^^ A R 



VARAMUS, in j4nci<;?it Geography, a river of Italy, in 

 Venetia, which difcharges itfelf into the Anaffus. Phny. 



VARANASI, the claffical name for the city of Benares, 

 in the Eaft Indies. ( See Benares. ) This name is faid to 

 tomprife that of two rivers which form a junftion near the 

 city. 



VARANGI. See AcoLUTHi. 



VARANGUEBEC, in Geography, a town of France, in 

 the department of the Channel ; lo miles W. of Carenton. 



V A RANI A, in Ancient Geography, a town of Servia, 

 taken poffeflion of in the year 1 143 by Perigord, general of 

 Manuel, emperor of Conftantinople. 



VARANO, in Geography, a lake of Naples, in Capi- 

 tanata, which communicates with the Adriatic; 13 miles 

 N.N.W. of Monte St. Angelo. 



Varano de Marcheji, a town of the duchy of Parma; 

 12 miles W.S.W. of Parma. 



VARASDIN, a town of Croatia, on the S. fide of the 

 Drave, with a caftle and citadel ; near it is a warm bath ; 

 186 miles N.W. of Belgrade. N. lat. 46'^ 30'. E. long. 

 16° 25'. 



VARASELLYGUNGE, a town of Hindooftan, in 

 Bahar; 14 miles S.S.E. of Bahar. N. lat. 25° 2'. E. 

 long. 85° 50'. 



VARBRESIE, a town of France, in the department of 

 the Rhone and Loire ; <) miles N.W. of Lyons. 



VARCES, a town of France, in the department of the 

 Ifere ; 7 miles S. of Grenoble. 



VARCHI, Benedetto, in Biography, was born at 

 Florence in the year 1502, and dellined to trade; but 

 manifefting an inclination for literature, he was fent to the 

 uriiverfity of Padua. His progrefs in the belles lettres in- 

 duced his father to educate him for the law at Pifa. But 

 Benedetto, after tlio death of his father, devoted himfelf 

 entirely to literature ; and when the Strozzi, to whom he 

 was attached, were obliged to quit Florence, he followed 

 them, in 1534, firft to Venice and then to Bologna. At 

 Bologna, and alfo in Padua, he fpent fome years in ftudy, 

 and in cultivating an intercourfe with learned men. At 

 Padua he became a member of the Academy degli Infiam- 

 mati, and read public ledlures on morals, and feveral dif- 

 fertations on the poems of Petrarch, Bembo, and others. 

 Cofmo I. grand duke of Tufcany, apprized of his reputa- 

 tion, recalled him to Florence, and affigned to him the 

 office of writing a hiftory of the late revolution in that city, 

 with a yearly iiipend. Whi|lft he was thus employed, he 

 was attacked in the night by feveral perfons, who appre- 

 hended that his narrative would not be favourable to them, 

 and inflifted on him many wounds. When he recovered, 

 he declined, from motives of prudence or lenity, to inform 

 againft the perpetrators, though he knew them. In the 

 Florentine academy, of which he was one year conful, he 

 delivered leftures. Cofmo recompenfed his fervices with 

 the provoftfliip of Monte Varchi, on which occafion he 

 took holy orders ; but before he could remove thither, he 

 died of an apoplexy in 1565, at the age of fixty-three ; 

 and his eulogy was delivered, at his funeral, by Lionardo 

 Salviati. 



Varchi was a man of general literature. He wrote a 

 Florentine hiftory, comprifing the period from 1527 to 

 1538, in which he was chargeable with grofs adulation to 

 the houfe of Medici. He alfo publidied feveral harangues, 

 academical and funeral ; poetical pieces, and a comedy in 

 Itahan. As a grammarian, he gained reputation by his 

 dialogue " Ercolano," treating particularly of the Tufcan 

 language. His tranflations of " Seneca on Benefits," and of 

 the " Philofophical Confolaticn of Boethius," into Italian, 



V A R 



are deemed elegant. His " Lezioni lette nel Accademia 

 Fiorentina" comprehends much various erudition. Upon 

 the whole, Varchi ranked as a man of learning, to whom 

 Italian literature was much indebted. Moreri. Tirabofchi. 

