V E N 



Touloufe, but reaffumed again in the 13th century, and 

 held by count Raymond the elder. The popes lai ' claim 

 to the fovereignty of this country from the time of count 

 Raymond de St. Gilles, although it is certain that the em- 

 perors, as kings of Aries, had exercifed that power. In 

 the year 1234, the emperor Frederick II. transferred the 

 imperial rights of the county of Venaiffin to Raymond the 

 younger. And the pope found himfelf compelled to relin- 

 quifh them to him. From the defcendants of Raymond, it 

 came to Philip the Bold, king of France, who in the year 

 1273, reftored it to pope Gregory X. as a fief of the fee 

 of Rome, and it has been governed under the popes, by 

 officers called reftores. The foil is fertile, the climate mild, 

 and the air pure ; the productions are corn, oUves, filk, 

 fafFron, and excellent wine. Carpentras was the capital. 

 This country now belongs to France, and forms part of the 

 department of the Vauclufe, being formally ceded by the 

 pope on the 19th of February 1797. 



VENAL, or Venous, among Anatomljls, fomething that 

 bears relation to a vein. 



The extremities of the cava and pulmonary veins, where 

 they, enter the auricles of the heart, are called •venous 

 Jinufes. See Vein. 



Venal, formed from •venalls, to be fold, is alfo ufed for 

 fomething bought with money, or procured by bribes. 



Thus we fay, venal bards ; courtezans and flatterers are 

 venal ; even juftice, in Turkey, is venal, and muft be bought 

 of the bafhaws. 



In England, there are feveral offices in the revenue, 

 policy, &c. venal ; but this venaUty of offi.ces is no where 

 fo confiderable as they were in France, where all offices of 

 judicature were bought of the king, aud only municipal 

 officers are elefted. Offices in England are venal only by a 

 kind of connivance ; in France it was a thing folemn and au- 

 thorized. The venality was firfl introduced by Louis XII. 

 who, to clear thofe immenfe debts contrafted by his prede- 

 cefibr Charles VIII. without burdening his people with new 

 taxes, bethought himfelf to fell the offict-s of finance ; and, 

 in reahty, he made a vaft. fum by it ; but he forbad, by an 

 edift in 1508, the fale of offices of judicature. Francis I. 

 made an advantage of the fame expedient to get money, 

 and fold his pofts, not excepting the offices of judicature, 

 openly : under this king, it was only accounted a kind of 

 loan ; but that loan was no more than a name to difguife a 

 real fale. However, it is faid, that the fale of offices of 

 judicature was eftablifhed by edifls of Charles IX. and that 

 military offices were fold under the reign of Henry III. 



The parliament, not being able to rchfh the venality of 

 offices, always made the buyer take an oath that he did not 

 buy his port, either direAly or indircftly ; but there was a 

 tacit exception made, of monies lent the king for being put 

 into them. At length the parliament, finding its oppofi- 

 tions were in vain, and tliat the traffick of offices was pub- 

 licly authorized, abohffied the oath in 1597. 



VENAMALI, in Mythology. See Vanamali. 



VENANA, in Botany, an unexplained name Lamarck 



Illuftr. " V. 2. 59." t. 131. Did. (by Poiret), v. 8. 450. 

 — Clafs and order, Pentandria Monogynla. Nat. Ord. un- 

 determined. 



Gen. Ch. Cal. Perianth inferior, of one leaf, cup- 

 Ihaped, fhort, with five rounded marginal lobes. Coy. 

 Petals five, regular, obovate, rounded, fpreading, thrice 

 the length of the calyx. Stam. Filaments five, aw'Ulhaped, 

 dilated at the bafe, the length of the petals ; anthers oval, 

 verfatile, incumbent. Pifl. Germen fuperior, ovate ; ftyle 

 fiiort and thick ; ftigma obtufe, nearly triangular. Ruept. 



V E N 



befet with numerous briftles, about half as long as the fta- 

 mens, furrounding the piitil. Perk. znA feeds unknown. 



