311 



VELLY, PAUL-FRANCOIS. 



VEND6ME, DUCS DE. 



312 



Yet no man was ever more sparing of colour ; he husbanded his 

 whites and even his yellows, which tell up sparkling like gold on his 

 undertoned backgrounds: these, especially in his landscapes, were 

 cool grays, skies, and misty mornings nature seen with the inter- 

 vention of air. He painted with a rapid, flowing, and certain brush, 

 with that ease, the test of perfection, that absence of art and effort, 

 which made all imagine that they could do the same until they tried, 

 failed, :md despaired. The results obtained are so true to nature, 

 that first beholders, as with Raffaelle at the Vatican, are sometimes 

 disappointed that there is nothing more. He was above all tricks. 

 There is no masking poverty of hand or mind under meretricious 

 glitter ; all is sober, real, and sterling. He conceived his idea, worked 

 it rapidly out, taking advantage of everything as it turned up, correct- 

 ing and improving as he went on, knowing what he wanted and 

 which few do when he had got it : then he left off, and never 

 frittered away his breadth or emphatic effect by superfluous finish to 

 mere accessories ; these were dashed in ' con quatro botti ' but true, 

 for he never put brush to canvas without an intention and meaning. 

 No painter was ever more ' objective.' There is no showing off of the 

 artist, no calling attention to the performer's dexterity : his mind was 

 in his subject, into which he passed his whole soul ; loving art for 

 itself, without one disturbing thought of self. He was true through- 

 out to Nature, and she was true to him, and has rewarded him with 

 immortality, which she confers only on those who worship with 

 undivided allegiance at her shrine. 



In the National Gallery are two large pictures by Velazquez 

 ' Philip IV. hunting the Wild Boar/ which has however unfortunately 

 been extensively repainted ; and a ' Nativity,' known as 'The Manger; ' 

 neither is an adequate specimen of his pencil. There.is also a portrait 

 piece, ' Ferdinand II., duke of Tuscany, and his Wife,' which is 

 ascribed to VeMzquez, but there can be little doubt that it is not 

 by him. 



VELLY, PAUL-FRANCOIS, a French historian, was born at 

 Crugny, near Reims, on the 9th of April 1709. He studied in the 

 Jesuits' College at Reims, and was received a member of their frater- 

 nity in 1726. In 1740 he quitted the society, but remained on a 

 friendly footing with many of its members. His first publication 

 a translation of Swift's ' History of John Bull ' appeared in 1753. 

 In 1755 he published two volumes of a ' History of France." The first 

 volume brings down the narrative to the death of Charlemagne; the 

 second to the death of Philippe I. (1108). The third volume, the 

 preface of which contains a reply to the censures pronounced by 

 critics on the two former volumes, reaches to the death of Philippe- 

 Auguste in 1223. The three following volumes contain the reigns of 

 Louis VIII., St. Louis, Philippe III., and Philippe-le-Bel. Velly had 

 nearly finished the eighth volume, when he died of the bursting of a 

 blood-vessel, on the 4th of September 1759. He was of a full habit 

 of body, and careless of his health. It is not known whether he was 

 in easy or straitened circumstances ; the booksellers, Desaint and 

 Saillant, are said to have paid him 1500 francs for each volume of his 

 history. A 12mo edition of the eight volumes of Velly's history was 

 published by the same booksellers in 1761-62. A third edition 

 (1770-89), in 15 vols. 4to, contains a con tinuation by Villaret to the 

 year 1429 ; and by Gamier to 1564. This edition also contains the 

 ' Avant Clovis ' of Laureau, and a Table by Rondouneau, and is accom- 

 panied by a collection of portraits, and a geographical atlas in two 

 folio volumes. The 12mo edition (in 35 volumes) wants these accom- 

 paniments. Fautin des Odoards has compiled a continuation of 

 Gamier, in 26 vols. 12mo. Velly's style is respectable, though 

 monotonous. His narrative betrays but a slender acquaintance with 

 the original sources of the ancient history of France. He confuses 

 the manners of different eras, and retains the bad custom of 

 putting imaginary speeches into the mouths of historical characters. 

 His history appears to have owed its temporary success to the style 

 being better and more modern than that of any other history of 

 France that existed at the time when he published, and to the general 

 remarks interspersed, which evince considerable familiarity with the 

 writings of Montesquieu. 



VENDOME, DUCS DE. The county of Vend6me was erected 

 into a dukedom by Francis I. in favour of Charles de Bourbon, grand- 

 father of Henri IV. In the person of the latter the dukedom of 

 Vendome, along with the other titles and territories of that branch of 

 the Bourbon family, was united to the crown. The history of the 

 first three dukes of Vendome is part of the history of the families of 

 Bourbon and Navarre. The dukedom of Navarre was alienated from 

 the crown by Henri IV. in favour of his illegitimate sons by Gabrielle 

 d'Estre'es, Cesar and Alexander. This second family of Vend6me 

 became extinct in 1712, and the peerage again lapsed to the crown. 



