V E II 



fieh, fought, &c. The third clafs of irregulars form the paft 

 time by changing the vowel or diphthong of the prefent ; and 

 the participle pcrfed and paffive, by adding the termination 

 en: thcfe alfo derive their formation from the Saxon : fuch are. 

 Jail, fell, fallen ; Jl:iake, fiooi, fiaken ; draw, drew, drawn; 

 Jlay,pw,Jlain, &c. &c. When en follows a vowel or liquid, 

 the e is dropped. Some verbs, which change j (hort mto a 

 or u, and i long into ou, have dropped the termination en in 

 the participle ; as, begin, began, begun ; fmg, fang, or fung ; 

 &c. To this third clafs belong the defeftive verbs, be, been; 

 go, gone, i. e. gocn. 



The whole number of verbs in the Enghfh language, 

 regular and irregular, fimple and compounded, taken 

 together, is about four thoufand three hundred. See in 

 Dr. Ward's EiFays on the Englifh Language the catalogue 

 of Englifh verbs. The whole number of irregular verbs, 

 including the defeftive, is about one hundred and feventy- 

 feven. Lowth's Gram. p. 85. See Conjugation. 



Verbs, Defedive, are thofe which are not only for the 

 moft part irregular, but are alfo wanting in fome of their 

 parts. Such are the auxiliary verbs, moil of which are of 

 this number. They are in ufe only in fome of their tenfes 

 and moods ; and fome of them are a compoiition of tenfes of 

 feveral defeftive verbs having the fame fignification. 

 Verbs Inchoative. See Inchoative. 

 Verbs Imperfonal. See Impersonal. 

 There are alio reduplicative verbs ; as, refound, recall, &c. ; 

 zndfreqnentative verbs, &c. 



Verbs, Tranfitive. See Transitive, and Verb ASive, 

 fupra. 



For the obfervations of an ingenious and learned coadjutor 

 on the origin, nature, diftribution, and properties of verbs, 

 we muft content ourfelves with referring to the article 

 Grammar. It will be found that his fentiments differ in a 

 variety of refpefts from thofe of much approved and popular 

 writers, above ftated : and we therefore prefer fubmitting 

 them in the language of the author to the judgment of the 

 philological reader, without any abridgment, and with- 

 out any recapitulation, which would encroach too much on 

 the limits to which we are confined. On this fubjeft, fee 

 Language. 



VERBAL, fomething that belongs to verbs, or even to 

 words fpoken with the mouth. 



Verbal nouns, are thofe formed from verbs. See In- 

 finitive. 



A verbal contraft, is that made merely by word of mouth, 

 in oppofition to that made in writing. 

 Verbal Accident. See Accident. 



VERBANO, in Geography, a department of Italy, con- 

 ftituted of part of the duchy of Milan, fituated on the 

 fide of lake Major, anciently called Verbanus Lacus, and 

 the baihwicks ceded by the Swifs. It contains 166,842 

 inhabitants, who eleft twelve deputies. Varefio is tlie 

 capital. 



VERBANUS, in Ancient Geography, a lake of Gallia 

 Tranfpadana : its northern part was in Rhaetia, and its 

 fouthern part in Gaul. 



VERBAS, in Geography, a river of Bofnia, which runs 

 into the Save ; 25 miles N.N.E. of Banjaluka. 



VERBASCULUM, in Botany, the diminutive of Ver- 

 hafcum, perhaps from fome fimilarity of colour and afpeft, 

 which may be traced in the Primrofe and Cowflip. Bauh. 

 Pin. 241. This is precifely fynonimous with Primula; 

 fee that article. 



VERBASCUM, a plant frequently mentioned by 

 Pliny, which, from all that he fays about it, evidently 

 belongs to the prefent genus, being the <p\o^.oi of the 



V E R 



ancient, as well as of the modern Greeks. The above 

 name is fuppofed to be corrupted from Barlafcum, which 

 originated in barba, alluding to the (haggy hairinefs of the 

 plant. (See Phlomis.) We do not however find any good 

 authority for this fuppofition. — Linn. Gen. 97. Schreb. 132. 

