life at the university in the mid—19th century.
`Looks ferociously mild in his gig—lamps!' remarked a third, alluding to Mr Verdant Green's spectacles. `And jolly green all over!' wound up a fourth.
ch. iii
Vere Adeptus
One admitted to the fraternity of the Rosicrucians.
“In Rosycrucian lore as learned
As he the Vere—adeptus earned.”
Butler: Hudibras.
Verger
The officer in a church who carries the rod or mace. (Latin, verga, a wand.)
Vernon
mentioned by Thomson in his Summer, was Admiral Edward Vernon, who attacked Carthagena in 1741; but the malaria reached the crew, and, as the poet says—
“To infant weakness sunk the warrior's arms.”
Diana Vernon. An enthusiastic Royalist of great beauty and talent. (Sir Walter Scott: Rob Roy.
Veronese
(3 syl.). A native of Verona, pertaining to Verona, etc.; a Paul Veronese, Paul a native of Verona; a Veronese fashion, and so on.
Veronica
It is said that a maiden handed her handkerchief to our Lord on His way to Calvary. He wiped the sweat from his brow, returned the handkerchief to the owner, and went on. The handkerchief was found to bear a perfect likeness of the Saviour, and was called Vera—Iconica (true likeness), and the maiden was ever after called St. Veronica. One of these handkerchiefs is preserved at St. Peter's church in Rome, and another in Milan cathedral.
Versailles of Poland
The palace of the Counts of Braniski, which now belongs to the municipality of Bialystok.
Versaillese
(The). The government troops, in the presidency of M. Thiers. The Communist troops were called the Federals, short for the “Federated National Guards.”
Versi Berneschi
Jocose poetry. So called from Francesco Berni, the Italian poet. (1490—1536.)
Vert
[green ], in heraldry, signifies love, joy, and abundance. It is represented on the shields of noblemen by the emerald, and on those of kings by the planet Venus
In heraldry vert is symbolically expressed by diagonal lines running from right to left of the shield. Lines running the reverse way— i.e. from left to right— mean purpure.
N.B. English heralds vary escutcheons by only seven colours, but foreign heralds employ nine colours. (See Heralds.)
Vertumnus The god of the seasons, who married Pomona. August 12th was his festival. (Roman mythology.)
Verulam Buildings
(London). So named in compliment to Lord Bacon, who was Baron Verulam and Viscount St. Albans.
Vervain
Called “holy herb,” from its use in ancient sacred rites. Also called “pigeons' grass,” “Juno's tears,” and “simpler's joy.” Supposed to cure scrofula, the bite of rabid animals, to arrest the diffusion of poison, to avert antipathies, to conciliate friendships, and to be a pledge of mutual good faith; hence it was anciently worn by heralds and ambassadors. (See Roodselken. )
Verbena is the botanical name.
“The term Verbena (quasi herbena) originally denoted all those herbs that were held sacred on account of their being employed in the rites of sacrifice.”— Mill: Logic, book iv. chap. v. p. 485.
Vesica Piscis
(Latin, fish—bladder). The ovoidal frame or glory which, in the twelfth century, was much used, especially in painted windows, to surround pictures of the Virgin Mary and of our Lord. It is meant to represent a fish, from the anagram ICHTHUS. (See Notarica. )
Vesper Hour
is said to be between the dog and the wolf; “betwixt and between,” neither day nor night; a breed between the dog and wolf; too much day to be night, and too much night to be day. Probably the phrase was suggested by the terms “dog watch” (which begins at four), and “dark as a wolf's mouth.”
Sicilian Vespers. Easter Monday, March 30, 1282. So called because John of Procida on that day led a band of conspirators against Charles d'Anjou and his French countrymen in Sicily. These Frenchmen greatly oppressed the Sicilians, and the conspirators, at the sound of the vesper bell, put them all to the sword without regard to age or sex.
The Fatal Vespers. October 26th, 1623. A congregation of some 300 persons had assembled in a small gallery over the gateway of the French ambassador, in Blackfriars, to hear Father Drury, a Jesuit, preach. The gallery gave way, and about 100 of the congregation were precipitated into the street and killed. Drury and a priest named Redman were also killed. This accident was, according to the bigotry of the times, attributed to God's judgment against the Jesuits. (Stow Chronicles.) (See St. Luke xiii. 4.)
