VOL 



VOL 



Pavia, and purfued it with reputation at his natlre place ; 

 with a view to preferment, he vifited Rome ; but difap- 

 pointed in his expectations, he returned to Como, and fuc- 

 ceeded Bernardine della Croce, bilhop of the church in 

 1559, the offices of which ftatlon he affiduoufly difcharged 

 for 30 years, until his death in 1588. His poems were 

 coUefted, and publifned at Padua in 1725. They have been 

 much praifed for their elegance, and in the fatires he is faid 

 to have happily imitated the ftyle of Horace. Gen. Biog. 



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

 depai-tment of the Po ; 9 miles N.N.E. of Tiurin. 



VOLSAS Sinus, in Jnc'ient Geography, a bay men- 

 tioned by Ptolemy, fituated on the northern fide of Great 

 Britain : it is Loch-bay, in Rofsfhire. 



VOLSBACH, in Geography, a town of the bifhopric of 

 Bamberg ; 3 miles N.E. of Weifchenf^ld. 



VOLSCi, or VoLCl, in Ancient Geography, a people of 

 Italy, in Latium, They were defcended from the ancient 

 Ofci : they had among them Coriolanus in the year 264 ; 

 and in the year 310 they fnbmitted to the Romans. Their 

 territory lay from the fca of Antium as far as the fource of 

 the Lirjs, and beyond it. The extent of their country in- 

 duced Mela to diilinguifli it from Latium, from which it 

 was aftnally feparated. 



VOLSINENSIS or Vulsinensis Lacus, a lake of 

 Italy, in Etruria, according to Pliny. He fpeaks vaguely 

 and unphilofophically of two floating iflands, the form of 

 which was occafionally changed by the winds into triangular 

 and roun^. Upon it, however, was one ifland, called the 

 iifle of S. Giacomo, to which the princefs Amalafouth, 

 queen of the Goths, was exiled by Theodotus, who in a 

 few days caufed her to be fhrangled, A.D. 534. 



VOLSK, in Geography, a town of Rulfia, in the govern- 

 ment of Saratov, on the Volga ; 76 miles N.E. of Saratov. 

 N. lat. 52° 15'. E. long. 47° 44'. 



VOLTA, atown of AfiaticTurkey, on the fouth coaft 

 of Natoha. N. lat. 36° 46'. E. long. 27° 16'.— Alfo, a 

 town of Italy, in the department of the Mincio ; 10 miles 

 N. of Mantua. 



VoLTA, or Rio Voha, a river of Africa, which feparates 

 the Gold Coaft from the Slave Coafl, and runs into the 

 Atlantic, N. lat. 5° 50'. W. long. 45'. 



VoLTA, in the Italian Mujic, (hews that the part is to be 

 repeated one, two, or more times, according to the numeral 

 adjeftive joined with it : thus, Ji replica una voha, intimates 

 to play that part once over again. 



VoLTA is alfo a fort of dance of Italian origin, in which 

 the man turns the woman feveral times, and then aflifts her 

 to make a leap or jump. It is a fpecies of galhard. 



VOLTAGGIO, or Ottagio, in Geography, a town of 

 the Ligurian republic ; 15 miles N. of Genoa. 



