VELDE. VENDEE. 



795 



of a distinguished family of painters, was born at 

 Leyden in 1610. He was originally bred to the 

 sea, but afterwards studied painting, and retained 

 enough of his former profession to make it the 

 source of his future fame. He became early dis- 

 tinguished for his excellence in marine subjects, 

 which induced him to go to England with his son, 

 l>oth of whom entered into the service of Charles II. 

 He is said to have repaid this service more grate- 

 fully than patriotically, by conducting the English 

 fleet to burn Schelling. He was so much attached 

 to his art, that, in order to be a near spectator of 

 sea engagements, he hired a light vessel, in which 

 he approached both friends and enemies, in order to 

 sketch all the incidents of the action upon the spot ; 

 and in this manner he is said to have been a specta- 

 tor of the engagement between the duke of York 

 and Opdam, and of the memorable three days' engage- 

 ment between Monk and De Ruyter. He chiefly 

 painted in black and white, on a ground so prepared 

 on canvass, as to give it the appearance of paper. He 

 died at London in 1693. See Walpole's Anecdotes. 



VELDE, WILLIAM VAN DER, called the Younger, 

 was born at Amsterdam, in 1633, and was the son 

 of the preceding. After being carefully instructed 

 by his lather, he was placed under Simon de Vlie- 

 ger, a celebrated painter of sea pieces, who, how- 

 ever, was far surpassed by his pupil. His subjects 

 were similar to those of his father, whom he sur- 

 passed ; and, in fact, no age, since the revival of 

 art, has produced his equal in his own peculiar line, 

 of which Walpole calls him the Raphael. He was, 

 equally with his father, a copyist of reality, and, by 

 01 der of the duke of York, attended the engagement 

 at Solebay in a small vessel ; as also the junction 

 of the English and French fleets at the Nore. The 

 principal performances of this admirable artist are 

 chiefly to be found in the royal collections and cabi- 

 nets of England. He died April 6, 1707, in his 

 seventy-fourth year. See Walpole's Anecdotes. 



VELDE, ADRIAN VAN DER, a celebrated Dutch 

 landscape painter of the seventeenth century, was 

 born at Amsterdam, in 1639, and died in 1672. He 

 is one of the best painters of landscapes. He is also 

 known for having painted the figures and animals in 

 the landscapes of other artists, e. g. of his teacher 

 Moucheron, Van der Hayden, &c. He also painted 

 some large historical pieces. 



VELDE, FRANCIS CHARLES VAN DER, author of 

 many historical novels, was born in Breslau, in 

 1779. He studied law, and held a judicial office in 

 his native city, at the time of his death, in 1824. 

 He has been called the German Walter Scott ; but 

 the historical element predominates much more in 

 his novels than in Scott's. His complete works, 

 with his biography, were published at Dresden in 

 1824, in 25 vols. 



VELDECK, HENRY. See Minnesingers. 



VELEDA, VELLEDA ; a German prophetess 

 in the country of the Bructeri, in the first century, 

 much feared by the Romans, as she exercised a 

 great influence over her countrymen. Her history 

 is enveloped in darkness. 



VELIKI (Russian for great) is prefixed to many 

 geographical names, to distinguish certain places 

 from others of the same name, which have the epi- 

 thet malo (little). 



VELINO. See Terni. 



VELITES, in Roman antiquity ; young, light 

 foot-soldiers, who fought in front of the lines, and 

 retreated, if necessary, between the members of the 

 tiii-t line (Hastatij. Napoleon introduced troops 



of this name into the regiments of infantry ; and in 

 the hussar regiments of Hungary there are also men 

 called velites. The French sometimes call a skir- 

 mish a velitation. 



VELLEIUS, PATERCULUS. See Paterculus. 



VELLUM ; a writing material, resembling fine 

 parchment. It is made of calf-skin, extended and 

 drawn to a proper thinness when green. Parchment is 

 made of sheep-skins in like manner. See Parchment. 



VELOCIPEDE (in German Draisine, because 

 invented by a Mr Drais, in Manheim, in 1817) is a 

 vehicle consisting of a piece of wood about five feet 

 long and half a foot wide, resting on two wheels, 

 one behind the other. On this an individual sits, 

 as on horseback, so that his feet touch the ground, 

 he propels the machine by pressing his feet slightly 

 against the ground, and keeps his balance in the 

 same way. The latter is the principal difficulty of 

 beginners. In front of the saddle is a rest for the 

 arms. The front wheel may be turned at pleasure, 

 so as to enable the rider to give any direction to 

 the machine. Knight, in England, improved it, and 

 received a patent for it. On level ground a rider 

 may perform five miles in an hour with ease. 



VELOCITY. See Mechanics. 



VELVERET ; a species of cotton velvet. See 

 Velvet. 



VELVET ; a rich kind of stuff, all silk, covered 

 on the outside with a close, short, fine, soft shag, 

 the other side being a very strong close tissue. The 

 nap or shag, called also the velveting, of this stuff, 

 is formed of part of the threads of the warp, which 

 the workman puts on a long, narrow-channelled 

 ruler or needle, which he afterwards cuts by draw- 

 ing a sharp steel tool along the channel of the needle 

 to the ends of the warp. Florence, Genoa, and 

 some other cities of Italy, are most noted for the 

 manufacture of velvet. There are cotton velvets 

 manufactured in imitation of the silk ones in Eng- 

 land. See Silk. 



VENA CAVA. See Heart. 



VENAISSIN, COMTAT DE (county of Venais- 

 sin) ; a country of France bounded north by the 

 Drome, east by Lower Alps, south by Mouths-of- 

 the-Rhone, and west by the Rhone, which sepaiates 

 it from Gard ; about twelve leagues in length and 

 seven in breadth. It takes its name from Venasque, 

 the Vendansca or Vendasca of the ancients. The 

 popes laid claim to the sovereignty of this country, 

 from the time of count Raymond de St Giles. This 

 country now belongs to France, arid forms part of 

 the department of Vaucluse. 



VENALITY OF OFFICES, in France. See 

 Paulettt. 



VENCESLAUS. See Wenceslans. 



VENDEE, a department in the western part of 

 France, formed from the ancient Poitou (see De- 

 partment), and deriving its name from the river 

 Vendee, is bounded by the departments of the 

 Lower Loire, of the Two Sevres and of the Lower 

 Charente, and by the Atlantic ocean. In the begin- 

 ning of the revolution of 1789, the inhabitants of 

 this part of the country, who were attached to the 

 royalist cause, maintained a war against the repub- 

 lican government, which- had there been more con- 

 cert among the Vendean leaders, or had foreign 

 powers employed the opportunity judiciously, would 

 have endangered the existence of the new republic. 

 The scene of the war, familiarly called Le Bocage 

 (the thicket), lay in three contiguous departments 

 along the Loire, and was well calculated for main- 

 taining a partizan warfare. It contains numerous 



