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place, hath a contrary aspect in another; as in those versa¬ 
tile representations in the neck of a dove, and folds of 
scarlet. G/anville. —Easily applied to a new task. 
VE'RSATILENESS, or ‘Versatility, s. The quality 
of being versatile.—Nothing can more fully demonstrate the 
extent and versatility of these, two original geniuses. Dr. 
Warton. 
VERSBACH, a village of Bavarian Franconia, near 
Wurzburg. Population 1000. 
VERSCHE, a river which rises in Swedish Lapland, and 
falls into the White Sea. 
VERSE, s. [ versus , Latin.] A line consisting of a 
certain succession of sounds and number of syllables. 
Thou hast by moonlight at her window sung, 
With feigning voice, verses of feigning love. Shalcspeare. 
\yerset, Fr.] A section or paragraph of a book.—Thus 
far the questions proceed upon the construction of the first 
earth; in the following verses they proceed upon the de¬ 
molition of that earth. Burnet. —Poetry; lays; metrical 
language. 
Verse embalms virtue: and tombs and thrones of rhymes 
Preserve frail Iransitory fame as much 
As spice doth body from air’s corrupt touch. Donne. 
A piece of poetry.—This verse, my friend, be thine. 
Pope. 
To VERSE, v. a. To tell in verse; to relate poetically. 
In the shape of Corin sat all day. 
Playing on pipes of corn, and versing love 
To amorous Phillida. Shalcspeare. 
To be VE'RSED, v. n. [versor , Latin.] To be skilled 
in ; to be acquainted with. 
This vers'd in death, th’ infernal knight relates, 
And then for proof fulfill’d their common fates. Dry den. 
VE'RSEMAN, s. A poet; a writer in verse.—The god of 
us versemen, you know, child, the sun: Prior. 
VE'RSER, s. A maker of verses; a mere versifier. 
Though she have a better verser got. 
Or poet in the court-account, than I. B. Jonson. 
VERSETZ, a town of the south fof Hungary, in the 
county of Temesvar, situated on a hill. Wine, rice, and 
silk, are cultivated in the environs; and the spinning of silk 
is the chief manufacture in the town; 23 miles north-north- 
west of Vipalanka. Population 5000. 
VERSH1RE, a township of the United States, in Orange 
county, Vermont, on the east side of Chelsea; 32 miles 
north of Windsor. 
VE'RSICLE, s. [yersiculits, Latin.] A little verse. 
The lapwing 
The versicles shall sing. Skelton. 
VE'RSICOLOUR, or Versicoloured, adj. [ versico¬ 
lor , Lat.] Having various colours; changeable in colour. 
— Gardens full of exotic, versicolour, diversely varied, 
sweet-smelling flowers. Burton. 
VERSIFICA'TION, s. [yersifiation, Fr.] The art or 
practice of making verses.—Donne alone had your talent, 
but was not happy to arrive at your versification. Dryden. 
—See Poetry. 
VE'RSIFICATOR, or Ve'rsifier, s. [yersificateur, Fr. ; 
versificator, Latin.] A versifier; a maker of verses with or 
without the spirit of poetry..—Statius, the best versificator 
next Virgil, knew not how to design after him. Dryden. 
To VE'RSIFY, v. n. \yersificor, Latin.] To make 
verses.—You would wonder to hear how soon even children 
will begin to versify. Sidney. 
To VE'RSIFY, v. a. To relate in verse; to represent in 
verse. 
Shall 1 tell you whom I love ? 
Hearken then a while to me; 
And if such a woman move 
As I now shall versifie; 
Be assur’d, ’tis her, or none, 
That I love, and love alone. Broivne. 
Vol. XXIV. No. 1642. 
y e r 
VE'RSION, s. [Fn ; versio, Latin.] Chahge; transfor¬ 
mation.—Springs, the antients thought to be made by the 
version of air into water. Bacon. —Change of direction 
—Translation.—The act of translating. 