Eff. Ch. Petals five, rounded. Calyx inferior, with 

 five notches. Stigma obtufe, flightly triangular. Recep- 

 tacle briftly. 



I. V. madagafcar'tenjis. — Native of Madagafcar, as its 

 uncouth fpecific name denotes, where it was found by Com- 

 merfon. TXv^flem is arboreous, with alternate, cylindrical, 

 fmooth branches. Leaves fimple, alternate, ilalked, obovate, 

 obtufe, entire, fmooth, an inch or two long, with one rib 

 and many fine tranfverfe veins. Clujlers terminal, their par - 

 ixAflalks alternate, an inch or two in length, comprefied, 

 gradually, though flightly, dilated upwards, fmooth, eacli 

 bearing 3 little terminal head, of eight or ten fmall feffile 

 jionvers. 



VENANGO, in Geography. See Fort Franklin. 



Venango, a county of Pennfylvania, containing eight 

 townfhips, with 3060 inhabitants. Fort Franklin is the 

 chief place. — Alfo, atownfliip of Pennfylvania, in Crawford 

 county, containing 434 inhabitants : the county contains 

 6178 — Alfo, a townfhip of Pennfylvania, in Butler county, 

 containing 377 inhabitants. 



VENANT, Sr. See St. Venant. 



VENANTIUS HONORIUS FORTUNATUS, in 

 Biography, a Chriftian poet of the fixth century, was born 

 near Trivigi, in Italy, ftudied at Ravenna, and became 

 eminently Ikilful in grammar, rhetoric, and poetry. Super- 

 ftitioufly conceiving that he had obtained relief in a diforder 

 of his eyes at the interceffion of St. Martin, he wrote the 

 hiftory of that faint in verfe. At Poitiers he was ordained 

 prieft about the year 1565, and afterwards elefted' bifhop of 

 that church. He is fuppofed to have died about the be- 

 ginning of the feventh century, and an annual feftival is kept 

 at Poitiers in honour of his memory. 



His works are moftly written in verfe. His profe- 

 writings are chiefly the hves of faints. Father Brower, a 

 Jefuit, publiflied his works in one vol. 4to. 1616, and they 

 were alfo publiflied by M. A. Luchi, at Rome, in 2 vols. 

 4to. 1786-87. His poems have found a place in the Corpus 

 Poetarum of Mattaire. Nouv. Dift. Hift. Gen. Biog. 



VENASCA, or Venasque, or Benafca, in Geography, 

 a town of Spain, in Aragon, on the river EITora, in a valley 

 to which it gives name, on the frontiers of France ; 45 miles 

 N. of Balbaftro. 



VENASII, in Ancient Geography, a people of Afia, in 

 Cappadocia. Strabo. 



VENASQUE, in Geography, a town of France, in the 

 department of the Vauclufe, formerly the capital of the 

 Venaiffin, on the Nafque ; 14 miles E.N.E. of Avignon. 



VENCATIGHERRY, a town of Hindoollan, in 

 My fore; taken in 1791 by the Britifli, under captain Read ; 

 51 miles E. of Bangalore. N. lat. 12° 57'. E. long. 

 78° 38'. — Alfo, a town of Hindooilan, in the Carnatic ; 

 23 miles S.W. of Nellore. N. lat. 14°. E. long. 79° 6'. 



VENCATRAM, a town of Hindooilan, in Myfore ; 

 2j miles E. of Rydroog. 



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

 Var. Before the revolution, the fee of a bifliop, fuffragan 

 of Embrun ; 6 miles N.E. of Grafle. 



VENCU, in Botanf, the Chinefe name for an excellent 

 fruit found in that country, which the Portuguefe call 

 jamboa, and the Dutch pompehinoes. It grows on prickly 

 trees, like the limon-tree, only larger. Its flowers are 

 white, exaftly the fame in fliape with thofe of the limon, 

 and have an exceeding fweet fmell ; a very fragrant water 

 is dillilled from them. The fruit itfelf far exceeds the 



citron 



