U R S 



ti-ids. The people enjoy great privileges, but are not abfo- 

 lutely independent ; for in civil caufes an appeal lies from 

 their courts of juftice to Altdorf, and in criminal proceed- 

 ings, two deputies from the government of Uri are prefent 

 at the trial, and deliver to the judges of the valley the opi- 

 nion of the council of Altdorf. This valley, though ele- 

 vated and cold, affords excellent pafture. Above the village 

 of Urferen is a fmall plantation of pines, the only wood in 

 the valley, excepting a fmall quantity of underwood and 

 itubbed willows, that feather the banks of the Reufs. In 

 the adjacent country there are feveral mines of cryllal, a con- 

 liderable quantity of which is exported. The language of 

 the natives is a kind of provincial German, but alraoil every 

 perfon fpeaks Italian. 



The valley of Urferen is furrounded by high mountains, 

 covered with pafture, terminating in barren rocks, in many 

 parts capped with fnow. Coxc's Switzerland, vol. i. 



URSHULT, a town of Sweden, in the province of 

 Smaland ; 22 miles S. of Wexio. 



URSIGUNGE, a town of Hindooftan, in Benares ; 

 16 miles W. of Morzapour. 



URSINIA, in Botany, lo named by Gartner, appears 

 to have been intended as a tribute to the memory of the 

 Rev. John Henry Urlinus, formerly a clergyman at Ratif- 

 bon, author of a learned odlavo volume, entitled Arbor.'him 

 Bibliciim, publidied at Nuremberg in 1685, after its author's 

 deceafe, in 1667. Gsrtn. v. 2. 462. t. 174. Poiret in 

 Lamarck Did. v. 8. 256. This is the fame genus with Mr. 

 Brown's Sphenogyne, (fee that article,) under which it 

 ought to have been cited as a fynonym. We know not why 

 its earlier name was changed, the labours of Urfmus, though 

 geuerally compilations, undoubtedly entitling him to fuch a 

 memorial. There was alfo a Leonard Urfmus, profelfor of 

 Botany at Leipfic, who died in 1664, at the age of forty- 

 fix, having written upon the Tuhp, and on the White Lily, 

 with a double flower ; but thefe treatifes were merely acade- 

 mical effays, probably of no great moment. See Dryander's 

 Bibl. Bankf. v. 3. 260, and Haller's Bibl. Bot. v. i. 536, 

 and v. 2. 685. 



URSINJAN, in Geography, a town of Perfia, in the 

 province of F.irs, principally diftinguilhed for a ftrong and 

 narrow defile, bearing the fame name. This pafs is on the 

 diredt road leading from Shirauz to Kerman ; 58 miles 

 from the former, and 100 from Robat, the eaftern frontier 

 of Fars. It is nearly two miles long, and not exceeding 

 fifty yards in breadth. In fome places, the mountains on 

 either fide rife perpendicularly to a great height ; and, in the 

 opinion of Mr. Pottinger, the place might be defended, with 

 a very fmall force, againft any number of men. The coun- 

 try between this and Robat is tolerably cultivated, and in 

 fome places very pifturefque. 



URSINS, Jean-Jouvenal des, in Biography, a prelate 

 and hiftorian of the 15th century, was advanced to feveral 

 pofts, civil and ecclefiaftical, and in 1449 became archbifhop 

 of Rheims, under which charafler he confecrated Lewis XI. 

 In confequence of his revifion, in concert with other prelates, 

 of the fentence pronounced againft the maid of Orleans, it 

 was revoked. His learning and epifcopal virtues eftabliihed 

 a refpeftable character ; and he clofed his life at the age of 

 eighty -five, in the year 1473. His " Hiftory of the Reign 

 of Charles VI., from 1380 to 1422," is faid to be written 

 with correftnefs and integrity. It was firft pubhlhed by 

 Theodore Godefroi, in 16 14, 410.; and an improved edition 

 by his fon appeared in 1653, fol. Moreri. Nouv. Did. 

 Hill. 



U 11 s 



URSINUS, FuLVius. See Orsini. 