Vesta
in Roman mythology, was the Home—goddess, called by the Greeks “Hestia.” She was custodian of the sacred fire brought by AEneas from Troy. This fire was lighted afresh annually on March day, and to let it go out would have been regarded as a national calamity.
Vestal Virgin
A nun, a religieuse, properly a maiden dedicated to the service of the goddess Vesta. The duty of these virgins was to keep the fire of the temple always burning, both day and night. They were required to be of spotless chastity. (See Immuring. )
Veto
(Monsieur and Madame). Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette. So called by the Republicans, because the Constituent Assembly allowed the king to have the power of putting his veto upon any decree submitted to him (1791.)
Monsieur Veto swore he'd bide
To the constitution true,
But he cast his oath aside,
Teaching us the like to do,
Madame Veto swore one day
All the Paris rout to slay;
But we snapped the tyrant's yoke,
Turning all her threats to smoke.
E. C. B.
Vetturino
[Vettu—reeno ], in Italy, is one who for hire conveys persons about in a nettura or four—wheeled carriage; the owner of a livery stable; a guide for travellers. The two latter are, of course, subsidiary meanings.
“We were accosted in the steamer by a well—dressed man, who represented himself to be a vetturino”— The Times (One of the Alpine Club)
Vi'a Dolorosa
The way our Lord went to the Hall of Judgment, from the Mount of Olives to Golgotha, about a mile in length.
Vial
Vials of wrath. Vengeance, the execution of wrath on the wicked. The allusion is to the seven angels who pour out upon the earth their vials full of wrath. (Rev. xvi.)
Viaticum
(Latin). The Eucharist administered to the dying. The word means “money allowed for a journey,” and the notion is that this sacrament will be the spirit's passport to Paradise.
Vicar
Rector, one who receives both great and small tithes. Vicar receives only the small tithes. At the Reformation many livings which belonged to monasteries passed into the hands of noblemen, who, not being in holy orders, had to perform the sacred offices vicariously. The clergyman who officiated for them was
called their vicar or representative, and the law enjoined that the lord should allow him to receive the use of the glebe and all tithes except those accruing from grain (such as corn, barley, oats, rye, etc.), hay, and wood. The term Vicar is now applied to the minister of a district church, though he receives neither great nor small tithes; his stipend arising partly from endowment, partly from pew—rents, and in part from fees, voluntary contributions, offerings, and so on. The vicar of a pope is a Vicar—apostolic, and the vicar of a bishop is a curate or vicar in charge.
A lay vicar is a cathedral officer who sings certain portions of the service. The Pope is called the “Vicar of Christ.”
Vicar of Bray
(The). Let who will be king, I will be vicar of Bray still. Brome says of Simon Alleyn that he “lived in the reigns of Henry VIII., Edward VI., Mary, and Elizabeth. In the first two reigns he was Protestant, in Mary's reign he turned Papist, and in the next reign recanted— being resolved, whoever was king, to die Vicar of Bray.” (1540—1588.) Others say it is Pendleton.
Ray refers to Simon Symonds, a vicar who was Independent in the Protectorate, Churchman in the reign of Charles II., Papist under James II., and Moderate Protestant under William and Mary.
The well—known song, “I will be Vicar of Bray,” was written by an officer in Colonel Fuller's regiment. This vicar lived in the reigns of Charles II., James II., William III., Anne, and George I.
Vicar of Wakefield
(The). Dr. Primrose
Vice
(1 syl.), in Old English moralities, was a buffoon who wore a cap with ass's ears.
Vice Versa
(Latin). The reverse; the terms of the case being reversed.
Victor Emmanuel of Italy
called King Honest—Man, for his honest concessions to the people of constitutional freedom promised by his father and by himself in less prosperous circumstances.
Vierge
(2 syl.). A curious conversion in playing—cards occurs in reference to this word. The invention is Indian, and the game is called “The Four Rajahs.” The pieces are the king, his general or fierche, the elephant or phil, the horsemen, the camel or ruch, and the infantry. The French corrupted fierche (general) into
“vierge,” and then converted “virgin” into dame. Similarly they corrupted phil into “fol” or “fou” (knave); ruch is our “rook.” At one time playing—cards were called “the Books of the Four Kings,” and chess “the Game of the Four Kings.” It was for chess, and not cards, that Walter Sturton, in 1278, was paid 8s. 5d., according to the ward—robe rolls of Edward I., “ad opus regis ad ludendum adquatuor reges.” Malkin said it was no great proof of our wisdom that we delighted in cards, seeing they were “invented for a fool.” Malkin referred to the vulgar tradition that cards were invented for the amusement of Charles VI., the idiot king of France; but it was no proof that Jacquemin Gringonneur invented cards because “he painted and gilded three packs for the king in 1392.”
