V A U 



V A U 



VAVAO, or Vavou, in Geography, one of the Friendly 

 illands, in the South Pacific ocean, feen by Peroiife in 1787, 

 ■who fays, " this ifland, which Capt. Cook never vifited, is 

 almoll equal in fize to Tongataboo, and has the advantage 

 of being never in want of water, with a good harbour." 

 It had been before difcovered by the Spanifh pilot Maurelle, 

 and with ;■ number of iflands almoft as confiderable as thofe 

 already explored by Capt. Cook, which he called the iflands 

 of Majorca. S. lat. 18° 34' of tlie weftern point. See 

 Tonga. 



VAVASOR, Valvasor, Vavafour, or Vahafour, in 

 our Ancie?it Cufloms, a diminutive of vaffal, or vajfour ; 

 fignifying a v/ijfal of a vaffal, or one who held a fee of 

 another vaflal. 



Yet Camden, and others, hold vavafor to be a dignity, 

 next below that of a baron : he adds, that the word is 

 formed of ims fortitum ad vahtudinem, a veflel chofen for 

 fafety and health. Others derive it a va/vis, quafi obligatus 

 fit adjlare ad •uahas domitii, vel indignus fit eas iiiirare ; as 

 bcuig a perfon obliged to wait at his lord's door, or as un- 

 worthy to enter thereat ; but this etymology is ridiculous 

 enough. 



Du-Cange diftinguirties two forts of vaflals under this 

 denomination : the great, called vahafores, who held of a 

 king ; fucU were counts and barons : and the lejjer, called 

 valvafini, who held of the former. 



The valvafors are mentioned by our ancient lawyers as 

 <d;W magnec dignitatis ; and fir Edward Coke fpeaks highly 

 of them. But they are now quite out of ufe ; and our 

 legal antiquarians are not agreed upon even their original or 

 ancient office. 



VAVASORY, Vavasoria, the quaEty of the land, or 

 fee held by a vavafor. 



" Quod dicitur de baronia non eft obfervandum in vava- 

 foria, vel aliis minoribus feodis quam baronia, quia caput 

 non habent ficut baronia." Braft. lib. ii. cap. 39. 



There are bafe vavafories, and frank or noble vavafories ; 

 according as it has pleafed the lord to make his vavafor. 

 £afe vavafories are thofe for which the lord of the fee owes 

 fummage, light -horfe, rents, or other fervices. Free vava- 

 fories are fuch as are exempt from thefe fervices. 



VAVASSEUR, Francis, in Biography, was born in 

 1605, at Paray, in the diocefe of Autun ; and entering into 

 the- fociety of the Jefuits in 162 1, and afting as regent in 

 the fchoob for fome years, he was called to Paris to occupy 

 the chair of pofitive theology, the duties of which he dif- 

 charged honourably for thirty -fix years ; and he died in this 

 city in 1681, aged feventy-fix years. He has been reckoned 

 one of the moll elegant and correft Latin writers, and wrote 

 feveral theological pieces, fome againfl Janfenifm, and one 

 of a fingular fubjeft, " On the perfonal Beauty of Jefus 

 Chrift ;" and alfo poems chiefly on facred fubjefts. The 

 work which has chiefly diftinguiflied him is a treatife " De 

 Ludicra Diftione," or on the burlefque ftyle, dedicated 

 to Bakac. He alfo wrote a treatife " On the Epigram ;" 

 and " Remarks on the Poetics of Father Rapin." Moreri. 

 VAUBAN, Sebastian le Prestre, Seigneur de, mar- 

 (hal of France, and an eminent engineer, was born in 

 1633, ^"'^ began to bear arms at the age of feven- 

 teen under the prince of Conde, general of the Spanilh 

 army. Being taken prifoner by a French party, he was 

 engaged by cardinal Mazarin on the royal fide, and em- 

 ployed in 1653 ^' '■^"^ fecond fiege of St. Menehoud, by 

 which it was recovered to France. He alfo afted as en- 

 gineer in the five following years at feveral other fieges. 

