V A L 



III France, valet is a common name for all domettic fer- 

 vants employed in the lower and more ftrvile offices ; in- 

 cluding what wc call grooms, footmen, coachmen, bailiffs, &c. 

 But the word is not ufcd among us in this fenfe, nor any 

 otherwife than in the phrafe valet de chambrc ; which is a 

 fervant, whofe office is to drefs and undrefs his mailer, to 

 look to his bed-chamber, wait on him at table, &c. the 

 fame with what we otherwife call his gentleman. 



In the Hiilory of Lewis XII. by Seifel, we always find 

 iiarht de chamlre du roi, varlet de la gard-robe, &c. But varlct, 

 like knave, and divers otlier words, is now degenerated into 

 a term of reproach. 



J''aiet, -valeff, vadeleB, vadlet, and vallet, Camden ob- 

 ferves, were anciently ufed at our court for a gentleman of 

 the privy-chamber. 



Selden, in his Titles, relates, that valets anciently figni- 

 fied young gentlemen, and heirs.of great eftate and quality ; 

 efpecially fuch as were to be knighted. 



In the accounts of the Inner Temple, valet is ufed for a 

 bencher's clerk, or fervant. The butlers of the houfe ftill 

 call them varlefs. 



Valet, in the Manege, a flick armed at one end with a 

 blunted point of iron, to prick and aid a leaping horfe. 



Formerly, a valet was called aigudlon, i. e. goad, and fome 

 of them had fpur-rowels upon them, only the points beaten 

 down ; and when a horfe was firft begun round a pillar, 

 without a rider, they ufed to prick his flanks with the valet, 

 to make him know the fpur, and obey it, without refill- 

 ing. At prefent the valet is not ufed for that purpofe, and 

 the name of goad is fuppreffed, as being only proper for 

 oxen. 



VALETTA, or CiTTA Nuova, in Geography, a city of 

 Malta, and capital of the ifiand, which, in the year 1566, 

 was built by the grand-mafler Frederic John de Valetta, on 

 a hill, in form like a neck of land extending itfelf into the 

 fea, and was called by his name. Its walls are of large 

 fquare ftones, dug out of the rock, and planted with feve- 

 ral batteries. On the point towards the fea flands the caftle 

 of St. Elmo, a fortrefs which defends both the harbours ; 

 one of which, called Marfa Mafcietto, lies at the entrance 

 from the fea to the right of the town, and inclofes a fmall 

 illand, on which Hand both a fort and a lazaretto. The other 

 harbour, on the left fide, is fimply called Marfa, or The 

 Great Harbour, being the largell, fafeft, and moll com- 

 modious in this illand, and having fome bays. Its entrance, 

 befides the caftle of St. Elmo, is guarded by Fort Ricafoli, 

 which ftands on the Punta del Orfa, to the left. The town 

 of Valetta lies on its right, and on its left the towns II 

 Borgo, or Vittoriofa, and Senglea. In Valetta is a hand- 

 fome palace, where the grand-mafter refides, and before it a 

 fpacious area for exercifes. Each of the feven nations, or 

 tongues of this order, has its peculiar hall. The principal 

 church is dedicated to St. John the Baptift. The Jefuits 

 had a college here ; befides which are feveral convents and 

 nunneries, a large hofpital, and a building where Turkifli 

 flaves are kept. The number of the inhabitants is com- 

 puted to be about 2000. See Malta. 



VALETTE, La, a town of France, in the department 

 of the I fere ; 15 miles S.S.E. of Grenoble.— Alfo, a town 

 of France, in the department of the Charente ; 12 miles S. 

 of AngoulSme— Alfo, a fort of France, in the department 

 of the Var, near Toulon. 



VALETUDINARY, Valetudinarius, a term fome- 

 times ufed, by the writers on medicine, for a perfon of a 

 weak, fickly conftitution, who is very frequently out of 

 order, &c. 



Dr. Cheync, by all means, direfts the weakly, the llu- 



V A L 



diour,, the fedcatary, and the valetudinary, to a low, fpare 

 regimen. 



VALEUR des Notes, Fr.; Falue of Notes, in Mnfic. 

 Befides the pofition of the notes on the llaff, which fix the 

 tone with refped to gravity and acutenefs, they have all 

 fome peculiarity of figure, which marks their duration as to 

 time, or comparative value as to length. In the ancient pri- 

 mitive time-table, in which all the notes arc black or full, 

 except the femibreve and minim, which are white and open, 

 the fiiorteft notes then in ufe are the longeft now, and 

 all that are open. The breve, indeed, equal to two femi- 

 breves, is ftill to be found in church-mufic of fome antiquity, 

 known by the titles alia breve, or ii capella ; but in all fe- 

 cular mufic, the femibreve is placed at the head of the other 

 charafters for time ; and that note, divided into its aliquot 

 parts, furniflies all the fradlions in the moft rapid com- 

 pofitions. 



The dual meafure, or common time, is governed by even 

 numbers; as 2 minims, 4 crotchets, 8 quavers, 16 fcmi- 

 quavers, 32 demifemiquavers, all which only amount to a 

 femibreve. 



Triple time, or ternary meafure, is governed by the num- 

 ber 3 : as \, \, I, \, l- In thefe numbers, the upper 

 figure tells how many notes there are in each bar, and the 

 under, of what kind in the time-table ; as \ implies 3 minims, 

 \ three crotchets, J three quavers. 



One -third is added to the value of a note by a point or 

 dot : as a femibreve equal to two minims, by a point is 

 equal to three ; a minim equal to two crotchets, the point 

 makes equal to three, &c. See Mufical Characters, 

 Time, and Plate Time-table. 



It was to John de Muris, who flourifhed about the year 

 1 330, that the charafters for time in mufic were long afcribed ; 

 but on examining and collating MSS. in the feveral great 

 libraries of Europe, it has been clearly proved that it was 

 not John de Muris who invented thefe charadlers, as he him- 

 felf owns in one of his trafts, but Magifter Franco of Co- 

 logn, author of a treatife " De Mufica Menfurabili," written 

 in the eleventh century, long before De Muris was born ; 

 in which the form of the notes is given, and their relative 

 value explained. 



This very fcarce treatife is preferved in the Bodleian 

 library, 842, f. 49. See Franco and De Munis. 



VALEY Island, in Geography, a fmull ifiand in the 

 North fea, feparated by a ftrait called V.iley Sound, from 

 the fouth-weft coaft of the ifland of Shetland. N. lat. 60° 

 15'. W. long. 1° j8'. 



VALFROICOUR, a town of France, in the depart- 

 ment of the Vofges ; 6 miles S. of Mirecour. 



VALGI. When the legs were deformed in fuch a man- 

 ner that the feet were twilled outwards, the perfons thus 

 disfigured were termed valgi ; while others, who were de- 

 formed by an incfination of their toes inwards, received the 

 appellation of vari. 



VALGOM, in Geography, a town of the ifland of Cey- 

 lon ; 6 miles N. of Candy. 



VALGORGE, a town of France, in the department of 

 the Ardeche ; 9 miles N.W. of Largentiere. 



VALGRANA, a town of France, in the department of 

 the Stura ; 9 miles W. of Coni. 



VALHERMOSA, a town of Portugal, in the pro- 

 vince of Eftramadura ; 9 miles N.E. of Leyria. — Alfo, a 

 town on the north-weft of the ifland of Gomera. — Alfo, 

 a town of Spain, in New Caftilc ; 12 miles E.S.E. of Gua- 

 dalajara. 



VALI, in the mythological romances of the Hindoos, 

 ii a name given to a monkey, begotten by their god Indra, 



on 