View—holloa
The shout of huntsmen when a fox breaks cover = “Gone away!” (See Soho, Tally—Ho. )
Vignette
(2 syl.) means properly a likeness having a border of vine—leaves round it. (French, “little vine, tendril.”)
Viking
A pirate. So called from the vik or creek in which he lurked. The word is wholly unconnected with the word “king.” There were sea—kings, sometimes, but erroneously, called “vikings,” connected with royal blood, and having small dominions on the coast. These sea—kings were often vikingr or vikings, but the reverse is not true that every viking or pirate was a sea—king. (Icelandic vikingr, a pirate.)
Village Blacksmith
(The), in Longfellow's poem, we are told in an American newspaper, was Henry Francis Moore, of Medford, Massachusetts, born 1830. But as the Village Blacksmith was published in 1842, this is
impossible, as Moore was not then twelve years of age, and could not have had a grown—up daughter who sang in the village choir.
Villain
means simply one attached to a villa or farm. In feudal times the lord was the great landowner, and under him were a host of tenants called villains. The highest class of villains were called regardant, and were annexed to the manor; then came the Coliberti or Bures, who were privileged vassals; then the Bordari or cottagers (Saxon, bord, a cottage), who rendered certain menial offices to their lord for rent; then the Cosects, Cottarii, and Cotmanni, who paid partly in produce and partly in menial service; and, lastly, the villains in gross, who were annexed to the person of the lord, and might be sold or transferred as chattels. The notion of wickedness and worthlessness associated with the word is simply the effect of aristocratic pride and exclusiveness— not, as Christian says in his Notes on Blackstone, “a proof of the horror in which our forefathers held all service to feudal lords.” The French vilain seems to connect the word with vile, but it is probable that vile is the Latin vilis vile (of no value), and that the noun villein, except by way of pun. (See Cheater. )
“I am no villain [base—born]; I am the youngest son of Sir Rowland de Boys; he was my father, and he is thrice a villain [rascal] that says such a father begot villains [bastards].”— Shakespeare: As You Like It, i. 1.
Villiers
Second Duke of Buckingham. (1627—1688.)
Villoner
(French.) To cheat. Villon was a poet in the reign of Louis XI., but more famous for his cheats and villainies than for his verses. Hence the word villoner, “to cheat, to play a rogue's trick.” (Rabelais: Pantagruel, iv. 17; note by Molleux.)
Vincent
(St.). Patron saint of drunkards. This is from the proverb—
“If on St. Vincent's Day [Jan 22] the sky is clear, More wine than water will crown the year.”
Vincent de la Rosa
The son of a poor labourer who had served as a soldier. According to his own account, “he had slain more Moors than ever Tunis or Morocco produced; and as for duels, he had fought a greater number than ever Gantë had, or Luna either, or Diego Garcia de Paredez, always coming off victorious, and without losing a drop of blood.” He dressed “superbly,” and though he had but three suits, the villagers thought he had ten or a dozen, and more than twenty plumes of feathers. This gay young spark soon caught the affections of Leandra, only child of an opulent farmer. The giddy girl eloped with him; but he robbed her of all her money and jewels, and left her in a cave to make the best of her way home again. (Cervantes: Don Quixote, pt. i. iv. 20.)
Vindicate
(3 syl.), to justify, to avenge, has a remarkable etymon. Vindicius was a slave of the Vitelli, who informed the Senate of the conspiracy of the sons of Junius Brutus to restore Tarquin, for which service he was rewarded with liberty (Livy, ii. 5); hence the rod with which a slave was struck in manumission was called vindicta, a Vindicius rod (See Manumit ; and to set free was in Latin vindicare in libertatem. One way of settling disputes was to give the litigants two rods, which they crossed as if in fight, and the person whom the praetor vindicated broke the rod of his opponent. These rods were called vindiciae, and hence vindicate, meaning to “justify.” To avenge is simply to justify oneself by punishing the wrongdoer.
