218 
V A D 
VAC 
shire; Bishop’s woods near Eccleshall, Staffordshire; Bir¬ 
mingham heath, &c. It has many names in English.— 
(.'ranberries, Moss-berries, Moor-berries, Fen-berries, Marsh- 
worts or Whortie-berries, Corn-berries. The most general 
name Cranberry probably originated from the peduncles 
being crooked at the top, and before the expansion of the 
flower, resembling the head and neck of a crane, 
26. Vaccinium hispidulum, or hairy-stemmed American 
cranberry.—Leaves quite entire,revolute, ovate; stemscreep¬ 
ing, filiform, hispid. This has the same structure with the 
European Cranberry, but is bigger in all its parts, and the 
stem is imbricate with bristle-shaped scales.—Abundant over 
all North America. 
27. Vaccinium macrocarpon, or smooth- stemmed Ame¬ 
rican cranberry.—Leaves quite entire, oval-oblong, obtuse, 
flat; stems creeping, filiform.—Native of North America. 
Propagation and Culture. —These are shrubs or shrubby 
plants, and hardy, with a few exceptions. But they are dif¬ 
ficult of culture in gardens, because they require a moorish or 
boggy soil, which for some of the species must be covered 
with moss, and constantly kept wet. 
VACH, a hamlet of England, in the parish of Chalfont, 
St. Peter’s, county of Buckingham, near Amersham. 
VACH, a small town in the interior of Germany. It is 
situated on the Werra, on the great road from Frankfort on 
the Maine to Leipsic; 14 miles east of Hersfeld, and 16 west- 
south-west of Eysenach. 
VACHE, or Cow’s Island, an island about 12 miles 
from the south coast of Hispaniola, about nine or ten miles 
long, and in the broadest part three and a half from north 
to south. The west point is in lat. 18. 4. N. long. 73. 
37. W. 
VACHE ET LE TORREAU, or Cow and Bull Rocks, 
on the south coast of Newfoundland island, are about a mile 
south-east of Cape St. Mary, which is the point between the 
deep bay of Placentia on the west, and St. Mary’s bay on 
the east. They are fair above water; but there are others 
near them which lurk under water. 
VACHER (Ruisseau), a small river of Lower Canada, 
which, after a winding course of nearly 20 miles, falls into 
the Assumption, which carries it southward to the great river 
St. Lawrence. 
VACHERY, a hamlet of England, in the parish of Cran- 
ley, counly of Surrey. 
"VA'CILLANCY, s. [vacillans, from vacillo, Latin ; va- 
cillant, French.] A state of wavering; fluctuation; in¬ 
constancy. Not much in use.- —I deny that all mutability 
implies imperfection, though some does, as that vacillavcy 
in human souls, and such mutations as are found in corpo¬ 
real matter. More. 
To VA'CILLATE, ». n. [vacillo, Latin.] To waver; to 
be inconstant. Cockcrow. 
VACILLATION, s. [r acillutio, from vacillo, Latin; 
vacillation, French.] The act or state of reeling or stagger¬ 
ing.—By your variety and vacillation, you lost the accepti- 
ble time of the first grace. Bacon. —The muscles keep the 
body upright, and prevent its falling, by readily assisting 
every vacillation. Derham. 
To VA'CUATE, v. a. [vacuo, Latin.] To make void. 
_Such an unhappy force there is in a mistaken zeal, that it 
dissolves the closest bonds, violates all obligations, and like 
the Pharisees’ Corban, under the pretence of an extraordinary 
service to God, vacuates all duty to man. Secular Priest 
Exposed. 
VACUA'TION, 5. [vacuus, Lat.] The act of emptying. 
Diet. 
VA'CUIST, s. A philosopher that holds a vacuum : 
opposed to a plenist. —Those spaces which the vacuists 
would have to be empty, because they are manifestly 
devoid of air, the plenists do not prove replenished with 
subtle matter. Boyle. 
VA'CUITY, s. [vacuitas, from vacuus, Latin; vacuite, 
French.] Emptiness; state of being unfilled.—Hunger is 
such a state of vacuity, as to require a fresh supply of ali¬ 
ment. Arbuthnot, — Space unfilled ; space unoccupied. 
