V o u 



Sajify to Conftantiaople, where he painted from recollec- 

 tion the pifture of the grand feignior. On his return he 

 llaid at Rome, and obtained the patronage of pope Urban 

 VIII. and his nephew the cardinal, by whom he was em- 

 ployed in St. Peter's, and the Barberini palace. Here he 

 refided 14 years, and was elefted liead of the academy of 

 St. Luke in 1624. 



Louis XIII. appointed him, on his return to Paris in 

 1627, his principal painter ; and employed him munificently 

 in mod of his palaces: He alfo painted pidures for many 

 churches in Paris. He died there in 1641. 



Vouet at firfl was careful and rich in his defigns and his 

 execution ; but as his engagements increafed in number, he 

 adopted a ftyle flimfy and even carelefs ; fluttered in the 

 parts, and without grandeur in the conception. He is the 

 father of the French fchool before the revolution, and cor- 

 rupted the art by its delufive facility. He was the teacher 

 of Le Brun, Mignard, and others, but had more honour 

 in having trained Le Sueur to the praftice of art ; who, ne- 

 v«rthelefs, had the fenfe to aim at the tafte of deCgn feen 

 in the works of Raffaelle rather than in thofe of his 

 niafter. 



VOUGA, in Geography, a town of Portugal, in the 

 province of Beira, on a river of the fame name ; 10 miles 



E.N.E. of Aveiro Alfo, ariverof Portugal, which rifes 



about 15 miles N.E. of Vifeu, and runs into the Atlantic, 

 5 miles N. of Aveiro, forming a large bay at its mouth, full 

 of iflands. 



VOU-HOUCI, a city of China, of the fecond rank, in 

 Kiang-nan ; 532 miles S. of Peking. N. lat. 31° 22'. E. 

 long. 1 1 7° 29'. 



VOUILLE', a town of France, in the department of 

 the Vienne. In 507, near this town, Clovis, king of France, 

 obtained a viftory over the Vifigoths, in which their king 

 Alaric was (lain ; 8 miles N.W. of Poiftiers. 



VOULTE, La, a town of France, in the department 

 of the Ardeche ; 1 1 miles S.S.W. of Valence. 



VOUNEUIL SUR Vienne, a town of France, in the 

 department of the Vienne ; 12 miles N.N.E. of Poidiers. 



VOURA, a river of European Turkey, which fepa- 

 rates Theffaly from Albania, and runs into the gulf of 

 Arta. 



VOURLA, a fea-port of Afiatic Turkey, in Nato- 

 lia, on the fcite of Clazomene, one of the twelve cities of 

 Ionia. It is built on two eminences, one poflefled by the 

 Turks, the other by Chriftians, who have about 500 houfes 

 and two churches. The harbour is about a league from the 

 town. The archbilhop of Ephefus refides here about three 

 months of the year; there are but very fmall appearances of 

 its ancient grandeur ; 20 miles W. of Smyrna. N. lat. 38'' 

 24'. E. long. 26° 40'. 



VOURLOTES, a town of the ifland of Samos ; 4 

 miles N.E. of Carlovaffi. 



VOUSSOIR, Vault-stone, or Key-Jhne, in Architec- 

 ture, a ftone proper to form the fweep of an arch, being 

 cut fomevvhat in the manner of a truncated cone, whofe 

 fides, were they prolonged, would terminate in a centre, to 

 which all the llones of the vault are direfted. See Key and 

 Vault. 



VOUTE, in Geography, a town of France, in the de- 

 partment of the Ardeche, on the right fide of the Rhone ; 

 18 miles N. of Viviers. 



Voute, La, a town of France, in the department of the 

 Upper Loire ; 9 miles S. of Brioude. 



VOUTEZAT, a town of France, in the department of 

 the Correze ; 9 miles N.W. of Brive. 



VDUTIN, a river of China, which rifes in Chinefe Tar- 



7t 



V o w 



tary, and runs into the Hoang, 25 miles S.E. of Soui-te, ii> 

 Chen-fi. 



VOU-TING, or Ou-KUEN, a city of China, of tlie fe- 

 cond rank, in Yun-nan ; 114J miles S.W. of Peking. N. 

 lat. 25° 34'. E. long. 102° 20'. 



Vou-TiNG, a city of China, of the fecond rank, in 

 Chan-tong ; 162 miles S.S.E. of Peking. N. lat. 37° 35'. 

 E. long. 1 17° 19'. 



VOUVANT, a town of France, in the department of 

 the Vendee ; 6 miles N.N.E. of Fontenay le Comte. 



VOUVRAY, a town of France, in the department of 

 the Indre and Loire ; 4 miles E. of Tours. 



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

 Seine and Marne ; 1 1 miles E. of Nemours. 



VOUZAILLES, a town of France, in the department 

 of the Vienne ; 12 miles NE. of Poiftiers. 



VOUZIERS, a town of France, and principal place of 

 a diftritf, in the department of the Ardennes ; 5 polls S.W, 

 of Stenay. N. lat. 49° 23'. E. long. 4'^ 42'. 



VOW, Votum, a folemn promife, or offering of a man's 

 felf, or other thing, to God. 



A perfon is conftituted a rehgious, by taking three 

 vows, that of poverty, that of challity, and that of obe- 

 dience. 



Authors are divided as to the antiquity of thefe vows. 

 It is agreed, the ancient anchorets, and hermits of the The- 

 baid, made none ; they did not confecrate themfelves to 

 God by any indiflbluble obligation, but were at liberty to 

 quit their retirement, and return into the world, whenever 

 the fervour, that drove them out of it, came to abate. 



Vows were not introduced till long after ; and that to fix 

 the too frequent inconftancy of fuch as, after retiring from 

 the world, repented themfelves too foon, or too (lightly ; 

 and by that means fcandalizedthe church, and difturbed the 

 quiet of families by their return. 



Erafmus will have it, that folemn vows were not intro- 

 duced till the thirteenth century, under the pontificate of 

 Boniface VIII. Others hold them to be as ancient as the 

 council of Chalcedon : but the truth is, before Boniface 

 VIII. there were none but fimple vows, and fuch as might 

 be difpenfed withal. Their vows, till that time, were not 

 deemed eternal chains ; they were not indiflbluble. It is 

 true, they were obligatory promifes, as to confcience ; and 

 the inconilancy of fuch as violated them was held an odious 

 defertion : but, as to the law, the perfons were not held to 

 be civilly dead, fo as, upon their return, to render them in- 

 capable of all afts of civil fociety. 



The moil common vow was that of poverty, but this only 

 regarded the convent ; on account of which, every perfon 

 divefted himfelf of all property : but the making of vows 

 did not at all exclude them from the rights of blood, or 

 render them incapable of inheriting. 



No religious, it is true, acquired the property of the 

 eff^efts that fell to him ; they all belonged to the monaflery, 

 in favour of which he had diverted himfelf of every thing ; 

 and the monaftery only left him the ufufruit and direftion of 

 them. The popes have frequently confirmed this privi- 

 lege to divers orders, and permitted the monks to in- 

 herit, as much as if they were feculars, and had made no 

 vows. 



At prefent, the civil death of a religious is dated from the 

 day he makes the vows ; and from that time he is utterly in- 

 capable of inheriting. A religious may reclaim, or proteft. 

 againll his vows within five years ; but, after that, it is 

 no longer admitted. The failures in the profefllon are 

 efteemed to be purged, by his filence and perfeverance for 

 five years. Indijed, to be relieved from his vows, it is not 



enough 



