usu 
Monandi'ia Monogynia class and order. Es- 
sential character ; caly.\ foiir-tootliod, with 
one segment much larger than the rest ; co- 
rolla funnel-form, four-toothed ; capaule 
one-celled, two-seeded • seeds arilled. There 
is but one species, viz. U. giiineensis, a na- 
tive of Guinea. 
USURY, in a strict sense, is a contract 
upon the loan of money, to give the lender 
a certain profit for the use of it, upon all 
events, whether the borrower made any ad- 
vantage of it, or the lender suffered any 
prejudice for the want of it, or whether it 
he repaid at the appointed time or not; 
and in a large sense, it seems, that all un- 
due advantages, taken by a lender against a 
borrower, come under the notion of usury. 
The statute 12 Anne, c. 16, enacts that 
no person, upon any contract which shall 
be niade, shall take for loan of any mo- 
ney, wares, &c. above the value of dl. 
for the forbearance of 1001. for a year ; and 
all bonds and assurances for the payment 
of any money to be lent upon usury, where- 
upon or whereby there shall be reserved, 
or taken, above five pounds in the hundred, 
shall be void ; and every person who shall 
receive, by means of any corrupt bargain, 
loan, exchange, shift, or interest, of any 
•wares, or other things, or by any deceitful 
way, for forbearing, or giving day of pay- 
ment for one year, for their money or other 
things, above 51. for 100/. for a year, &c. 
shall forfeit treble the value of the monies 
or other tilings lent. 
But if a contract, which carries interest, 
be made in a foreign country, our courts 
will direct the payment of interest, accord- 
ing to the law of that country in which the 
contract was made. Thus, Irish, Ameri- 
can, Turkish, and Indian interest have been 
allowed in our courts, to the amount of 
each 12/. per cent. For the moderation or 
exorbitance of interest depends upon local 
circumstances ; and the refusal to enforce 
such contracts would put a stop to all fo- 
reign trade. 
It may be considered as a general rule, 
that whatever is taken for interest can by 
no trick or contrivance be so concealed as 
to evade the general words of this statute. 
It is a question in polities whether the laws 
against usury are good for any thing except 
to afford government a monopoly in the 
borrowing of loans. Where advantage is 
taken of ignorance or distress equity would 
relieve in all cases. But surely it is hard 
to prevent men from making the fair price 
of the loan of money. A maximum is always 
VUL 
injurious. The real price of interest is not 
well settled, and usurers are compelled to 
be exorbitant to indemnify themselves of 
extraordinary risks. 
UVARIA, in botany, a genus of the Po- 
lyandria Polygynia class and order. Natu- 
ral order of Coaduiiatae. Aiionae, Jussieu. 
Essential character : calyx three-leaved ; 
petals six ; berries numerous, pendulous, 
four-seeded. There are eleven species. 
VULGATE, a very ancient Latin trans- 
lation of the bible, and the only one the 
church of Rome acknowledges authen- 
tic. See Bible. The ancient vulgate of 
the old testament was translated almost 
word for word, from the Greek of the 
LXN. The author of the version is not 
known, nor so much as guessed at. 
Vulgate of the New Testament. This 
the Romanists generally hold preferable to 
the common Greek text, in regard it is this 
alone, and not the Greek text, that tlie 
council of Trent had declared authentic. 
Accordingly that church has, as it were, 
adopted this edition. The priests read no 
other at the altar, the preachers quote no 
other in the pulpit, nor the divines in the 
schools. 
VULTUR, the vulture, in natural his- 
tory, a genus of birds of the order Accipi- 
tres. Generic character: the bill strait, 
hooked at the point ; the head without fea- 
thers ; the skin on the fore part naked; 
tongue bifid ; neck retractile ; legs and feet 
covered with great scales ; claws large, lit- 
tle hooked, and very blunt. Tliese birds are 
rapacious to an extreme degree, and some- 
times feed in tlie midst of cities unterrified. 
It is observed that they prefer universally 
tainted meat to what is fresh, and seldom 
destroy animals when they can procure a 
sufficiency of carrion. Their scent is in 
the highest degree acute, and they are sup- 
posed to perceive the effluvia of carcases 
at the distance even of miles. They are 
found most numerous in the warmest cli- 
mates, and must be regarded as a race of 
birds eminently useful in clearing tlie sur- 
face of the globe from putrid remains, which 
might infect the air, and produce all the 
ravages and mortality of pestilence. Tliere 
are seventeen species, of which we shall 
notice the following. 
gryphns, or the condur vulture, is 
found particularly in South America, and 
from point to point of its wings is of the 
width of twelve feet. The feathers of its 
back are of a brilliant black. Its quill fea- 
thers are more than two feet and a quarter 
