V E G 



When it becomes neceffary to veer the (hip, the fails to- 

 wards the ftern are either furled or brailed up, and made to 

 fhiver in the wind ; whilft thofe near the head are fpread 

 abroad, fo as to coUeft the whole current of air which their 

 furfaces can contain. Hence, while the whole force of the 

 wind is exerted in the fore-part of the fhip to turn her 

 about, its effeft is confiderably diminiihed, or altogether 

 deftroyed, on the furfaces of the after-fails. The fore-part, 

 accordingly, yields to the above impulfe, and is put in 

 motion ; and this movement, confpiring with that of the 

 wind, pufhes the {hip about as much as is neceffary to pro- 

 duce the effeft required. When Ihe is turned fo that the 

 wind will aft upon that quarter, which v-as formerly to 

 leeward, her circular motion will be accelerated by extend- 

 ing fome of the fails near the ftern, as the mizen, and by 

 placing tiiofe at the prow more obliquely, whicii will wheel 

 the veffel round with her bow to the windward ; in the 

 fame fituation, with regard to the wind, as when clofe- 

 hauled, or tacking. When the tempeft is fo violent as to 

 prevent the ufe of fails, the eftort of the wind operates 

 almoft equally on the oppofite ends of the fhip, fo that the 

 mafts and yards fituated at the head and ftern counter- 

 balance each other. The effeft of the helm is alfo confider- 

 ably diminifhed, becaufe the head-way, which gives vigour 

 to its operations, is at this time feeble and ineffeftual. 

 Hence it is neceffary to deftroy this equilibrium which fub- 

 fifts between the mafts and yards afore and abaft, and to 

 throw the balance forward, in order for veering. This is 

 accordingly performed by bracing the foremoft yards acrofs 

 the direction of the wind, and arranging thofe on the main- 

 maft and mizen-maft direftly in the line of the wind. If 

 this expedient proves unfuccefsful, and it is abfolutely ne- 

 ceffary to veer, in order to fave the fhip from deftruftion, 

 by overfetting or running afhore, the mizen-maft muft be 

 inftantly cut away, and even the main-maft, if fhe yet re- 

 mains incapable of anfwering the helm by bearing away 

 before the wind. Falconer. 



Veering, in Hujbandry, a term borrowed of the failors, 

 and ufed for the turning of two furrows toward each other, 

 as they muft do to begin a ridge ; they therefore call the 

 top of a ridge a -veering ; and they call the two furrows 

 that are turned from each other at the bottom between two 

 ridges, a henting, that is, an ending, becaufe it makes an end 

 of plowing ridges. 



VEERSE, in Geography, a town of Germany, in the 

 county of Verden ; lo miles E.N.E. of Rotenburg. 



VEGA, Lopez de la, or Lope-Felix de Vega- 

 Carpio, in Biography, a celebrated and voluminous Spanifh 

 poet, was born of a noble family at Madrid, in the year 

 1562. Having been educated in the univerfity of Alcala, 

 he occupied feveral honourable pofts, and ferved on board 

 the grand armada deftined againft England. After the 

 death of his fecond wife, he took holy orders at Toledo, 

 and obtained admiffion into the congregation of priefts at 

 Madrid ; afting as prefident, and profeffmg himfelf as one of 

 the third order of Francifcans. By favour of pope 

 Urban VHL he was honoured with the infignia of the 

 knights of Malta, and with the title of doAor of theology. 

 He died in 1635, at the age of 73. He was eminently dif- 

 tinguifhed as a poet, and regarded as the father of the 

 Spanifti drama, excelling, as fome have afferted, all poets, 

 ancient and modern, in this kind of compofition. His 

 " Theatre" occupies twenty-five volumes, each of which 

 contains twelve plays of various defcriptions. One of his 

 biographers fays of him, that " the inundation of Vega's 

 fancy feems to have been no more than a deluge of very 

 ordinary matter, in which there is httle to be praifed but 

 an eafy eloquence of language, and a faculty of dramatifing, 



V E G 



after a manner, ftories of ev«ry kind. Three hundred 

 pieces cou'd not poffibly have been compofed otherwife. 

