YEN 
circnmstancep, as to direction, &c. This 
mimic liad, at least, six different habitual 
modes of speaking, which he could instantly 
adopt one after the other, and witli so much 
rapidity, that wlien in a small closet, parted 
off in the room, he gave a long, confused, 
and impassioned debate of Democrats (in 
French, as almost the whole of his per- 
formance was) ; it seemed to proceed trom 
a multitude of speakers : and an inaccurate 
observer might have thought that several 
were speaking at once. A ludicrous scene 
of drawing a tooth was performed in the 
same manner. 
These examples, and many more which 
might be added, are sufficient, in proof, 
tliat ventriloquism is the art of mimicry, an 
imitation applied to sounds of every de- 
scription, and attended with circumstances 
which produce an entertaining deception, 
and lead the hearers to imagine that the voice 
proceeds from different situations. When 
distant, and consequently low voices are to 
be imitated, the articulation may be given 
with sufficient distinctness, without moving 
the lips, or altering the countenance. It 
was by a supposed supernatural voice of 
this kind, from a ventriloquist, that the 
famous musical small-coal man, Tiiomas 
Britton, received a warning of his death, 
whicii so greatly affected him that he did 
not survive tlie affright. 
VENUE, tile neighbourhood from whence 
juries are to be summoned for trial of causes. 
In local actions, as of trespass and eject- 
ment, the venue is to be from the neigh- 
bourhood of the place, where the lands in 
question lie ; and in all real actions the ve- 
nue must be laid in the county where the 
thing is for whidi fhe action is brought ; 
but in transitory actions, for injuries that 
may have happened any where, as debt, 
detinue, slander, or the like, the plaintiff 
may declare in what county he pleases, and 
then the trial must be in that county in 
which tlie declaration is laid. Though if 
the defendant will make affidavit that the 
cause of action, if any, arose not in that, 
hut in another county, the court will direct 
a change of the venue, and oblige the plain- 
tiff to declare in the proper county. And 
the court will sometimes move the venue 
from the proper jurisdiction (especially of 
the narrow and limited kind), npon a sug- 
gestion duly supported, that a fair and im- 
partial trial cannot be had therein. With 
respect to criminal cases, it is ordained by 
statute 21 James I. c. 4, that all informa- 
iSions on penal statutes shall be laid in t!ie 
YEN 
counties where the offences were commit- 
ted. 
VENUS, the most beautiful star in the 
heavens, known by the names of the morn- 
ing and evening star, likewise keeps' near 
the SHii, though she recedes from liim al- 
most double tlie distance of Mercury. She 
is never seen in the eastern quarter of tiie 
heavens when the sun is in the wi stern; 
but always seems to altend him in tlie even- 
ing, or to give notice of his approach in 
the morning. The planet Venus presents 
the same phenomena with Mercury • hut 
her different phases are much more sensi- 
ble, her oscillations wider, and of longer 
duration. Her greatest distance from the 
sun varies from 45® to nearly 48°, and the 
mean duration of a complete oscillation is 
584 days. Venus has been sometimes seen 
moving across the sun’s disc in the form of 
.around black spot, with an apparent dia- 
meter of about 59 ". A few days after this 
has been observed, Venus is seen in the 
morning, west of the sun, in tlie form of a 
fine crescent, with the convexity turned to- 
ward the sun. She moves gradually west- 
ward with a retarded motion, and the cres- 
cent becomes more full. In about ten 
weeks she has moved 46" west of the sun, 
and is now a semicircle, and her diameter is 
26". She is now stationary. She then 
moves eastward with a motion gradually 
accelerated, and overtakes the sun about 
9i months after having been seen on his 
disc. Sometime after, she is seen in the 
eveniflg, east of the siin, round, but very 
small. She moves eastward, and increases 
in diameter, but loses of her roundiiess, till 
she gets about 46° east of the sun, when she 
is again a semicircle. She now moves west- 
ward, increasing in diameter, but becoming 
a crescent like the waning moon ; and, at 
laM, .after a period of nearly 584 days, 
comes again into conjunction with tlie sun 
with an apparent diameter of 59 '. She 
does nof move exactly in the plane of the 
ec'iptic, but deviates from it several de- 
gree,®. Like Mercury, she sometimes 
crosses the sun’s disc. The duration of 
these transits, a.s observed from different 
parts of the earth’s surface, are very dif- 
ferent; tliis is owing to the parallax of Ve- 
nus, in consequence of wiiich different ob- 
servers refer to different patts of the sun's 
disc, and see her describe different chords 
on that disc. In the transit which happen- 
ed in 1769, the difference of its duration, 
as observed at Otaheite and at Wardhiijs 
in Lapland, amounted to 23 minutes, 10 se- 