The dukes of Vendome of the second family are CESAK, eldest 

 son of Gabrielle d'Estrees by Henri IV. ; born in 1594, legitimated in 

 1595, created duke of Venddme in 1598. In 1610 Henri gavo the 

 Duke of Vendome precedence over all the peers of France, except the 

 princes of the blood. After the death of Henri the duke placed him- 

 self at the head of the discontented nobles, who maintained that the 

 marriage of Louis XIII. with a Spanish infanta was incompatible with 

 the good of the state. Ho was arrested in 1614 by orders of the 

 queen-mother, but escaped to his government of Bretagne, and took 

 up arms against the court. Ho was obliged, by the desertion of his 



retainers, to submit. In 1622 he aided with the court against the 

 Huguenots, from whom he took Clerac. He defended Montauban 

 and assisted at the taking of Montpellier. In 1626 he was involved by 

 his brother in a conspiracy against Richelieu : for this he was impri- 

 soned, and only purchased his liberty at the end of four years by 

 revealing everything and giving up his government of Bretagne. la 

 1631 he commanded at the siege of Lillo the volunteers in the Dutch 

 service. In 1641 he was accused of having conspired to poison 

 Richelieu, and fled to England, from which he did not return till 

 after the death of the cardinal. In 1650 he was appointed governor 

 of Burgundy. He contributed to the pacification of Guienne, and 

 took Bordeaux from the malcontents in 1653; he dispersed and put 

 to flight the Spanish fleet before Barcelona in 1655 ; he was soon after 

 forced by his growing infirmities to retire from active service, but 

 survived till October 1665, when he died at Paris, in his seventy-first 

 year. Some letters of Cesar duke of Vendome, relating to the dis- 

 turbances in Brittany, were published in 1614. By his marriage with 

 Fran9oise de Lorraine (to whom he was affianced in 1598), he had 

 three children 1, Louis, who succeeded him; 2, Franois, created 

 duke of Beaufort; and Elizabeth, married to Charles Amadous of 

 Savoy, duke of Nemours. 



ALEXANDER, brother of Cesar, was born in 1598, and legitimated in 

 1599, on which occasion he received, like his brother, the rank and 

 title of Duke of Venddme. He was admitted a knight of Malta, and 

 in 1612, fearing the enmity of the Mare'chal d'Ancre, he took refuge in 

 the island. In 1618 he was created grand-prior of the order in France. 

 In the quarrel between Louis XIII. and his mother, the grand-prior 

 embraced the party of the queen; but in 1622 he served the king 

 against the Huguenots. He was arrested, along with his brother, for 

 conspiring against Richelieu, on the 13th of June 1626, and died in 

 prison on the 8th of February 1629, not without suspicion of poison. 



Louis, son of Cesar, was called Duke of Merccour during the life- 

 time of his father. He was born in 1612 ; made his first essay of 

 arms in the campaign in Picardy, in which Louis XIII. commanded in 

 person ; served under his father at the siege of Lillo ; distinguished 

 himself at the sieges of Hesdin and Arras, and was wounded in the 

 attack upon the French lines on the 2nd of August 1640. He 

 returned to France after the death of Richelieu; raised in 1649 the 

 cavalry regiment of Mercoeur ; was appointed viceroy and commander- 

 in-chief of the French troops in Catalonia, but not being properly 

 supported by the minister, resigned in disgust. He made his peace 

 with the court in 1651, when he married Laura Mancini, the elder of 

 Mazarin's nieces. On his restoration to favour he was appointed 

 governor of Provence; in 1656 he was appointed, in conjunction with 

 the Duke o/ Modena, to command the army of Lombardy. His wife 

 dying in the course of that year, he took priest's orders, and in 1667 

 was created a cardinal. Clement IX. nominated him legate a Laterc 

 in France. Cardinal Louis, duke of Vendome, died at Aix-en-Proveuce 

 in 1669. By his wife Laura Mancini he had two children 1, Louis 

 Joseph, who succeeded him; 2, Philippe, also called duke of Vendome, 

 grand-prior of the order of Malta in France. 



Louis JOSEPH, born in 1654, was known previous to his father's 

 death by the title of duke of Penthievre. His education was neg- 

 lected. He made his first campaign in Holland in the suite of 

 Louis XIV. in 1672. He served in the last campaigns of Tureune, 

 and was wounded in the combat of Altenheim during the retreat of 

 the French army, which followed the death of that commander. He 

 was created brigadier in 1677, and served in that capacity in Flanders 

 under the Marechal de Crequi. After the peace of Nimuegen the 

 Duke of Vendome retired to his castle of Anet, and gave himself up 

 entirely to pleasure. In 1681 he was nominated to the government of 

 Provence, and refused to accept the money which the states were in 

 the habit of presenting to every new governor. He was created 

 lieutenant-general in 1688, and distinguished himself in the four suc- 

 ceeding campaigns, in particular at the sieges of Mons and Namur, 

 and the combats of Leuse and Steinkerque. In 1693 he was sent to 

 Italy, where Catinat commanded in chief. In 1695 he was appointed 

 to succeed Noailles in the command of the army of Catalonia. He 

 raised the siege of Palamos, invested Barcelona, defeated by a prompt 

 and brilliant attack the army under Velasco which was marching 

 to release the city, and received its capitulation on the 10th of August 

 1695. These victories paved the way to the peace of Ryswick, after 

 which Vendome hastened back to Anet and its licentious and not 

 very refined pleasures. He was roused from his inactivity by the 

 Spanish War of Succession. He was sent to Italy to repair the mis- 

 takes of Villeroi. In Italy he was joined by Philip V. with a strong 

 force from Naples. The united troopa far outnumbered the Impe- 

 rialists ; but the inferior force was commanded by Prince Eugene. 

 Vendome opened the campaign with spirit : he discomfited the rear- 

 guard of the Austrian army at Ustiano, and again at Vittoria, and 

 raised the blockade of Mantua. But his habitual indolence soon 

 resumed its empire, and his army was surprised at Luzara on the 15th 

 of August 1702, in the act of encamping, by the forces of Prince 

 Eugene. Vendorne's presence of mind and the impetuous courage of 

 his army so far redeemed his fault that the victory remained undecided. 

 Philip V. returned to Spain after this action, and Vendome with the 

 united army penetrated into Tyrol, where he defeated Stahremberg 

 on several occasions. From Tyrol he was recalled to Piedmont by 