Vine
(1 syl.). The Rabbins say that the fiend buried a lion, a lamb, and a hog at the foot of the first vine planted by Noah; and that hence men receive from wine ferocity, mildness, or wallowing in the mire. (See Midrash. )
Vinegar
(Hannibal's). Livy tells us that when Hannibal led his army over the Alps to enter Rome he used vinegar to dissolve the snow, and make the march less slippery. Of course this tradition is fabulous. Where did the vinegar come from? Nepos has left a short memoir of Hannibal, but says nothing about the vinegar. (Livy, B.C. 59 to A.D. 17; Nepos about the same time; Hannibal, B.C. 247—183.)
Vinegar Bible
Printed at the Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1717. So called because it has the word vinegar instead of vineyard in the running head—line of Luke xxii.
Vineyard Controversy
A paper war provoked by the Hon. Daines Barrington, who entered the lists to overthrow all chroniclers and antiquaries from William of Malmesbury to Samuel Pegge, respecting the vineyards of Domesday Book. He maintained that the vines were currants, and the vineyards currant—gardens.
Vino
In vino veritas. In wine is truth, meaning when persons are more or less intoxicated they utter many things they would at other times conceal or disguise. (Latin.)
Vintry Ward
(London). So called from the Vintry, or part occupied by the Vintners or wine—merchants from Bordeaux, who anciently settled on this part of the Thames' bank. They landed their wines here, and, till the 28th Edw. I., were obliged to sell what they landed within forty days.
Vinum Theologicum
The best wine in the nation. Holinshed says it was so called because religious men would be sure “neither to drinke nor be served of the worst, or such as was anie waies vined by the vintner; naie, the merchant would have thought that his soule would have gone streightwaie to the devil if he would have served them with other than the best.” (i. 282.)
Violet
said to have sprung from the blood of Ajax; but how the blood of the mad boaster could produce this modest flower is past understanding. (Latin, viola; Greek, .)
“As when stern Ajax poured a purple flood,
The violet rose, fair daughter of his blood.”
Dr. Young: The Instalment.
Chemical test paper is steeped in syrup of violets; used to detect acids and alkalis. If an acid is present, it will change the violet paper into red, an alkali will turn the paper green. Slips of white paper stained with the juice of violets (kept from the air) will serve the same purpose. Litmus and turmeric are also used for similar purposes. The paper should be unsized.
Violet
The colour indicates the love of truth and the truth of love. Pugin says it is used for black in mourning and fasting.
The violet on the tyrant's grave. (Tennyson: Aylmer's Field.) The reference is to Nero's grave. It is said that some unknown hand went by night and strewed violets over his grave Even Nero had one who loved him. Lemprièe states that the statues of Nero, at death, “were crowned with garlands of flowers.”
“I would give you some violets, but they withered all when my father died.” So says Ophelia to the Queen. The violet in flower—language is emblematical of innocence, and Ophelia says tho King, the Queen, and even Hamlet himself now he has killed Polonius, are unworthy of this symbol. Now my father is dead all the violets are withered, all the court family are stained with blood—guiltiness.
This entire posy may be thus paraphrased: Both you and I are under a spell, and there is “herb of grace” to disenchant us; there's a “daisy" to caution you against expecting that such wanton love as yours will endure long; I would have given you a “violet” if I could, but now that my father is killed all of you are blood—guilty. (Shakespeare: Hamlet, iv. 5.)
Violet
(Corporal). Napoleon Bonaparte. When Bonaparte was banished to Elba he told his friends he would return with the violets, and “Corporal Violet” was the favourite toast of his partisans. When he broke his parole and reached Frejus, a gang of women assembled with violets, which were freely sold. The shibboleth was, “Do you like violets?” If the answer given was “Oui,” the person was known not to be a confederate; but if the answer was “Eh bien,” the respondent was recognised as an adherent.
Violet—Crowned City
Aristophne calls Athens $$$ (Equites, 1323 and 1329), and again in the Acharnians, 637. Macaulay uses the phrase, “city of the violet crown.” 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 king, and hence the “Ion crowned” or violet—crowned.
Similarly Paris is called the “City of Lilies,” by a pun on the word Louis (lys, a lily).