 Nor was this the principal p.yrtion of his literary labour ; 

 for he has himfelf affirmed, that upon a calculation it would 

 appear, that he wrote five leaves of MS. for every day of 

 his life." The high degree of admiration he infpired in 

 his own country appeared from the numerous euloo-ies of 

 which he was the fubjeft after his death. Moreri. ° Gen. 

 Biog. 



Veoa, in Gngraphy, a town of Spain, near the N. coaft 

 of Aflurias ; 34 miles N.W. of Oviedo. 



Vega, La, a town of the ifland of Hifpaniola ; 24 



miles S.E. of St. Jago de los Cavalleros Alio, a town of 



the ifland of Hifpaniola ; 62 miles N. of St. Domingo 



Alfo, a town of Spain, in the province of Leon ; 40 miles 

 W.N.W. of Aftorga — Alfo, a town of Spain, in the pro- 

 vince of Leon ; 18 miles N.N.E. of Leon. 



VEGAMAN, a town of Spain, in the province of Leon ; 

 24 miles N.N.E. of Leon. 



VEGENOE, a fmall ifland in the North fea, near the 

 coaft of Norway. N. lat. 65° 45'. 



VEGESELA, in Ancient Geography, a town of Africa, 

 in Numidia, upon the route from Thevefte to Sitifis, be- 

 tween Mafcula and Timphadis, according to the Itinerary of 

 Antonine. — Alfo, a town. of Africa, in the Byfacene terri- 

 tory, on the route from Thenas to Thevefte, between 

 Sufetula and Menegefes. Itin. Anton. 



VEGETABLES, in Agriculture and Gardening, are all 

 fuch plants as are found capable of affording ufeful produfts 

 as food for man, and different forts of live-ftock. They are 

 conftituted and compofed of foft and flefhy and folid parts, 

 the latter of which are formed and arranged in fuch a 

 manner as to afford proper firmnefs and fupport in their 

 different growths ; and from which proceed thofe which are 

 often confidered as, in fome meafure, diftindl and different 

 in their nature and ufes, as the roots, the ftems, the leaves, 

 the flowers, the fruits, the feeds, and fome others. 



The firft of thefe, which differ greatly in different forts 

 of vegetables, are the parts which conneft them with the 

 earth or foil, and the main fource of their nourifhment and 

 fupport. They are, in all cafes, more or lefs fibrous in 

 fome of their parts ; and the more perfeftly this takes 

 place, the more capable they are of drawing nourifhment 

 from the ground on which they grow. It is, confequently, 

 the fibrous radicles and the leaves that conftitute the media 

 through which the growth and increafe of vegetables are 

 effefted. The fixing of thefe parts in the earth, too, by 

 the ramifications which they fend forth, prevents the vege- 

 tables from being overturned by winds and other caufes. 

 The form or fhape and ufes of thefe parts in different kinds 

 of vegetables differ very materially, having in fome cafes 

 a branching lateral growth, in others a knobby, and fome- 

 times that which is direftly downward, in fome inftances 

 is flefhy and eatable, and in others woody or fticky, and of 

 no value. 



They are very fimilar in the nature of the different divi- 

 fions of their parts to the ftern or trunk and branches ; and 

 may, indeed, be faid to be a fort of continuation of the 

 former, terminating in minute ramifications and filaments, 

 and not in leaves ; as by burying the branches of certain 

 trees, as the willow, in the earth or foil, as praftifed by 

 Woodward, and fince repeated by many others, and ele- 

 vating the roots in the atmofphere, there is, as it were, an 

 inverfion of the funftions of them, the roots producing and 

 becoming buds and leaves, and the branches fhooting out 

 into radical fibres and tubes, and forming roots. See 

 Root. 



4 Q 2 The 