 WiUd. Sp. PI. v. 1. looi. Mart. Mill. Dift. v. 4. Ait. 

 Hort. Kew. v. I. 383. Sm. Fl. Brit. 249. Prodr. Fl. 

 Grjec. Sibth. v. i. 149. Purih 142. Schrad. Monogr. 5. 

 JuflT. 124. Tourn. t. 61. Lamarck lUuftr. t. 117. Gaertn. 

 t. 55. — Clafs and order, Pentandria Monogynia. Nat. Ord. 

 Luridit, Linn. Snlanee, JufT. 



Gen. Ch. Cal. Perianth inferior, of one leaf, fmall, per- 

 manent, in five deep, ereft, acute, nearly equal, fegments. 

 Cor. of one petal, wheel-fhaped, unequal ; tube ver)' {hort ; 

 limb fpreading, in five deep rounded fegments. Stam. 

 Filaments five, awl-(haped, unequal, dillant, declining, 

 woolly, fhorter than the corolla, inferted into its bafe ; an- 

 thers comprefled, ereft, more or lefs kidney-lhaped, burft- 

 ing lengthwife, imperfeftly two-celled. Pijl. Germen fu- 

 perior, roundifh ; ftyle thread-lhaped, flightly fwelling 

 upwards, declining, rather longer than the ftamens ; ftigma 

 obtufe. Peric. Capfule roundifh-ovate, or ovate-oblong, 

 flightly compreffed, of two cells and two valves, burfting 

 in the upper part, the valves fometimes fplitting half way 

 down ; partition double, from the inflexed parallel margins 

 of the valves, but often incomplete. Recept. ovate or glo- 

 bular, central, connefted at each fide, in an early ftate at 

 leaft, with the valves. Seeds numerous, minute, angular, 

 dotted, inferted into the receptacle. 



Eff. Ch. Corolla wheel-fhaped, irregular. Stamens dif- 

 tant, dechning, bearded. Capfule fuperior, of two cells, 

 with inflexed valves, and many feeds. Stigma fimple. 



Obf. There is fo great a fpace between the inner edges 

 of the inflexed valves and the central receptacle, in V. pul- 

 verulentum and fome other fpecies, that the ripe capfule 

 is literally of but one common ceU, though originally of 

 two. Hence arofe an error in Engl. Bot. p. 58, 59, which 

 is correfted at p. 4S7 of the fame work. Celsia [fee that 

 article) differs from this genus in having four ilamens only, 

 two long and two (hort. Profeffor Schrader, in the firll 

 part of an excellent monograph on Verbafcum, publifiied at 

 Gottingen in 181 3, p. 14, afferts that this difference is very 

 conftant and invariable, and therefore he is not difpofed to 

 concur with thofe botanifts who combine thefe two genera. 

 We heartily affent to this determination. With regard to 

 the new genus of Ramondia, founded, if we millake not, 

 on V. Myconi, and diftinguiihed by having a capfule of 

 one cell, with two lateral linear receptacles ; we muil fuf- 

 pend our judgment till we can examine into that charafter, 

 but the habit of the plant, and its oblong heart-fhaped two- 

 celled anthers, indicate a very diftinft genus. 



The fpecies of Verbafcum are among the moft uncertain 

 of any well-known genus. They are more than commonly 

 variable in the colour and fize of their flowers, and appear 

 to be very fubjeft to crofs inpregnation. Hence we are led 

 to miftruft fome reputed fpecies, defcribed even by the 

 ableft writers. The produftion of feveral mule ones has 

 been traced and recorded, and we have obferved others. 

 Profeffor Schrader indeed has long cultivated and ftudied 

 what he has defcribed, and his .iccuracy is indiiputable. 

 We (hall give his new fpecies, on his own authority, and 

 we Ihall profit by his remarks in the general charafters here 

 prefixed to the particular defcriptions. 



The root is generally biennial, rarely perennial, its form 

 tapering. Stem generally folitary, from a foot and a half 

 to four or eight feet in height, ereft, fometimes peculiarly 

 ftiff and ftraight, rarely a little zigzag, leafy, in feveval in- 



ilances 



