B22 



VINCENT-VINCI. 



Imports, in 1829, 99,891; exports, 414,548. 

 In 1812, St Vincent was almost desolated by a 

 most dreadful eruption of the Souffrier mountain, 

 which had continued quiet for nearly a century, 

 but from which now issued such a torrent of lava, 

 and such clouds of ashes, as nearly covered the 

 island, and injured the soil in such a manner that it 

 has never recovered. Population before the late 

 abolition of slavery, whites, 1301 ; free people of 

 colour, 2824; slaves, 23,589; total, 27,714. Lon. 

 81 15' W.; lat. 13 17' N. 



VINCENT, CAPE ST; the south-west point 

 of Portugal, noted for the naval victory gained off 

 it on the 14th of February, 1797, by Sir John 

 Jervis, afterwards earl of St Vincent. See the fol- 

 lowing article. Lon. 8 58' 39" W.; lat. 37 2' 

 54" N. 



VINCENT, JOHN JKHVIS, earl of St, a distin- 

 guished naval commander, descended of a respec- 

 table family in Staffordshire, was born in 1734, 

 and, at the age of fourteen, entered the navy. In 

 1760, he obtained the rank of post-captain, and 

 commanded the Foudroyant, in the action between 

 admiral Keppel and the French fleet, in July, 1778. 

 In 1782, he took the Pegase, of seventy-four guns; 

 for which exploit he received the red ribband. In 

 1794, he received the command of a squadron 

 equipped for the West Indies, and reduced Martin- 

 ico, Guadaloupe and St Lucia. On the 14th of 

 February, 1797, being in command of the Mediter- 

 ranean fleet of fifteen sail, he defeated twenty-seven 

 Spanish ships of the line off cape St Vincent, the 

 south-west point of Portugal, and was raised to the 

 English peerage, by the titles of baron Jervis and 

 earl of St Vincent, with a pension of 3000 a year. 

 In 1799, he was created admiral, and, in 1801, be- 

 came first lord of the admiralty, and, in 1821, ad- 

 miral of the fleet. Lord St Vincent was a man of 

 a strong mind, unbending in regard to discipline 

 and reform, and of high gallantry and genius in his 

 profession. He died in 1823, in his eighty-ninth 

 year. His statue has been erected in St Paul's 

 cathedral, bv vote of parliament. 



VINCENT, WILLIAM, a distinguished critic and 

 divine, born in London, in 1739, was educated at 

 Cambridge, where he obtained a fellowship. In 

 1762, he became an usher at Westminster, and, 

 nine years after, second master. He took the de- 

 gree of doctor of divinity, and was appointed chap- 

 lain in ordinary to the king. In 1788, he became 

 head master at Westminster, where he continued 

 to preside till 1801, when he was made a prebend 

 of Westminster ; and, two years after, he succeeded 

 to the deanery. Dean Vincent is principally known 

 by his Commentary on Arrian's Voyage of Near- 

 chus, and his Periplus of the Erythrean Sea, re- 

 published together, under the title of the Com- 

 merce and Navigation of the Ancients in the Indian 

 Ocean (1807, 2 vols., 4to.). He died in December, 

 1815. A volume of his Discourses, with his life, 

 was published posthumously. 



VINCENT DE PAUL. See Paul. 



VINCI, LEONARDO DA, the head of the Floren- 

 tine school of painting, was born in the village of 

 Vinci, near Florence, between 1444 and 1452. He 

 was the natural son of a notary named Pietro. 

 Even in his earliest youth, he devoted himself to a 

 great variety of studies painting, sculpture, ana- 

 tomy, architecture, geometry, mechanics, poetry 

 and music. He soon surpassed his master, the 

 painter and sculptor Andrea del Varrochio ; and, 

 in 1482, the duke of Milan, Ludovico Maria Sforza, 



took him into his service. Leonardo founded an 

 academy of design, which would have been still 

 more beneficial in its results but for the fall of the 

 house of Sforza. Amongst the paintings which he 

 executed by order of the duke, the first was the 

 Head of Medusa; and the most famous was the 

 Lord's Supper, in the refectory of the Dominicans 

 of Sta-Maria delle Grazie. It is to be regretted, 

 that this beautiful fresco painting has been entirely 

 destroyed by neglect ; but several old copies re- 

 main, from which the beauty of the groups of the 

 whole composition and of the separate parts can be 

 estimated. There is an excellent engraving of this 

 painting by Raphael Morghen. Besides his paint- 

 ings, Leonardo's active spirit undertook many im- 

 portant enterprises. He conducted the water of 

 the Adda to Milan, and excavated a navigable canal 

 from Mortesana to the valleys of Chiavenna and to 

 the Valteline, a distance of 200 Italian miles. In 

 1499, he returned to Florence, where he was em- 

 ployed to paint one of the walls of the great council 

 room. On this occasion, having Michael Angelo 

 for a competitor, he made a cartoon which is one 

 of his most celebrated works commemorating a 

 victory of the Florentines, under their chief Niccolo 

 Piccinio : a group of horsemen in the piece, strug- 

 gling around a standard, was particularly admired. 

 This cartoon also is known only by a copy. When 

 Leo X. ascended the papal throne, in 1513, Leo- 

 nardo went, in the suite of Julian, duke of Medici, 

 to Rome, but left this city in 1515, and went to 

 France, whither he had been invited by Francis I. 

 His reason for leaving Rome probably was, that 

 the rivalry of Michael Angelo followed him even 

 there, or that Raphael was already intrusted with 

 the execution of the great works in the Vatican. 

 On account of his advanced age, he did little or 

 nothing in France, and, in 1519, he died in the 

 arms of the king, when attempting to rise from 

 his bed on the occasion of a visit from him. Leo- 

 nardo da Vinci is distinguished as the man who 

 strove to reduce the art of painting, which had been 

 revived by Cimabue (1420), to principles. But 

 few paintings are extant to which he had given the 

 last touches. The reason of this was his restless 

 striving for perfection, even in advanced age. 

 Truth was his aim, and his motto Vogli sempre qitel 

 che tv debbi(Wil\ always that which thou oughtest). 

 So anxious was he at the beginning of a work, that 

 he would tremble like a stripling. His dissatisfac- 

 tion with his productions increased with the pro- 

 gress, so that he generally gave them up before they 

 were finished. Among his most distinguished works, 

 besides those already mentioned, are the Lisa del 

 Giocondo, in Paris ; the lovely picture known by 

 the name of La Vierge aux Rochers ; a Leda, in 

 the collection of prince Kaunitz, in Vienna ; a pic- 

 ture, in the palace Pamfili, in Rome, representing 

 the interview of the child Jesus with the doctors 

 in the temple ; John the Baptist, formerly in the 

 French museum ; the portrait of duke Ludovico 

 Maria Sforza, in the Dresden gallery ; and others. 

 Almost of equal value with the pictures of this im- 

 mortal artist are his writings, of which, however, 

 part have unfortunately been lost, and others have 

 remained in manuscript. His Trattato della Pitturu 

 appeared for the first time in 1651 : the most com- 

 plete edition of it was published by Manzi, in 1817- 

 With a deep insight into nature, says Fiorillo, 

 Leonardo has treated, in this book, of light, shades, 

 reflections, and particularly of back-grounds. He 

 perfectly understood, and has explained in the best 