 After the peace of the Pyrenees, he was employed in demo- 

 lirtiing fome places and fortifying others ; and he alfo fug- 

 VoL. XXXVI. 



gefted a variety of ideas, by the maturity and developement 

 of which he contributed in a high degree to the improvement 

 of the fcience of fortification. On the renewal of the war 

 in 1667, he condufted feveral fieges, at which Lewis Xl\ ■ 

 attended in perfon, and he was commiflioned to fortify feve- 

 ral places, and in 1668 nominated governor of the citjdel 

 of Lille, which he had conftrufted. After the peace of 

 Aix-la-Chapelle, he vifited Piedmont, and gave defigns to, 

 the duke of Savoy for fome important fortrefles. In the 

 war of 1672 he again diftinguiflied himfelf, particularly at 

 the fiege of Maellricht, in which he introduced his famous 

 method of attack by parallels and places of arms ; and alfo 

 on other occafions, when an opportunity offered for the dif- 

 play of his inventive genius. In carrying his fchemes into 

 execution he was anxious for faving hfe, and therefore pre- 

 ferred a flow and regular advance in fieges. The peace of 

 Nimeguen afforded him leifure for fortifying towns ; and of 

 thefe, his malter-piece was the port of Dunkirk. On the 

 commencement of war, he again refumcd his aftive fervices, 

 and had the honour of taking Luxemburg, which was re- 

 garded as impregnable. Upon the whole, he fortified one 

 hundred old places, conftrucled thirty-three new fortrefles, 

 and had the principal direftion of fifty-three fieges. In re- 



great alarm, he died of a fluxion in his lungs, in March 

 1707, at the age of feventy-four years. 



The charafter of Vauban, as a man and a citizen, was 

 no lefs eftimable than his fuperior talents and achievements 

 in his profeflional capacity. Loyal and faithful to his fove- 

 reign, he ftudied to ferve more than to pleafe, and he mani- 

 fefl;ed on all occafions an inviolable attachment to truth. 

 As a hberal and zealous patriot, he made fuch obfervations, 

 and collefted fuch fadts in his various travels, as contributed 

 nioft effeftually to the improvement and profperity of his 

 country. Thefe were comprifed in twelve large MS. vo- 

 lumes, which he modeflily denominated " Mes Oifivates ;" 

 and Fontenelle obferves of him in relation to thefe, that if 

 all his projefts could be executed, his " idlenefs" would be 

 more ufeful than his labours. In 1699, he was nominated 

 an honorary member of the Academy of Sciences. The 

 following works were either written by himfelf, or in confe- 

 quence of ideas which he fuggefted : w-z.. " Maniere de 

 Fortifier, par M. de Vauban, mife en ordre par Ic Chevalier 

 de Cambrai," Amft. 1689 and 1692, printed at Paris under 

 the title of " LTngenieur Francois," with notes by He- 

 bert, profeff"or of mathematics ; and afterwards with notes 

 by the Abbe du Fay ; " Nouveau Traite de I'Attaque et 

 de la Defence des Places, fuivant le Syfl;eme de M. de Vau- 

 ban, par M. Defprez de Saint-Sevin," Paris 1736; " Efl"ai9 

 fur la Fortification, par M. de Vauban," Paris 1740 ; " Pro- 

 jea d'un Dime Royale,," Rouen, 1707, often reprinted. 

 This lad work is attributed by Voltaire to Bois-Guillebert, 

 author of a " Teftament Politique" in the name of Vauban. 

 Fontenelle Eloge. Moreri. 



VAUBECOURT, in Geography, a town of France, 

 in the department of the Meufe ; 9 miles N. of Bar-le- 

 Duc. 



VAUCHERIA, in Botany, was fo named by M. De- 

 candolle, in his Flore Frangaife, in honour of the difcoverer of 

 the genus, the Rev. M. Vaucher of Geneva, author of an 

 excellent work in quarto, entitled Hijloiredes Confer-ues d'Eaa 

 douce, where this genus is eftabliflied by the name of Edo- 

 fperma. The latter appellation has very properly given way 

 to the above, prcvioufly chofen by M. DecandoUe. — Sm. 

 Engl. Bot. V. 25. 1765. " Dccand. Rapport fur les Co«- 

 4 O ferves, 