 Gen. Biog. 



VARCIA, in Ancient Geography, a town of Belgic Gaul, 

 upon the route from Cambrai to Andematunum, between 

 Vefontio and Andematunum, according to Antonine's 

 Itinerary. 



VARDANUS, Couban, a large river which difcharges 

 itfelf into the Euxine fea, and into the Palus Maotis. 



VARDAR, in Geography, a river of European Turkey, 

 which rifes near Kolumbatz, in Macedonia, and runs into 

 the gulf of Saloniki ; 16 miles W.S.W. of Saloniki. 



VARDEGUS, a fmall illand of Ruffia, in the Frozen 

 ocean ; 100 miles N.N.W. of Kola. N. lat. 70° 25'. 

 E. long. 30° 34'. 



VAP.DEN, or Wardan, or Ouardan, a town of Egypt, 

 on the W. branch of the Nile, anciently called Latopolis. 

 In modern times it has been famous or rather infamous for the 

 abode of pirates, who robbed the veffels which navigated tli^ 

 Nile. Thefe robbers were routed out, and difperfed by Ali 

 Bey. Here Father Sicard burned heaps of ancient manu- 

 fcripts, depofited in a dove-houfe, as books of magic ; 

 18 miles N.N.W. of Cairo. 



VARDHUYS. SeeWARDHUYs. 



VARDLE, in Rural Economy, 3. term applied in fome 

 cafes to tlie eye or thimble of a gate, which has a fpike 

 only. See Gate. 



VARDON, in Geography, a town of Abafcia, on the 

 Black fea; 28 miles W.N.W. of Mamak. 



VARDONES, m Ancient Geography, a people of Ger- 

 many, who formed a branch of the Vandals. 



VARDULI, a people of Hifpania Citerior, upon the 

 coaft, between the Pyrenees to the E. and the Cariftes to 

 the W. Ptolemy has affigned to them the town of Menofca. 



VARECA, in Botany, a bad and merely temporary 

 name, taken from Wahvareka, by which this fruit appears to 

 be known in Ceylon. Gaertner received it, with that appella- 

 tion, from the colleftion of feeds at the Leyden garden, and 

 thought it might conftitute a new genus. We fhall give 



his defcription Gxrtn. v. 1. 290. t. 60 Clafs and order, 



as well as the Nat. Ord., unknown. 



Gen. Ch. Flower unknown. Peric. Berry fuperior, of 

 one cell, half an inch long, ovate, with fix angles, tipped 

 with a fhort point ; fupported at the bafe by a fmall round 

 diflc, having fix flight notches. Coat coriaceous, thin. 

 Pulp by age become Spongy and membranous, divided into 

 partial cells for the reception of the feeds. Recept. thi-ee 

 prominent ribs, attached to the inner coat of the berry, into 

 which the external feeds are inferted. Seeds numerous, 

 rather large, nearly ovate, rendered varioufly angular by 

 mutual preffure, their colour a fmoky brown, all inclofed in 

 feparate partial cells ; the outer feeds attached to the coat 

 of the fruit ; the inner imbedded in its pulp. Integument 

 double ; the outer thick, coriaceous ; inner membranous, 

 very thin. Albumen the fhape of the feed, thick, white, of 

 the fubftance of an almond. Embryo nearly the fize of the 

 albumen, compreffed, pale yellow. Cotyledons ovate, or 

 rounded, leafy, flat, very thin. Radicle long, nearly cylin- 

 drical, centrifugal, or indeterminate. 



Eff. Ch. Flower .... Berry fuperior, of one cell ; 

 pulp in many partial cells, appropriated to each feed. 

 Seeds inferted into the coat of the berry. 



Gaertner obferves, that the ftrufture of this fruit agrees, 

 in many points, with that of the Gourd tribe, Cucurbitacete ; 

 but it differs from all hitherto known cf that tribe, in being 



fuperior. 