 Ursinus, Zachaky, whofe family name was Beer, or 

 Bear, a German Proteftant divine, was born at Breflau 

 in 1534, and in the courfc of feven years' ftudy at Witten- 

 berg, recommended himfelf by his abilities and diligence to 

 Melandhon, who was then principal of the univerfity. He 

 accompanied his tutor to the conference at Worms in 1557, 

 and having vifited Calvin at Geneva, ftudied Hebrew at 

 Paris under the learned Mercer. In the follownng year, he 

 accepted an invitation from the magiftrates at Breflau to be- 

 come reftor of their public fchool ; but here a complaint 

 was lodged againft him by fome Lutheran niinifters, ou 

 account of his explanation of the article on the Lord's 

 Supper, in a book of Melanfthon's, which they conceived 

 to be inconfiftent with the true principles of Lutheranifm. 

 Although he defended himfelf by a trad on the Lord's 

 Supper and Baptifm, the ftorm continued, fo that he applied 

 for a difmiflion from the magiftrates, and returned to Zurich. 

 In 1561, he was invited to Heidelberg, and was made profef- 

 for in the college of Sapientia. In 1562, he obtained the 

 honour of D.D., and that of the profefforlhip of " Loco- 

 rum Communium," or of common places ; and in this year he 

 drew up the Heidelberg, or Palatine catechifm, publilbing 

 alfo, by order of the eledor FredericIII. an apology for it, in 

 anfwer to the remarks of fome Lutheran theologians. To the 

 eledor, he rendered eflential fervice in forming the plans and 

 ftatutes of feveral fchools which he founded ; and continued 

 ac Heidelberg till Frederic's death, in 1577. By his fuc- 

 cefTor, Lewis, who was a ftrid Lutheran, Urfinus was dif- 

 miffed ; and afterwards fettled at Neuftadt, as theological 

 profeiTor in a feminary founded by prince Cafimir, the fon of 

 Frederic. Here he alfo gave private ledures on logic, and 

 publifhed feveral works ; but intenfe application haftened his 

 death, which took place in 1583, when he had attained the 

 age of forty-nine years. He was eminently learned, and an 

 excellent teacher : in his difpofition modeft, but irritable. 

 His various writings were collefted after his death, and pub- 

 bhftied in 161 1 at Heidelberg, in 3 vols, folio. Bayle. Gen. 

 Biog. 



Ursinus, Benjamin, originally Behr, a German ma- 

 thematician, was born at Sprottaw, in Silefia, in 1587 ; and 

 refided for a long time as tutor to two young noblemen, 

 along with Kepler, whom he aflifted in the conftrudion of the 

 Rudolphine tables, firil at Prague, and then at Lintz, in 

 Bohemia. In the latter place, he was teacher of mathema- 

 tics ; and from thence he removed to Frankfort on the 

 Oder, to undertake a fimilar charge ; and here he died in 

 1633. If 1628, or 1629, he publiflied, at Cologne, his 

 " Curfus Mathematicus," containing Napier's logarithms, and 

 fome additional tables of proportional parts ; and in 1 624, 

 he printed, at the fame place, his " Trigonometria," with a 

 table of natural fines and their logarithms, in Napier's form, 

 to every ten feconds in the quadrant, the computation of 

 which was a work of great labour. Haller. Gen. Biog. 



URSITZ, St., or St. Urfinne, or Sonderfitz, in Geogra- 

 phy, a town of France, in the department of the Upper 

 Rhine ; 20 miles S.W. of Bale. N. lat. 47° 25'. E. long. 

 7° 6'. 



URSKOG, a town of Norway, on the Glanmen ; 44 

 miles N.N.E. of Frederickftadt. 



URSNACH, a town of the Helvetian republic, in the 

 canton of Appenzel ; 8 miles S.W. of Appenzel. 



URSO, [OJura or Ofana,) m Ancient Geography, a town 

 of Hifpania, in Bostica, fituated towards the welt. It had 

 the title of a republic in an infcription ; and its medals, 



badly 