Violin
The following musicians are very celebrated: Arcangelo Corelli, noted for the melodious tones he produced (1653—1713); Pierre Gaviniés, native of Bordeaux, founder of the French school of violinists, noted for the sweetness of his tones (1722—1800); Nicolo Paganini, whose mastery over the instrument has never been equalled, especially known for his musical feats on one string (1784—1840); Gaetan Pugnani, of Turin, founder of the Italian school of violinists; his playing was “wild, noble, and sublime” (1727—1803); Giuseppe Tartini, of Padua, whose performance was plaintive but full of grace (1698—1770); G. B. Viotti, of Piedmont, whose playing was noted for grandeur and audacity, fire and excitement (1753—1824). (See Cremonas. )
The best makers of violins. Gaspar di Salo (1560—1610); Nicholas Amati, of Cremona (1596—1684); Antonio Stradivari, his pupil (1670—1728); Joseph A. Guarneri (1683—1745). Almost equal. Joseph Steiner (1620—1667); Matthias Klotz (1650—1696). (See Fiddle.)
Violon'
A temporary prison. Galignani says: “In the time of Louis XI. the Salle—de—Perdus was so full of turbulent clerks and students that the bailiff of the palace shut many up in the lower room of the conciergerie (prison) while the courts were sitting; but as they were guilty of no punishable offence, he allowed them a violin to wile away the tedium of their temporary captivity.”
M. Génin says the seven penitential psalms were called in the Middle Ages the psalterion, and to put one to penance was in French expressed by mettre au psalterion. As the psaltery was an instrument of music, some
witty Frenchman changed psalterion to violon, and in lieu of mettre au psalterion wrote mettre au violon.
“A prisonnier et lui furent mis au salterion.”
Antiquités Nationales de Millin, iv. p. 6.
Viper and File
The biter bit. AEsop says a viper found a file, and tried to bite it, under the supposition that it was good food; but the file said that its province was to bite others, and not to be bitten. (See Serpent. ) The viper of real life does not bite or masticate its food, but swallows it whole.
“I fawned and smiled to plunder and betray,
Myself betrayed and plundered all the while;
So gnawed the viper the corroding file.”
Beattie: Minstrel.
“Thus he realised the moral of the fable: the viper sought to bite the file, but broke his own teeth.”— The Times.
Virgil
In the Gesta Romanorum Virgil is represented as a mighty but benevolent enchanter. This is the character that Italian tradition always gives him, and it is this traditional character that furnishes Dante with his conception of making Virgil his guide through the infernal regions. From the AEneid grammarians illustrated their rules, rhetoricians selected the subjects of their declamations, and Christians looked on the poet as half—inspired; hence the use of his poems in divination. (See Sortes Virgilianae. )
Dante makes Virgil the personification of human wisdom, Beatrice of that wisdom which comes of faith, and St. Bernard of spiritual wisdom. Virgil conducts Dante through the Inferno, Beatrice through Purgatory, and St. Bernard through Paradise
Virgil was wise, and as craft was considered a part of wisdom, especially over—reaching the spirits of evil, so he is represented by mediaeval writers as out—witting the demon. On one occasion, it is said, he saw an imp in a hole of a mountain, and the imp promised to teach the poet the black art if he released him. Virgil did so, and after learning all the imp could teach him, expressed amazement that one of such imposing stature could be squeezed into so small a rift. The imp said, “Oh, that is not wonderful,” and crept into the hole to show Virgil how it was done, whereupon Virgil closed up the hole and kept the imp there. (Een Schone Historie Van Virgilius, 1552.)
This tale is almost identical with that of the Fisherman and the Genius in the Arabian Nights. The fisherman trapped in his net a small copper vessel, from which, when opened, an evil genius came out, who told the fisherman he had vowed to kill the person who released him. The fisherman began to mock the genius, and declared it was quite impossible for such a monster to squeeze himself into so small a vessel. The genius, to convince the fisherman, metamorphosed himself into smoke and got into the vessel, whereupon the fisherman clapped down the lid and flung the vessel back into the sea.
The Swiss tale of Theophrastus and the Devil is another analogous story. Theophrastus liberates the devil from a hollow tree, and the sequel is like those given above. (Gorres: Folksbücher, p. 226.)
There are numerous tales of the devil outwitted.
The Christian Virgil. Marco Girolamo Vida, author of Christias in six books, an imitation of the AEneid. (1490—1566.)
The Virgil and Horace of the Christians. So Bentley calls Aurelius Clemens Prudentius, a native of Spain, who wrote Latin hymns and religious poems. (348—.)
Le Virgile au Rabot. (Au rabot is difficult to render into English. “Virgil with a Plane” is far from conveying the idea. “The Virgil of Planers,” or “The Virgil of the Plane,” is somewhat nearer the meaning.) Adam Billaut, the poetical carpenter and joiner, was so called by M. Tissot, both because he used the plane and because one of his chief recueils is entitled Le Rabot. He is generally called Maître Adam. His roaring Bacchanalian songs seem very unlike the Ecologues of Virgil, and the only reason for the title seems to be that Virgil was a husbandman and wrote on husbandry, while Billaut was a carpenter and wrote on carpentry (—1662.)
