V A L 



V A L 



j wliich he maintained his peculiar opinions. Of thefe, we 

 may mention his rejeftion of the letter of Chrill to Abgarus 



; as a fiftion, and his reproach of a celebrated preacher for 

 afferting that each article in the apoftles' creed was com- 

 pofed by one of them feparately. For the latter of thefe 



1 offences he was brought before the Inquifition, and owed 



1 his efcape to the interpofition of Alphonfo, after a private 

 flagellation in the cloifter of monks. At length he was in- 



1 vitcd to Rome by pope Nicholas V., who was diftinguifiied 

 by his patronage of literature ; and in this metropolis he 



, opened a fchool of eloquence, A. D. 1450. Here he entered 



: into a difpute with George of Trebifond, fecretary to the 

 pope, on the refpeflive merits of Cicero and Quinftihan, to 

 the latter of whom he gave a decided preference. His next 



I conteft was with Poggio Braciolini, who attacked him in 

 five inveftives, to which Valla oppofed as many antidotes, 



' or dialogues, againfl Poggio. The manner in wliich this 



' literary conteft was profecuted was difgraceful to both par- 

 ties, and has been feverely cenfured by Tirabofchi. Al- 

 though Valla was much occupied with difputes of this kind, 

 he purfued his ftudies, and by order of Nicholas V. under- 

 took a verfion of the Greek of Thucydides into Latin, for 

 which he received from the pope a recompence of joo gold 

 crowns, a canonry of St, John Lateran, and the place of 

 apoflolic fcribe. For thefe favours on the part of the pope, 

 Valla is charged with ingratitude. In the latter years of his 

 life he vifited king Alphonfo at Naples, who exhorted him to 

 tranflate Herodotus, but his death prevented his fiuidiing the 

 propofed verfion ; however, for the part which he completed 

 he was liberally rewarded. This trandation was concluded by 

 another perfon, and dedicated to Pius H. Valla's death oc- 

 curred in Auguft, 1457. The charafter of Valla is thus 

 fetched by one of his biographers. He was " a man con- 

 fident of his talents and acquirements, intolerant of other men's 

 opinions, and free in his own, arrogant and contentious. His 

 conduft was probably far from correft, though his enemies may 

 have brought falfe or exaggerated charges againft him. His 

 philofophy was profefledly Epicurean, placing the higheft 

 good in pleafure, which, however, he might explain in the leaft 

 obnoxious fenfe. He was never married, but he confeffes 

 in one of his anfwers to Poggio, that he took a young wo- 

 man to live with him, by whom he had three children, and 

 whofe fidelity to himfelf he extols, adding, that he hoped to 

 procure for her a huftand ; but concubinage was at that 

 time very common among the fcholars attached to the court 

 of Rome. In the capacity of a reviver of letters he has 

 always held a high rank, which he merited by unwearied 

 application, and an enlarged courfe of Rudy, comprehending 

 hiltory, criticifm, dialeftics, moral philofophy, and theo- 

 logy. That in the latter his notions were liberal, may be 

 conjeftured from fome of the circumftances above related, 

 and alfo from his notes on the New Teftament, in which he 

 was one of the firlt to confider the fenfe as a critic rather 

 than as a divine, whence he was led to make many correc- 

 tions in the received tranflations. He is however faid to 

 have been but moderately verfed in the Greek language, 

 and Huet fpeaks very difpSragingly of his verfions of Thu- 

 cydides, Herodotus, and Homer's Iliad. Of his numerous 

 writings, his ' Elegantise Latini Sermonis,' containing the 

 grammar of that tongue, and rules for compofing in it, has 

 been the moft generally efteemed, and ftill retains its repu- 

 tation : his own ftyle, however, was defeftive in point of 

 purity and elegance. He has had many eulogifts among 

 the learned, and has been particularly praifed by Erafmus, 

 aB one of thofe who have moft contributed to the revival of 

 found learning." Tirabofchi. . Gen. Biog. 



VALLABREGUES, in Geography, a town of France, 

 Vol. XXXVI. 



in the department of the Mouths of the Rhone ; 5 miles N. 

 of Tarafcon. 



