VIE 



VIDUCHOVA, in Geography. See Fiddichow. 



\'IDUITATIS Professio, the making a folemn prof,;f- 

 fian of living a chafte widow ; a cuilom heretofore obferved 

 in England, and attended with divers ceremonies. 



VIE. See Cestue qui Fie. 



Vie, in Geography, a river of France, in the department 

 of the Vendee, which runs into the fea near St. Gilles. — 

 Alfo, a river of France, in the department of the Calvados, 

 which runs into the Dive, 3 miles N.W. of Crevecoeur. 



VIECHTACH, a tov/n of Bavaria; 13 miles S.E. 

 of Cham. 



VIEDAM, or Vedam, the name of a facred book 

 of law and religion, written, according to M. de Sainte- 

 Croix, by the Samaneans, in the Samfcretan, or Shanfcrit 

 ■laaguage, and held in great veneration by the Brahmins of 

 Hindooftar., from a notion that Brahma, their legiflator, re- 

 ceived it from the Deity liimfelf. See Veda. 



VIEDENBRUCK, or Videnbrugge, in Geography. 



See WiEDENBRUCK. 



VIEJO, one of the fmall Bahama iflands. 

 VIELBRUN, or Felbron, a town of Germany, in 

 the county of Wertheim ; 17 miles W. of Wertheim. 



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

 Gers ; 10 miles S.W. of Nogaro. — Alfo, a town of Spain, 

 in the province of Catalonia ; 38 miles W.N.W. of Urgel. 



VIELLE, a mufical inftrument, often confounded with 

 the viole, or viol. It is not, indeed, a bozved inftrument, 

 like the viol, but its tone is produced by the friction of a 

 wheel, which performs the part of a bow. The Itrings are 

 prcfTed on the wheel by the fingers, and fometimes by 

 keys. It is at prefent a mere ftreet inftrument every where 

 but at Paris, vt'here it is much in ufe with other mftruments 

 at the Boulevards and Guinguettes ; and even ladies fome- 

 times condefcend to learn to play upon it. Kircher gives it 

 no better title than that of lyra mendicorum, the beggar's 

 lyre. It is fo loud in the open air, that it feems impoffible 

 to bear it in a room. The itinerant performers on this in- 

 ftrument are generally Savoyards. 



The name of the inftrument feems a corruption of viole, 

 if it is not the eldeft of the two. The Dift. Etymol. fays ; 

 Viole, Violon, from the Spanifti biola and biolone. The 

 Spaniards alfo fay biucla, whence we ( the French ) have Vielle. 

 It has a neck or finger-board fretted, and two ftrings, always 

 founding as drones, tuned fifths or eighths. 



ViELLE, La, in Geography, a town of France, in the 

 department of the Lower Pyrenees ; 21 miles N. of Pan. 



VlELLE Ridee, the JVrtniled old IVomati's Shell, in Con- 

 chology, a name given by the French authors to a fpecies of 

 charaa of the mutilated kind, very much relenibling the fa- 

 mous concha Veneris, but longer, and without that pecu- 

 liarly-ftiaped oval aperture to which that ftiell owes its 

 name. 



It has feveral fpines about the lips, as the concha Veneris 

 has, but they are ftiorter, and more obtufe, than in that 

 IhcU. The whole furface of this fpecies is deeply and irre- 

 gularly wrinkled. It is of a whitifti colour, vaiiegated with 

 brown. 



VIELLEUR, \n Natural Hijlory, the name of a fpecies 

 of fly common in Surinam, and fome other places. It is 

 moderately large, though lefs fo than the lantern-fly, fo 

 common in that place, and has a long head, and fome other 

 particulars, in which it refemblcs that creature. Mrs. 

 Mcrian has given a figure of it, and reports it as the opinion 

 of the natives, that it changes at length into a lantern-fly. 



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

 department of tlie Tarn, on the Agout ; 9 miles W. of 

 Caftres. 