He, that seat soon failing, meets 
A vast vacuity. Milton. 
Inanity; want of reality.—The soul is seen, like other 
things, in the mirror of its effects: but if they’ll run behind 
the glass to catch at it, their expectations will meet with 
vacuity and emptiness., Glanville. 
VACUNALIA, a festival kept in honour of the goddess 
Vacuna, who presided over those that were unemployed or 
at rest. 
It was celebrated in December by the country labourers, 
after the fruits were gathered in, and the land tilled. 
“ Nam quoque cum fiunt antiquae sacra vacunse, 
Ante vacunales stantque, sedentque focos.” 
Ovid, Fasti, lib. vi. 
VA'CUOUS, adj. [vacuus, Latin.] Empty ; unfilled. 
Boundless the deep, because I AM who fill 
Infinitude : nor vacuous the space. Milton. 
VA'CUOUSNESS, s. Stale of being empty.—Nothing 
nauseates the mind so soon, as an emptiness of thoughts 
bespoken and fitted for her entertainment; since in that 
vacuousness the winds and vapours of tediousness and 
displicence arise, and fume out of our imagination into our 
spirits. W. Montague. 
VA'CUUM, s. [Latin.] Space unoccupied by matter.— 
Our enquiries about vacuum, or space and atoms, will shew 
us some good practical lessons. Watts. 
VADAMIA, a village of Irak Arabi, on the Euphrates; 
105 miles north-north- west of Bassora. 
VADDER (Louis de), an eminent landscape painter, was 
born at Brussels in 1560. It is not known under whom he 
studied, where he resided, or how long he lived; but he 
has left works behind him which exhibit him as a diligent 
observer of nature, with taste and feeling to select her most 
fascinating effects, and ability to execute what he attempted, 
so as to afford the greatest pleasure to all admirers of 
the art. 
2'o VADE, ». n. [vado, Latin.] To vanish; to pass 
away. A word useful in poetry, but not received. Yet it 
was in use before Spenser employed it, and was common in 
prose.—Thy sun shall no more go down, and thy moone 
shall not vade, because the Lord shall be thy everlasting 
light. Stapleton. 
VADE' (John Joseph), was born in 1727, at Ham, in 
Picardy, and is distinguished as the inventor of a kind of 
humorous French poetry. In his youth he resided at. Paris, 
and led a dissipated life ; but in more advanced age he per¬ 
ceived the defects of his early education, and endeavoured 
to supply them by a perusal of the best French authors. 
His species of writing was called the “ Poissarde manner," 
and he was hence denominated the “ Teniers” of poetry. 
His works, consisting of comic operas, parodies, songs, &c. 
have been collected in 4 vols. 8vo. Morcri. Nouv. Diet. 
Hist. 
VADTANUS (Joachim), was born in 1484, at St. Gall 
in Switzerland, where his father, Leonard Von Watt, was 
a senator. Having studied at Vienna, he was chosen pro¬ 
fessor of the belles lettres, and rector of the university. In 
1514 he was honoured at Lintz by the emperor Maximilian 
with the poetical laurel. In his subsequent travels, he ap¬ 
plied to tire study of geography, and in 1538, having taken 
the degree of M.D. at Vienna, he returned to St. Gall, and 
devoted himself to the practice of physic, to which he joined 
theology upon the principles of the reformers, whose cause 
he promoted as a senator, and also by his discourses and 
writings. Having been honoured eight times with the office 
of consul, he died in 1551, and bequeathed his library to 
his fellow-citizens. On the various subjects of mathematics, 
geography, antiquities, medicine, and theology, he pub¬ 
lished works, as well as several Latin poems. His “ Com¬ 
mentary on Pomponius Mela de Situ Orbis,” and his 
“ Scholia on the second Book of Pliny’s Natural History," 
are the most generally known of his literary performances. 
Scaliger regarded Vadianus as one of the most learned men 
in Germany. Morcri. 
VADILKORA, 
