V E R 



V E R 



VERRANA, a town of Naples, in the province of 

 Otranto ; lo miles S.S.E. of Oria. 



VERREGINUM, or Vekkuco, in Ancient Geography, 

 a town of Italy, in Latium, in the country of the Volfci. 



VERRETZ, in Geography, a fcttlement of the illand of 

 Hifpaniola ; 30 miles N.E. of St. Marc. 



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

 Dora, or in Piedmont, fituatcd at the foot of a hill, on a 

 ilream of water, which divides into three branches, traverf- 

 ing the town on both fides, and the centre. The inhabitants 

 have no other ramparts than the neighbouring mountains, and 

 no other fod'cs than the beds of the rivers, made by nature : 

 the houfes arc about 150 in number. In the moft elegant 

 part is a fquare fortrefs, built on a (harp rock, furrounded 

 with a wall of Hone, a parapet, and a good rampart, which 

 furrounds the fortrefs and the gate of entrance, fo that no 

 one can arrive at this gale till they have paffed the rampart 

 and a drawbridge upon the fofle. When the bridge is up, 

 the fortrefs is fuppofed to be impregnable, being furrounded 

 on all fides with frightful precipices, while the accefs is only 

 by narrow palTes in the valley, which a fmall garrifon can 

 obftruft and annoy the enemy far and near ; 15 miles S.S.E. 

 of Aofta. 



VERRIE'RES, a town of France, in the department 

 of the Vienne ; 13 miles S.E. of Poitiers. — Alfo, a town 

 of France, in the department of the Marne ; 3 miles S. of 

 St. Menehould. — Alfo, a town of Neufchatel, on the bor- 

 ders of France, t!ie environs of which are famous for cheele. 

 Near it is a narrow pafs of only five feet wide, with in- 

 acceffible rocks on both fides ; fo that a few men could 

 defend it againft great numbers. 



VERRIO, Antonio, in Biography, was born at Naples 

 in 1634. After he had acquired the management of the 

 pencil, he went to Touloufe, and there was engaged to 

 paint the high altar in the church of the Carmelites. He 

 was invited by Charles II. to England, the king intending 

 to engage him in defigns fortapeftry, to be made here ; but 

 he changed his mind, and ordered him to paint moft of the 

 ceilings of Windfor caftle, the great hall, and the chapel ; 

 all which he loaded with heterogeneous compounds of gods 

 and goddelfes, vices and virtues, and all the emblematic 

 imagery which fcholaftic pompofity could muftcr up, to 

 fupply the place of common fenfe ; and this he executed 

 with great freedom and great frefhnefs of colour, but in a 

 manner devoid of any other good quality of art. For thefe 

 labours he was paid nearly 6000/. 



The Revolution was not to his mind : he declined to 

 ferve kijig William, and went to the earl of Exeter at Bur- 

 leigh, where he painted feveral apartments, which are 

 efteemed his beft works. He afterwards painted at Chatf- 

 worth, and at Lowther : at length he was perfuaded by the 

 earl of Exeter to engage to paint for the king the great 

 ftaircafe at Hampton-Conrt ; and Walpole obfcives, " lie 

 painted it as ill as if he had fpoiled it out of principle." 

 His eyes failing him, queen Anno gave him a penfion of 

 200/. per annum for life ; but he did not long enjoy it, 

 dying at Hampton-Court in 1707. 



VERRO, in Geography, a town of Ruffia, in the govern- 

 ment of Riga ; 124 miles N.E. of Riga. N. lat. 58° lo'. 

 E. long. 27"" 24'. 



VERROCHIO, Andrea, in Biography, was among 

 the early Florentine artifts who prepared tiie way for the 

 greater talents of fubfequent painters. He was born at 

 Florence in 1432, and didingiilrtied himfelf both as a 

 fculplor and painter. He had the honour to be the in- 

 ftrnCior of P. IVrugino and I-ionardo da Vinci, and was 

 nruch employed j till, as Vafari reports, being engaged by 



the monks of St. Salvi, at Valombrofa, to paint a pifture 

 of the Baptifm of Chrift, he fet Lionardo da Vinci, then iiis 

 pupil, to put in the figure of an angel from his defign, and 

 he executed his talk in a manner fo fnperior to the work of 

 his mailer, that Verrochio, in dilgud, refolved to paint no 

 more, but apply himfelf entirely 10 fculpture and drawing. 