VERSMOLD, a town of Prussian Westphalia; 15 miles 
south-by-east of Osnabruck. 
VERSOY, or VersoiX, a town of Switzerland, on a 
small stream which flows here into the lake of Geneva; 
5 miles north of Geneva. 
VERST, s. [Russian.] About three quarters of an Eng¬ 
lish mile. Bailey. —From Colmogro to Usting are five hun¬ 
dred versts or little miles. Milton. 
VERSTEGAN (Richard), a descendant of an ancient 
family in Guelderland, and the son of a cooper in London, 
enjoyed the advantageof a liberal education at Oxford; and 
distinguished himself by his literary acquirements; but be¬ 
coming a Catholic, he left the university without a degree, 
and removed to Antwerp. About the year 1585, he there 
published a work, entitled “ Theatrum Crudelitatum Ileereti- 
corum nostri Temporis,” adorned with engravings, and in¬ 
tended as a counterpart to the Protestant martyrologies. In 
this work he treated Queen Elizabeth with great severity ; 
and when Verstegan removed to Paris, complaint was pre¬ 
ferred against him by the English ambassador to Henry III., 
who, from motives of policy more than from a disapproba¬ 
tion of his book, caused him for some time to be imprisoned. 
After his release he returned to Antwerp, where he employed 
himself as a printer, and published, in 1592, a second 
edition of his Theatrum, He also entered with much acri¬ 
mony into a dispute between the regular and secular Roman 
Catholic clergy in England, taking part with the former. 
But he was more honourably and usefully employed in pre¬ 
paring his “ Restitution of decayed Intelligence in Antiqui¬ 
ties concerning the noble and renowned English Nation,” 
which was first printed at Antwerp in 1605, 4to. Bishop 
Nicholson’s character of this work is as follows: “The 
writer had several advantages for making of some special 
discoveries on the subject whereon he treats, which is 
handled so plausibly, and so well illustrated with handsome 
cuts, that tlie book has taken and sold very well. But a 
great many mistakes have escaped him.” Some of these are 
stated by the bishop ; and he adds they have been carefully 
corrected by Mr. Somner. The last of three editions of this 
work that issued from the press in England, was that of 
1674. Among some other works of Verstegan, we find 
mentioned his “ Antiquitates Belgicse,” Antwerp, 1613. 
He is supposed to have died about the year 1625. Biog. 
Brit. 
VERT, .?. [oerf, Fr.] Vert, in the laws of the forest, 
signifies every thing that grows, and bears a green leaf, 
within the forest, that may cover and hide a deer. Cotvei. 
—I find no mention in all the records of Ireland, of a park 
or free warren, notwithstanding the great plenty of vert and 
venison. Sir J. Davies. —[In heraldry.] The colour green. 
VERTAISON, a town of France, department of the Puy 
de Dome, with 2000 inhabitants; 9 miles east of Clermont. 
VERTE, a small island of France, in the Mediterranean, 
arrondissement of Marseilles. 
VERTE BAY, or Green Bay, a bay of the Atlantic 
ocean, between Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, on the 
north coast Lat. 46. N. long. 63. 54. W. 
VERTE BAY, a bay on the north-east coast of New¬ 
foundland. Lat. 50. 10. N. long. 56. W. 
VERTE RIVIERE, a river of Lower Canada, which has 
its source in the mountains to the south of the St. Lawrence, 
and holding a northerly course, falls into that river opposite 
to Green Island. 
VE'RTEBRAL, adj. [from vertebrce, Lat.] Relating to 
the joints of the spine.—The carotid, vertebral, and sple¬ 
nic arteries are not only variously contorted, but here and 
there dilated, to moderate the motion of the blood. Ray. 
VE'RTEBRE, s. [vertebra, Lat.] A joint of the back. 
—The several vertebres are so elegantly compacted together, 
that they are as strong as if they were but one bone. Ray, 
—See Anatomy. 
3 Y 
VERTEILLAC, 
