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favour till the time of the Revolution, when the Convention 

 invited foreigners to afllll them with their counfel in framing 

 a new government, and elefted as deputies many llrangers ; 

 among the reft, Viotti was chofen a member of the fenate, 

 who had mounted to great eminence in his profeilion, and 

 was a favourite of the public. 



He continued to aft as a deputy till Danton, Marat, 

 and Robcrlpierre had difgraced the caufe of liberty, and 

 excited fueh horror as well as terror in every humane breall, 

 that he emigrated to England, where he was received as 

 his profeffional merit deicrved ; till an information was 

 lodged againil him at the duke of Portland's office (per- 

 haps by Jacobinical emiffaries from Paris), that he at- 

 tended Jacobinical clubs, and was caballing againit the 

 ftate. He was ordered to quit the kingdom ; but at 

 the peace returned, though not as a mufician or a politi- 

 cian, but eftabhihed hirafeif in London as a wine-merchant, 

 and has never been heard in public fince his fecond arrival, 

 which is much lamented by the lovers of m\ific. Yet, 

 though he is no longer a public performer, we may, per- 

 haps without impropriety, give our fentiments concerning 

 his abilities as a compofcr ; and confefs, that it has often 

 llruck us, in the midil of our fmcere admiration of Viotti's 

 great abilities, that his ftyle of compofition was a mefcolanza 

 delP antica e mod-erna ; writing fometimes with all the fo- 

 hdity of the great Italian mailers of the old fchool, and 

 fometimes with the levity and frivolity of the French in 

 modern times. He may perhaps have done this infenfibly, 

 in trying to pleafe in a ftyle which was the moft certain of 

 applaufe. We have fometimes, in his grave and elaborate 

 movements, thought he refembled Geminiani more than any 

 other old mailer, with more rhythm and pathos, and indeed 

 with more decided and meditated plans and fubjefts ; but 

 in his latter movements and finales, he generally degenerates 

 into French naivete, or rather niaiferie, which makes us for- 

 get that Viotti is a native of Italy, and a difciple of 

 Pugnani, whom he greatly furpalFes, when he does his beft, 

 both in hand and genius. 



He has been a confiderable publiftier of pieces for his 

 inftrument, which, though every one cannot play, yet all 

 admire, when played. 



In 1786, he publifhed at Paris, Berlin, and Amfterdam, 

 twelve violin concertos, in nine and twelve parts ; and the 

 next year fix viohn quartets. Moft of his pieces have been 

 adapted to the piano-forte by other mafters. The laft work 

 which he publilhed at Paris, was fix duets for violins. 



VIOR, or DiUR, in Ancient Geography, a river of Africa, 

 in Mauritania Tingitana, according to Phny and Ptolemy. 

 Hardouin fays that it is now named Sus ; a river of which 

 name is known on tlie confines of the kingdom of Morocco. 



VIORNA, in Botany, an old fynonym of our common 

 Traveller's .foy, Clematis Vitalba, and evidently of a limilar 

 meaning, being derived from via, a road, and orno, to adorn. 

 Gcrarde, wlio thus explains the word, declares himfelf the 

 author of the Englifti name. Viorna is transferred by Lin- 

 naeus to another fpecies of Clematis, with which it had ori- 

 ginally no connexion. Sec Clematis. 



VIPACH, in Geography. See WiPACH. 



VIPALANKA, or Uj Palanka, a fortrefs of Hun- 

 gary, in the bannat of Temefvar, on a fmall river which 

 runs into the Danube ; 50 miles S. of Temefvar. N. 

 lat. 45°. E. long. 21^. 



VIPAO, a river of Carniola, which runs into the 

 Lifonzo, in the county of Goritz. 



VIPATORE, a town of Hindooftan, in Baramaul ; 28 

 miles E. of Darempoury. 



VIPER, ViPEHA, in Natural Hijlory, the eohher bens of 



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Lnmius, famed not only for the exceeding venomoufnefs of 

 its bite, which is one of tJie molt dangerous poifons in the 

 animal kingdom, but alfo for the great ufefulnefs of its flefh 

 in medicine ; whence vipers come to make a confiderable 

 article in the materia medica. 



We have defcribed the common viper, as well as fome 

 other fpecies, under the article Coluber, and have detailed 

 fome of the moft interefting particulars relating to this 

 animal. Under the article Poisox, we have confidered the 

 nature of its venom, and fome of the ufual remedies applied 

 as antidotes to its pernicious and ufually fatal effefts. We 

 fhall not here repeat the obfervations that may be found 

 under thofe articles. 



The method of catching vipers is by putting a cleft-ftick 

 on or near their head, after which they are feized by the 

 tail, and put into a bag. 



Dr. Mead obferves, that the ancients efteemed the viper 

 facred ; and that the kings of the Eaft Indies caufed cot- 

 tages to be built for their entertainment, and their killers to 

 be puniftied with death. On medals, the viper is frequently 

 reprefented as a fymbol of divine power ; and, as fuch, 

 given by way of attribute to the ancient phyficians. 



The ilory of the rattle-fnake's charming its prey has 

 been ferioufly difcredited or ridiculed by many, and by 

 others the effefts of the animal's fear have been fuppofed 

 the refult of a previous bite ; but we have reafon to be lefs 

 mcredulous, if we advert to an experiment mentioned in the 

 Philofophical Tranfaftions, of a like thing in regard to a 

 viper. It is well known that no viper will teed while in con- 

 finement, except a female which is with young, but that 

 fuch a one will. A viper-catcher, who had more than fixty 

 living vipers in a cheft, put a living moufe in among them ; 

 there happened to be one female big with young among 

 thefe, none of the others at all regarded the moufe, but (he 

 raifed up her head a little, and looked furioufiy at it. The 

 moufe was terrified, and ftood ftill for a confiderable time, 

 though the viper continued rolled up in a fpiral, only raifmg 

 up its head and looking at it, and vibrating its tongue ; the 

 moufe at length recovered from its fright, and began to 

 move, but without running away, only walking in a terrified 

 manner round and round the viper, and often fqueaking ; at 

 length ftie came before the head of the creature, which was 

 ftill raifed, and the mouth open. The moufe, after fome 

 time, went up to the creature, and crept into its mouth, 

 where ftie was gradually fwallowed without the viper's 

 altering its pofture. 



By Mr. Boyle's experiments made upon vipers in vacuo, 

 it appeared, that on the withdrawing of the air from the 

 vcftcl where the viper was put, ftie began to fwell, and after 

 fome time, ftie opened her mouth very wide, and frequently ; 

 but on continuing two hours and a half in tlie receiver, (he 

 did not appear to be quite dead. The gaping of the jaws 

 was attended with a lofs of the fwelling, obferved at (irft in 

 her whole body ; but after every time clofing them (he 

 fwelled again, and thus became lank and plump reciprocally 

 many times in an hour. During the firft moments this 

 creature crawled about, as if in fearch of air, and after- 

 wards foamed at the mouth. 



The neck and body continued fwelled longer in a feeond 

 experiment with another viper, and a blifter appeared on 

 the back. This creature lived an hour and a half. The 

 mouth remained vaftly diftended after death, and the in- 

 ternal parts of it were much diftorted, .ind thruft forw.irds. 

 After the admifDon of the air the moutli doled, and opened 

 again after a time ; and, in fine, on pinchnig the tail there 

 was fome motion perceived in the body that Icemed to argue 

 life. The common fnake bears the exhaufted receiver 

 G g 2 better 