 His llyle of defign was grand and free, and Lionardo 

 took great plcafare in copying his drawings, particularly a 

 battle-piece, on account of the peculiar airs of the heads, 

 the difpofition of the hair, and the aftions of the figures. 

 Fie died in 1488, aged ;6. 



VERRUA, in Geography, a town of Piedmont, or lately 

 of France, in the department of the Tanaro, on a high hill, 

 near the Po, oppofite Creicentin : the fortifications were 

 once very ftrong, and the cattle was called impregnable ; 18 

 miles N.E. of Turin. N. lat. 45° 14'. E. long. 8°. 

 VERRUCA, in Medicine. See Wart. 

 Hence, verrucous is applied to any excrefcences which 

 have a refemblance to warts. There are alfo verrucous 

 ulcers, &c. 



VERRUCARIA, in Botany, fo called by Perfoon, from 

 •verruca, a wart, in allufion to the protuberant form of its 

 fruftification. The fame name had been previoufly applied by 

 Wiggers in his Primitix Fl. Holfat. 85, in an extremely vague 

 manner, to many of the cruttaccous Lichens of Linnarus ; but 

 it is now limited, as Perfoon intended, to a very natural genus. 

 — Perf. in Uft. Annal. fafc. 7. 23. Schrad. Spicil. lo8. 

 Achar. Prodr. 13. Meth. 113. " Lichenogr. 51. t. 4. 

 t. 2, 3." Syn. 87. — Clafs and order, Cryptogamia Alga. 

 Nat. Ord. Lichcnes. 



Gi-n. Ch. Frond cruftaceous, expanded, flat, uniform, 

 clofely attached. Receptacles nearly globofe, or fomewhat 

 hemifpherical ; their bafe funk in the frond ; their coat 

 double ; outermott rather cartilaginous, thick, black, cloth- 

 ing the upper, or expofed, half, and furniihed with a fmiall 

 prominent mouth ; inner vt-ry tliin and membranous, entirely 

 inclofing a globular, cellular nucleus. 



EIT. Ch. Frond cruftaceous. Receptacles half-immerfed, 

 globofe, concave, black, with a cellular nucleus. 



We have, under Endocarpon, adverted to the near 

 agreement between the fruftification of that genus and tlie 

 prefent. Their habits and fronds however are very different, 

 and Schrader has long ago indicated another diftintUon, that 

 the receptacle is always doled in Verrucaria, while in Endo- 

 carpon Its contents are difcharged, he fays "exploded," by 

 a fmall, but dilliiift, orifice. On thefe characters this great 

 cryptogamift would found his generic diftinitions, regardlefs 

 of the nature nf ihc frond, and the greater or Icfs degree of 

 prominence of the receptacles funk therein. But the learned 

 Achariiis, fo peculiarly devoted to this difficult department 

 of botany, has defined Verrucaria by more obvious, and as we 

 think more natural limits, by which we have proiited above. 

 He defines forty-five fpecies of this genus, in his lateft pub- 

 lication, the Synopjis Melhodica Lichenum. They are diflri- 

 buted into four ieclions, according to the nature of the 

 crujl, or frond. 



Seft. I. Frond membranous, or fomewhat carldaginous, 

 contiguous and fmooth. Twenty-one fpecies. 



Thefe all grow on the fmooth barks of various trees, in 

 Europe, Africa or America, in the form of a thin infepa- 

 rable membrane, generally of a different colour from the 

 cuticle of the bark, by which, more than the bhick dot-like 

 fruftification, thefe plants are generally r : dered confpi- 

 cuons. Examples of this fedtion are 



V . pnnaiformis. Ach. Syn. n. 1. (Lichen puniftiformis ; 

 Engl. Bot. t. 2412. L. myacoproides ; Ehrh. Crypt. 264. ) 

 — Crnll determined, very thin, fmooth, rully-brovrn. Re- 

 ceptacles 