VALLADOLID, a town of Spain, in the province of 

 Leon, on a fmall river called Efquava, near the Pifuerga ; 

 the fee of a bi(hop, and an univerfity, founded in the year 

 1346. Several of the churches of Valladolid, thofe efpe- 

 cially of the Dominicans and of San Benito, are elegant, 

 agreeably to the Spanifh tafte, that is haiidfome, and full 

 of altars richly gilt. Valladolid is not wholly without ma- 

 nufaftures ; fome ftuffs and coarfe cloths are made there 

 from the wool of the flieep which are kept in the neighbour- 

 hood. There are alfo gold and filver-fmiths ; and one ftreet 

 is entirely inhabited by jewellers : this is very lively, and full 

 of bufinefs, as are all the otliers, which terminate in the 

 great fquare. An academy of the belles lettres was efta- 

 blifiied here in the year 1752. Here was a palace, in which 

 Philip II. was born, now reduced to bare walls ; 84 miles 

 N.N. W. of Madrid. N- lat. 41° 42'. W. long. 4° 47'. 



Valladolid, a town of South America, in the audience 

 of Quito ; 40 miles S. of Loxa. — Alfo, a town of Mexico, 

 in Yucatan. N. lat. 19° 50'. W. long. 80° 30'. 



Valladoi-ID, or Comayagua, a town of Mexico, in the 

 province of Honduras ; the fee of a bifhop, who takes the 

 title of bifliop of Honduras. N. lat. 14° 30'. W. long. 

 88' 19'. 



Valladolid. See Mechoacan. 



VALLAGAM, a town of Hindooftan, in Golconda ; 

 21 miles S. of Combamet. 



VALLAIS. See Valais. 



VALLANCE, a town of France, in the department of 

 the Gers ; 4 miles S. of Condom, 



VALLA R, Vallaris, formed from •vallum, a ftake 

 with branches, of which they made the pahfade of a camp, 

 called lorica, in Antiquily, an epithet given to a kind of 

 crown, which the Roman generals beftowed on him who, 

 in attacking the enemy's camp, firft broke in upon the line 

 of palifades. 



Tiie corona vallaris was the fame with what was otherwife 

 called corona cajlrenjis, from cajlra, a camp. Aulus Gellius 

 affurcs us, that it was of gold, as the mural and naval 

 crowns alfo were : yet, though they were made of that 

 precious metal, they were not the moil valued ; for Pliny, 

 lib. xxii. cap. 3. gives the preference to the corona ob- 

 fulionalh, which was yet only of gr.imen, or grafs. See 

 CmiWN. 



VALLARIOS, in Geography, a town of Spain, in Ara- 

 gon ; 15 miles W. of Balballro. 



VALLARIS, in Botany, fo called by Burmann, appa- 

 rently from 'uallo, to inclofe, beeaufe it fervcs, in Java and 

 Amboyna, to make bowers and fences, whofe ihade is very 

 grateful in a tropical climate — Burm. Ind. 51. Brown 

 Tr, of Wern. Soc. v. i. 63. — Clafs and order, Pentandria 

 Monogynia. Nat. Ord. Contorla, Linn. Apocince, JufT. 

 Brown. 



EIT, Ch. Corolla falver-lhaped ; mouth and tube per- 

 vious, without fcales ; limb in five obtufe fegments. Sta- 

 mens prominent ; filaments infertcd into the throat, very 

 (hort, with a flefhy tubercle externally, at the top ; anthers 

 arrow-fhaped, adhering to the ftigma. Germen of two 

 cells ; ftyle thread-ftiaped ; ftigma conic-ovate. Scales at 

 the bafe of the germen five, combined below, fringed at the 

 points. Follicles 



Obf. Mr. Brown rnnarks, that " this, the Flos Pergu. 

 lanus of Rumphius, was confidered by Linna-us as the firft 

 fpecies of his genus Pergularia." It does not, however, be- 

 long to the fame order with the plant that afforded his ge- 

 4 C n«"c 