V I E 



VIELSK, a town of Ruftia, in the government of Vo- 

 logda, on the Vaga ; 156 milea N.N. E. of Vologda. N. 

 lat. 6i°4o'. E. long. 41° 44'. 



VIENENBURG, a town of Weftphalia, in the bifliopric 

 of Hildeftieim ; 7 miles S. of Schladen. 



VIENNA, or ViENNENSiuM ClviTAS, in yfncient Geo- 

 graphy, one of the moft opulent towns of Gaul, and the ca- 

 pital of the Allobroges. This town enjoyed the rights of 

 a Roman city, and the prerogative of furniftiing fubjefts 

 for the fenate of Rome, granted to it, according to Tacitus, 

 under the confulate of Rutilius, in the year of Rome 664. 

 This place is mentioned by Strabo as the moft confider- 

 able among the Allobroges. Mela ranks it among the moft 

 opulent in the Narbonnenfis, and it is cited by Pliny under 

 the denomination of a colony. By the firft dvifion of ancier; 

 Narbonnenfis, Vieiine became the metropolis of that diftrift, 

 which was diftinguifhed by the name of the Viennois, and 

 this province was formed at the beginning of the fourt! 

 century, fince it is mentioned in the afts of the council o' 

 Aries, held A.D. 314. See Vienne. 



Vienna, in Geography, a city and capital of Auftria, the f(^ 

 of an archbifliop, on the W. fide of the Danube, on a fertile 

 plain, where it receives a fmall river, called Fien, which pafles 

 tlirough the city and fuburbs ; near the place where ftood 

 the ancient Vindobona. The fituation is pleafant, for to 

 the eaft and north the country around is entirely level, but 

 to the weft and fouth is feen a range of mountains, which, 

 are thickly planted with trees and vines ; and the Danube, 

 which is here very wide, divides itfelf in that part of the 

 town into feveral arms, forming many iflands, which are 

 ftocked with wood. The circumference of that which is 

 properly the fortified city of Vienna is not large, and only 

 contains about 6o,coo fouls ; but the fuburbs are therefore 

 the more ample ; and, according to the eftimate of a late 

 traveller, the city and the fuburbs together contain 230,000 

 (others fay 254,000) inhabitants, without including the gar- 

 rifon. In 1795, the whole population of Vienna was com- 

 puted at 231,105 inhabitants ; of whom 1231 were ecclefi.- 

 aftics, 3253 nobility, 4256 public funftionaries, and perfons 

 living upon their private fortune, and 7333 citizens be- 

 longing to the corporation. In the city itielf there are nu- 

 merous and beautiful palaces: but the ftreets are not fpa- 

 cious, and are, in part, crooked. The houfes are generally 

 of brick, covered with ftucco. There is but one ftreet in 

 Vienna that can be called magnificent, and this is a con- 

 tinued line of fplendid houfes and palaces. It is called the 

 " Nobles'-ftreet." The fuburbs are conftrufted on a better 

 plan, and would be very elegant, if the houfes were larger 

 and richer in architedlural ornaments. Moft of the ftreets 

 are regular, level and wide, but they are chiefly inhabited by 

 manufafturers and workmen of various trades. Near the 

 centre of the town is a bridge thrown acrofs a deep low 

 ftreet, wliich admits of the pafiage of carriages, whilft the 

 ufual thoroughfare is below, refembling our canals over 

 navigable rivers. Thofe people of fafhion who have no 

 country-feats, or who are prevented by their pubhc employ- 

 ments from leaving Vienna, generally refide in the fuburbs 

 during fummer. The fecond floor of all burghers' houfes 

 is allotted for the refidence of the officers of the imperial 

 court ; and the owners can only purchafe an exemption by 

 paying a fum of money for the erection of barracks. It is 

 divided into four quarters, which contain fifteen fquares or 

 public places ; that of the court is large and beautiful ; in 

 it, between two fountains, is a luperb monument, built by 

 the emperor Leopold ; in the high market-place is a marble 

 monument, reprefenting the marriage of Jofeph and the 

 Vii-gin, eredlcd in the year 1732. Vienna contains fifty 



churches 



