sot 



VE UK VERMONT. 



'Charlemagne, divided the Prankish empire be- 

 tween them, and thus completed the separa- 

 tion of the German and Italian crowns from the 

 French. 



VERE, EDWARD; earl of Oxford; one of the 

 literary courtiers of queen Elizabeth. He was 

 descended from one of the most ancient families of 

 the English nobility, his father being the sixteenth 

 peer who had held the title, which became extinct 

 in the reign of queen Anne. He was born about 

 1540, and received an education suitable to his 

 rank. He held the office of lord high chamberlain, 

 and sat as such at the trial of the queen of Scots, 

 and subsequently at those of the earls of Arundel, 

 Essex and Southampton. Specimens of his talents 

 as a poet are preserved in the Paradyse of Daintie 

 Devyces. His personal character seems to have 

 been by no means favourable. He had a quarrel 

 with Sir Philip Sidney, which did him no credit ; 

 and he is said to have ill-treated his wife, who was 

 the daughter of lord Burleigh. His death took 

 place in 1604. 



VERGENNES, CHARLES GRAVIER, count de, 

 minister of state in the reign of Louis XVI. was 

 born at Dijon, in 1717. His father was one of the 

 presidents of the parliament in that city. Vergen- 

 nes entered, at an early age, on the diplomatic 

 career, under the patronage of Chavigny, the French 

 ambassador to the court of Lisbon, and, in 1750, 

 was appointed minister to the elector of Treves. 

 His services in Germany were rewarded with the 

 post of minister plenipotentiary (1753), and soon 

 after (1755) with that of ambassador to Constanti- 

 nople. Here he succeeded in inducing the grand 

 seignior to preserve his neutrality, until the peace 

 of 1763 put an end to the intrigues against which 

 he had hitherto successfully struggled. In 1768, 

 he was recalled from Constantinople, but, in 1771, 

 was sent to Stockholm, where he found the nation 

 distracted by the factions of the Hats and Caps, 

 and contributed much to the result of the revolu- 

 tion, which took place at that period in Sweden. 

 (See Gustavus III. and Sweden.} Louis XVI. on 

 his accession to the throne, put Vergennes at the 

 head of the department of foreign affairs ; and in 

 this capacity he concluded a treaty with the com- 

 missioners of the United States, January 26, 1778, 

 who had been long suing in vain for the public ac- 

 knowledgment of the independence of the repub- 

 lic. Vergennes was not a man of superior talents, 

 but had much coolness, industry, experience and 

 judgment. The chief resource of his policy was 

 delay; hence his evasions and ambiguous measures. 

 The conclusion of the treaty with the United 

 States led to a rupture with Britain, and France 

 lost, in the war with that power, all her Indian 

 possessions. In 1783, Vergennes concluded an ad- 

 vantageous peace with Great Britain ; but the great 

 expense of the war involved the French finances, 

 and increased the public debt to such a degree as 

 to render the difficulty beyond relief. Vergennes 

 did not possess the favour of the queen, as he op- 

 posed, although guardedly, the projects of her 

 brother Joseph II. Choiseul was his rival. The 

 dilatory and temporizing policy of Vergennes, on all 

 points, contributed not a little to diminish the in- 

 fluence of the French cabinet in foreign countries, 

 while it deprived him of the respect of the nation. 

 He did not live to witness the actual outbreak of 

 the revolution, but died in 1787, before the meet- 

 ing of the first assembly of the notables, the con- 

 vocation of which he had advised. Louis XVI. 



belie vt-d that he would have prevented the revolu- 

 tion, had he lived. 



VERGNIAUD. See Girondists. 



VERJUICE ; a sharp vinegar, made of the juice 

 of the crab apple. The sour juice of unripe grape:-, 

 used for culinary purposes, is also called verjuice. 

 Formerly, a cooling sirup was made of it for fever 

 patients ; but it has gone out of use for this pur- 

 pose. 



VERMES. See Worms. 



VERMEYEN, JOHN VAN, also called John with 

 the beard, a famous historical painter, son of Cor- 

 nelius Vermeyen, was born in 1500, at Beverwik, 

 near Harlem. He was a favourite of Charles V. 

 and accompanied him often on his journeys, and 

 even on his expedition to Tunis, in 1535. Rich 

 tapestry, now in Vienna, was made after his designs 

 of the achievements of Charles. Though In- 

 tall, his beard was so long that he could tread upon 

 it, when standing. He died at Brussels, in 1559. 

 His ten cartoons, representing Charles's expedition 

 to Tunis, in water colours, twenty feet long and 

 twelve feet high, are celebrated. They are in 

 Vienna. 



VERMICELLI (Italian, little worms) ; an Ita- 

 lian mixture, prepared of flour, cheese, yolks of eggs, 

 sugar and saffron, and reduced into little long 

 pieces, or threads, like worms, by forcing it with a 

 piston, through a number of little holes in the end 

 of a pipe made for that purpose. It is much used 

 in Italy and other countries, in soups, broths, &c. 



VERMILION ; in painting, a bright and beauti- 

 ful red colour, composed of quick -silver and sulphur, 

 in great esteem among the ancients, under the mime 

 of minium. That preparation, however, which 

 bears amongst us the name of minium, is of lead, 

 known also as red lead. 



VERMONT, one of the United States of Ame- 

 rica, is bounded north by Lower Canada, east by 

 Connecticut river, which separates it from New 

 Hampshire, south by Massachusetts, west by New 

 York ; Ion. 71 33' to 73 26* W. ; lat. 42 44' to 

 45 N.; length, 157 miles; breadth, 90 on tho 

 north line and 40 on the south ; population in 1820, 

 235,764; in 1840, 291,948. The face of the coun- 

 try is generally uneven, and a great part of it is 

 mountainous. The Green mountains (in French, 

 verd monC}, from which the state derives its name, 

 extend through the whole length from north to 

 south, and are from ten to fifteen miles wide, and 

 intersected by valleys. They lie principally on the 

 east side of Bennington, Addison and Rutland 

 counties. In Chittenden county, they appear to 

 divide. The western range presents much the 

 loftiest summits, but has inequalities which afford 

 passages for Onion and Lamoille rivers. The 

 highest summits of the Green mountains are Kil- 

 lington peak, Camel's rump and Mansfield. As- 

 cutney is a noted mountain on the east side of the 

 state, south of Windsor. A large portion of the 

 soil is fertile, and fitted for the various purposes of 

 agriculture. It is generally deep, of a dark colour, 

 rich, moist, warm, loamy, and seldom parched with 

 drought. The low lands, on the banks of the 

 rivers, are generally most esteemed ; but a great 

 part of the land on the large swells is excellent 

 both for grazing and tillage. Wheat is extensively 

 cultivated, particularly on the west side of the 

 mountains. Barley, rye, oats, peas, flax and pota- 

 toes flourish in all parts of the state. Indian corn 

 also produces considerable crops, and apples grow 

 very well. Maple sugar is made in quantities nearly 



