828 



VIRGIL-VIRGINIA. 



These qualities have alwavs procured him numerous 

 and zealous admirers; and be has found many imi- 

 tators, both in ancient and modern times. The 

 popular traditions of the middle ages in Italy, re- 

 presented him as a magician ; and his verses were 

 referred to as of prophetic power, in the well-known 

 sortes Viryiliana. Of the editions of Virgil, the 

 most complete is that of Burmann (Amsterdam, 

 174(>, 4 vols. 4to.) ; the most esteemed for its com- 

 mentaries and critical appendices, that of Heyne (8 

 vols., 8vo., 1793). The most celebrated of the 

 ancient commentators is Servius (A. D. 400), whose 

 commentaries have been published separately, and 

 in the principal editions of the works of Virgil. Of 

 his English translators, the most popular are Dry- 

 den, Pitt, Warton and Sotheby. The Bucolics and 

 Georgics have been published separately by profes- 

 sor .Mart \ 11, of Cambridge, with an English version 

 in prose, and valuable notes illustrative of the bot- 

 any, &c. Voss has translated the Georgics into 

 German hexameters, and Delille the JEneid and 

 the Georgics into French verse. 



VIRGIL, POLYDORE, a historical writer of the 

 sixteenth century, was born at Urbino, in Italy. 

 One of his first productions was a collection of 

 Latin poems, which was followed, in 1499, by his 

 work De Rerun Inventoribus, which has often been 

 republished. Pope Alexander VI. sent him to 

 England, as collector of the tribute called Peter's 

 pence ; and he was the last person who held that 

 office in that country previously to the reformation 

 under Henry VIII. That prince bestowed on him 

 the archdeaconry of Wells, and several other bene- 

 fices in the church ; and, at the request of Henry, 

 he composed a general History of England, from 

 the earliest ages to his own time. This work, 

 which is written in Latin, considered as the pro- 

 duction of a foreigner, is highly creditable to his 

 talents ; but his reputation has suffered in some 

 degree from the charge of having destroyed memoirs 

 and records which be made use of in his undertak- 

 ing. The History of Polydore has passed through 

 several editions. He quitted England in the reign 

 of Edward VI., and, going to Italy, died at Urbino 

 in 1,555. Besides the works noticed, he was the 

 author of a treatise on Prodigies. 



VIRGIN ISLANDS; a cluster of islands in the 

 West Indies, situated to the east of Porto Rico. 

 They are upwards of twenty in number, but for the 

 most part desert and barren, and extend sixty miles 

 in length, and upwards of thirty-six in breadth ; 

 but they are every way dangerous to navigators, 

 though there is a basin in the midst of them of 

 eighteen or twenty miles in length, and nine or 

 twelve in breadth, in which ships may anchor, and 

 be sheltered and landlocked from all winds, and 

 called the Bay of Sir Francis Drake, from his hav- 

 ing passed through it to St Domingo. The Bri- 

 tish and Danes divide most of them ; but the Span- 

 iards claim those near Porto Rico. Virgin Gorda, 

 Tortola, &c., belong to the British. The Danes 

 possess the islands of St Thomas, St Croix, &c. 



VIRGIN MARY. The belief in a god, appear- 

 ing in a human form, and born of a virgin, is com- 

 mon to several religions of Asia. That Christ was 

 born of a virgin appears from the Old and New 

 Testament ; and it was early maintained by theo- 

 logians, that, in order to become the Saviour of 

 the world, he must have been born of a virgin, 

 as he would otherwise have had the stain of 

 original sin. Justin Martyr treats of this necessity 

 '^Dialog, i, Tryphone i, 100). In the fourth cen- 



tury A. D., the doctrine was started, that Marv not 

 only had conceived the Saviour in a state of virgin- 

 ity, but had also retained this virgin state during 

 and after his birth, as she had given birth to him 

 tttero clauso. Jovianus and others opposed this 

 opinion. In the fifth century, this dispute was re- 

 newed in the struggle with Eutyches. At length, 

 the continued virginity of Mary, the mother of God, 

 became a doctrine of the orthodox church. Pro- 

 testants believe in the virginity of Mary, as respects 

 the conception of Christ, because it is explicitly 

 stated in the Bible ; but it is not thought irrecon- 

 cilable with the New Testament, to suppose that 

 after the birth of Christ, she had several children 

 by Joseph, who are meant by the brothers of Jesus, 

 mentioned in the New Testament. Some critics, 

 however, understand by this phrase merely relatives 

 of Christ. The belief in the virgin Slary, the 

 mother of God, exercised a most important influ- 

 ence during the middle ages. The traces of her 

 worship, of the legends connected with her, and of 

 the deep impression which her idea had made on 

 the minds of men, are visible every where, and par- 

 ticularly in the productions of the fine arts. The 

 adoration of a virgin comported well with the ro- 

 mantic exaltation of the female sex during the age 

 of chivalry. (See the article Chivalry.) This adora- 

 tion lent a glowing fervour to the religion of the 

 middle ages : it afforded an opportunity not only to 

 refine the most romantic feelings of love into those 

 of religion, but to make the adored being the im- 

 mediate subject of amatory feelings and expressions. 

 Innumerable poems afford proofs of this ; but many 

 modern Catholics consider expressions of this kind, 

 which are still retained in religious compositions, 

 as indecorous. Without entering into a discussion 

 respecting the good and the evil which have re- 

 suited from the adoration of the Virgin, we would 

 only state the fact, that the feelings with which it 

 inspired the knights, the artists, the poets and the 

 religious of the middle ages, led to the highest ex- 

 hibitions of prowess, genius and devotion ; and the 

 historian will find in it one of the most important 

 keys to the right understanding of the middle ages. 



VIRGINIA. See Appius Claudius. 



VIRGINIA, one of the thirteen original states 

 of the American Union, is situated between 36 

 31' and 40 39' N. lat., and 6 35' W., and 1 48' 

 E. Ion. from Washington city. It is bounded on 

 the north and north-east by Pennsylvania and 

 Maryland, east by Maryland and the Atlantic, 

 south by North Carolina and Tennessee, and west 

 by Kentucky and the OLio river, or state of Ohio. 

 According to Mr Boyes's map, published by state 

 authority, its mean length, from east to west, is 

 355 miles ; its mean breadth, from north to south, 

 185 miles ; and its horizontal area, 65,624 square 

 miles. The state is divided into one hundred and 

 ten counties, whereof sixty-five are situated on the 

 east, and forty-five on the west of the Blue ridge 

 mountains. Adopting the classification under the 

 new constitution, these two great sections may be 

 further subdivided into, 1. the district extending 

 from the sea-coast to the head of tide-water, com- 

 prehending thirty-six counties and three towns en- 

 titled to representation ; 2. the territory stretching 

 from the head of tide-water to the Blue ridge, con- 

 taining twenty-nine counties ; 3. the valley district, 

 embracing fifteen counties, between the Blue ridge 

 and Alleghany; 4. the trans- Alleghany counties, 

 thirty in number. The principal towns are Rich- 

 mond, the seat of government, delightfully situated 



