V E N 



when bred in mountains and dry places, than when in 

 wet and marfhy places ; and the fouthern more than the 

 northern ; thofe iiungry and enraged, more than others ; 

 and all of them in fummer more than winter. See Viper. 



VENONIS, in /Incient Geography, a town of Britain, m 

 the 9th Iter of Antonine, fitnated between Ratis or Lei- 

 cefter, at the diftance of 12 miles from it, and Bannavantum 

 near Davi?ntry ; fuppofed to be the prefent Cleyceiler. 



VENOSA, Carlo Gesualdo, Pr'wce of, in Biography, 

 a Neapolitan nobleman, whole fame has been extended by 

 his mufical produdlions more than by his high rank, though 

 this rank, will be found reciprocally to have added liiftre to 

 the compofitions, was nephew to cardinal Alfonfo Gefualdo, 

 archbifliop of Naples, and had his title from the place which 

 gave birth to Horace, the Venufium of the ancients. Pom- 

 poniu« Nenna, a voluminous and celebrated compofer of 

 madrigals, had the honour to inftruft him in mufic. His 

 produftions confift of fix fets of madrigals for five voices, 

 and one for fix. The principal editor of his works was 

 Simone Molinaro, maeftro di capella at Genoa, who, in 

 1585, publifhed the firft five books in feparate parts < and, 

 in 1613, the fame madrigals, with the addition of a fixth 

 book, in fcore. 



The numerous editions of thek madrigals in different 

 parts of Europe, and the eulogies bellowed on the autlior 

 by perfons who rank high in literature, as well as mufic, 

 made us extremely curious to fee and examme them. Gerard 

 Voffius, Bianconi, Bapt. Doni, Talfoni, and many others, 

 fpeak of him as the greatcft compofer of modern times ; as 

 one who, quitting the beaten track of other muficians, had 

 difcovercd new melodies, new meafures, new harmonies, and 

 new modulation ; fo that fingers, and players on inftru- 

 ments, defpiling all other mufic, were only pleafed with that 

 of this prince. 



TaflToni tells us, that James I. king of Scotland^had not 

 only compofed facred mufic, but invented a new fpecies of 

 plaintive melody, different from all others ; " in which he 

 has been imitated by, the prince of Venofa, who, in our 

 times, has cmtxUifhed mufic with many admirable inven- 

 tions." 



This paflage in Taffoni, which has fo often been cited by 

 Scots writers, feems to imply, not only that James, king of 

 Scotland, had invented a new fpecies of melody, but that 

 his melody had been imitated by the prince of Venofa ; at 

 leaft, this is the fenfe in which the paflage has been under- 

 ftood by the natives of Scotland, and indeed by ourfelves, 

 • till, on finding no kind of fimilarity between the national 

 tunes of North Britain and the melodies of the prince of 

 Venofa, we examined the palTage anew, with more atten- 

 tion ; when it appeared to us as if TalToni's words did not 

 imply that the prince of Venofa had adopted or imitated the 

 melodies of king James ; but that thefe princely dilettanti 

 were equally cultivators and inventors of mufic. See David 

 Rizzio, Scots Tunes, and Ossian. 



The Neapolitan prince feems to merit as little praife on 

 account of the expreflion of words, for which he has been 

 celebrated by Doni, as for his counterpoint ; for the fyl- 

 lables are conftantly made long or (hort, juft as it beft fuited 

 Ills melody ; and in the repetition of words, we frequently 

 lee the fame fyllable long in one bar, and fhort in another, 

 or the contrary ; by which it is manifeft that their juft ac- 

 centuation was never thought of. 



The remarks of Taffoni certainly muil have been ha- 

 zarded either from coiijettnre or report ; as is but too fre- 

 quently pradifed by men of letters, when they become mu- 

 fical critics, without either induftry or fcience fufficient to 

 verify their affertions, 



V E N 



The prince of Venofa was perpetually ftraining at new 

 expreffion and modulation, but feldom fucceeded to the fa- 

 tisfaftion of pollerity, however dazzled his contemporaries 

 may have been by his rank, and the charafter he bore amonij 

 the learned, who fo frequently get their mufical information 

 from tradition, that whether they praife or cenfure, it is 

 ufually yinj connnijfance de caufe. 



Dilettanti ufually decide in the fame fummary way, with 

 an additional prejudice in favour of their own little know- 

 ledge, and a difpofition to cenfure whatever they are unable 

 to acquire, be it fcience or execution. 



Cicero has long fince faid, that " it is not with philofo- 

 phy and fcience, as with other arts ; for what can a man fay 

 of geometry or mufic, who has never ftudied them \ He 

 mull either hold his tongue, or talk nonfenfe." 



With refpeft to the excellencies which have been fo libe- 

 rally beftowed on this author, who died in 1614, they are 

 all difputable, and luch as, by a careful examination of his 

 works, he feemed by no means entitled to. They have 

 lately been faid to confift in " fine contrivance, original har- 

 mony, and the fiueettjl modulation conceivable." As to con- 

 trivance, it mull be owned that much has been attempted by 

 this prince ; but he is fo far from being happy in this parti- 

 cular, that his points of imitation are generally unmanage- 

 able, and brought in fo indifcriminately on concords and 

 diicords, and on accented and unaccented parts of a bar, 

 that, when performed, there is more confufion in the gene- 

 ral efFed than in the mufic of any other compofer of madri- 

 gals with whofe works we are acquainted. 



His original harmony, after icoring a great part of his 

 madrigals, particularly thofe that have been the mofl cele- 

 brated, is difficult to difcover ; for had there been any war- 

 rantable combinations of founds that Paleftrina, Luca 

 Marenzio, and many of his predecelTors, had not ufed be- 

 fore him, in figuring the bafes, they would have appeared. 

 And as to his modulation, it is fo far from being ihe/'weetej} 

 conceivable, that, to us, it feems forced, affefted, and dif- 

 gulling. 



We have beftowed more remarks on this prince of mu- 

 ficians, and more time in the examination of his works, than 

 perhaps they now deferve, in order to furnifh our readers 

 with wh.it feems, to our comprehenfion, a truer idea of 

 their worth, than that which partiahty and ignorance have 

 hitherto given. A fcore of one of his madrigals in the 

 3d vol. of Burney's Gen. Hift. of Muf. p. 223. will jullify 

 our cenfures of the mufical produdlions of this tuneful 

 prince. 



Venosa, in Geography, a town of Naples, in Bafilicata, 

 the fee of a bilhop, fuffragan of Matera. It contains feven 

 churches, and as many convents. In the 9th centun,-, Ve- 

 nofa was taken by the Saracens, and in 1528 by the French ; 

 9 miles N.N.W. of Acerenza. N. lat. 40° 58'. E. long. 

 15° 48'. 



Venosa yfrteria. See Arteria Venofa. 



VENOSTA, in Geography, a valley of the Tyrolefc, on 

 the banks of the Adige ; 20 miles S. of Glurentz. 



VENOSUM Folium, in 5o/anyand Vegetable Phyjiohgy, 

 a veiny leaf. See Leaf and Vein. 



VENOUS, Venosus. See Venal. 



VENT, in Geography, a river of England, in the county 

 of Cumberland, which runs into the South Tyne. 



Vent, formed from ventus, tvind, vent-hole, or fpirack, 

 a little aperture left in the tubes or pipes of fountains, to 

 facihtate the air's efcape ; or, on occafion, to give thenfi 

 air ; as in frofty weather, &c. for want of which they are 

 apt to burft. 



A vent, taken in this fenfe, is properly the er.d of a pipe. 



placed 