Virgilius
Bishop of Saleburg, an Irishman, whose native name was Feargil or Feargal. He was denounced as a heretic for asserting the existence of antipodes. Died 784.) (See Science. )
Virgin
One of the constellations. (August 23rd to September 23rd.)
Astræa, goddess of justice, was the last of the deities to quit our earth, and when she returned to heaven became the constellation Virgo.
“When the bright Virgin gives the beauteous days.” Thomson: Autumn.
Virgin Mary's Guard
(The). The Scotch guard of France, organised in 1448 by Charles VII. Louis XI. made the Virgin Mary their colonel. Disbanded in 1830.
Virgin Mary's Peas
(The). Near Bethlehem are certain crystallisations in limestone so called.
Virgin Queen
(The). Queen Elizabeth (1533, 1558—1603).
Virgins
The eleven thousand virgins of Cologne, according to the legend, were born at Baoza in Spain, which contained only 12,000 families. The bones exhibited were taken from an old Roman cemetery, across which the wall of Cologne ran, and which were exposed to view after the siege in 1106. (See Ursula. )
Virginal
An instrument used in convents to lead the virginals or hymns to the Virgin. It was a quilled keyboard instrument of two or three octaves, common in the reign of Elizabeth.
Virtuoso
A man fond of virtu or skilled therein; a dilettantë.
Vis Inertiae
That property of matter which makes it resist any change. Thus it is hard to set in motion what is still, or to stop what is in motion. Figuratively, it applies to that unwillingness of change which makes men
“rather bear the ills they have than fly to others they know not of.”
Vishnu
[Indian ]. The Preserver, who forms with Brahma and Siva the divine triad of the system of Hinduism.
Vishnu rides on an eagle; Brahma on a goose.
Vital Spark of Heavenly Flame
(Pope.) Heraclitus held the soul to be a spark of the stellar essence. (Macrobius: In Somnium Scipionis, i. 14.)
Vitellius
A glutton. So named from Vitellius the Roman emperor, who took emetics after a meal that he might have power to swallow another.
Vitex Called Abraham's balm. Agnus Castus, and the chaste—tree. In the language of flowers it means
“insensibility to love.” Dioscorides, Pliny, and Galen mention the plant, and say that the Athenian ladies, at the feast of Ceres, used to strew their couches with vitex leaves as a palladium of chastity. In France a beverage is made of the leaves by distillation, and is (or was at one time) given to novitiates to wean their hearts from earthly affections. Vitex, from vico, to bind with twigs; so called from the flexible nature of the twigs.
Vitruvius
There were two Roman architects of this name. The one best known was Marcus Vitruvius Pollio, who wrote a book on architecture.
The English Vitruvius. Inigo Jones (1572—1652).
Vitulos
The scourgings which the monks inflicted on themselves during the chanting of the psalms.
Vitus
(St.). St. Vitus's dance, once widely prevalent in Germany and the Low Countries, was a “dancing mania.” So called from the supposed power of St. Vitus over nervous and hysterical affections.
“At Strasbourg hundreds of folk began
To dance and leap, both maid and man;
In open market, lane, or street,
They skipped along, nor cared to eat,
Until their plague had ceased to fright us. 'Twas called the dance of holy Vitus.”
Jan of Konigshaven (an old Cerman $$$).
St. Vitus's Dance. A description of the jumping procession on Whit—Tuesday to a chapel in Ulm dedicated to St. Vitus, is given in Notes and Queries, September, 1856. (See Tarantism.)
Viva Voce
Orally; by word of mouth. A viva voce examination is one in which the respondent answers by word of mouth. (Latin, “with the living voice.”)
Vivien
A wily wanton in Arthur's court “who hated all the knights.” She tried to seduce “the blameless king,” and succeeded in seducing Merlin, who, “overtalked and overworn, told her his secret charm”—
“The which if any wrought on anyone
With woven paces and with waving arms,
The man so wrought on ever seemed to lie
Closed in the four walls of a hollow tower,
From which was no escape for evermore.”
Having obtained this secret, the wanton “put forth the charm,” and in the hollow oak lay Merlin as one dead, “lost to life, and use, and name, and fame.” (Tennyson: Idyls of the King; Vivien.)