VOLTAIRE, Marie Francois Arouet de, in Bio- 

 graphy, was born at Chatenay, near Paris, in the year 1694, 

 and in his earliell youth indicated a partial fondnefs for 

 ▼erfe, which was cherifhed by the recital of La Fontaine's 

 fables. He was alfo conftriined to commit to memory a 

 poem, entitled " La Moifade," and tiius he is faid to have 

 imbibed a prepoffeffion aiiainft the Mofaic hiftory. In pur- 

 fuing his literary education at the Jefuits' college of Louis- 

 le-Grand, he had for his preceptor father Poree ; and at the 

 age of 12, diftinguifhed himfelf by compofitions above liis 

 years. The celebrated Ninoh de I'Enctos, to whom he was 

 prefented, left him a legacy of 20CO livrcs, which he def- 

 tined for a juvenile library. DiffatitficJ with law, for the 

 profelfion of which his father dchgned him, he devoted his 

 whole attention to poetry, which was rendered invincible by 

 a fociety of wits and Epicureans, into which he was ad- 

 mitted. His father made an attempt to divert him irom his 



9 



favourite purfuit, by fending him as a page in the fuite of 

 the marquis de Chateauneuf, amballador from France to 

 Holland ; but falling in love with the daughter of Mad. du 

 Noyer, a refugee, he was fent back to Paris, and excluded 

 from his father's houfe. In this pitiable fituation he was 

 taken under the proteftion of M. deCanniartin, his father's 

 friend ; and at his country-houfe he had the advantage of 

 converfing with the elder Caumartin, who infpircd him with 

 his own enthufiaftic admiration of Henry IV. and Sully. 

 He flill indulged his difpofition for writing lampoons ; and 

 for one of theie, aimed at the government, he was impri- 

 foned for a year in the Baftille. Ac this time he had com- 

 pofed his tragedy of " CEdipe," which was brought on the 

 llage in 1718, and much applauded. The regent was alfo 

 highly pleafed with it, and granted him permilfion to return 

 to Paris, after his releafe from the Baftille. His father, 

 much interefted- in his favour by attending at one of the re- 

 prefentations of his tragedy, was reconciled to him, and 

 gave up all thoughts of making him a lawyer. At BrufFels, 

 which he vifited in 1722, he became acquainted with the 

 poet Rouffeau ; but in confequence of this interview, they 

 became enemies for life. On his return, his " Mariamne" 

 was exhibited, and did not fucceed. In 1726 he was again 

 lodged in the Baftille, in confequence of a quarrel with the 

 chevalier de Rohan ; and obtained liberation, after a con- 

 finement of fix months, upon condition of leaving the king- 

 dom. England was the country of his choice, and he 

 brought with him his poem of the " Henriade." It was 

 printed in London by fubfcription, patronized by king 

 George I. and Caroline princefs of Wales, and yielded a 

 profit which laid the foundation of his fortune. His maa- 

 ners, however, did not fuit thofe of England, and his con- 

 verfation was unfufferably licentious. Having obtained 

 permiflion to return to France in 1728, he put his money 

 into a lottery, and engaged in other lucrative fpeculations, 

 and thus amalfed a large capital, which he augmented by 

 his economy. His tragedy of " Brutus," brought on the 

 ftage in 1730, was not very popular; and as his dramatic 

 reputation was ambiguous, he was adviled by Fontenelle 

 and La Motte to abandon this fpecies of compofition, 

 alleging that it was not adapted to his genius. His reply 

 was the production of his " Zaire," which was regarded as 

 the moft affefting piece on the French ftage, after the 

 " Phedre" of Racine. On account of his " Lettres Philo- 

 fophiques," he was confidered as an avowed enemy to re- 

 velation and ecclefiaftical authority ; and the parhament of 

 Paris iffued a decree, which ordered his work to be com- 

 mitted to the flames, and his perfon to be arretted. Upon 

 this he quitted the capital, and retired to Cyrei, near Vaffi, 

 ;n Champagne, the feat of the marquis du Chatclet, where 

 they employed thenifelves in making experiments, and 

 where Voltaire wrote his " Elements of the Newtonian 

 Pliilofophv." He alfo continued to write tragedies, fo 

 that his " Alzire" appeared in 1736, and his " Mahomet" 

 in 1 74 1 ; but the latter, charged with being an attack upon 

 religion, was withdrawn from the ftage. His " Merope," 

 exhibited in 1743, ^^^ received with the greateft applaufe. 

 Before this time he had made his peace at court by a po- 

 litical fervice, which it is not necelTary for us to relate ; and 

 he farther ingratiated himfelf with the royal family by his 

 piece for the feftlvlties on the marriage of the Dauphin, en- 

 titled " La Princeffe de Navarre." Received at court, he 

 became gentleman of the chamber in ordinary, and hiftorio- 

 grapher of France ; and, under the latter charadler, drew up 

 his hiftory of the war of 1 741 , wWch then fubfifted. He alfo 

 engaged in other courtly offices, and wrote the inanifefto of 

 the French court in favour of the Pretender, on his expedi- 

 tion to Scotland. In 1746 he was adniittcd into the 



French. 



