VENERABILE VENICE. 



arrival changed the state of things. December 9, 

 1710, he defeated the Austrian general Stahremberg 

 at Villaviciosa ; and, having re-established Philip's 

 throne, he died in 1712, and was buried in the 

 Escurial. His brother Philip was grand prior of 

 the order of the knights of Malta, in France. He 

 was born in 1655, served in the Spanish war of suc- 

 cession, and died in 1724. 



VENERABILE, with the Catholics ; the con- 

 secrated host, which, during the religious service, 

 is placed in a little box called pyx; at certain other 

 times it is put on the altar for adoration, or is 

 carried about in procession, or publicly borne by a 

 priest to a dying person, in Catholic countries. 



VENEREAL DISEASE. See Syphilis. 



VENERONI, JOHN ; a native of Verdun, whose 

 proper name was Vigneron. Having engaged in 

 the profession of an Italian master at Paris, he 

 adopted the name by which he is usually designated, 

 that he might pass for a native of Florence. He 

 published an Italian Grammar and an Italian and 

 French Dictionary, and some translations of Italian 

 authors; also the Dictionnaire Manuel, en quatre 

 Lanyues, Francois, Italien, Allemand et. Russe (Mos- 

 cow, 1771, 8vo.). The Grammar of Veneroni is 

 now held in little estimation : his Italian Dictionary 

 has been superseded by that of Alberti. From the 

 dates of his publications, it appears that he lived in 

 the latter part of the seventeenth and the beginning 

 of the eighteenth centuries. 



VENETIAN SCHOOL. See Italian Art, and 

 Paintings. 



VENEZUELA ; a republic of South America, 

 bounded north and east by the Caribbean sea and 

 the Atlantic, south by Brazil, and west by New 

 Grenada, or Colombia. Its history, previous to its 

 late separation from Colombia, has been given in 

 the article Colombia (see, also, Paez), with a more 

 particular account of its geography. The most re- 

 markable natural feature of this country is the great 

 liver Orinoco. The lakes are Maracaybo and 

 Valencia. The northern part is mountainous. The 

 chain of the Andes traverses the whole country, in 

 ihe direction of its shores. In the southern parts, 

 on the Orinoco and its branches, are immense plains. 

 The climate in the plains, or llanos (see Llanos, 

 and Llaneros), is hot, and, in some parts, unhealthy. 

 The productions are sugar, coffee, indigo, cotton 

 and tobacco. The plains on the Orinoco furnish 

 extensive pastures, which feed numerous herds of 

 cattle. 



VENI, SANCTE SPIRITUS (Come, Holy 

 Spirit} ; the name given to a mass, celebrated by 

 Catholics, to invoke the assistance of the Holy 

 Ghost. It was celebrated in France at the opening 

 of the sessions of the two chambers, but was abolish- 

 ed in 1830, soon after the revolution of that year. 



VENICE (in Italian, Venezia). When the Visi- 

 goths, the Huns (under Attila, 452) and the Lom- 

 bards (568) poured into the Roman empire, and 

 particularly into Upper Italy, which, even in the 

 times of ancient Rome, was called Venetia, many of 

 the poorer inhabitants took refuge on the islands in 

 the lagoons of the Adriatic sea, particularly in the 

 island of Rialto, which had already been somewhat 

 built upon by the Paduans for commercial purposes. 

 These emigrants established here a small democra- 

 tic republic, under magistrates called tribunes. In 

 697 A. D., the islands elected their first dux, or 

 doge, in the person of Paolucci Anafesto. The 

 doge had the executive, the people the legislative, 

 the tribunes, or nobility, the judiciary power. The 



seafcof government was afterwards in Malamacco, 

 and, in 737, in Rialto, where, in a short period, a 

 populous city arose out of the sea. This was the 

 modern Venice, which soon became powerful by 

 commerce and navigation, and ruled over the 

 Adriatic sea. Commercial privileges in Rome and 

 Constantinople promoted its prosperity, and the 

 city was not long satisfied with the possession of 

 the lagoon islands and the neighbouring coasts, 

 but made conquests in Istria and Dalmatia. As 

 early as the wars with the Saracens, in the 

 ninth century, the Venetians had become skilled in 

 maritime warfare, by their struggles with pirates ; 

 and for this reason the cities of Dalmatia put them- 

 selves under their protection, about the year 997- 

 Venice gained exceedingly by the crusades, and be- 

 came not only the richest, but also the most power- 

 ful city of Lombardy, in which the treasures of all 

 the East were collected. But the aristocracy al- 

 ready strove to oppress the people, and the doge 

 endeavoured to increase his power; hence re- 

 peated insurrections of the people. At length, 

 after the assassination of the thirty-eighth doge, 

 Vital! Michieli, in 1172, the constitution was so 

 changed that the arbitrary power of the doge was 

 limited, and the supreme authority was given to a 

 numerous assembly of nobili, and strict laws were 

 made to keep them within bounds. Under this 

 limited aristocracy, the laws and government were 

 improved. Manners became milder, and the arts 

 began to flourish. The commercial power of the 

 republic received its greatest extension under the 

 doge Enrico Dandolo. This distinguished states- 

 man and general, in the crusade undertaken by the 

 Venetians, French and others, took Constantinople 

 in 1202, at the head of a Venetian fleet, and ac- 

 quired for the republic the possession of Candia 

 and several Ionian islands, and others in the Archi- 

 pelago. But after the restoration of the Byzantine 

 empire, in 1261, the East India trade passed from 

 Constantinople to Alexandria ; and the Genoese, 

 who had greatly assisted in the destruction of the 

 Latin empire, possessed themselves of the com- 

 merce in the Byzantine empire, which had been in 

 the hands of the Venetians. In 1297, the doge 

 Gradenigo introduced hereditary aristocracy, since 

 the 'ancient great college of nobles, who shared the 

 government with the doge, and were elected an- 

 nually, declared themselves a permanent body of 

 hereditary aristocrats (consisting of the noble 

 families, whose names are entered in the " golden 

 book"). At the same time, the establishment ot 

 the fearful council of the Ten must be considered 

 as one of the causes which finally brought on the 

 ruin of Venice. In the mean time, the republic 

 extended her possessions more and more widely on 

 the continent, particularly after her rival, the re- 

 public of Genoa, had been obliged to yield, in 1381, 

 after a struggle of 130 years for supremacy in Lom- 

 bardy. Vicenza, Verona, Bassano, Feltre, Bel- 

 luno and Padua, with their territories, came under 

 the power of Venice in 1402, Friuli in 1421, Bres- 

 cia, Bergamo and Crema in 1428, and the islands 

 of Zante and Cefalonia, in 1483. At last, the wife of 

 James, the last king of Cyprus, Catharine Cornaro, 

 a Venetian lady, ceded that beautiful country to her 

 native republic in 1486. The senate of Venice, at 

 that time, reminds the student of the ancient Ro- 

 man senate. Other states made it their model : 

 they even solicited for Venetian counsellors and 

 leaders. Towards the end of the fifteenth century, 

 Venice was rich, powerful, honoured, comprising 