Vixen
A female fox. Metaphorically, a woman of villainous and ungovernable temper. (Anglo—Saxon, fixeu.)
Vixere
“Vixere fortes ante Agamemnoua” (Horace). You are not the first great man that ever lived, though you boast so mightily. Our own age does not monopolise the right of merit.
Viz
A contraction of videlicet. The z is a corruption of , a common mark of contraction in the Middle Ages; as hab— i.e. habet; omnib— vi— i.e. videlicet.
Vogue (1 syl.). A French word. “In vogue” means in repute, in the fashion. The verb voguer means to sail or move forwards. Hence the idea of sailing with the tide.
Vogue la Galere
Let the world go how it will; “arrive qua pourra.”
Vole
He has gone the vole— i.e. been everything by turns. Vole is a deal at cards that draws the whole tricks. The verb vole means to win all the tricks. Vole is a French word Faire la vole— i.e. “Faire soul toutes les levées,” de voler— i.e. enlever.
“Who is he [Edie Ochiltree]? Why, he has gone the vole— has been soldier, ballad—singer, travelling tinker, and now a beggar.”— Sir W. Scott: The Antiquary, chap. iv.
Voltaic Battery
An apparatus for accumulating electricity. So called from Volta, the Italian, who first contrived it.
Voltaire
His proper name was Francois Marie Arouet. The word Voltaire is simply an anagram of Arouet L.
I. (le jeune). Thus have we Stella, Astrophel (q.v.), Vanessa and Cadenus (q.v.), and a host of other names in anagrams.
Voltaire, the infidel, built the church at Ferney, which has this inscription: “Deo erexit Voltaire.” Cowper alludes to this anomaly in the following lines:
“Nor he who, for the bane of thousands born,
Built God a church, and laughed His Word to scron.”
Voltaire. Dr. Young said of him—
Thou art so witty, profligate and thin,
Thou seemst a Milton, with his Death and Sin.” An excellent comparison between Voltaire and Gibbon is given by Byron in Childe $$$, canto iii. 106, 107.
The German Voltaire. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749—1838).
Christoph Martin Wieland (1733—1813).
The Polish Voltaire. Ignatius Krasicki (1774—1801).
Volume
(2 syl.). A roll. Anciently books were written on sheets fastened together lengthwise and rolled; some were rolled on a pin or roller. The rolls were placed erect on shelves. Each one was labelled in red letters or rubrics. Rolls of great value were packed in cases or boxes. (Latin, volvo, to roll up.)
Vox et Praeterea Nihil
Echo; a threat not followed out. When the Lacedemonian plucked the nightingale, on seeing so little substance he exclaimed, “Vox tu es, et nihil praeterea.” ($$$. Plut. Opp. Mor. Apophthegmata Laconica.)
Vox Populi Vox Dei
This does not mean that the voice of the many is wise and good, but only that it is irresistible. You might as well try to stop the tide of the Atlantic as to resist the vox populi. As God's laws cannot be withstood, neither can the popular will. After Edward II. had been dethroned by the people in favour of his son (Edward III.), Simon Mepham, Archbishop of Canterbury, preached from these words as his text.
Vulcan
The divine blacksmith, whose workshop was on Mount Etna, where the Cyclops assisted him in forging thunderbolts for Jove. He was also called Mulciber.
Vulcan's Badge
That of cuckoldom. Venus was Vulcan's wife, but her amour with Mars gave Vulcan the badge referred to.
Vulcanised Indiarubber
India—rubber combined with sulphur by vulcanic agency or heat, by which means the caoutchouc absorbs the sulphur and becomes carbonised.
Vulcanist
One who supports the Vulcanian or Plutonian theory, which ascribes the changes on the earth's surface to the agency of fire. These theorists say the earth was once in a state of igneous fusion, and that the crust has gradually cooled down to its present temperature.
Vulgar Errors
Aristotle taught that women have more teeth than men.
From an account given in Genesis ii. 21 it was once generally believed that a woman has one rib more than a man.
It is a vulgar error to suppose that beetles and moles are blind.
It is a vulgar error to suppose that lowly—organised animals are as sensible of pain as the highly—organised are.
To exhaust the subject of vulgar errors would require many pages of this Dictionary. Every reader will be able to add to the few examples given above. (See Upas Tree.)
VXL
a monogram on lockets, etc., stands for U XL (you excel ).